"...?"
Krili's face twisted visibly as he stared at the fake Wilson pulling out a pistol.
"Wilson? That? Are you kidding me? That's a toy. Get the guards in here, now!"
"Surround him. Once I recover my stamina, he's dead."
Krili still wanted to say more, but Lucci, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, suddenly closed the distance between them.
His fingers shot forward with deadly speed.
"Damn it! I knew we couldn't trust these government types!"
With a furious curse, Krili shifted into his beast form, crouching low to the ground.
His spine stretched like a cat's, vertebrae flexing one by one, channeling explosive power through his body.
He lunged.
Behind him, the fake Wilson's lips curled into a twisted grin.
He pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
Krili dropped to the ground instantly.
A wave of weakness spread from his lower back, flooding every corner of his body.
In his vision, Lucci's finger grew closer and closer. The threat of death made him scream.
"Damn it, Wilson! What the hell did you do?! Are you trying to die?!"
"Lucci, don't kill him. We need him alive to prove his ties to Wilson. Otherwise, that idiot Spandam might just deny everything."
Kuro stepped forward, replacing the round in his pistol with a tranquilizer dart as he spoke, slowly closing the distance.
Devil Fruit users were precious assets within the family.
Hearing that, Lucci, still shaken by Krili's strange collapse, clenched his fingers into a fist.
He changed targets.
With a heavy thud, he slammed his fist down onto Krili's forehead.
"Thud!"
Krili's head was driven into the floor, spiderweb cracks spreading out from the impact point.
His limbs twitched weakly before he blacked out.
"Piapiapia!"
Hattori, the tie-wearing pigeon, flapped his wings and descended through a hole in the ceiling, signaling the end of the battle.
Lucci stood up and gently patted the worried little bird perched on his shoulder.
Then he turned to look at Kuro, now back in his usual appearance, his voice cold.
"You're late, Kuro."
Kuro hadn't arrived on time as they'd agreed. If he had, Lucci wouldn't have taken such a beating.
"Isn't this what I was preparing?"
Kuro spun the pistol in his hand, completely unfazed by Lucci's chilly tone.
"Wilson was very cooperative. Told me everything—including that Krili was a Devil Fruit user.
As it happened, the Donquixote Family recently developed a firearm designed specifically to deal with Devil Fruit users.
They invited Mayor Wilson, thanks to his position and influence.
To improve our odds, I took some of his blood-stained assets and cashed in the favor.
Looks like it worked pretty well."
"How did it work?" Lucci asked, remembering Krili's sudden collapse, his eyes drawn to the pistol Kuro was spinning.
No man could resist the allure of firearms—especially one that worked on Devil Fruit users.
"Seastone bullets. I ran tests."
"The Donquixote Family already has that kind of tech?"
During training, Lucci remembered even the World Government couldn't do more than turn high-grade Seastone into handcuffs.
"No idea. That's not our concern."
Kuro adjusted his glasses and gave a gentle smile, offering the pistol with an open palm.
"So? Want to try it?"
"...Alright."
After a moment of silence, Lucci reached out to take the gun.
The moment he relaxed completely, Kuro pulled the trigger again.
"Bang!"
A tranquilizer strong enough to knock out a Sea King slammed into Lucci's chest.
"Traitor!!!"
With rage burning in his heart, Lucci fell to the ground and passed out.
"Heheheh... How simple. How boring."
Kuro let out a deep, sinister chuckle.
These kinds of tasks always ended up being far too easy.
"Coo... coo...!?"
Hattori froze in shock, his tiny bird brain crashing.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot about you, little guy!"
A moment later...
Kuro hoisted two men and one bird over his shoulder and made his way toward the family base.
Mission complete. No need to keep pretending as a double agent.
He, a proud member of CP9—
Had officially defected.
Donquixote Kuro, had returned.
...
Meanwhile—
The Numancia Flamingo slowly descended onto Tenryu Island.
Judge had been waiting for some time.
The moment Doflamingo stepped off the ship, Judge ran up to greet him eagerly.
"BOSS, welcome home! Did you bring what you promised?"
"Mm, don't be in such a rush. Let's talk about your progress first."
Doflamingo casually took a step back, scanning Judge from head to toe, then gave a satisfied grin.
This old bastard looked thoroughly pickled—those dark circles under his eyes looked like Caesar had punched him in the face.
Good. That meant he hadn't been slacking off.
Despite his anxiety, Judge held back and took out two shells from his coat, handing them over with confidence.
"BOSS, I already figured out the mechanisms behind the Laser Shell and Impact Shell. What I was missing was the right material to withstand the power. These are made from the materials I brought back from Egghead. Try it out."
He had even sacrificed the materials meant for Reiju's battle suit for this.
"Let me see your masterpiece."
One black, one red.
Doflamingo picked up the black shell first and aimed it at a nearby tree.
"Boom!" A tree thick enough to take ten men to circle it shattered like a rotten branch, reduced to dust.
Doflamingo didn't budge an inch.
Judge frowned nervously.
He'd always known the Boss was a monster, but this... was on another level.
These upgraded Impact Shells were even stronger than the originals.
Which meant the recoil was just as terrifying—yet Doflamingo hadn't flinched.
"Not bad! That's some serious firepower."
Doflamingo nodded with satisfaction, completely unfazed by the kind of recoil that could kill a normal person.
He picked up the red shell, aimed it at another tree, and pressed.
"Zzzzt."
The air shimmered with heat.
A blue beam of energy extended outward like a sword.
Doflamingo swung with glee, and several trees fell instantly.
The cuts were clean as glass.
"Fufufufufu~ What a perfect creation!"
In terms of raw power, both shells surpassed ordinary explosives a hundredfold.
But that wasn't the most important thing—their true strength lay in stealth.
Especially the Laser Shell.
If someone took one of those at close range—unless they were built like him, with both Haki and body maxed out—they'd be dead.
And the Impact Shell? Its potential was limitless.
In theory, as long as the attack didn't exceed the shell's upper limit, it could rebound the full force.
"BOSS, about what you mentioned a few days ago...?"
Seeing Doflamingo's satisfied expression, Judge carefully brought it up.
"That one—study it well. See if it can change shape."
Doflamingo twitched his fingers.
On the deck of the Numancia Flamingo, a shiny, ugly metal toy rabbit—gleaming like polished junk—rose into the air, held up by threads.
It floated into Judge's arms.
And just like that, Wapol's true form was revealed.
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Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg