Bandit Suppression

Thirty Million Volts: Thunderstorm!!

Using his momentum to leap into the air, Ron spread his hands, and countless electric eels burst forth, painting the night sky with dazzling streaks of light. The Thunderstorm now was nothing like the one he had used during the New Recruit Camp test. Not only had its power doubled, but its range had become vast beyond measure!

Dull thunderclaps rang out one after another. Within a few breaths, the entire night sky had become as bright as day.

The sky was filled with lightning shaped like arrows! The restless crackling of electricity was incessant, making everyone's scalp tingle!

Mr. 3 turned and saw the scene, and his mind went blank. Only when the Lightning Arrows began raining toward the ground and the threat of death grew stronger did he scream, "Watch out!!! Enemy attack!!!"

At the same time, he bent slightly and braced both hands against the ground. Clumps of wax rolled and wove together like white waves, forming a hard Candle Wall three meters tall and one meter thick in front of him.

Doru Doru no Mi: Candle Wall!

"Wax? Mr. 3, Gal Dino?"

High in the air, with the lightning spread across the sky illuminating the ground, Ron could clearly see the white shield below.

This man had some ability in the original story. Since no one in the early stages could counter him, even the Straw Hat Pirates had suffered quite a bit at his hands.

The wax produced by the Doru Doru no Mi was hard as iron and highly malleable. It could transform unpredictably and was effective in both offense and defense.

However, it had one fatal weakness: wax was extremely afraid of high temperatures.

And now, he had encountered Ron...

One had to know that the destructive power of lightning was mainly reflected in the terrifying heat that could instantly agitate the air and create thunder!

"For a senior officer... I could let you live a little longer..."

From high above, Ron was like a god judging the mortal world, sentencing every member of Baroque Works below. With a thought, the Lightning Arrows filling the sky drifted apart, leaving behind a blank area.

A few Lightning Arrows still shot toward Gal Dino, but if he could not even block those, there would be no point in sparing him...

Boom... crack!!

The Lightning Arrows were incredibly fast, striking the wax shield in an instant.

The hard wax that could endure flames for three seconds was pierced through by the lightning immediately. Then, the remaining arrows attacked mercilessly, allowing no opening at all. The entire shield did not even last a second before collapsing into countless streams of blazing-hot molten wax that scattered in every direction.

"Nani?!!"

The terrifying attack frightened Gal Dino out of his wits. With no time to think of anything else, he wrapped himself in wax and used the impact from the lightning explosion to launch himself high into the air.

Even senior officer Mr. 3 had been so helpless. The ordinary members naturally had no way to withstand the Thunderstorm! Every bolt that struck turned another person into charred black coal!

The deafening thunder lasted less than three seconds, but after those three seconds, towering flames engulfed the entire camp. The branches were blackened and smoking, while the ground had dried up and cracked apart.

Screams, wails, and the crackling of burning branches filled the air. The smell of ozone and the distinctive stench of roasted protein saturated the night sky.

The members still able to stand were all terrified as they stared blankly at the camp, which had become a living hell in the blink of an eye. They were not standing because they were particularly strong; they had merely been lucky enough not to get hit by the Thunderstorm.

Rustle...

Among the ruins of a house, Mr. 1 pushed aside the stone slab covering him and stared gravely into the sky.

Through the moonlight, firelight, and smoke, a figure hovered high above, his lower body still wreathed in lightning. With the bright moon at his back, he leisurely surveyed everything below. The air was filled with the foul stench of cooked human flesh. The entire scene was like the end of the world!

"Who is he? He can control lightning? A Rumble-Rumble Fruit Devil Fruit User?!"

The Navy had not widely publicized Ron's existence, and due to their BOSS's orders, they had not dared to move around freely. As a result, Daz Bones had no idea that someone like Ron had emerged in the world over the past half year.

But that did not stop him from inferring from Ron's attack that the newcomer was a Rumble-Rumble Fruit Devil Fruit User and, moreover... someone they could not fight head-on!

This was bad!

Daz Bones sighed inwardly. His countless near-death experiences had given him an exceptionally steady mindset. Glancing at the devastated camp and the many dead and wounded subordinates around him, he took a deep breath. "Mr. 3! If you aren't dead, break out now!"

Crack... crack...

Not far from him, a mostly melted ball of wax dissolved, revealing Gal Dino inside, covered in severe burns.

He had indeed used wax to block the terrifying heat brought by the lightning, but the melted wax was no less hot. Trapped inside the sphere with nowhere to hide, he had nearly been cooked alive like a beggar's chicken.

Knowing the danger of lightning, Gal Dino did not waste words. He nodded and shouted.

"Everyone, scatter and break out! He's alone! Anyone who can escape, run!"

Immediately, the surviving Baroque Works members were invigorated. Without another word, they spread their legs and dashed into the forest.

Faced with a monster that had wiped out more than half their forces in a single attack, none of them had the slightest thought of resisting. At that moment, they only wished their parents had given them two more legs so they could run faster!

But what they did not know was that Ron's objective was clearly to catch them all in one sweep. He would never allow anyone to escape. Now that they had scattered, Ron would surely chase after them. And that would give Gal Dino and Daz Bones a chance to flee. They were merely bait, cannon fodder meant to draw Ron's attention.

That was the Baroque Works style. As long as I lived, what the hell did it matter whether you died?

Besides, their opponent was only one person. No matter what, he could not possibly capture all of them at once... right?

Suddenly, Daz Bones's ears twitched, and his expression became incomparably ugly.

"Criminals must not be allowed to escape! Everyone, attack!!!"

"Yes!"

Those words had not been shouted by their people, but by someone else.

Under Ron's calm gaze, just as expected, the people who had just rushed into the forest immediately began screaming miserably. Blades flashed and crossed, gunshots rang out continuously, and the bloody stench of gunpowder rapidly filled the air.

This was a one-sided slaughter!

Against one of Garp's most elite squads, let alone these fewer than three hundred Baroque Works grunts, even an entire kingdom's regular army could be handled with ease!

Before long, Traine emerged from the forest drenched in blood, scarlet liquid dripping continuously from the Good Fast Sword in his hand. At that moment, the clouds had just dispersed, leaving half his body bathed in moonlight. He looked like a vicious ghost!

When Daz Bones saw the outfit the other side wore, despair filled his heart even more.

"Na... vy...!!"

At the same time, Ron drifted down from the sky and stepped onto the living hell he had created with his own hands.

Noticing the white rose on Ron's chest, Daz Bones suddenly understood. "I see! Fred betrayed us!"

Ron's attire was the standard uniform of the Flower Capital Guard, and the rose pinned to his chest was a privilege exclusive to the Queen's Guard. Now, the Queen of the Flower Capital's Guard and the Navy had appeared together and crippled them in one strike. Their purpose was obvious.

They had been betrayed!

Not only had Fred refused to pay them, he had even offered them to the Navy as credit!

In the Flower Capital, aside from Fred, there was no one else capable of tracking down their whereabouts!

"Bastard!!!"

Half of Gal Dino's hair had been torn off by the scalding wax, and large patches of red burns covered his body. Once he saw who the enemy was, the ruthlessness deep in the bones of this assassin erupted.

Traine drew his sword and stepped forward, his intense killing intent surging straight toward them.

"I advise you to behave yourselves! Anyone who dares resist will be killed without mercy!"

"You think I'm afraid of you?!"

The stabbing pain from his burns had completely stripped Gal Dino of his former calmness. He raised both hands, and countless streams of wax erupted forth, piling across the ground. In the blink of an eye, a massive wax doll nearly ten meters tall appeared in the center of the field.

"Are you going all out?"

Ron narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Gal Dino, whose forehead was covered in cold sweat but whose body was not protected by even a trace of wax.

"Fine. With Daz Bones here, you no longer have any reason to exist..."

"Die, Navy!!"

Gal Dino roared as he commanded the wax giant to stride forward and slash its sword down at the area with the most Navy soldiers.

Boom!!

The wax giant wielded two longswords. With the aid of the Doru Doru no Mi, they were not only hard as iron but also incredibly sharp. Combined with the terrifying weight of its enormous body, the downward slash made the ground tremble.

However, the attacked soldiers did not panic. As Garp's elite, they had long been accustomed to fighting all kinds of powerful enemies. Almost the instant the giant sword fell, they used Soru and Geppo to scatter away from where they stood.

"Hmph! Stubborn fools!"

The wax giant would not cause the soldiers any substantial losses, but its massive body gave its attacks an enormous range. The soldiers could not get close while ensuring their own safety and could only scatter to avoid its pursuit. Traine snorted angrily and was about to draw his sword and cut him down when he saw a flash of lightning appear behind Gal Dino.

That was the unique method of movement of a Rumble-Rumble Fruit Devil Fruit User: Teleportation!

Even the Teleportation created by "Tyrant" Kuma repelling air could not compare to it. It was a miracle that left behind absolutely no trace!

Traine lowered his sword, his expression unchanged as he stared at the remaining Daz Bones.

"This ends here. Surrender without resistance!"

At the same time, amid a shrill buzzing sound, Ron held a ball of lightning in his hand and thrust it upward.

Splat!!

"Aah!!"

The wax doll's movements came to an abrupt halt. Gal Dino stared wide-eyed in disbelief at the hand that had pierced through his chest.

"You... when did you..."

"You tell me?"

Splash!

As Ron pulled his hand out of Gal Dino's chest, a torrent of blood and shattered organs gushed out like a fountain, rapidly staining the ground red.

Until his death, Gal Dino never discovered when Ron had arrived behind him. Without Observation Haki or combat instincts like Luffy's, there was simply no way to deal with a technique like Teleportation.

Rumble!!!

Having lost its master, the wax giant began to collapse. It soon became nothing more than ordinary wax with no destructive power. At that moment, Ron and Traine both fixed their eyes on Daz Bones, while the latter took out Seastone handcuffs and approached.

"Those who resist will be killed without mercy!!"

"Kill!"

The soldiers' unified roar echoed through the mountains. The remaining Baroque Works members turned ashen-faced and dropped their weapons.

These Navy soldiers were too terrifying!

They simply could not win!