Chapter 269: Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon
Even if he were an idiot, Waldo realized that the Dragon Hunter Pirates appearing at the palace at this exact moment was definitely not a coincidence.
Watching Habbs get kicked flying by Ian, Waldo only glanced at him before his face darkened, and he said to Ian, "Looks like you want to take full control of the Thunder Stones, huh?"
Ian nodded and replied, "That's right. I don't want to keep waiting for you to toss me a few scraps."
A strange light flickered in Waldo's eyes as he lowered his head and said, "Refining Thunder Stones isn't that complicated. It doesn't require special technology. I can transfer the entire smelting plant to you. Will you let me go then?"
Ian was quite satisfied with this answer. It seemed his guess was correct—Thunder Stone refining didn't involve much technical know-how. Even if Waldo didn't explain, the miners could figure it out with a bit of research.
He smiled and said, "Under these circumstances, do you still want to be king?"
"No!" Waldo was straightforward. "I want to leave here. Please allow me to take my belongings and go!"
"Your belongings? Of course, you can take them," Ian nodded. "But only after we've inspected your bedroom!"
Waldo was shocked. He had thought Ian was only after the Thunder Stones, never expecting that his secret had already been uncovered. Although it seemed Ian didn't know exactly what was in the bedroom, being targeted like this meant his secret would be exposed sooner or later.
"Damn it!" Waldo gritted his teeth inwardly, lowered his head, and subtly signaled to Habbs, who was lying on the ground.
Habbs, being his trusted confidant, understood Waldo's intent at a glance and nodded cautiously.
When Waldo looked up again, his eyes were filled with ferocity as he stared at Ian. "Kid, when I was a pirate, you weren't even born yet! Don't think that just because your bounty is higher than mine and you've become a Warlord, I'll be afraid of you!"
"Oh?" Ian raised an eyebrow, intrigued. Was Waldo planning to fight personally?
Waldo extended his claw-like fingers and sneered at Ian, "You might know my nickname is 'The Ripper,' but you definitely don't know how powerful the Rip-Rip Fruit's abilities really are!"
With that, Waldo crossed his hands and made a tearing motion in the air!
The moment Ian saw this, he sensed danger and immediately shouted for everyone to stay back, leaping away from his spot.
As he jumped, everything along the straight line where he had been standing turned into shreds—the long red carpet, the marble floor, and even the sword of a Dragon Hunter Pirate member who hadn't dodged in time. All of it disintegrated into fragments!
Witnessing this, Ian couldn't help but shiver. What kind of power was this?
"See that, you brat!?" Waldo laughed arrogantly at the shocked expressions of the Dragon Hunter Pirates. "This is the power of the Rip-Rip Fruit! If I want, I can tear apart any solid substance in this world. The Rip-Rip Fruit is pure destructive force!"
Ian stared at Waldo in astonishment, then looked at the ground. He realized this tearing was somewhat similar to slashing, but fundamentally different.
While slashing could also destroy an object's solid structure, turning it into countless fragments would require hundreds or thousands of cuts in an instant. Waldo, however, achieved this effect with just one motion using his Rip-Rip Fruit ability.
"Ian, be careful. His fruit ability seems to have awakened," Fujitora suddenly spoke up.
"That's right! Let me show you something even more impressive!" Waldo laughed heartily, crossed his arms, and made a larger tearing motion in all directions.
Boom! Everything within the range of his tearing motion—the palace's surrounding structures and objects—instantly turned into countless particles. The middle sections of the palace's support pillars collapsed, tables, candlesticks, and everything else affected turned to dust. Losing their support, the structures came crashing down.
Waldo's attack had been aimed at the palace's support pillars. After several pillars were destroyed in the middle, the entire palace began to teeter dangerously.
"Not good! Get out of the palace!" Ian shouted urgently.
The Dragon Hunter Pirates quickly ran out. Fortunately, they were near the entrance, so escaping was easy. Just as they retreated, the main hall of the palace collapsed with a thunderous roar.
Amidst the thick dust, everyone coughed violently. Dorry spat a few times, sneezed repeatedly, and then asked dumbly, "What did that guy just do?"
"All the objects affected by his attack had their molecular bonds torn apart," Konenai said grimly, having guessed the truth. "Otherwise, they wouldn't have turned into dust instantly."
Indeed, as Konenai suspected, Waldo had torn apart the molecular bonds of everything in his attack's path. As a scientist, he understood that solid objects maintain their shape due to the gravitational forces between molecules. Waldo had simply ripped those forces apart.
Hearing this, Ian couldn't help but mutter, "This is insane. The scariest thing is a scientist who can fight. Only someone like Waldo could come up with such a wild application of a Devil Fruit ability!"
In truth, Devil Fruit awakening was about higher-level development and application of the fruit's power. Each awakened ability seemed different. Strictly speaking, Kuma's Paw-Paw Fruit application could also be considered awakened—not only could it repel objects, but it could also expel a person's fatigue and pain. That kind of effect seemed like something only an awakened ability could achieve.
Waldo's Rip-Rip Fruit had terrifying destructive power. Imagine being caught in his tearing attack—your body would instantly disintegrate into countless molecules. If a vital area was hit, you'd be dead.
With a bounty of 340 million Berries, Waldo was indeed an extremely dangerous pirate.
"Isn't that guy afraid of burying himself by collapsing the palace?" Walnut asked at that moment.
Fujitora frowned and warned, "Ian, it seems Waldo did this on purpose. I sense that Habbs has disappeared."
Hearing this, Ian suddenly realized what was happening. Waldo had personally attacked with his fruit ability, not out of desperation for a last stand, but to cover for Habbs!
Without a doubt, Habbs had run to Waldo's bedroom!
What else were they hiding? Ian would find out when Habbs came out!
With that thought, Ian unwrapped the cursed bandages on his hands and unleashed the Black Dragon Wave toward the collapsed palace.
The rampaging demonic black dragon appeared, its extreme heat instantly melting the stones in its path, clearing a path and revealing the interior of the palace.
But Waldo was gone. He had apparently turned and run toward his bedroom the moment the palace collapsed.
Under Konenai's guidance, Ian ran toward the bedroom. The palace had collapsed, and the bedroom was no exception—most of the roof was destroyed, exposing the entire room. But when Ian looked, Waldo was nowhere to be seen.
Just then, a violent tremor shook the ground beneath the palace.
"It's underground!" Ian realized. "The bedroom was a decoy. There's a basement here!"
As if on cue, the tremors grew stronger, and with a deafening roar, a massive object broke through the rock and emerged from below.
It was a long, chimney-like structure that quickly leveled out after breaking through, followed by a huge mechanical contraption.
"A... a tank!?" Ian couldn't help but exclaim when he saw it.
The massive machine really did look like a tank. Below was a square chassis, much larger than a typical tank, while above was a turret-like structure. The chimney-like thing that had appeared first was actually the cannon barrel.
But... how to put it? If Waldo had built an ordinary tank, Ian wouldn't have been so surprised. What shocked him was the shape of the turret!
A long cannon barrel, with two round components on either side at the base. The whole cannon looked like a stick with two balls...
An Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon! This was definitely an Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon!
The bizarrely styled tank cannon reignited Ian's long-dormant urge to complain.
Just then, Waldo popped out of a hatch on top of the tank chassis, panting heavily, and laughed arrogantly at Ian, "You brat, you wanted to know my real secret? I'll tell you now! This is my masterpiece—the Thunder Roar Cannon!"
"No!" Ian said seriously. "That's not the Thunder Roar Cannon!"
"It is the Thunder Roar Cannon!" Waldo insisted.
"Absolutely not!" Ian retorted. "It's the Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon!"