The Perfected Weapon of Mass Destruction

Inside Caesar's facility, the broadcast shows Smiley taking the bait. Caesar watches with a wide grin and pants, "HAA," while someone cries, "HE ATE IT!!!" The giant living poison mass gulps down the special food, and the observers announce, "SMILEY... HAS EATEN THE FOOD!!!" Smiley's body trembles and gurgles with a wet "GOBOH" as Caesar looks on. The experiment has crossed the point of no return: the creature made from the old H2S poison gas has swallowed the ingredient Caesar prepared to transform it into Shinokuni.

Caesar calls out, "COME, SMILEY!!" and laughs, "SHURORORO...!! IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO BE REBORN!!" Around him, the prisoners remain tied up: Luffy, Law, Robin, Smoker, Tashigi, and the others can only watch. The page cuts through their faces as Smiley roars "RRAOOOGHH!!" and begins to change. Luffy, still bound in seastone, can only comment in confusion, "WHAT A HUGE FROG!!" while Vergo, Law, Zoro, Robin, and Monet stare at the monitor. Smiley's body ripples and heaves, no longer merely moving but undergoing the transformation Caesar has been waiting for.

Outside, Smiley's transformation terrifies everyone fleeing across the frozen land. The creature bellows "RGH QQQQQ HHH!!" while people scream and run. One of Caesar's men shouts, "IT'S COMING!! SOMETHING'S STARTING TO HAPPEN!!!" Another yells, "RUN FOR IT!! JUST KEEP RUNNING!!!" and curses the broken sledge: "DAMN IT...!! WHY DID THE SLEDGE HAVE TO BREAK?!! AT A TIME LIKE THIS...!!" Brook, Sanji, Zoro, and Kin'emon keep running through the snow. Sanji says, "IT'S ACTING STRANGE SINCE IT ATE THAT CANDY...!!" Brook wonders, "PERHAPS IT WAS VERY DELICIOUS...?" but Zoro cuts through the speculation: "WHATEVER IS HAPPENING, IT CANNOT BE GOOD!!" Kin'emon agrees, knowing even Caesar's soldiers are fleeing in terror.

Smiley swells into a towering mound and groans with a deep "GGGHH DDDOOO HHHHH" and "RRRRR RRGG GGG..." Below it, the broken dragon sledge lies useless, and the bag of apples nearby begins to matter. The transformation is shown quietly and precisely: one apple in the bag changes shape, gaining the curled pattern of a Devil Fruit. While Smiley's old body collapses into gas, the fruit power appears to leave it and reincarnate into the nearest fruit. The page makes Caesar's process visible without explanation: Smiley is dying, and the Sala Sala no Mi, Model Axolotl is returning to the world.

The newly transformed Devil Fruit finishes forming while Smiley's remains slump in the snow. Caesar watches through the broadcast and says, "FAREWELL, SMILEY...!! YOUR TASK IS DONE." He then summons the new weapon: "NOW, COME FORTH...!! WEAPON OF SLAUGHTER, SHINOKUNI...!!! CHANGE THE FACE OF THIS ISLAND FOREVER!!!" Smiley's sacrifice is not treated as a loss by Caesar but as a completed step. The beloved "pet" has been reduced to a trigger, and what rises from its body is not a creature anymore but the perfected poison gas weapon.

Shinokuni erupts across the snow in a massive burst, filling the frozen plain with a dense, spreading cloud. People at the edge of the scene stare in horror and shout, "WHAT THE...?!!" One asks, "SMILEY... TURNED TO SMOKE?!" Another realizes the truth: "NO... IT'S GAS!!!" The cloud rolls outward from the point where Smiley collapsed, swallowing the landscape at terrifying speed. It is no longer a monster that can be dodged or outrun by reading its movements; it is a field of death expanding in every direction.

Caesar's soldiers are the first to be overtaken. They yell, "WAIT...!" "NO!" and "HURRY UP!!!" while the gas pours over the snow behind them. One man screams, "AAGH!! THE GAS IS ALREADY -" and another cries, "HELLL LPPP... MEEE..." before the cloud reaches him. The Shinokuni gas catches a fleeing soldier mid-run and freezes him into a pale, statue-like figure with one hand stretched out. The effect is immediate and unnatural: the victim does not simply collapse, but hardens in place, trapped in the exact pose of his failed escape.

The runners see what the gas does and panic. Someone screams, "AAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!!!" while others shout, "RUN FOR IT!!" and "DON'T LET THE GAS REACH YOU!!!" Caesar, watching through his broadcast, laughs, "SHURORO!!! SHURORORORORORO...!! I'VE DONE IT!!! IT IS A SUCCESS!! NOBODY CAN ESCAPE IT NOW...!! SHURORO!! THIS IS PERFECT!!!" He explains the improvement: people could escape the poison before because they could still move, but Shinokuni clings to the body like ash, penetrates the skin, and instantly paralyzes the whole body. He demands to see more of "this vision of hell."

Across the New World, the spectators watch Shinokuni's victims freeze. Robin, Luffy, and the others inside the facility see the same horror and react in shock. Luffy says, "PEOPLE ARE... FREEZING UP..." while figures outside cry "HEEELP!!" and "MASTEEER!" before turning into statues. One underworld viewer watches from a room with a bottle nearby as Caesar's demonstration continues. The page shows what the brokers are really buying: a weapon that turns fleeing people into motionless corpses while the victims are still screaming for help.

Outside Caesar's research facility, people stare at the terrible transmission and finally understand where the images come from. Someone asks, "HEY...! WHAT IS THIS TERRIBLE TRANSMISSION?!" Another says, "ALL THOSE PEOPLE DYING... THEY LOOKED KIND OF LIKE CAESAR'S FREAKISH SUBORDINATES..." Others wonder, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT PURPLE SMOKE...?!!" and "WHAT COUNTRY ARE THESE VISUALS COMING FROM?!" Then the truth hits: "DON'T TELL ME ALL OF THAT WAS HAPPENING HERE ON THIS ISLAND?!!" The gas cloud rises behind the ruins, and the G-5 Marines panic. "OH, CRAP!! WE'VE GOTTA RUN, OR WE'LL END UP FROZEN DEAD LIKE STATUES LIKE ALL THOSE PEOPLE!!" They pound the sealed doors and curse Caesar because the facility is the only safe place left.

The Straw Hat samurai group keeps fleeing through the snow as the cloud gains on them. Brook stretches ahead with a scream of "RUN FOR IIIIIIIIT!!!!" while Sanji, Zoro, and Kin'emon follow. Zoro says, "RUN LIKE THE WIND! NO, FASTER!!" and warns, "IF ANYONE GETS LEFT BEHIND, I AIN'T GOING BACK FOR THEM!!!" Ahead, they notice a creature and ask, "IS THAT A LIZARD...?" and "THERE'S SOME KIND OF CREATURE UP AHEAD!" It is not yet clear to them whether the creature is a threat or a possible escape route, but the pressure is absolute: Shinokuni is behind them, and stopping means death.

The creature ahead is revealed as a dragon. Someone shouts, "THAT'S NO LIZARD!!" and another answers, "IT'S A DRAGON!!!" Kin'emon reacts with horror, "A DRAGON?!!" while Zoro immediately sees the practical use: "IF WE CAPTURE THAT THING, DO YOU THINK WE CAN FLY OUT OF HERE...?!!" Kin'emon, despite his hatred of dragons, calls it a "GREAT IDEA!!" Back inside the facility, Luffy sees the scene through the screen and cries, "AHHH!!! HEY, LOOK!! THAT'S ZORO AND THE OTHERS!!" He realizes, "THEY'RE BEING CHASED BY THE SMOKE!!"

The prisoners watch Zoro's group running outside. Luffy asks what they are doing, and Robin notes, "OH, LOOK. THE SAMURAI SEEMS TO BE BACK IN ONE PIECE." Luffy, still thinking about escape, says, "YOU'RE RIGHT! DO YOU THINK HE'LL LEND ME HIS LEGS THEN...? I MEAN, ROBIN!! THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO BE THINKING ABOUT THAT!!" Law, still weakened by seastone, hears Luffy shout, "YOU GUYS!! THAT SMOKE IS REALLY DANGEROUS!!" and gasps that he is caught in kairoseki. Caesar laughs at the sight and says, "AS ONE MIGHT EXPECT, YOUR FRIENDS SEEM TO BE QUITE THE SURVIVORS...!! BUT THEY WILL RUN OUT OF BREATH EVENTUALLY... AND THEN, THE GAS WILL TAKE THEM!!!" He declares that the whole island will become "a land of death" and that nobody outside the facility will live to see another day.

Caesar turns the threat inward. A cage begins to rise, and he says that the deaths will include everyone inside. He boasts, "IN THE FACE OF MY LAUGHTER WEAPON, SHINOKUNI... EVEN A 400,000,000 BOUNTY PIRATE... A MARINE VICE-ADMIRAL... AND A ROYAL SHICHIBUKAI WILL BE UTTERLY HELPLESS!!" Luffy, Smoker, and Law are named as trophies for the broadcast. Caesar says they will prove his weapon to the world. Meanwhile Chopper, hidden elsewhere in the facility, panics after finding a note. He reads, "SOMETHING TERRIBLE'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO LUFFY AND THE OTHERS...!! WHAT SHOULD I...?" and stammers, "AA... AA... AAAHHHH!! WHAT SHOULD I DO?! WHAT SHOULD I DO?!"

A piece of paper reaches Chopper, and he wonders, "PAPER?!" then asks, "WHO'S THIS FROM?" The note says, "DON'T DO A THING." Outside, something huge drops from the facility with a "GIGOGOGO," and the Marines shout, "SMOKE-YAN!!!" and "TASHIGI-CHAN!!!" They realize the prisoners are still trapped: "THEY'RE ALL STILL CAPTIVES!! IT'S NO GOOD!!" and "DAMMITALL... WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!" One Marine calls up, "YOU GUYS...!!" The scene shifts from blind panic to a possible opening, because the cage containing the captives has been moved into view while the Marines still gather below.

The G-5 Marines call to Tashigi and Smoker: "CAPTAIN-CHAN!! VICE-ADMIRAL!!" and ask, "WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO US ALL?!" One cries, "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!" Tashigi apologizes from the cage, but Robin looks at the facility with a cooler eye and says it is well designed and fit to carry quite large materials. Luffy says, "WELL, IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE IN TROUBLE!!" while Tashigi remarks that Vergo's appearance was an unexpected turn even for Mister Straw Hat. Law cuts through the despair. "WE CAN'T LET OURSELVES STUMBLE AT A LITTLE SETBACK...!!" he says. "THE PLAN IS STILL THE SAME... AND DON'T SCREW UP THIS TIME...!! IT'S TIME TO STRIKE BACK."

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