Madam Lara watched as the pillar in front of her was torn apart directly by the opponent's arm. That fist, carrying a howling force of pressure, lost none of its power as it came straight for her head.
In extreme terror, her neck twisted instinctively.
That punch ultimately severed one of her ears. A chameleon's ears don't normally stand out, but with her beastman transformation, they were still there.
Madam Lara didn't have time to check her injuries. Using both hands and feet, she rapidly climbed along the wall, while her body continuously shifted colors, blending into the surroundings.
Previously, when she had merged with the gold coins inside the vault, even Vane's Observation Haki hadn't detected her immediately—proof of just how formidable her concealment ability was.
That attack just now had to be a coincidence.
Madam Lara convinced herself it was coincidence, her confidence in her own ability perhaps a bit too absolute.
Vane's Observation Haki kept locking onto her presence. Her concealment was indeed superb—she could even imitate the aura of surrounding objects.
If one didn't know beforehand, it would truly be hard to detect her. But now that he knew such a person existed, using Observation Haki to distinguish her was no longer particularly difficult.
And even if Vane didn't have Observation Haki, he could still see the huge question mark floating above Madam Lara's head.
"If you stop struggling, I can spare your life."
Vane activated Soru and caught up to Madam Lara once more.
...
Inside the secret room.
Meowth activated its ability, sweeping all the gold, silver, and jewels in the room straight into its stomach.
"This ability is seriously too convenient—perfect for meow!"
Once again, Meowth felt that eating the Castle-Castle Fruit had been the right choice. Otherwise, it could only have used its cat paws to move all this treasure—who knew how long that would take.
"Meow, this little box looks really familiar."
Beneath the pile of gold coins, Meowth discovered a delicate small box. The Castle-Castle Fruit it had eaten had originally been stored in a box just like this.
It fiddled with the lock using its cat claws, and the box quickly popped open.
Inside was unmistakably a Devil Fruit—grayish-white in color, shaped somewhat like a starfruit.
This was their primary objective tonight. Tossing the box into its internal castle space as well, Meowth continued gathering the remaining treasure.
Soon, everything in the secret room became part of Meowth's "stomach."
It crawled over to the breach Vane had smashed open and peeked outside.
At that moment, Vane kicked Madam Lara out of the air and slammed her into the ground, creating a massive crater.
Madam Lara's raw strength was at most worth 30 million Belly. If her Devil Fruit ability was used well, she might add another 20 million—but against Observation Haki, it was completely useless.
In the end, she was beaten down from start to finish by Vane. His speed was so overwhelming that she didn't even have a chance to beg. She was kicked back and forth like a soccer ball in midair, until a final volley sent her crashing into the ground.
Whether she was dead or not, she had unquestionably lost consciousness.
The question mark above Madam Lara's head twisted for a moment, then finally transformed into a Poké Ball.
Vane's expression brightened. This time, a new Pokémon appeared. His guess was correct—if next time he defeated another lizard-type Devil Fruit user, the drop would be an item that could enhance a Pokémon's strength.
"Everything's cleaned up."
Vane picked up the Poké Ball, used Soru to appear beside Meowth, grabbed it, and stepped through the air with Geppo as they left the flower house.
Those drawn by the massive sounds of battle only emerged from their rooms after Vane had left. Several women hurried over to check on Madam Lara's condition.
Her breathing was faint, but she was still alive. The women exchanged glances, then together pulled off the sharp-pointed ornaments they wore.
Puff! Puff…
Several soft sounds of flesh tearing rang out as multiple bleeding holes appeared in Madam Lara's neck. Originally hovering between life and death, she was now truly finished.
When you're at your weakest, anyone might come along to stomp on you—let alone those who bear hatred toward you.
In the flower house, countless women had been tortured by Madam Lara. Of ten who knew her, if not nine then at least eight harbored hatred toward her.
When Vane set out, Baccarat had asked him to try his best to kill Madam Lara. Vane beat her until she was barely alive, somewhere between death and paralysis. The flower house women's finishing blow sealed her fate.
Soon, what happened at the flower house spread to several other districts. One group after another rushed to the flower district, immediately moving to seize control of all the flower houses there.
Only afterward did several responsible figures from Bliss Island arrive at the scene.
"That long-tongued woman is actually dead."
"Dead is dead. The profits of the flower district should be split among us."
"That still depends on the intentions of the people above."
Those managing Bliss Island were agents of dark forces behind the scenes. Though they held status within those forces, an incident of this scale still required their bosses to negotiate and redistribute profits.
"Looks like the people from the pleasure district are going to have a headache."
"The pleasure district has deep roots. Their main industries are on the Grand Line—Marines and government spies all go there to have fun. They might not even care about this bit of income from the West Blue."
"But can they really ignore losing a Devil Fruit user, a Devil Fruit itself, plus all the money in the vault?"
That Madam Lara had obtained a Devil Fruit was something many people knew. And the flower house settled accounts with their superiors in the pleasure district once per quarter.
Now it was the final quarter of the year 1504, about to roll into 1505. Several hundred million Belly in profits should have been due—now all of it had been taken away.
"Seems we need to strengthen security, especially around the auction house."
"Agreed. Those valuable items can't afford any mishaps."
Year's end was also the busiest time for Bliss Island. At that time, the grandest auction would be held—Haki training manuals, Devil Fruits, ranked blades, all of it would appear.
...
"We're back, meow. Today was really satisfying—so, so many gold coins."
Abandoned shipyard.
Several people holding cadre positions gathered together.
Lena, Bonez, Tant, and Martha were there, as well as the main intelligence provider, Baccarat.
Big Pan was also a cadre, but because he'd grown even taller, he didn't attend this small-venue meeting.
Martha hadn't wanted to come at first. She felt that as someone handling logistics, there was no need for her to be involved in matters meant for combatants—but Lena dragged her along anyway.
"Meowth and I raided the flower house's secret room. This time, even if Madam Lara didn't die, she'd have spent the rest of her life in bed."
"The gains this time were huge. Our funds are back at their peak."
Just this trip to the flower district had netted them at least 400 million Belly.
"But most importantly, we've obtained another Devil Fruit. I called you all here today to ask if anyone wants to eat a Devil Fruit."