Chapter 379: Respective Discoveries
Germa's snails rampaged wildly across the island of Dressrosa.
The people of Dressrosa had never seen such enormous snails before; they scattered in fear everywhere. Although the Donquixote family had issued evacuation notices throughout the country, there were still many people and toys on the streets.
But interestingly, when these snails charged recklessly and were about to hit people, those who stepped forward to protect the citizens were not members of the Donquixote family, but the toys themselves!
Some toys, in their heroic acts of rescue, would push people to safety just in time, only to be crushed and trampled under the snails themselves.
Fujitora, along with some members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates, had been tracking Vinsmoke Gaji. The trail left by the snail ships was obvious, so there was no fear of losing it. However, when Fujitora’s Observation Haki sensed the toys stepping in to save people, he found it very strange.
In his Observation Haki perception, the outlines of these toys were peculiar. Humanoid dolls were one thing, but even lion and tiger plushies were joining in the rescues, which caught Fujitora off guard. Since he was blind, he had assumed these plushies were real animals.
“Are the animals in this country all so intelligent?” Fujitora asked in surprise.
“No, Vice Captain!” Zeke, following Fujitora, scratched his head in confusion and said, “These animals are all toys—tin ones, yarn ones. They’re really toys!”
“Toys!?” Fujitora was stunned, his expression suggesting he thought he was being fooled due to his lack of knowledge. “How can toys move? And in my perception, they truly have life! I can hear their ‘heartbeats’!”
“It’s true!” Zeke replied helplessly, so he simply grabbed a plushie running past him and handed it to Fujitora for him to feel for himself.
“Huh!?” Fujitora sensed it too and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Could it be that this is a unique species of this country?”
As Fujitora touched it, the plushie cried out in his hand, “Let me go, let me go!”
Fujitora loosened his grip, and the plushie fell to the ground without breaking. It got up and scurried away on its short little legs.
“How amazing!” Zeke and the others watched wide-eyed as the plushie ran off, surprised that it could even talk.
“No! Perhaps not,” Fujitora suddenly said. “There’s another possibility: it’s a Devil Fruit ability!”
Zeke paused, then realized, “Uncle Fujitora, do you mean…”
“The Captain once told me that this country hides an unknown darkness,” Fujitora said gravely. “If what the Captain said is true, then the origin of these toys is suspicious!”
“Let’s keep following for now,” Fujitora added. “Maybe we’ll find the answer later.”
The group quickly resumed their pursuit, but they didn’t notice that behind them, a one-legged toy soldier carrying a gun was sitting quietly on a treetop, watching them…
Meanwhile, Jinbe had been chasing Ichiji for a while and finally spotted him.
Ichiji, leading some of Germa’s snail ships and soldiers, was intercepted in the city by Donquixote family executives: Gladius of the Pop-Pop Fruit and Diamante of the Flutter-Flutter Fruit.
When Jinbe arrived, Ichiji was being surrounded and attacked by the two. However, since the battle was on land, Ichiji could use the “Wall” technique, ordering nearby Germa soldiers to step forward without hesitation and take the hits for him. Then, while Gladius and Diamante were caught off guard, he launched a counterattack.
Although Jinbe found Ichiji’s cold-blooded behavior unsettling, he hadn’t forgotten Ian’s earlier instructions. He extended his palm, letting a drop of water fall from it, and then flicked it outward with a wave of his hand.
“Water Shot!”
Diamante was hit squarely by the high-speed water droplet, and a bloody hole was punched through his waist.
“Cough, cough!” Diamante clutched his wound and retreated from the battle, shouting at Jinbe, “Damn it, Sea Knight Jinbe! Have you lost your mind? Why are you attacking us!?”
“My apologies,” Jinbe said. “Germa’s forces must be taken down by us. Brother Ian invited us here, not to just watch.”
“But this is Donquixote family territory!” Diamante roared.
“Take that up with your young master,” Jinbe replied. He had always known Doflamingo to be an evil man, so he had no goodwill toward his subordinates either.
While Jinbe was engaging, Ichiji also forced his opponent Gladius back and immediately led the Germa soldiers in a retreat.
Following Gaji’s orders, the Vinsmoke family had oddly formed a tacit understanding with Ian’s side, both seemingly intent on dragging the Donquixote Pirates down. Ichiji’s first move after escaping was to seek out places bearing Doflamingo’s flag. Generally, any location flying that flag was inevitably tied to the Donquixote Pirates—if not their property, then a place under their protection.
Once he found such a spot, Ichiji would attack and destroy it without hesitation.
This was the current situation: the Donquixote family executives desperately tried to block the Vinsmoke family and Ian’s people, but Ian and the Vinsmoke family, by unspoken agreement, deliberately targeted places with Doflamingo’s flag to fight. When they did fight, they had no real intention of killing each other—they just focused on causing destruction.
In the end, it was Doflamingo’s assets that suffered the most.
Jinbe and Ichiji were a perfect example of this, infuriating Diamante and Gladius, who were chasing after them. Damn it, you show up, cause trouble, and then run off—how shameless can you get!?
Then, during this chase, what the Donquixote family had feared finally happened. When Jinbe and Ichiji destroyed a shop, they discovered a group of people inside with explosive collars around their necks and chains binding their hands and feet.
These people were dressed in tattered clothes, covered in bloodstains, clearly long-term prisoners with haggard faces.
Jinbe was no fool. The moment he saw them, he immediately realized what they were—slaves!
Having followed Fisher Tiger in the past, he had seen plenty of slaves and recognized them at first glance. Jinbe grew furious, especially when he spotted fish-men among the slaves.
Doflamingo had always been involved in the human trafficking business. This shop was one of his operations—not an open market like Sabaody Archipelago, but a kidnapping site. On the surface, it was a clothing store, but in reality, it was where the Donquixote Pirates abducted people. Single men and women who came to buy clothes would often be knocked out by anesthetic gas in the fitting rooms, waking up with slave collars already locked around their necks.
Most of these captives were tourists visiting Dressrosa. Their disappearances went unnoticed, and after stockpiling them for a while, the Donquixote Pirates would transport a batch of slaves to Sabaody Archipelago for sale.
As a fish-man, Jinbe detested such practices more than anything. When he discovered the evil of human trafficking hidden here, his face twisted with rage.
“What is this!?” Jinbe punched out, knocking down all the thugs rushing out of the shop, then freed his fellow fish-man. After learning the truth, he no longer doubted Ian!
“Kill him!” Gladius and Diamante gritted their teeth, ready to go all out. Diamante used his Flutter-Flutter Fruit ability to make the entire ground ripple like a flag, while Gladius swelled up like a giant spiky balloon and charged at Jinbe, intending to blow him up.
However, Jinbe maintained his balance perfectly on the shaking ground. When Gladius came crashing in, he suddenly raised his wooden-clogged foot and delivered a fierce spinning kick, striking Gladius.
“7000 Tile Spinning Kick!”
The immense impact caused Gladius to explode instantly, but the blast didn’t harm Jinbe at all. Instead, Gladius was sent flying back, coughing up blood from the kick.
Although land wasn’t Jinbe’s strongest battlefield, his Fish-Man Karate alone was more than enough to give Gladius and Diamante a hard time. As a fellow Warlord of the Sea, Jinbe was in no way inferior to Doflamingo! The two executives were no match for him.
While Jinbe gradually uncovered the truth of the human trafficking on the island, Ace and Sabo, in their pursuit of Niji, also discovered a massive arms trade taking place…