Ain floated in the air, laughing as she watched Hera being held by Kuina. She floated over, lightly kissed Hera on the cheek, and looked at Kuina: "Actually, I kissed her to thank Hera for the devil fruit she gave me."
She then looked at Kuina: "You can't hog the Captain all to yourself."
Kuina's face also flushed: "Who said I was hogging her? It was just a kiss."
After speaking, she kissed Hera on the other cheek, the one Ain hadn't kissed: "Now we're even."
Hera, who had suffered consecutive critical hits, stood frozen in place. This was quite stimulating for a pure and innocent girl like her.
After Kuina finished kissing, her face also turned red. She quickly walked a few steps forward, then saw Hera still frozen in place and fiercely said, "Why are you standing there stunned? Hurry up and move! We still have Caesar Clown waiting for us to defeat."
After she finished, she whispered in a voice only she could hear: "I won't let you get ahead of me, you Homewrecker."
Although there were a few minor interludes along the way, under Monet's guidance, Hera and her group quickly arrived in front of Caesar Clown's Research Base.
Monet introduced the situation: "Caesar Clown just arrived here recently. He is currently modifying those prisoners with paralyzed lower limbs, but you must be careful when approaching him.
He is a Logia Devil Fruit user of the Gas-Gas Fruit. He releases highly toxic gas, and anyone without Haki must absolutely not come into contact with him."
Hera nodded. Currently, Ain and Kuina in the team had awakened Armament Haki, and Nami and Perona were close. Furthermore, Reiju could absorb poison gas, so they were essentially unafraid of the Gas-Gas Fruit.
However, Hera remembered one thing and reminded Nami: "Besides being poisonous, gas can also explode. You must be careful when using your abilities."
After thinking further, she asked Monet, "Miss Monet, can you lure him out? His devil fruit ability is hard to deal with in an enclosed space. If we can lure him into an open area, we can minimize the risk."
Immediately after, Hera's Observation Haki swept inside, revealing only one person with a slightly powerful aura.
Monet nodded. The only thing that had changed about her was that her admiration for Doflamingo had shifted to admiration for Hera; otherwise, she was the same. She understood Caesar Clown's personality very well and naturally knew how to bring him out: "Understood, Boss."
Monet walked into the Laboratory alone, and soon after, Caesar Clown walked out.
His unique laugh was heard first: "Shurorororororo, did a giant really run onto this small island? That truly is a heaven-sent surprise."
Caesar Clown had sharp, long black hair, two horns on his head, stood over three meters tall, wore purple lipstick and eye makeup, and had a very pale face.
He had a flat nose, long eyebrows, and particularly long limbs. He wore a light blue coat with the letters "GAS" printed on the four sides, and underneath, he wore an orange-yellow diagonally striped suit. He wore purple-black gloves with the letters "CC" printed on them.
As he walked out, he observed his surroundings, finding no sign of a giant. Feeling tricked, he angrily turned to look at Monet: "Didn't you say there was a giant's corpse? Where is the corpse?"
Then his expression changed. Behind him, there was only an Ice Wall; Monet was nowhere to be seen.
Realizing something was wrong, he didn't have time to consider Monet's betrayal. His body moved first, and several streams of Hypnotic Gas erupted from his body, spreading around.
Reiju's Raid Suit opened its wings, and the Hypnotic Gas was immediately sucked into the Raid Suit.
Caesar Clown wanted to turn into his Logia form and sneak away during the confusion, but he felt a tingling sensation coming from behind. Nami had already activated her Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and electricity gathered in her hands, ready to be launched at any moment.
Ain floated in the air, her gun pointed at Caesar Clown's forehead, ready to fire: "Don't move."
Kuina and Hera's swords, coated with Haki, also stopped right before they could strike him.
Caesar Clown immediately raised both hands and said directly, "Don't shoot, I surrender."
The shadow of the City of Devouring Time promptly handed over a Sea Stone Handcuff. Seeing his life threatened, Caesar Clown obediently took it and put it on himself.
Caesar Clown was originally just a Scientist with a 300 million bounty, and his bounty was largely due to his research capabilities; his actual combat strength was not particularly high.
Under the calculated ambush by Hera and the others, Caesar Clown was controlled instantly upon meeting them.
Caesar Clown was somewhat unwilling: "Why? I just got here, how did you find me? I haven't even had time to modify all those prisoners."
Hera said, "Don't think too much about it. You will still have a chance to use your scientific talent, but the Logia devil fruit ability is a bit wasted on you."
The City of Devouring Time surrounded him and used simple and brutal methods to sever the connection between the Gas-Gas Fruit and Caesar Clown. Ignoring the agonizing pain of Caesar Clown, the Gas-Gas Fruit was extracted once again.
Hera looked at the half-dead Caesar Clown. The phantom of the ability appeared, and white light was injected. Caesar Clown's eyes gradually became hazy, and he was quickly reformed.
After the reformation was complete, Hera released her control over him. Caesar Clown knelt on the ground, his gaze turning into adoration as he looked at Hera: "Milady."
Hera nodded. Thinking of something, she said, "Where is your Slime? Summon it."
Caesar Clown said in surprise, "As expected of Milady, you even know that I just compressed the poison gas on the island."
He then pressed a button, releasing the poison gas monster "Blarme," which he had created by compressing H2S Toxic Gas, and introduced it.
"Through cutting-edge technology, it devoured the Axolotl devil fruit, Six-Horned Axolotl Form, and transformed into its current appearance."
Hera looked at the giant, pink, axolotl-dinosaur-like monster. The compressed poison gas on its body had even turned liquid and was flowing downwards. She frowned: "That's disgusting. Can't you make it smaller?"
Caesar Clown saw that Hera was unhappy and said with a terrified expression, "Milady, this was made by compressing the poison gas from almost the entire island, which is why it's so large."
The Slime seemed to sense Hera's displeasure and crawled toward her, attempting to attack her.
Reiju said, "We just need to extract the poison gas inside this Slime, right?"
Caesar Clown nodded: "That is correct, but the Slime's body contains concentrated, highly potent poison. An ordinary person couldn't withstand it at all."
Reiju placed her hand on the Slime's head, and the Butterfly Wing-like Cloak on her back opened up, absorbing the Slime's toxicity.
As the pink liquid continuously flowed into Reiju's wings, the Slime grew smaller and smaller, until it was only the size of a normal lizard. Its not-so-clever head looked at the suddenly large group of people and felt fear.
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