An Unexpected Ambush

Three days later, at dusk, Kane and his group arrived safely outside Mary Geoise.

He coldly gazed at the magnificent white city, a trace of disgust flashing through his eyes.

In his eyes, Mary Geoise was not a grand city built of bricks and stone, but an evil beast born from countless corpses, endlessly devouring the flesh and blood of the living.

A moment later, Kane withdrew his gaze.

The afterglow of the setting sun fell into his eyes, only to be swallowed by the still, black depths of his pupils.

He did not order the camp to be set up at this time as he usually did, and the Marines who continued onward did not find it strange.

Because everyone knew that without permission, no one was allowed to stay overnight near Mary Geoise, not even Marines.

After walking for who knew how long, night had completely fallen. Even Mary Geoise was no longer visible; only the patch of night sky illuminated by it could be seen in the distance.

"Set up camp."

Kane uttered the two words expressionlessly. Everyone stopped at once and began setting up tents and lighting campfires in an orderly manner.

Suddenly, two fair hands reached out from behind Kane, slender fingers gently massaging his temples.

"Do you feel any better?"

Robin's gentle voice was filled with concern.

She understood Kane best. Just from his tone, she had keenly sensed the undercurrents raging within him. He was not as calm as he appeared.

And if they had not been in public, she definitely would have used a more effective method to soothe him.

"Much better."

Kane let out a long breath, closed his eyes, and enjoyed Robin's massage. Much of the hostility in his heart dissipated.

Meanwhile, inside the prison carriage disguised as an ordinary carriage, Tsuru, who had been monitoring Doflamingo, suddenly raised her eyebrows in surprise.

She had never expected Kane, who clearly cared deeply about Mary Geoise, to merely glance at it twice before leaving.

That was for the best...

Tsuru relaxed considerably. She could sense Kane's deep-rooted aversion toward the Celestial Dragons, and she had been worried that he might cause trouble if he encountered them.

Now that he had rationally avoided Mary Geoise, Tsuru considered it undoubtedly the best choice.

"Old hag, you seem quite afraid that he'll provoke the Celestial Dragons."

A mocking smile hung on Doflamingo's face, as though he had noticed something amusing about Tsuru.

"He isn't a rule-abiding Marine. Does that scare you? Fufufu..."

Tsuru calmly flipped through the newspaper in her hands, with no intention of responding to Doflamingo at all.

Yet Doflamingo did not feel the slightest frustration at being ignored. The Seastone shackles had left him weak all over and indirectly suppressed his Haki.

However, he could still barely use Observation Haki, though its range was limited to the area around the prison carriage.

After quietly sensing his surroundings with his eyes closed, he looked in a certain direction, an interested expression appearing on his face.

"Compared with a dull old hag like you, I prefer that guy named Kane.

"Despises the Celestial Dragons? Fufufu... I'm starting to look forward to this..."

Kane had no idea that Doflamingo had developed such a strong interest in him, but even if he had known, he would not have cared.

In his view, someone about to be locked up in Impel Down was not worth wasting brainpower on.

Besides, even if he wanted to care about it now, he could not afford to be distracted, because the moment he returned to his tent that night, someone ambushed him.

"Instructor, this counts as trespassing into a private residence."

"But~ you're trespassing into my private residence too~"

"Instructor, you invited me in very enthusiastically just now."

"Did I? My head's all dizzy~ I seem to have forgotten~"

Cuckoo looked down at Kane, her pretty face flushed red and her eyes full of longing.

"After looking around for so long, what do you think of my house~"

"It's quite nice. The layout is compact, there are flowers and water, and it's very comfortable to live in."

Kane paused, then suddenly praised her.

"What surprised me most was that you actually cleared the weeds outside the house."

"Mhm~ I specifically cleaned them up before coming~ Do you like it?"

"I do."

Kane nodded seriously. Sensing Cuckoo's sincerity, he decided to repay her properly.

A full day of travel had taken a great toll on both stamina and energy, so less than an hour after camp was set up, snores were already rising everywhere.

Kane, who was on night watch, created a clone to sit by the campfire, while his real body held Cuckoo, whose face wore a blissful smile, and slowly closed his eyes.

Cuckoo gazed at Kane in a daze, feeling that every part of him—his brows, eyes, nose, and lips—looked perfect.

Just as she was about to close her eyes and fall asleep, Kane suddenly opened his, a cold glint flashing through them.

"Little Kane, what is it?"

"Someone has crept up outside the camp."

"Do you need my help?"

"No. Sleep."

"Okay~"

Seeing that Kane had no intention of getting up, Cuckoo smiled happily and obediently closed her eyes. Her arms, already tightly wrapped around Kane, tightened a little more.

In the woods outside the camp, Kane's four Flower Clones silently appeared and ran in four separate directions.

Very soon, one of the clones encountered a tall man radiating astonishing heat.

The man was huge and muscular, with three fan-shaped sections of orange hair resembling the club suit on a playing card. The moment he saw Kane's clone, he snorted and sneered.

"You actually dared to leave the camp alone. It seems you're not only arrogant, but stupid too."

"You are... Charlotte Oven?"

Kane's will descended upon the clone. After recognizing Oven, confusion appeared in his eyes before he smiled in realization.

"You came to rescue Doflamingo. Does Big Mom know about this?"

Oven immediately stopped in surprise, studying Kane with uncertainty.

"You seem to know quite a lot."

"Then she doesn't know."

Kane laughed openly and asked curiously.

"So whose idea was it? Katakuri's? No, if it had been his idea, he would have come alone and killed his way here.

"Then was it Perospero?"

Oven's expression darkened at once as he demanded, "Who exactly are you?!"

"Not important. What matters is..."

Kane deliberately paused, raised one finger, and pointed into the distance with a smiling expression.

"Your brother is about to die."

Oven was startled. Violent sounds of fighting suddenly erupted from the distant forest, mixed with several agonized screams that sounded extremely familiar.

"Counter! Bastard, what did you do to him?!"

Oven roared and charged at Kane, his enormous fist blazing with terrifying heat as it shot toward Kane's face like a meteor.

Yet Kane neither dodged nor moved. He only looked at Oven and smiled mysteriously.

"Want to know? Why not go take a look?"

The instant his words fell, Oven's fist slammed into Kane's face.

But just as Oven's fist touched Kane, Kane's body burst apart into countless flower petals.

After punching empty air, Oven hurriedly steadied himself and scanned his surroundings with uncertainty, trying to find Kane's hiding place.

However, the unceasing sounds of battle and screams from the distance made him increasingly agitated.

A moment later, unable to find Kane even after releasing his Observation Haki, Oven roared, punched through a large tree, and sprinted toward the source of the screams.

Oven was extremely fast. In just moments, he found Counter and the others.

The towering Counter was weakly kneeling on the ground, blood continuously pouring from his nose and mouth, staining the thick beard on his chest entirely red.

Beside him lay three men with faces identical to Counter's. They were Counter's quintuplet brothers.

"Counter! Cadenza! Cavalette! Gala!"

Oven's expression changed drastically as he was about to rush over, only for a figure to suddenly appear beside Counter. A black Haki-coated hand rested across Counter's throat.

"You got here so quickly? Unfortunately, you were still one step too late."

Kane looked at Oven with a smile and warned him.

"You'd better not come any closer. Otherwise, I might get startled and accidentally hurt him."

Oven decisively stopped, his face dark as he said, "Release them!"

"And then?"

Kane's hand tapped Counter's neck bit by bit as he tilted his head and asked.

"For their lives, what are you willing to pay?"

Oven hated Kane so much that his teeth itched, his cheeks trembling slightly from how tightly he clenched his jaw.

After staring at Kane for a long moment, Oven took a deep breath.

"Release Counter and the others, and we'll give up on Doflamingo."

"That's a tempting condition, but it seems you've forgotten someone."

The moment Kane finished speaking, a thunderous boom suddenly came from the distance.

Oven suddenly remembered that he and his brothers had agreed to split up and launch a surprise attack on the Marine camp, then rescue Doflamingo amid the chaos.

Now that the operation had failed, with both him and Counter's group intercepted, then Opera...

The thought had barely arisen when another massive boom rang out, this one much closer.

In the blink of an eye, a tall, fat figure appeared in Oven's field of vision. He was covered in sticky cream, his face bruised and swollen, looking utterly miserable.

Behind him, a familiar figure chased closely after him, repeatedly throwing pitch-black fists that smashed heavily into Opera's body with deafening booms.

Oven looked carefully, and his expression changed drastically.

Another Kane had arrived!