Chapter 187: The War Against the Charlotte Family (2)
"Deidara, according to the plan, you'll create a diversion outside using your explosive clay to draw the enemy's attention. Since you're weak in close combat, Master, please go with him. Be careful of those who can use Moonwalk!"
"I got it, hmm," Deidara replied impatiently. He confirmed again, "Is it really okay if I blow up the whole island?"
Eric was shocked. "You're planning to self-destruct again?!"
"I'm not gonna self-destruct!"
"Then you'd better focus on how to handle those guys. Charlotte Linlin 's children aren't weak. Porche, open the air door."
"Got it~ Opening!" Porche pulled her right hand through the air, and a door formed from thin air opened up.
The rest of the infiltration team entered the air door.
Scáthach reminded them, "Be cautious."
"Yeah, we're off," Eric said. The air door then closed behind them and vanished, cutting off all traces of their presence.
Deidara held a pile of clay grasshoppers in both hands and threw them to the ground.
Scáthach watched the swarming white puppets fall. "An ambush set up ahead of time?"
"Yeah. Since Eric said all the plants within Charlotte's territory can act as surveillance, setting landmines from above would be useless."
At that moment, dozens of chess soldiers appeared in their field of view, advancing in a search formation.
"They're here. Intelligence mentioned them—chess pieces given life," Deidara scoffed. "This art is nothing. Even Lord Sasori's work was better, hmm."
The explosive grasshoppers jumped onto the chess soldiers using their powerful hind legs.
"Haah!"
BOOM BOOM BOOM
A series of explosions erupted, orange flames engulfing the white chess-piece soldiers.
"What? They couldn't even withstand C1-grade explosive clay? Not impressive at all… hmm."
"These are just basic forces. We haven't even seen a single actual member of the Charlotte family yet."
"Tch~" If he weren't outmatched by Scáthach, Deidara wouldn't be so obedient when she spoke.
Inside Cake Castle, a chess-piece king soldier reported:
"Lord Perospero , the infantry scouting outside Cake Castle has all lost contact."
"Those bastards. They thought wiping out our scouts would be clever, but didn't realize it would give away their position. Lick lick~" Perospero looked around at his siblings. "Anyone wanna join me in welcoming this batch of so-called super rookies?"
"I'll pass," said Smoothie, with her long legs stretched out. "I still need to guard the Poneglyph."
Without waiting for a response, she stood up and headed toward the Charlotte family treasure room.
The red-nosed, white-faced Mondée said with interest, "Sounds like fun. I'll join in."
Several other adult Charlotte siblings also volunteered to take part in this "welcoming party."
Eric and his team were sprinting through a lush green space. Since Porche was too slow, Eric carried her on his back.
"I didn't expect such a method could be used to evade enemy surveillance," praised Esdeath. "As expected of Eric! But I'd still rather fight my way through..."
"That's exactly why I kept you with me!" Eric said, annoyed. "If you'd just listen for once, I could've left you in the decoy team!"
Akame called out, "Look ahead!"
"...!" Esdeath grinned, her eyes glowing blood-red with excitement. "So many enemies... Finally, I can go all out again."
In front of them, Perospero, the eldest Charlotte son, was leading over twenty Charlotte family members, along with countless living chess soldiers.
"That's Katakuri, the strongest of the three Sweet Commanders," Eric said—but then suddenly stopped.
Seeing Eric come to a halt, the others followed suit.
"There are too many enemies over there. Scáthach and Deidara won't be able to hold them off. Their lives will be in danger."
After a moment of serious thought, Eric said, "We're going back. We'll fight alongside them. Forget about sneaking into Cake Castle for the Poneglyph for now. Let's defeat this enemy first."
The others looked at him. Eric gave them a sincere smile and said, "Our comrades are more important than treasure."
Akame smiled in understanding and nodded firmly.
Suddenly, Katakuri's Observation Haki seemed to sense Eric's group. He turned to look directly at them.
"!" Eric was shocked. Isn't this supposed to be a separate space? He can even sense us with his Haki?!
Katakuri's right arm turned into a writhing mass of white mochi, stretching far out and suddenly striking toward them.
"Get out of the way!" Eric shouted.
BOOM
The spot they had just been standing on exploded into a massive crater, debris flying everywhere.
"Brother Katakuri?" his siblings asked in confusion. "Why did you just attack empty air?"
"They're using some method to hide their presence," Katakuri's voice came clearly from behind his scarf. "They probably planned to use a distraction to draw our attention, then sneak into Cake Castle."
"What?!" The other Charlotte members were shocked. "Those damn thieves! They're after the Poneglyph again?!"
Galette asked worriedly, "Brother Katakuri, where are they now?"
"They're retreating the way they came," Katakuri said seriously. "Let's pick up the pace and make sure they can't get around us again."
"Yes!" The Charlotte siblings stopped walking leisurely and charged forward behind Katakuri.
Back with Deidara, a new air door opened suddenly beside him.
"Hmm? Why are you guys back already?" Deidara asked, puzzled.
"We ran into someone on the way. His Observation Haki was too strong—he discovered us. So the plan had to be scrapped halfway," Eric explained.
Akame added seriously, "There were too many enemies. Eric was worried for your safety, so he decided to come back and fight with you."
Scáthach's eyes glowed red. She nodded. "My prophecy also showed that the future looks grim. The enemy seems to have some limited foresight ability as well."
"I can't believe this kind of overwhelming army size from an anime actually manifested here!" Eric cursed inwardly.
"Deidara, do you have enough explosive clay?"
"Of course!" Deidara took out the clay puppets he'd started preparing days ago. "I made tons of C3 No. 18s! Time to show them my explosive art."
"Ugh, every time I see No. 18's clay puppet form, I think it looks ugly."
"What did you say?!" Deidara snapped. "My explosive clay is art! Incomparable art! Hmm!"
"Sure, sure," Eric shrugged. "But isn't your art supposed to be explosions? When did it become abstract?"
"This is super flat modern art!"
"C2 Dragon!"
(END CHAPTER)
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