Chapter 116: Be Grateful to Creek!
He held his breath, activated Six Powers: Soru, and instantly rushed to Lufia's side. Hoisting her over his shoulder, he turned and ran deeper into the restaurant.
As he passed Usopp, Ralph barked, "Masks!"
"Huh? Oh! Right!"
Usopp fumbled in his bag and pulled out three simple gas masks.
Thank Krieg for that!
He taught the Straw Hat Pirates a valuable lesson:
With so many despicable scoundrels on the seas, keeping a few handy gadgets around was incredibly useful!
Ralph took one and quickly put it on, then shoved another at Lufia on his shoulder, "Put it on!"
Lufia had gone limp as overcooked noodles, her rubber arms dangling weakly, but she managed to clumsily fasten the mask over her face.
Fresh air rushed in, and she immediately felt better.
"P-put me down...."
Lufia's muffled voice came from inside the mask, "I can still fight..."
"Fight what?"
Ralph snapped impatiently,
"Look at you—limp as overcooked noodles."
Meanwhile, the others in the restaurant weren't so lucky.
Akisu's parents, the engineer couple, had collapsed on the floor, completely drained.
The yellow gas had already spread through more than half the restaurant, blurring their vision.
Just as despair set in, two hands wearing gas masks appeared before them.
It was Borodo and Akisu.
For treasure-hunting thief brothers who frequented all sorts of dangerous places, carrying gas masks was perfectly reasonable, right?
They quickly fitted the spare simple masks onto the doctor couple.
Borodo helped Akisu's father up with one hand, while Akisu struggled to support his mother. The four of them stumbled toward the back door to retreat.
The moment they burst out the back door, they ran into Ralph's trio, who had also escaped.
"You two..."
Borodo gasped for breath, pointing at Lufia on Ralph's shoulder, then glancing at the yellow fog filling the streets. His voice trembled with anger,
"All that big talk! No plan the whole way, acting recklessly—fine, whatever! But then you get taken down in one encounter, just by some gas?! Is this the strength of your Straw Hat Pirates?!"
Ralph ignored him, instead looking down to ask Lufia on his shoulder:
"How do you feel?"
Lufia took a few deep breaths inside the mask, and suddenly her rubber body snapped straight with a "pop":
"Better! With this mask on, I don't have to worry about that stinky smell anymore!"
She jumped down from Ralph's shoulder, bouncing a couple times on the spot, her rubber legs stretching and contracting freely.
"Watch me knock them flying—!"
Before the words finished, Lufia's rubber arm stretched out, grabbed the eaves of the building across the street, and launched herself like a slingshot.
After a few leaps across rooftops, she quickly spotted her target—
At the end of the street, Boo Jack, Skunk, and the Trump Pirates crew were retreating. The yellow fog was continuously spewing from the backpack on Skunk's back.
"Found you!"
Lufia grinned, her rubber legs suddenly contracting, then—
"Gomu Gomu no Rocket!!"
"Whoosh—!!!"
She shot forward like a cannonball, so fast she left an afterimage in the air.
Boo Jack only had time to turn his head before he saw a figure wearing a straw hat and a gas mask over her face rapidly enlarging before his eyes.
"Wha—?!"
"Boom—!!!"
Lufia crashed squarely into the crowd.
What followed was a scene too exaggerated to describe.
Figures kept screaming as they were sent flying into the air—some crashing through second-floor windows, others dangling from shop signs, and still others vanishing straight into street corners.
From within the yellow haze came dull thud-thud-thuds—the sound of rubber fists pounding into flesh, punctuated by Boo Jack's roars and Skunk's shrieks.
Then—
Spread!
A muffled bursting sound.
Immediately afterward, the poison gas that had been slowly seeping from Skunk's backpack now surged like a breached dam, instantly flooding the entire street and spilling into the alleys on both sides.
Ralph watched from the rooftop, his lips twitching.
"She blew up Skunk's gas sac…"
Usopp gulped.
"Th-that gas isn't lethal, is it?"
"It won't kill you, but it'll leave you completely weak."
Ralph sighed.
"Well, now several nearby streets are covered in Devil Gas. Let's hope the civilians got out in time."
Their position on the rooftop kept them safe from the gas for now.
But the street below was already shrouded in a murky yellow haze, visibility reduced to less than five meters.
The thief brothers and the engineer couple had also climbed up.
Five minutes later.
A night breeze picked up, dispersing some of the yellow mist.
Once Ralph confirmed the gas concentration had dropped, he led the group down from the roof and headed toward the battlefield.
The street was a mess.
The Trump Pirates' underlings lay scattered everywhere, eyes rolled back and foam at their mouths.
It seemed they had been too close to the poison sac explosion, inhaling excessive gas, and were now unconscious.
Boo Jack leaned against a wall, his face bruised purple and blue, also knocked out.
Skunk had it worst.
He was embedded into the wall in a spread-eagle shape, a large hole torn in the backpack on his back, from which wisps of yellow smoke still seeped.
And in the center of the street, the only figure still standing was Lufia, her straw hat askew and her gas mask tilted to one side.
Hands on her hips, she looked imposing.
Borodo opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
Like apologizing for his earlier remarks.
But before he could speak, he saw Lufia yank off her gas mask, her lips pouting exaggeratedly, her expression as aggrieved as a child cheated out of candy:
"Ralph—!"
She dragged out the complaint.
"As soon as that yellow stinky gas exploded, they all fell down! It wasn't fun at all! I didn't even get warmed up!"
Ralph chuckled and walked over to comfort her:
"It's fine, their boss is still around. Speaking of which, Bear King should be at the top of the central tower, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
Lufia perked up immediately.
"Let's go find him! This time, I'm definitely having a good fight!"
Just then, Akisu's father, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up:
"Everyone… We've been waiting for someone to end Bear King's rule for a very long time."
Akisu's mother also nodded, gripping her husband's hand tightly:
"We have the clearance… We can take you through the underground armory's elevator straight to the tower top where Bear King is."
Ralph, Lufia, and Usopp exchanged glances and smiled.
What a coincidence!
Everything was moving in a good direction!
...
However, at the same time, on the top floor of Clockwork Island's central tower.
The scene here was the complete opposite of the "smooth progress" below.
Nami was tied up tightly and thrown onto a lavish but tacky bed.
Sanji was also bound and tossed onto the carpet beside the bed.
And Bear King sat on his throne, his three-meter-tall frame like a small mountain.
He wore a lavish suit adorned with poker patterns, his bear-like face bearing an amused smile as he examined Nami lying on the bed.
"Though not Lufia..."
Bear King stroked his chin, "she's still quite a beauty. Good, good."
"Let go of Miss Nami—!"
Sanji struggled desperately, "I deserve to die a thousand deaths for failing to protect Miss Nami! But... you filthy bear, don't you dare look at her like that!"
Bear King acted as if he hadn't heard, instead turning to Honey Queen on the other side:
"Where's Lufia?"
"Boo Jack and Skunk went to capture her. They should be back soon..."
Before Honey Queen could finish, faint explosions and commotion suddenly echoed from outside the window.
Bear King frowned and walked to the window.
Through the glass, he saw the yellow mist that had shrouded the distant streets beginning to disperse, while his subordinates... seemed to have all fallen.
"Useless."
Bear King said coldly.
Honey Queen paled:
"Boss, I—I'll go again—"
"No need."
Bear King turned around, grinning to reveal his stark white teeth, "The prey will come to us on its own."
He walked back to his throne, sat down again, and waved his large hand:
"Prepare the wedding venue. Whether it's Lufia or someone else... tonight, I will hold a grand wedding."
Hearing this, Sanji trembled with rage:
"You bastard..."
On the bed, Nami struggled to lift her head, her eyes flashing with stubborn defiance:
"Our companions... will definitely come to save us. When they do, you'll regret this."
Bear King roared with laughter, the sound shaking the entire tower:
"I'll be waiting."