Chapter 275

All the energy cannons melted, fused, and condensed into one larger energy cannon, its muzzle absurdly one meter in diameter!

"Aaaah—Super Cannon! Fire!"

A one-meter-thick beam of energy shot out just as the "Don Quixote" burst out of the smoke, directly heading toward the incoming blast...

Buffalo immediately halted his Gura Gura no Mi ability, letting the "Don Quixote" free-fall to dodge the first wave.

"Don't think you can escape!"

The energy cannon swerved, the beam relentlessly chasing after the "Don Quixote."

Buffalo activated his Gura Gura no Mi ability again, "driving" through the air with sharp, erratic turns to evade the energy beam.

During this time,

the energy beam struck numerous buildings, explosions echoing nonstop, sparking localized panic as everyone stared in horror at the Straw Hat Pirates, fearing they'd be caught in the crossfire.

This reckless fighting style made Baccarat's expression darken.

"Captain Sima, won't you rein in your crew?" Baccarat reminded him.

Sima Di casually opened his Golden Treasury and tossed out gold bars taller than a man.

"They're having fun—this counts as compensation."

This made Baccarat's face even darker.

Is this about money?

But Sima Di didn't care.

He used a mental link to send a signal to Franky and the others—

【"Make it even noisier!"】

That suited the three perfectly!

"Aaaah—Then let's make it exciting!"

Franky dispersed the energy cannon, transformed back into Super Memory Facing Nami, and attached multiple energy thrusters to the turtle car, then flew up to join the "Don Quixote."

The race had officially become an aerial battle!

The audience below went wild!

After watching ground battles so often, this aerial combat was truly thrilling!

"Great job, Franky! Finally, it's my turn!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly.

He immediately activated Gear Second!

"Gum-Gum—Rocket!"

A barrage of punches slammed toward the "Don Quixote"—Gladious, who had remained silent until now, finally moved.

He hurled a handful of pebbles that collided with Luffy's fists, instantly exploding into torrents of flame, sending both flying vehicles tumbling far away.

Had Luffy not activated Armament Haki in time, he would have been injured.

"That's it!" Usopp shouted excitedly, "Everyone! I want this Devil Fruit—the Barrier-Barrier Fruit!"

No wonder he was so excited!

It grants ordinary pebbles explosive power capable of blasting Gear Second Luffy away!

If I could use this to enhance my sniping...

Wouldn't that just launch me straight to the top?

"Cough!" Sanji warned: "Usopp, even if you kill the opponent, you don't know where the Devil Fruit will appear—don't get too excited."

Kid!

Don't forget there are outsiders here!

If word gets out about the Devil Fruit Separation Serum, the Straw Hat Pirates will never have peace again!

Usopp snapped back to reality and glanced at Baccarat.

He feigned regret: "If we can't get it, that's really too bad... we'll just have to leave it to luck."

"Oh? Luck?" Baccarat smiled with deep meaning.

As the user of the Mera Mera no Mi, she had no shortage of luck.

Sima Di also smiled.

The Mera Mera no Mi...

That's an incredibly overpowered Devil Fruit!

If it were alone, it might lack direct combat enhancement.

But if combined with another Devil Fruit...

"Who should I give it to?"

"It requires touch to manipulate the target's luck—probably awakens to remote use eventually, but that's too far off..."

"Robin's Mera Mera no Mi would fit perfectly, but she only has one Devil Fruit slot left—better save it for the even more broken Ope Ope no Mi."

As he pondered,

the aerial battle above reached its peak!

Luffy and Gladious exchanged relentless blows!

Franky, having devoted most of his Super Memory Facing Nami to flight, lacked sufficient material to reinforce himself and was pinned down by Baby-5's relentless artillery barrage.

Thus...

Brook was left alone.

"Yohohoho—"

"Since everyone's having so much fun, I'll provide the soundtrack!"

Brook pulled a violin from his spiky hair and placed his double-edged sword across the strings as a bow.

"Boom—"

Green soul-fire ignited the entire violin.

Seeing this, the Straw Hat Pirates below tightened their expressions!

"Di! Quickly!"

"I don't want to hear this piece!"

【Domain of Silence!】

A layer of invisible force expanded, cutting off all sounds from the outside world; waves of sound abruptly vanished.

Baccarat, just outside the barrier, instinctively sensed something was wrong!

But it was too late to stop it...

"A Song of the Yellow Springs to claim souls, for everyone!"

"Yo-ho-ho-ho—"

The melodious sound of the violin echoed through this space, even drowning out the audience's enthusiastic cheers; green flames immediately ignited in most people's eyes, and their faces wore expressions of fanaticism.

"King of Music!"

"King of Music!"

"King of Music!"

The unified shouts were as if this were his personal concert.

And,

wisps of green flame floated from these people toward Brook.

Even Baccarat felt dizzy, vaguely as if she were about to lose her reason...

Fortunately, as her body swayed,

she stepped one step into the Domain of Silence opened by Sima Di; with the melodious and blood-boiling violin sound gone from her ears, she gradually came to her senses.

"Yo-ho-ho-ho—"

"It truly makes one's blood boil!"

Brook received those green flames; the soul-fire around him surged accordingly, engulfing his entire person, transforming into a pillar of flame forming a fireball tens of meters high, its outline still showing Brook playing the violin.

Only...

streams of green flame moved in rhythm with the sound waves, transforming into countless sharp swords shooting toward the "Donquixote"!

Gladius and Baby-5 had no spare strength to act; Buffalo could only repeat his previous tactic, stopping his Toge Toge no Mi ability and free-falling in an attempt to dodge Brook's green-flame flying swords.

"Gao—"

Brook's violin sound suddenly grew urgent,