One Piece: Scourge of the Seas

Paramecia-Type: Castle-Castle Fruit.

This was the Devil Fruit Capone Bege consumed at the auction.

As the name suggests, it allows the user's body to transform into a sturdy castle.

Bege's body functions like a fortress, capable of storing virtually anything inside, including living beings.

Objects brought into the body are miniaturized and only return to their original size upon leaving the user's ability's range.

In essence, it's a mobile castle.

As the head of a mafia syndicate, Bege lacked neither wealth nor manpower. Naturally, he equipped his internal castle with maximum firepower and personnel.

This was precisely why he brought only seventy or eighty henchmen with him today.

Now, finding himself in a dire situation, Bege revealed his trump card.

The subordinates stationed within his body quickly mobilized, pushing cannons through portholes that emerged from his chest, all aimed at Maude before being fired.

With a deafening roar, black cannonballs, initially the size of marbles, shot out of the portholes. In mid-air, they returned to their original size.

The street resounded with the sharp whistle of cannonballs slicing through the air.

Familiar with the Castle-Castle Fruit's capabilities, Maude had already moved out of the cannons' effective range the moment Bege showed signs of attack.

The pirates lining the street, however, were clueless about Bege's ability. By the time they heard the whistling cannonballs, it was too late to escape.

"BOOM—!"

Ten cannonballs exploded almost simultaneously.

Intense heat waves and shrapnel swept in all directions.

Over a dozen unlucky pirates caught in the vicinity were shredded by shrapnel, dying on the spot.

Many others were blasted away by the shockwave, suffering injuries of varying severity upon landing.

When the smoke cleared, dozens of pirates lay sprawled across the ground.

Angry curses and cries of pain filled the air.

None of the pirates present had anticipated that Bege would be so ruthless, resorting to firing cannons on the street.

"Bege, you bastard!"

Terrified pirates shouted obscenities at Bege while quickly fleeing the scene.

With cannons in play, who would dare stick around?

Even the pirates in nearby taverns, startled by the commotion, rushed out, distancing themselves as much as possible from Bege.

Only a few daredevils, like Lafitte, remained to observe from a safe distance—close enough to spectate, but far enough to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Unbothered by the curses hurled at him, Bege looked up at Maude, who stood atop a tavern roof.

As his gaze lifted, the cannons on his chest adjusted upward, locking onto Maude once more.

However, mindful of the rules of Mad Hat Town, Bege refrained from ordering another volley.

Destroying a tavern would ultimately bring trouble to himself.

Maude capitalized on this restraint, leaping down from the roof and charging straight at Bege.

He deliberately positioned his charge so that a tavern lay directly behind him, ensuring Bege couldn't recklessly fire.

With the chest cannons retracted, new portholes opened on Bege's abdomen, and his men stationed within stood ready.

Each subordinate behind these openings wielded a rifled musket.

If cannons couldn't be used, flintlocks would suffice.

Simultaneously, Bege kept an eye on the silent sniper in the distance, wary of a sudden attack.

Seeing Bege shift tactics while Sol remained inactive, Maude abandoned his frontal charge and deliberately moved toward the wounded pirates sprawled across the ground.

Meanwhile, Bege's men pulled their triggers from behind the portholes.

A hail of bullets, over a hundred strong, shot toward Maude.

Prepared for such a move, Maude sheathed his black blade, "Dark Crow," and grabbed two heavily injured pirates nearby, using them as shields.

The torrent of bullets tore into the makeshift human shields, producing a burst of blood spray.

In mere moments, the two unfortunate pirates breathed their last.

Nearby, more than twenty injured pirates watched in horror, terrified they might be next. Mustering every ounce of strength, they scrambled to crawl away from the chaotic battlefield.

Seeing Maude deflect the barrage with two bodies, Bege smirked coldly.

The Castle-Castle Fruit granted sufficient firepower to overcome the slow reload speed of flintlocks through staggered volleys, dramatically increasing firing frequency.

Two corpses wouldn't hold up against a second volley.

A new wave of bullets shot out from the portholes just seconds after the first.

"Gun formation, huh…"

Faced with this relentless onslaught, Maude remained calm.

He crouched low, minimizing his exposed profile, and stacked the lifeless bodies in front of him, enduring the second barrage.

Then, without giving Bege's men time to fire again, Maude hurled the corpses toward Bege with all his strength.

Bege's eyes narrowed as he sidestepped the incoming bodies, his movement throwing off the aim of his subordinates. The third volley was interrupted.

Seizing the moment, Maude dashed toward two other pirates frantically crawling away.

Seeing Maude approach, the pirates' faces turned pale as they screamed in terror.

"No, stay away! Don't come near us!"

"You two, sorry for the trouble."

With a casual apology, Maude knocked them unconscious, hoisting their limp bodies as new shields.

Shields weren't to be wasted.

Gripping his new human shields, Maude charged at Bege once more.

Despite the Castle-Castle Fruit's overwhelming firepower, it had a critical weakness: balance.

Disrupt Bege's equilibrium, and his firepower would lose its effectiveness.

Bege scowled as Maude switched shields again and ordered another volley.

Once more, a storm of bullets rained down on Maude.

He raised the unconscious pirates to block the barrage, halting his advance due to the impact force.

As the final bullet struck, Maude repeated his maneuver, hurling the bodies toward Bege.

Bege's expression darkened. Forced to dodge, he lost his footing again.

By the time he recovered, Maude had closed the distance, drawing his pistol and aiming for Bege's eye.

"Bang!"

The bullet tore through the air.

"Damn it…"

Bege ducked his head back in alarm, narrowly avoiding the shot but throwing his balance off once more.

In that instant, he realized something.

Maude seemed to understand the Castle-Castle Fruit's abilities all too well.

As this thought crossed his mind, Maude was already upon him.

Shing!The black blade, Dark Crow, was drawn.

A glint of steel flashed.

Blood sprayed through the air.

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