One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me.

Chapter 233 Action, the stage is set!
Bullfighting arena.

The entire population of Dressrosa, along with the toys, have fled and gathered here.

They looked at the 'birdcage' in the distance, which was still shrinking and getting closer, their eyes filled with panic.

"Everyone—there's still hope! Hold on, don't panic!"

King Riku, using the alias 'Gladiator Riki,' stood guard at the outermost edge of the crowd, sword in hand and clad in armor.

"The Phoenix is ​​healing the wounded. He said that the Monkey King will definitely defeat Doflamingo and break the Birdcage!"

"Everyone just needs to stay calm and maintain order."

What he said represents the only hope for most people right now.

Everyone understands.

Under such circumstances, they could no longer find any way to save themselves.

All we can do is wait.

Waiting for a miracle to happen.

Waiting for the appearance of a peerless hero.

And at this moment.
"boom!"

The figure, enveloped in golden light, had indeed entered the arena through gate number five.

"The contestants have entered the arena—since Assori, the winner of Gate 4, was defeated by 'Phoenix' Marco, and the latter, for some unknown reason, reached an agreement with Shenhou and did not enter the arena, there are only four contestants in the final!"

Who will emerge victorious? Let's wait and see!!!

Gaz continued to explain diligently.

But the tremor in his voice and the occasional glances he gave Shenhou revealed that he shared similar thoughts with the people around him.

But at this time.
"."

Shenhou paused for a moment as he stepped through Gate No. 5.

He seemed to sense something, and his gaze swept across the surrounding final venue.

Unlike the bullfighting arena in the original story, the arena where Shenhou is located this time does not have water or a giant fighting fish.

On the contrary, the dueling arena was very simple, just a wide open flat area.

The cage where Caesar was located was suspended in the air above the center of the dueling arena.

The only thing worth mentioning is the area around the venue.

Numerous camera den Den Mushi (snail-shaped electric scooter) are set up everywhere, as if to capture every detail of the entire site.

“Fufufufufu”

At this moment, the Monkey King entered the arena.

On the throne at the top of the dueling arena, Doflamingo let out his signature laugh.

"You're not letting Marco come in with you? I thought you two had already 'formed an alliance'."

He grinned, his words seemingly cryptic: "There are three opponents—don't disappoint me, the Twelve Constellations. Fufufufufu."

"."

Upon hearing this, Shenhou glanced at him.

But before Shenhou could reply, other people's voices came from the side.

"Hey! JOKER—what do you mean by that?"

At this moment, we see another direction opposite to Shenhou.

The figures of the Three Calamities were already standing there.

The one shouting loudly at that moment was Quinn, who was smoking a cigar and looking displeased.

"Are you trying to sow discord between us and the 'Twelve Constellations'?!"

He glared angrily at Doflamingo: "Instead of spouting such meaningless nonsense, you should think about yourself—Governor Kaido, absolutely not! I'll personally kill you after I snatch Caesar!"

He was annoyed.

What was originally thought to be a simple mission to visit an old research partner and show off one's status has developed into this situation because of Doflamingo.

For no apparent reason, he is now facing off against the twelve zodiac signs.

If he had known it would be like this, he would have been better off lying about being sick and staying at 'Rabbit Bowl' to enjoy his red bean rice cake soup!

"Hey! Shenhou, can we talk this over? JOKER is right—even you would feel a headache facing the three of us, right?"

"We don't necessarily need to fight. Hand Caesar over to us first, and we can sit down and discuss the rest later."

Quinn also looked at Shenhou, trying to avoid a fight through negotiation.

But
“Fool.”

Shenhou merely glanced at him and casually remarked.

"what?"

Quinn was taken aback upon hearing this, then flew into a rage: "Who are you calling a jerk?"

“Brother Quinn, there’s no need to say anything more to him.”

Beside him, Jack clenched his fists.

"The Twelve Constellations. Governor Kaido has been paying close attention to them lately. If we can defeat this guy and bring him back to Onigashima, it will be a great achievement."

His words carried a dangerous undertone.

"Don't be reckless."

At this moment, Jhin, the leader of the Three Calamities, said in a deep voice, "Proceed according to plan."

Upon hearing this, Quinn and Jack both paused in their movements.

".whispering sound!"

Quinn spat in dissatisfaction.

"I understand, Brother Jin."

Jack nodded in agreement.

Both of them have their own ideas.

But it was also clear that Jin was right—now that things had come to this, acting according to their pre-arranged 'plan' was the safest option.

"Now, I shall announce..."

At that moment, Gaz's voice continued to ring out.

"The final match is about to begin."

As soon as he finished speaking, all the camera Den Den Mushi in the arena turned on simultaneously.

They swept across every corner of the arena.

at the same time
“Click!” “Click!” “Click!”

Caesar, trapped in a cage in the sky, had the weapons around his cage fall off at that moment.

"The 'restrictions' on the prizes have been lifted, and the rules for the final are simple—whoever grabs the prize is the winner!"

"Alright, let's begin the countdown!"

That concludes Gaz's remarks.

"ten!"

The countdown sound echoed throughout the entire arena at that moment.

But strangely, the voice wasn't Gaz's, but someone else's.

"Nine!"

And it was precisely at the start of the countdown that...
"Boom!"*3
The three calamities have already begun.

Quinn's body swelled up and transformed into a half-branch dragon in an instant.

His left prosthetic arm, his head, and his obese body all split apart in that instant.

"Click!" "Click!" "Click!"

The sound of machinery running could be heard.

"Buzz!"

And from within his torn body.

A powerful laser beam was generated in that instant.

"Countdown?"

Armament Haki flowed wildly across his body.

"Who would wait for something like that?!"

"Black Flame - Ultimate Output - QUEEN!"

A laser beam imbued with Armament Haki erupted and shot towards Shenhou.

At the same time, Jack also revealed his half-mammoth form, wielding his twin swords and unleashing a slash at Shenhou.

The fish-men unleashed their monstrous strength, and his slash instantly sliced ​​the ground of the dueling arena in two!
"Elephant Slayer - JACK!"

"Boom!"*2
The two attacks struck Shenhou's location instantly, sending a massive cloud of dust billowing up. "Eight!"

"seven!"

As the two launched their attack on Shenhou, the countdown continued.

"boom!"

Jin, who remained where he was, did not choose to join his two companions in attacking Shenhou.

"six!"

"five!"

On the contrary—as the countdown began, he simply bent his knees and spread the wings on his back.

Then, he took the leap!
"bake!"

The flames behind his head suddenly went out, and his body instantly transformed into a giant pterodactyl, soaring into the sky and heading towards Caesar.

The speed at which it flew was so fast that it was simply unbelievable, even for a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user.

"This is this"

"The three calamities of the Beasts Pirates clearly had a plan in mind—they split into two groups, with 'Plague' Queen and 'Drought' Jack going to stop Shenhou contestant, while 'Wildfire' King chose to launch a direct surprise attack to steal the prize."

At that moment, Gaz's exclamation revealed the Three Disasters' plan.

Yes.

The Three Disasters naturally saw Shenhou's performance clearly through the live stream.

He wiped out the conqueror legion in an instant, suppressing the riots of the entire country single-handedly.

That terrifying Conqueror's Haki, exaggerated power, and diverse abilities were enough to prove that the opponent truly lived up to the reputation of the Twelve Constellations on the sea, possessing an undeniably overwhelming power.

Even though the three of them were the top members of the Beasts Pirates and were strong individuals with absolute confidence in their own abilities, they still had no way of knowing the true extent of Shenhou's strength.

And it is just as I said before.

King only cares about Kaido's ambitions.

Rather than engaging in battle with Shenhou, he would naturally choose a more profitable plan—sending two underlings to entangle Shenhou while he himself seizes Caesar and quickly retreats. This is clearly the best approach.

Jhin has absolute confidence in his speed.

As a descendant of the Lunaria race, a race of gods, his speed will be greatly increased when the flames behind his head go out.

Of course, as a trade-off, his defense will decrease.

However, this 'cost' is obviously insignificant at the moment!
Just like now
"Four!"

His figure flashed past.

"three!"

When the countdown reached '3', he had already appeared next to the iron cage where Caesar was.

"Emperor Dan Gong!"

He flapped his wings, towards everything in front of him.

"laugh!"

The next moment, the iron cage was cut in half.

"We succeeded!" *2
Seeing this, Quinn and Jack were overjoyed.

The plan went even more smoothly than they had imagined!

They were already prepared – if Shenhou tried to stop Jin, they would rush up and fight him.

But at this moment, let alone stopping it.

From beginning to end, Shenhou didn't even make a single counterattack.

"two!"

The countdown continued, and Caesar's figure fell from the cage, heading towards the embers.

"What twelve constellations? It's all just for show!"

Quinn raised an eyebrow smugly.

"Hey—Jack, once Jhin gets his hands on it, we'll prepare to retreat. You cover our retreat!"

"Yes, Brother Quinn!"

The two disaster victims said this.

But it is precisely at this moment
"What an idiot."

"They are about to die, yet they are unaware of it."

The smoke and dust in front of them had partially dissipated.

The figure of Shenhou (the Monkey King) was faintly visible.

He still held the golden cudgel, making no unnecessary movements, as if waiting for something.

But his voice clearly reached Quinn and Jack's ears.

Facing imminent death?

A moment of doubt flashed through the minds of the two disaster victims.

next moment.
"Um!?"

As Jin flew through the air, he noticed something was wrong.

Because he clearly saw it at that moment.

The appearance of 'Caesar', which fell from the cage, began to change continuously.

The expression that had been constantly crying and full of the will to survive turned ashen and pale in an instant.

His body began to rot as he fell, and you could even see the marks of torture gradually appearing on his body.

Caesar M. Courland is long dead.

What was just presented to everyone was merely an illusion, a 'dream'.

That might have been his last dream before he was tortured and killed.

【Nightmare Cave: A Dream of Survival】

Suddenly, Jin's expression changed.

He realized something was wrong and immediately tried to leave.

But it was clearly too late.

"one."

The countdown has finally ended.

The countdown sound, however, became arrogant and cold at this moment.

"Action—Welcome to the stage!"

"The insects of the lower realm."

As the words fell.

"First of all, the very first shot in this play is a static shot!"

Changes occur suddenly.

"!!!"*3
The three calamities' expressions all changed.

Because they have already realized it.

"I can't move!" *2
Whether it's Quinn as a cyborg, Jack as a fishman, or even Jhin as a Lunarian.

At that moment, they all discovered that they were completely unable to move their bodies.

It was as if some invisible force was binding them—they couldn't even use Armament Haki.

But before they could react...

"After the fixed shot, the second shot is connected."

Then the sound came again.

They then saw several of the camera Den Den Mushi turning slightly toward them.

"Second shot...close-up."

And then, with the light of the photographic Den Den Mushi.

Quinn and Jack both noticed that their strong bodies were beginning to weaken!
The next instant.
"Vector Manipulation - God-Slaying Spear - Spear of Pain!"

A hoarse voice could be heard coming from above their heads.

Thus, the flow of vectors occurs.

The four spears, formed from white bones, shot down from the sky at a speed completely imperceptible to the naked eye, towards the place where the Three Calamities and Shenhou were standing motionless!

"boom!"

The air seemed to groan under the strain as the arena floor was pierced by the bone spears in an instant.

A bottomless pit appeared out of nowhere, and the huge plumes of smoke and the deafening explosion almost shook the entire arena!
(End of this chapter)