Chapter 679: The Existence of a Cheat Is Impossible to Understand
“Well? Any results?”
As soon as Cracker and the others returned, Perospero immediately rushed over to ask.
“No,” Cracker shook his head. “We searched everywhere, not a trace…”
“Damn it!” Perospero grabbed Caesar by the collar and shrieked, “Caesar, you idiot! After being kidnapped, couldn’t you at least remember what the place you were held in looked like!?”
“I… I…” Caesar looked like he was about to cry. “If it were you, and you might be killed at any moment, would you bother remembering what the room looked like?”
“What about the mirror entrance!?” Perospero yelled. “You escaped from the mirror space, so don’t you remember which mirror it was!?”
But before Caesar could speak, Brulee beside him cackled, “Peros bro, don’t bother asking. This guy’s a fool! When I caught him in the mirror space, I asked him the same thing, but he turned around and forgot which mirror he came in from…”
Caesar said pitifully, “There were so many mirrors in that strange space, how could I possibly remember which one it was…”
While this commotion was going on, over among the guests, Stussy and Arest were utterly shocked.
Arest couldn’t help glancing at Stussy, silently asking what was going on. Why hadn’t the rubbing been found in Ian’s room?
Stussy herself was still bewildered. She had personally snuck into Ian’s room and hidden the rubbing there. How could it not be found? Unless the searchers were all idiots who hadn’t seen it at all?
What had gone wrong!?
Stussy was truly panicked now. Her and Arest’s plan had encountered one problem after another, and now things had completely slipped out of their control.
Their eyes flickered with uncertainty, but they didn’t notice that not far away, Reiju was quietly watching them like a bystander enjoying the show…
Listening to the noise filling the venue, BIG MOM finally lost patience. She slammed her fist onto the table in front of her, shattering it with a crash, and roared, “Enough!!!”
With her roar, the scene instantly fell silent. BIG MOM’s face was dark as she pointed at Caesar and said, “Caesar! I don’t care whether you did this willingly or not, but you will have to answer for this matter! You must pay with at least fifty years of your life as compensation!”
Hearing this, Caesar panicked and argued urgently, “No, Mama! This has nothing to do with me!”
“Shut up!” BIG MOM roared, and her Conqueror’s Haki surged toward Caesar. The direct impact caused Caesar’s eyes to roll back, and he foamed at the mouth before collapsing to the ground.
His strength was far too inferior compared to BIG MOM’s…
Then, BIG MOM turned back, her face fierce as she glared at all the guests present. “And as for you all, until I find the rubbing, no one is allowed to leave Whole Cake Island or this castle! Anyone who tries to sneak away, I will kill them! Now, everyone empty out what you’re carrying—I’m going to have you searched!”
Hearing this, Reiju’s eyebrows twitched. If she were actually searched, she’d be in trouble…
At that moment, Ian also frowned. A search?
Ian was certain that the theft of the Poneglyph rubbing had nothing to do with him, so when BIG MOM’s crew had searched the rooms earlier, he hadn’t minded and let them do as they pleased. But if they were going to search everyone individually, that was going too far!
More importantly, with this incident disrupting things, the next steps of the ceremony couldn’t proceed.
Even if they let BIG MOM’s crew search them, what if nothing turned up? If this dragged on, how could they still eat the cake?
Thinking this over, Ian suddenly spoke up, “No need, BIG MOM. I know who the culprit is.”
“Oh!?” Instantly, all eyes were on Ian.
BIG MOM squinted at him and said coldly, “Ian, if you know who it is, then speak up! As long as we catch the culprit, I won’t treat you poorly!”
Ian smiled and raised his right hand. Amid the confused gazes of the crowd, a black flame suddenly burst to life in his palm.
Then, before anyone could react, Ian flicked his right hand, sending the flame skimming across the floor with a Hundred Eight Style: Dark Gouge!
The black flame howled and burned as it flew straight toward… Stussy!
Sensing the incoming danger, Stussy’s heart jolted, and she instinctively leaped up, dodging Ian’s Dark Gouge flame.
“Damn it! What are you doing!?” Stussy shouted as she jumped. “Why are you attacking me!?”
But Ian didn’t answer. He pointed his right finger at the spot beneath Stussy, who was still in midair.
“Path of Destruction Number Four: White Lightning!”
A blazing white bolt of lightning shot from Ian’s fingertip like a laser, heading straight for Stussy. Since his attack was aimed at her legs, she instinctively kicked her leg again in midair to avoid it.
And then, though she dodged Ian’s White Lightning, Stussy suddenly froze.
She realized she had been tricked!
The crowd below, watching Stussy, also froze when they saw her suddenly leap higher in midair.
“Th… that’s familiar!” Gaji said. “That… that’s Moon Step!?”
Boom! As soon as Gaji uttered that word, everyone immediately understood.
“Damn it! Moon Step? One of the Six Powers!?” Perospero shrieked and stomped his foot, cursing, “So she’s one of the real culprits! And she was even accusing others earlier!?”
Swish, swish, swish! A series of gun-drawing sounds rang out as all of BIG MOM’s crew members aimed their weapons at Stussy in midair.
Even BIG MOM, both shocked and furious, roared at Stussy, “Stussy! I never thought it would be you!!!”
In this world, while there were many types of martial arts, the Six Powers of the Marines stood out as unique. They were exclusive secret techniques of the Marines and the World Government’s intelligence agencies, and non-Marines generally didn’t bother learning them.
And even if they tried, they couldn’t necessarily master them. Without talent and insight, and after decades of hard training, how could anyone learn them?
Even Sanji had only learned Moon Step, one of the Six Powers, because he specialized in leg techniques for aerial movement. As for other techniques like Iron Body or Paper Art, did anyone else know them?
So when Stussy suddenly displayed Moon Step, her identity was immediately exposed!
That was why Ian had suddenly attacked her. Ian knew well that since Stussy was a CP0 agent, people like her would instinctively protect themselves and react when facing danger. Unless Stussy was so cunning that she would risk being burned by Ian’s flames and take the hit, she would have to jump to dodge the Dark Gouge flame skimming the ground. The follow-up White Lightning was just to make her jump again…
Simple, crude, and direct! Ian didn’t want to play word games with Stussy. He used this method to instantly expose her identity!
Ian was very eager to see the BIG MOM Pirates and the World Government’s people tear into each other like dogs…
At that moment, Caesar also jumped in to add fuel to the fire, shouting, “It’s her! It’s definitely her! She must be the short guy who kidnapped me last night! She’s from CP, definitely!”
Caesar had been frantic after hearing BIG MOM’s punishment. Fifty years of life! He didn’t even know if he’d live that long, and who knew if he’d die the moment his lifespan was taken?
He didn’t want to die, so naturally, he had to help catch the culprit. Even if Stussy hadn’t been forced to reveal her identity by Ian, if Ian had pointed at someone, Caesar would have bitten down on them too…
“Fire!” Perospero gritted his teeth and ordered BIG MOM’s crew. “Shoot her down!”
Bang, bang, bang! A series of gunshots rang out like popping beans as the armed pirates opened fire. Countless bullets crisscrossed toward Stussy in midair.
Stussy wasn’t about to surrender so easily. Since she was already exposed, she didn’t care anymore. She used Moon Step to leap higher, then turned in midair and continued stepping, trying to flee toward the sea outside Whole Cake Island.
But as she flew through the air, Stussy’s heart bled. She had painstakingly infiltrated the underworld for so long, finally getting close to BIG MOM, one of the Four Emperors, and earning her trust as a friend. Now, in one day, it was all destroyed.
Why!? Why did that damn Ian know it was me!? And why was he so precise in forcing me to use Moon Step!? Had he known my identity all along?
Countless questions flashed through her mind, but Stussy didn’t dare stop. She knew that if she were caught, the enraged BIG MOM would never let her go…
As for Arest, she couldn’t care about him anymore…
But before Stussy could get far, she suddenly felt her ankle tighten, as if someone had grabbed it. Looking back in midair, she saw that it was indeed a hand holding her ankle.
It was a hand stretched incredibly long, and its owner was Katakuri!
Beneath his scarf, Katakuri’s expression was hard to read, but his eyes were sharp. If anyone had been the first to react, it was him. The moment Ian had thrown the Hundred Eight Style: Dark Gouge, Katakuri’s Observation Haki had already focused on Stussy. Through his powerful Observation Haki, he had foreseen what was about to happen and acted preemptively, grabbing her in midair before she could escape far with Moon Step.
“Come down!” Katakuri exerted force and began retracting his arm. Stussy desperately used her other foot to step with Moon Step, trying to counter Katakuri’s pull, but with one on the ground and one in the air, one a man and one a woman, it was clear that Katakuri had the greater strength.
Realizing she couldn’t resist Katakuri’s strength, Stussy grew vicious. She fired a Finger Gun at Katakuri’s arm.
But her attack only managed to punch a hole in his mochi arm, nothing more!
With another pull from Katakuri, Stussy finally couldn’t hold on and was slammed down to the ground…