58: Chapter 58 A little bit of substandard gas, and you dare block my way?

The second half of the Grand Line, the waters of the New World.

Carl's warship was cutting through the waves, advancing at full speed toward the coordinates of Punk Hazard.

On the deck.

Smoker pushed over a huge blackboard with a miserable expression, on which a few crooked power relationship diagrams were drawn.

Carl, wearing a loud floral shirt and holding that fearsome seven wolves belt, whipped the blackboard with a crisp sound.

"Snap! Snap!"

"Everyone, perk up your ears and listen well!"

Carl pointed to the name at the very top of the blackboard.

"Caesar Clown."

"This scum who toys with poison gas and kidnaps children is the primary target for our physical correction on this trip."

Carl looked at Luffy and Ace, who were sitting on small stools and listening very intently, and issued a strict order:

"The mission for you two is very simple."

"After getting on the island, no matter what monsters or demons you encounter, just beat them all down for me! But!"

Carl's belt cracked in mid-air, creating a sonic boom: "That scum named Caesar must be brought back alive! If anyone fails to hold back and beats him to death, Uncle will immediately throw you into the sea to feed the sharks!"

Luffy clenched his fists, his eyes spitting fire as he roared: "Don't worry, Uncle! That kind of bastard, I will definitely use just enough strength to not kill him and beat him until even his mother wouldn't recognize him!"

Ace stroked his chin, a light of contemplation flashing in his sharp eyes.

"Uncle." Ace raised his hand and analyzed calmly, "You just mentioned Doflamingo. Caesar is his cash cow; if we touch Caesar, Doflamingo will definitely not sit idly by."

"And that substance called SAD is provided to the Four Emperors Kaido."

Ace took a deep breath, his expression becoming extremely grave: "So, you specifically emphasized catching him alive—is it because you want to use Caesar as a bargaining chip to threaten Doflamingo, or even use this to deal with Kaido?!"

Hearing Ace's analysis, Smoker, who was to the side, gasped.

Killing three birds with one stone?!

Mr. Carl not only wants to take out the poison gas research institute, but he's actually pointing his spear directly at the Seven Warlords of the Sea and the Four Emperors?! That appetite is too big!

Facing Ace's "self-righteous" deduction,

Carl, however, rolled his eyes with extreme disdain, looking at Ace as if he were looking at a silly roe deer.

"Threat? Bargaining chip?"

"Ace, have you been on Whitebeard's dilapidated ship for too long, and your brain has been infected with those pedantic rules of pirate playhouse?"

Carl pressed his hands on the dining table, looking down at the three of them like a demon god.

"When have I, as your Uncle, ever needed to use scum as a bargaining chip to negotiate terms with others?!"

"I am catching Caesar purely because he is a piece of trash who deserves a beating. I am going to take him back to Marineford for a public execution, to give an explanation to those families who were kidnapped!"

Carl suddenly straightened up, the corners of his mouth curling into a sinister, cold smile that would make anyone's liver and gallbladder split with fear.

"As for Doflamingo? Kaido?"

"If they dare to come and cause trouble for me because of this, that would be simply wonderful!"

Carl kicked over the blackboard next to him, his domineering aura shaking the heavens!

"My rule as your Uncle is—if you don't submit, just fight! If you're not happy, just beat them up!"

"I've been worrying about not having an excuse to go and trouble them! If they dare to come, I'll just pack them up and beat them all together! Flip their tables!"

Crazy! Crazy to no end!

Looking at Carl's righteous and domineering manner, Ace was rendered speechless, but the blood in his heart couldn't help but boil!

"Oh, right."

Carl seemed to suddenly remember something, his tone shifting as he looked at Luffy with an extremely mysterious gaze.

"Besides catching that piece of trash Caesar, Uncle is assigning you an extracurricular practical assignment."

"On that island, because of the World Government's previous experiments, that old bastard Vegapunk left behind an extremely rare good thing."

Carl paused deliberately and lowered his voice: "A dragon. A living, breathing dragon with self-awareness, birthed from an artificial Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit!"

"What?!!!"

Hearing the word "dragon".

Luffy's eyes instantly turned into two huge stars, drool flowed to the ground like a waterfall, and he jumped directly onto the table.

"Dragon?! Uncle! Are you talking about a real dragon?! The kind with wings that can breathe fire?!"

Luffy was dancing with excitement, with only one thought left in his head: "That guy's meat... must be super delicious!!! Roasted dragon meat! Braised dragon steak! Steamed dragon bone soup!!!"

Watching Luffy's gluttonous appearance as if he were a reincarnated starving ghost, Smoker covered his face in speechlessness.

"Idiot..." Smoker's mouth twitched, "That's a legendary creature, its strength is extremely terrifying. It might just eat you in one bite, and you're actually thinking about eating it?"

"What do you know!" Carl slapped Smoker on the back of the head and scolded him with extreme protectiveness, "What's wrong with my nephew wanting to eat a dragon? As long as he can beat it with his own bare hands, even if he wants to eat Sea King brains, Uncle will get him some green onions and cilantro to mix it with!"

Carl turned his head to look at Luffy and waved his hand: "Go! As long as you can bring that dragon onto the ship alive for me, Uncle will cook personally tonight and make you a Manchu Han Imperial Feast version of a dragon meat meal!"

"Oh oh oh oh! Long live Uncle!!!"

"Woo— woo— woo—!!!"

Inside the cockpit of Carl's warship, the highest-level red alarm suddenly erupted with an extremely piercing sound!

"Mr. Carl! It's bad!"

The Marine soldier in charge of the lookout scrambled out of the cockpit, pointing at the sea ahead with a face full of terror, his voice trembling like a sieve.

"We've arrived! We've entered the offshore waters of Punk Hazard!"

Everyone immediately rushed to the bow of the ship and looked in the direction the soldier was pointing.

Just one look.

Even Luffy and Ace, who had undergone hellish special training on Rusukaina Island, couldn't help but gasp.

What appeared on the horizon ahead could not be called a normal island at all!

It was completely a scene of purgatory, like the arrival of the apocalypse!

The center of the island was forcibly split in two by a terrifying, bottomless chasm! The seawater poured in frantically, only to be instantly evaporated by the extreme temperature!

The left half of the chasm was an extreme sea of fire, scorched red, where magma churned crazily like a fountain! Even the air distorted and deformed under the terrifying high temperature!

And the right half of the chasm was an absolute zero glacier, frozen solid, with blizzards raging across the sky!

The collision of ice and fire! The intertwining of hell and the abyss!

More deadly than this extremely harsh terrain.

Was the purple-red gas poison, thick as substance and emitting a pungent, foul smell, that shrouded the entire perimeter of the island!

"Beep beep beep... Warning! Fatal nerve gas detected! Concentration exceeds the limit by a thousand times! If an ordinary person inhales one breath, their internal organs will rot and they will die within three seconds!"

The gas detector on the warship emitted a frantic error sound.

Smoker's face turned livid, and he immediately ordered: "Everyone prepare gas masks! Quick! Seal the cabins completely!"

"Gas masks?"

Carl, however, waved his hand very casually, stopping the soldiers' panicked movements.

He walked slowly to the very front of the bow, facing the purple-red toxic gas sweeping over like a tidal wave, a flash of extremely disdainful cold light flickering in his deep, black eyes.

"Daring to block the way with a mere bit of inferior gas?"