(100 Power Stone Bonus)
Chapter 54: Reunion
At this moment, even though Sanji harbored a desperate, burning desire to go out in a blaze of glory alongside a "wild beast" like Yumesaki, he wasn't a fool.
He knew all too well that Yumesaki was an incredibly difficult opponent to handle. More than that, the people surrounding Yumesaki—those individuals who appeared and vanished as if they were ghosts—were simply too extraordinary. Facing someone like Minato, Sanji realized he didn't possess even the slightest spark of a chance to fight back.
And so, he could only do one thing... surrender.
For the following period of time, Sanji no longer dared to go rushing in front of Yumesaki just to get close to Robin or Nami. As stunningly beautiful as those two women were, beauty wasn't something one could eat—and there was a very high probability that if he kept it up, he'd end up being turned into a newkama.
Left with no other choice, Sanji was forced to give up his pursuits with a heart full of painful longing. Every day, if he wasn't busy cooking in the kitchen, he was finding more ways to stay busy cooking in the kitchen. As long as Yumesaki was present at the scene, Sanji made absolutely sure he didn't set foot outside his culinary sanctuary.
This arrangement finally granted Yumesaki a long-overdue period of peace and quiet.
Then, on a certain day, Yumesaki once again received a call from Tsunade. "We've secured the goods," her voice came through. "We're on our way back now and should arrive in the East Blue within a few days."
Upon hearing those words, Yumesaki snapped his fingers, his mind made up. He decided they would head toward Reverse Mountain immediately to intercept Tsunade and the others.
Naturally, Robin, Nami, Kanae, Karin, and Minato raised no objections. The crew steered their large vessel and set sail, charting a course for Reverse Mountain.
Four days later, the two parties successfully rendezvoused near the base of the mountain.
However, what truly took Yumesaki by surprise was that this time, Tsunade's group hadn't just brought back the Door-Door Fruit. They had also managed to secure three entirely different fruits: the Slow-Slow Fruit, the Bomb-Bomb Fruit, and the Castle-Castle Fruit.
Regarding the Slow-Slow Fruit, Tsunade had mentioned it to Yumesaki previously. But as for the latter two, Tsunade hadn't uttered a word about them until now.
Driven by curiosity, Yumesaki asked the group how they had managed to obtain those two additional fruits.
Tsunade replied, "Remember when I called you before? You told us to perform the experiment a few more times."
Yumesaki nodded; he did indeed remember saying that.
Tsunade continued, "After we obtained the Slow-Slow Fruit and departed from Long Ring Long Land, we happened to run into the user of the Castle-Castle Fruit."
Yumesaki's memory flickered. He recalled that the user of the Castle-Castle Fruit was the captain of the Fire Tank Pirates, Capone "Gang" Bege.
The man was a notorious mafia Godfather from the West Blue. Ever since his childhood, he had been obsessed with war-like games, and after reaching adulthood, he had successfully unified the West Blue's underworld. Perhaps because the unification had been too easy, he quickly grew bored with the so-called "mafia game." He eventually took to the seas, forming the Fire Tank Pirates, where he developed a twisted hobby of taking the heads of his enemies for sport.
His first appearance in the original story had been during the Sabaody Archipelago arc. At that time, Capone Bege was already one of the Eleven Supernovas, boasting a bounty of over 130 million Berry, ranking ninth among his peers.
Later, when Luffy's group punched a Celestial Dragon at Sabaody—which summoned Admiral Kizaru to the island—Capone Bege managed to escape successfully, thanks in part to the utility of his Castle-Castle Fruit. Of course, his successful escape back then wasn't necessarily because the Castle-Castle Fruit was invincible; it was simply because he never crossed paths with Kizaru.
After his escape, the man arrived in the New World following the Paramount War. When he reappeared two years later, he had not only joined the ranks of the Big Mom Pirates—one of the Four Emperors—but had also married Big Mom's 22nd daughter, Charlotte Chiffon. They even had a son named Capone Pez.
However, due to Charlotte Linlin's bouts of "Eating Disorder" madness, Capone Bege eventually betrayed her, collaborating with the Straw Hat crew in an attempt to assassinate the Yonko. Although the assassination ended in failure and led to him being hunted by the Big Mom Pirates, the man still managed to get away in the end. He could truly be considered a lucky fellow.
But this time, Capone Bege's luck had run dry.
Tsunade informed Yumesaki that after their group left Long Ring Long Land and encountered Bege, they immediately decided to use him as another test subject to see if they could seize the Castle-Castle Fruit.
The group first utilized the Four Red Yang Formation to trap Bege within an inescapable barrier. Then, Orochimaru (or perhaps Yakushi Kabuto) moved in to deliver the killing blow.
Though the process was a bit tedious, the results were excellent.
After Capone Bege was killed, the Devil Fruit actually manifested once again within the confines of the Four Red Yang Formation. This confirmed their theory: the previous success hadn't been a fluke. The Four Red Yang Formation truly could assist them in capturing Devil Fruits.
Bolstered by this success, the group decisively headed to Water 7, where they killed the CP9 agent Blueno and seized the Door-Door Fruit.
"Killing that man must have been quite a hassle, wasn't it?" Yumesaki remarked.
Even though Tsunade spoke of it casually, Yumesaki knew that Blueno was not an easy mark. It wasn't that Blueno was overwhelmingly powerful—in truth, his raw strength was only average—but his ability was incredibly troublesome.
The Door-Door Fruit.
It was a fruit that allowed the user to create doors on any surface, enabling them to move through them freely. This included creating doors in the air, on fire, or even on a person's body. No matter how hard the material or if it even had a physical form, a door could be manifested. The user could create various types, sizes, and shapes of doors at will—sliding doors, swinging doors, even revolving doors—and the user could even transform their own body into a door.
Furthermore, it's worth noting that the essence of this fruit lay in its spatial movement. By simply "opening a door" in the atmosphere, one could create a separate green dimension. People other than the user could also enter this dimension to travel through space. This space could even serve as an emergency shelter. Once the created door was closed, the area that had been opened would return to its original state without leaving a single trace.
During a fight, if the user found themselves unable to win, they could simply open a door to another dimension to evade enemy attacks.
What did that mean?
It meant that even the Four Red Yang Formation might not have been enough to pin Blueno down. The moment Blueno realized he was no match for Yakushi Kabuto, he could have easily opened a door in the air and hidden in another dimension. Once that door shut, let alone Yakushi Kabuto, even the likes of Tobirama Senju or Hashirama Senju would find it nearly impossible to catch him.
Moreover, if the mission had failed, it would have alerted the target. Trying to kill Blueno after that would have been exponentially more difficult—it might even have drawn the unwanted attention of the World Government.
Yakushi Kabuto pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, offering a thin smile. "If we're talking about trouble, there wasn't actually much of it. To be honest, that agent was quite easy to deal with."
"Easy to deal with?" Yumesaki was slightly taken aback.
Kabuto replied, "After we arrived at Water 7, we didn't go looking for trouble with Blueno right away. Instead, we looked for someone else."
"Who?"
"Another CP9 agent, Kalifa."
"Why her?" Yumesaki asked, his confusion deepening.
Kabuto said calmly, "Naturally, it was to observe her every move from up close—including her physique, her minor habits, and even her specific speech patterns."
Upon hearing this, realization suddenly dawned on Yumesaki.
Yakushi Kabuto gave a faint, knowing smile. "Once I had a complete grasp of Kalifa's behavioral habits, I transformed into her and went to find this 'Blueno' myself."
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