Vane looked through this door and saw the specific situation inside, as well as the person in the room.
With just one glance, Vane couldn't help but sigh at how many bizarre people there were in the pirate world. The person inside had a head bigger than their body, a living big-headed doll.
That person was recording something at the desk when suddenly, as if sensing something, they lifted their head and looked toward the ventilation opening.
What they saw was a cat's paw. On that cat's paw, there was actually a small door, and from inside that small door rushed out a person no bigger than a cockroach… a cockroach? A person?
Vane passed through the barrier of the Castle-Castle Fruit, his body instantly returning to its normal size, and kicked the "big-headed" doll straight in the head.
The head was just too big. Aside from there, he couldn't find a better place to plant his foot.
Bang!
The big-headed doll took the kick head-on, its eyes rolling white as it collapsed to the ground. With Vane's current strength, one kick was enough to knock out someone like Krieg, so knocking out a big-headed doll who clearly hadn't trained much in physical combat was perfectly normal.
The entire process only made noise from that single kick. If even this got discovered, then he'd just switch from stealing to outright robbing.
He opened the door and let Meowth in. The two of them arrived at the final door. This door wasn't locked—Vane could open it with just a light push.
Even without pushing it open, Vane could already see strands of golden light leaking out through the crack.
He activated his Observation Haki. Inside were piles of things, with no presence of living people.
So he pushed the door open directly.
Meowth had once seen the treasury of the Thorn Rose Kingdom. Although the amount of treasure in this secret room wasn't as much as that treasury, it still glittered with gold, filled everywhere with gold and silver jewels.
There was no paper money, only gold and silver jewels. It seemed Madam Lara didn't like paper money and preferred gold and silver.
No one disliked gold and silver. When Vane was a kid watching Disney animations, he remembered one about a Donald Duck who was especially rich, with so many gold coins they filled an entire building, and then Donald Duck and his little nephews went swimming in a pool of gold coins.
In reality, a pool of gold coins couldn't be used for swimming, let alone diving, but lying on top of them and enjoying it was definitely no problem.
Vane's eyes narrowed slightly. Earlier, when he used Observation Haki to sense the room, there had been no one inside this secret chamber, but after entering, he saw a huge "?" mark on top of a pile of gold coins.
Devil Fruits don't have this kind of mark. This symbol represented a Devil Fruit user.
Clink! Crash!
A long shadow burst out from the pile of gold coins, cutting straight toward Vane's face with a whistling sound through the air.
If he hadn't seen that question mark, this attack might have succeeded.
Vane tilted his head, and a Whirlwind Cutting Fist slammed into the long shadow.
The shadow was somewhat hard, close to the hardness of steel, very similar to the Tekkai technique from Rokushiki.
That punch didn't sever the long shadow, only forced it to retract.
"What's going on, meow!"
Meowth stared at the pile of gold coins. In a daze, the gold coins actually seemed to move… no, something about the outline was wrong. That outline didn't look right—it was a crawling creature.
"That Tanaka guy really is useless, getting taken down by you in one hit."
The crawling creature's feet landed on the ground, changing from the same color as the gold coins to the same color as the floor.
"So it's a chameleon."
The person in front of him was Madam Lara, and Vane also figured out her Devil Fruit ability.
If classified strictly, it was a Zoan—Lizard Fruit—Chameleon Model.
A normal Zoan. Put in front of Vane, he wouldn't eat it even if you beat him to death.
The only praiseworthy thing about this ability was that it could hide the user by blending with the environment. But if that was all, he'd rather eat the Clear-Clear Fruit.
The Clear-Clear Fruit might lack the potential to become a king, but its flexibility was far stronger than that of a chameleon.
And chameleons weren't particularly strong in terms of physical enhancement either… though Madam Lara's tongue was indeed well-enhanced.
All in all, it didn't improve strength much and had no cool factor. The value of this fruit was too low.
"You pack up all the treasure here. I'll deal with this one."
This time, Observation Haki didn't fail again. It fully locked onto Madam Lara. The aura inside her body… wasn't strong for Vane.
"Arrogant! I've been in the flower district for so many years—no one has ever dared to touch my treasures! I'll skewer you to death!"
Madam Lara transformed into a hybrid form, becoming an upright-standing chameleon.
It had to be said, it looked ugly—no, extremely ugly. Her face was misshapen and lacked any beauty, and a long tongue was hanging out, dripping saliva.
"Tongue Guillotine!"
Madam Lara snapped her head, and her tongue turned into a steel whip that lashed toward Vane.
"Soru."
Whoosh!
The air boomed explosively as Vane vanished from where he stood. Madam Lara's heart panicked as her chameleon eyes began spinning around.
This was another chameleon trait—being able to observe the surroundings in three hundred and sixty degrees. When Vane appeared at her side, she noticed him immediately.
But her body couldn't keep up with her vision. Noticing didn't mean she could react.
Bang!
Vane's Flowing Water Crushing Rock Fist smashed into Madam Lara's face.
Madam Lara's already-protruding chameleon eyes bulged even further as her body spun an unknown number of times before crashing into the wall.
Boom! Crack—!
The wall of the secret chamber was smashed open with a huge hole, and Madam Lara's body flew outside. This time, the commotion was big enough for the entire flower house to hear.
"What happened?"
"It's so noisy this early in the morning—are we supposed to sleep or not?"
Someone kicked open a door and came out cursing, only to see a humanoid chameleon swinging through the air, its tongue wrapped around a pillar.
"Mom! A monster!"
Monster my ass. Next time you book my girls, I'll charge you double.
This guy is really strong. That's Rokushiki—no idea if he's from the Marines or the World Government… whatever. Outside, the wide and dim environment gives me more of an advantage. If I can't beat him, I can still run.
With no light sources, the flower house was full of shadows. Madam Lara directly dove into one, using her chameleon ability to hide her form.
Vane stepped out, riding Geppo in pursuit.
Hiding in the darkness, Madam Lara thought: If I get a chance, I'll stab him to death with my tongue. If I don't, I'll just stay hidden and not move, waiting for those other old undead things to come help.
She was extremely confident in her concealment.
Whoosh!
Vane didn't pause at all in midair. Using Geppo and Soru together, he charged straight toward the shadow where Madam Lara was hiding behind a pillar.
Whirlwind Cutting Fist—Piercing Punch!
Slash! Slash!! Boom!!
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