Chapter 390: Destroying the Evidence
Vinsmoke Yonji had finally brought reinforcements.
For a trivial matter, Big Mom naturally wouldn't come personally, so she sent her first son, Perospero.
As one of the four emperor-level beings ruling the New World, the power of a Yonko was no joke. The Whitebeard Pirates had 16 fleets, the Big Mom Pirates had 34 ministers and three Sweet Commanders, and Kaido had the Three Calamities and his Beast Army. As for Red-Haired Shanks, though the youngest, he was equally formidable.
Following Judge's instructions, Yonji contacted the Big Mom Pirates and proposed an alliance, offering to contribute Germa's scientific technology to Big Mom. The condition was that the Big Mom Pirates first rescue Judge, Ichiji, Niji, Reiju, and the others.
Charlotte Linlin, Big Mom, said this was no problem at all. So Perospero, the Candy Minister, led a portion of the Big Mom Pirates' crew and set off with Yonji for Dressrosa Island. They entered the island almost right after Ian and his group.
However, just like Jack the Drought, Perospero's fleet didn't enter through the regular port.
As the world's largest underground arms dealer and dark broker, Doflamingo had established multiple underground ports on Dressrosa Island. These ports were guarded and controlled by the Donquixote Pirates, unknown to most people.
Perospero knew about these underground ports for another reason. When they entered one, they happened to encounter Ace, Sabo, and their group.
Sabo wanted to procure weapons for the Revolutionary Army. After discovering Doflamingo's secret arms smuggling, he didn't hesitate to seize them. He and Ace led the charge, searching the city for the Donquixote Pirates' weapon transport points. This underground port was one they had just found.
But before they could move the weapons, Perospero ambushed them at the port. Perospero was a Lick-Lick Fruit user, essentially a candy man. He could produce sticky syrup from his body, which could not only mix with steel powder for construction but also trap people. Syrup infused with Haki could even hold Logia Devil Fruit users.
Ace and Sabo were caught off guard, and their entire group was captured by Perospero.
As for Nico Robin and her group, they stumbled in by accident. But Robin was cautious. When she saw Perospero capture Ace and the others, she immediately hid with Matthew and Dorry.
Rushing out to save Ace and Sabo was out of the question, so they could only watch for now.
When Yonji appeared, he threw a punch at Ace's face, drawing blood from his mouth. Though the Germa Group was currently allied with Ian in causing chaos on Dressrosa, they were still enemies at heart, so Yonji struck without hesitation.
Ace spat out a mouthful of blood, grinned at Yonji, then turned to Perospero and asked, "What are you going to do with us? Kill us?"
"No, no, no!" Perospero shook his candy cane. "You're from the Whitebeard Pirates. Mama doesn't want to start a war with that old man Whitebeard yet, so we won't touch you. Just stay here quietly until we take the Germa people away!"
Yonji adjusted his cape collar and laughed. "But if Doflamingo's men find you here, unable to move, what happens next is none of our business!"
With Yonji and Perospero's laughter echoing, they left the underground port and headed to the surface.
Only after confirming no one was around did Nico Robin, Matthew, and Dorry emerge from the shadows.
"Robin!" Konenai's sharp eyes spotted them and exclaimed in surprise, "You're here? Great, we're saved!"
Robin smiled, raised a finger to her lips to shush them, then signaled Dorry to help free everyone from the sticky syrup.
But something unexpected happened. Even with Dorry's strength, he couldn't budge the syrup at all!
Perospero's syrup was incredibly tough, completely gluing everyone to the ground. Ace and the others couldn't even sit up.
Dorry strained to grab the hardened syrup and break it, but his dark face turned red with effort, and nothing moved.
Matthew grabbed a gun and tried shooting the syrup, but the bullets had no effect.
"What do we do now?" Dorry scratched his head.
Robin frowned, about to say something, when she heard noise from the port entrance. She quickly signaled the two to hide again.
The person entering the underground port was Doflamingo's subordinate, Gladius. This man with a black mask, goggles, and spiky hair immediately spotted Ace and the others trapped at the dock.
"Ha! So Fire Fist Ace has fallen to this!" Gladius said, looking at the syrup on them. "I didn't think Perospero was telling the truth. Perfect, you can just wait here to die!"
With that, Gladius ignored them and started wandering around the port, placing strange devices at suitable spots.
"What are you doing?" Walnut couldn't help asking.
"This is a special device!" Gladius replied without turning around. "I'm a Pop-Pop Fruit user. I can detonate any inorganic object I touch at will. This device connects them to my body. When needed, I'll activate my ability through it..."
"And then, boom! Everything goes sky-high!" Gladius spread his fingers wide in an explosion gesture.
"You mean it's a remote bomb!?" Ace's eyes widened in shock.
"Exactly!" Gladius nodded. "Young Master Doflamingo has activated the Birdcage, covering the entire island. My mission is to destroy the evidence!"
With that, Gladius shoved his hands in his pockets and said, "Enjoy your final moments. Soon, you might lose your lives in a massive explosion."
Gladius left, sealing the exit behind him.
"Damn it!" Konenai cursed when she realized Gladius had planted so many remote bombs in the port. "So there's going to be a huge explosion on this island? He must have planted bombs elsewhere too!"
"We need to escape and warn everyone!" Sabo said.
"But how do we get rid of this candy?" Ace grumbled.
Robin, Matthew, and Dorry came out again. They had hidden in a spot Gladius hadn't reached while planting bombs.
"Robin," Sabo said to her, "you need to find a way out and tell Ian!"
Robin shook her head. "Without your help, we can't escape. And leaving you here—who knows when that guy will detonate the bombs? If Ian can't get back in time to save you, it'll be bad. So let's figure out how to remove this candy first."
Just then, Matthew, with his dead-fish eyes, suddenly slapped his fist into his palm, drawing everyone's attention.
In his slow, drawling tone, Matthew said, "Dorry... eat... this... candy..."
The moment he said it, Dorry's stomach let out a loud rumble, making him scratch his head sheepishly.
For Dorry, who had eaten the Gluttony Fruit, anything edible was no problem! So he immediately stuck out his tongue and started licking the syrup off Ace.
And it worked! The tough candy coating that even bullets couldn't break began to dissolve bit by bit under Dorry's tongue.
Perospero was a Lick-Lick Fruit user. Devil Fruit names always had meaning. His ability seemed to require "licking" to activate and deactivate.
Matthew's flash of insight was a lucky guess. The candy coating on over a dozen people weighed dozens of pounds, but Dorry ate it all.
Ace, Sabo, and the others were freed. They quickly got up and stretched.
"We need to find Ian!" Ace said. "If there's a big explosion on the island, we have to prepare to evacuate."
But Sabo disagreed. "What about the island's residents? They'll be caught in the explosion too..."