Chapter 115 – Stress‑Stress Fruit
"You bastards! How dare you lay hands on the Donquixote Family! Unforgivable!"
Baby 5, standing on Buffalo's spinning back, raised the twin medium‑caliber cannons she had transformed her arms into and unleashed a barrage of explosive shells. The sudden rain of gunfire forced the enraged crowd back, buying time for Trebol.
"Trebol! Catch!"
Dellinger, crouched beside Buffalo, tossed down two gas masks. Trebol caught them in mid‑air and instantly understood their plan. He quickly fitted one over his own face and another over Sugar's, who still lay unconscious in his arms.
"Buffalo… do it," Dellinger said with a vicious grin, stamping his foot on Buffalo's back.
"Understood!" Buffalo pulled a compact bomb from his coat—its casing marked with the ominous word KORO. It was one of Caesar's weapons, a deadly poison‑gas bomb.
"Anyone who dares resist us… DIE!" Buffalo shouted and hurled the bomb down into the arena.
Boom!
The device exploded, belching forth a thick, dark‑purple gas that rolled across the battlefield like a living fog. Those caught in it dropped to their knees, choking and collapsing.
"Poison gas!" Wores' eyes widened as the spreading fumes swept toward them.
"Skaar!" Wores turned to the tall, grim figure at his side. He knew exactly who might save them.
"Leave it to me!" Skaar strode forward, planting his feet, raising both palms.
Among Fire Fist Ace's Spade Pirates, very few were Devil Fruit users. Aside from Ace himself, only Skaar had such a gift—he had eaten a Paramecia known as the Stress‑Stress Fruit (Atsu Atsu no Mi in this version), allowing him to freely control and redirect physical stress and atmospheric pressure.
When Skaar first revealed this power to his crewmates, even their navigator Connalia had muttered jealously about how absurdly versatile it was.
"Air‑Pressure Swirling Wall!"
An invisible force rippled from Skaar's palms. The air itself bent, forming a transparent barrier around their group. The creeping gas hit an unseen wall, curling and circling a few meters away but unable to break through.
"Wind‑Pressure Tornado!"
With a twist of his arms, Skaar shifted the barrier. The compressed air spun, and a roaring whirlwind formed, sucking the poison fog up and away. The vortex carried the crew aloft, lifting them out of the suffocating arena into the open air above.
They landed lightly on the arena's outer ring.
"Looks like those Donquixote scum are gone," Yaqi muttered, scanning the area. Trebol, Buffalo, and the others had vanished.
"Ace said there's a hidden space under this colosseum—Caesar Clown's lab should be down there," Wores said coldly. "That's where they ran."
"Under here, huh?" Yaqi looked down at the stone floor, then grinned and flexed his mechanical arm.
"Leave it to me!"
Boom!
With one tremendous punch, Yaqi shattered the thick flooring, opening a gaping hole.
"Yaqi, you idiot! Who told you to—?!"
But before anyone could finish scolding him, the ground gave way entirely. They all plunged through the darkness.
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They crashed into a wide underground chamber—and immediately found themselves facing the Donquixote cadres who had fled earlier.
Sugar, still unconscious, rested against Trebol. Beside him stood Dellinger, Buffalo, and Baby 5, weapons ready. And behind them, looming with a wicked grin and long dark‑purple hair, was Caesar Clown himself, goggles flashing in the laboratory lights.
Wores pulled a bounty poster from his coat, his sharp eyes darting between the image and the man before him.
"That's him. Caesar Clown—Ace's target. This time, we take him alive."
"Oh, there's a bounty of 300 million on his head," Skaar muttered grimly. "Capturing him alive won't be easy."
"Just do your best," Yaqi said, rolling his shoulders.
"Hey, can I fight this time?" Carolus (the crew's small mink companion) piped up, tail flicking.
In the Spade Pirates, Carolus was usually treated as a mascot and rarely allowed into serious combat—hence her tiny bounty of only 3 million beli so far.
"Of course," Wores, Yaqi, and Skaar said in unison, grinning. "This is all‑hands."
"Tch! And here I thought you'd count me in too," Jewelry Bonney complained with a pout.
The others exchanged a look and laughed. Strictly speaking, Bonney led her own crew—she wasn't officially one of Ace's Spade Pirates.
---
"Fufufu… did I hear someone say they're going to capture me alive?" Caesar Clown cackled, his high‑pitched laugh echoing through the lab.
"You heard right, Caesar," Trebol said, eyes narrowing. "They really think they can take you."
"Hah! You think you can capture me?" Caesar sneered, pulling a small remote from his coat. His thumb hovered over the trigger.
"Then let me show you the fruits of my research this past year!"
Click.
The lab trembled. Heavy chains rattled. And then—
Rrrrraaaaghhh!!
Shkreeeeeee!!
With deafening roars, titanic figures emerged from shadowed containment cells—monsters towering far higher than any normal giant soldier.
"Wh‑what in the world…?" one of the Donquixote officers gasped.
"Caesar… are these the legendary Ancient Giants? Did you really bring them back?!"
"Wahahaha! Yes! This is my masterpiece—the product of my gigantification research!" Caesar shouted proudly, arms spread wide.
"These were supposed to be my gifts to Kaidō, but now… I'll use them to crush you!"
The hulking monstrosities stomped forward, shaking the underground chamber as the Spade Pirates readied themselves for battle.
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