Chapter 521

He gritted his teeth and persisted: "If you continue, I believe someone will arrive very soon. By then, you will receive even harsher punishment from the Imperial Court!"

After hearing what Luo said, Li Wei stopped his actions.

Li Wei's expression turned sinister: "Hmph! You're right, it would indeed be troublesome if others discovered this. After all, I am the Superintendent of the Fifth Division of the Imperial Guard."

"But what if everyone here were dead? Then no one would know about these things."

【What!!! A shocking revelation! The Superintendent of the Fifth Division of the Imperial Guard is actually a turncoat?】

【A traitor managed to infiltrate an Imperial Court institution like the Imperial Guard?】

【No way! If that's the case, then we finally know why no one came to rescue those children after they were captured!】

【Has the Imperial Guard colluded with Caesar? No wonder Caesar succeeded!】

The children who had been guarded by Usopp and Nami were no longer affected by the Hypnosis Grass.

One after another, they woke up from their stupor.

"Candy! I want candy!"

Driven mad, they broke free from their chains and began to run wildly in every direction.

"Oh no! Catch them quickly!" Usopp and Nami were startled by the sight.

"Usopp, can you still use the Hypnosis Grass to put them to sleep?" Nami asked urgently.

"I'm afraid..." Usopp frowned, "It won't work. The effect of the Hypnosis Grass is too short-lived; it can't stop the children from running away in their frenzy."

Usopp and Nami were completely out of options. Since they couldn't harm the children, they could only let them run.

The screams of the children filled the entire area.

Soon, they attracted Caesar.

Caesar appeared before the children holding a bag of candy: "Oh~ my children! Look what I've brought!"

"Master!"

"It's Master, he's come to find us! And he brought the candy we wanted to eat!"

"Waaah!"

Upon seeing Caesar, the children all cried and rushed toward him, surrounding him in a tight circle.

Their faces were covered in tear tracks, yet they looked exceptionally happy.

"Mmhmm." Caesar hummed softly, reached out his right hand to stroke the children's little cheeks, and said gently: "My darlings!"

When Luffy woke up, he discovered he had been tied up and locked in a cage.

"Ah, my whole body feels weak!" Luffy slumped on the ground, unable to muster any strength at all.

"These chains are forged from Seastone, specifically designed to target users of ancient secret arts like us!" Smoker explained from the side.

"Eh?" Luffy was stunned: "Smokey? Why are you here too? Hahaha! We really are fated!"

Smoker, however, didn't want to engage with Luffy; he couldn't believe he had fallen so low as to be locked in the same cell as a wanted criminal of the Imperial Court.

"Heh heh! Looking at you two, you're still quite spirited!" Li Wei, who had walked over slowly, mocked them.

Luffy and Luo looked up at Li Wei, their eyes filled with vigilance.

Tashigi and Smoker, however, wore expressions of shock; this guy was their superior, the Superintendent of the Fifth Division of the Imperial Guard!

Why would he appear here, and why was he looking at them with such an expression?

"You two, don't go shouting!" Li Wei seemed to realize he had lost his composure. He immediately put on an air of authority and clenched his fists: "If you dare to make a sound, I guarantee you will suffer even more torture!"

Li Wei then scanned the room, his gaze lingering on Luffy: "The lineup in this cage is truly luxurious! I didn't expect even you to be captured by Caesar and brought here!"

"Ah! I was just too careless before. If I could fight him one more time, he would definitely not be able to beat me!" Luffy said, refusing to admit defeat!

Li Wei sneered: "Tch! A brat who only knows how to talk big!"

After inspecting them, Li Wei sat down on a chair next to Monet and began to drink tea.

Smoker shouted at him: "There are still many Imperial Guards from the Fifth Division outside the workshop. They are all your subordinates! Do you intend to just stand by and watch them die?"

Li Wei turned to look at Smoker upon hearing this and scoffed: "Of course! What does their life or death have to do with me? Right now, I care most about Caesar's experiments. With more test subjects, they will be completed faster, won't they?"

"Bastard! You have betrayed the Imperial Court! You have betrayed the Imperial Guard!" Tashigi roared.

"Betrayal?" Li Wei shook the tea leaves in his cup. "We are killing by imperial decree; how could this possibly count as betrayal?"

"How is that possible! How could the Imperial Court issue such an order!" Tashigi retorted: "You're lying to me!"

Luo, standing to the side, looked at Li Wei with a sinister gaze and explained to Smoker and the others: "Of course the Imperial Court wouldn't issue such an order! The order he heard was issued by Doflamingo. Back when Li Wei wasn't famous yet, Doflamingo had him join the Fifth Division of the Imperial Guard."

"Doflamingo!" Smoker's pupils constricted sharply.

"Impossible!" Tashigi muttered: "Why did no one notice that a traitor had infiltrated the Imperial Guard! And this traitor even climbed to such a high position!"

【Doflamingo? Isn't he one of the Seven Warlords? He performed quite fiercely during the Great Battle of the Forbidden City!】

【Doflamingo is playing a long game, actually planting a mole inside the Imperial Guard! As expected of a big shot, this layout is truly impressive!】

【But if the Imperial Court finds out he did this, his position as a Warlord will likely be lost.】

【What's a Warlord? Doflamingo probably has even greater ambitions!】

"Doflamingo is indeed very ambitious!" Luo glared fiercely at Li Wei: "No one can take what he wants!"

"That's why he needs to use Caesar's power to help him." Li Wei sneered: "You trash, are you even worthy of being called a Warlord? And! Luo, aren't you talking too much!"

As he spoke, Li Wei took out Luo's heart and began to squeeze it repeatedly.

The intense pain made Luo let out an involuntary scream.

He clutched his chest, not daring to continue speaking.

Luffy also recalled the person named Doflamingo: "That bird-man? I didn't expect him to be involved in this too!"

"Luffy! You must not underestimate him!" Robin warned Luffy; her understanding of Doflamingo was much deeper than Luffy's.

Back when she was training with the Revolutionary Army, she had heard that Doflamingo controlled the underground arms trade.

And it was said that Doflamingo had an elite force of several thousand men under his command.

Such a massive force was enough to let him run rampant.

This was a venomous snake hidden in the darkness; once bitten, one would surely die!

Meanwhile, Nami, upon seeing Caesar appear, immediately questioned him: "You are Caesar? The mastermind behind kidnapping these children?"

"That's right, it's me." Caesar shrugged.

"You heinous guy, actually using these innocent children for experiments!" Nami looked at Caesar with anger: "Give them the antidote!"

"Give them the antidote? Wouldn't that mean all my hard work was for nothing?"

Caesar spread his hands: "Since they've already been sent here, I must study them properly."

Caesar acted as if it were none of his business, and Nami's eyes turned red with anxiety: "Don't you know they are just ordinary children? You turned them into monsters! Aren't you afraid of retribution!"

Caesar smiled faintly: "Then what about this? Also, you need to understand that it is you who are making them suffer right now. Who told you to let them out?

If they had stayed with me, they wouldn't be suffering from the flare-up of this poison."

The corners of Caesar's mouth curled up, and a wicked expression appeared on his face: "I will train them to be the most loyal slaves, so they will be able to obey me forever!"

Nami gritted her teeth. She wanted to rush up and beat Caesar, but her legs felt like they were filled with lead and she couldn't take a single step!

She knew full well the gap in strength between herself and Caesar.

Usopp, standing to the side, had already had his anger meter explode due to Caesar's remarks!

"You guy full of poisonous miasma, taste this move! Special Move—Firebird Star!" Usopp aimed his slingshot at Caesar.

A fireball shot toward Caesar instantly and expanded rapidly.

Caesar frowned, but he didn't block the projectile!

The moment the fireball neared him, it vanished without a trace!

Usopp's expression stiffened, and he retreated two steps in terror.

"What... what is going on!" Usopp asked, trembling.

"Fire is indeed effective against miasma, but I extinguished it before the flames could touch me." Caesar shrugged, revealing a playful smile: "So, you can't even hurt me."

Usopp gritted his teeth: "You can extinguish fire? Can the 'Miasma Art' also grant you this ability?"

"You even know I practice the 'Miasma Art'? It seems Luo gave you quite a bit of intelligence! The original 'Miasma Art' indeed wouldn't grant me this ability!

But what if I improved it? I use the method of controlling miasma to control the surrounding air, which allows me to create a vacuum state around me. Fire cannot burn in a vacuum."

"Damn it!" Usopp cursed. This guy actually possessed such heaven-defying techniques!

【What? Ancient secret arts can be improved? I have to say, Caesar is truly a genius!】

【It's a pity! If he hadn't done those conscience-less things, he definitely could have become one of the world's top talents!】

【No wonder Luffy and the others were in that suffocating state before; it turns out Caesar was the one behind it.】