Chapter 466: The Downfall of Absalom and the Haunted Manor

“Didn’t I tell you to take it off?”

Sanji shot him a furious glare then spun around and landed another powerful kick, sending Absalom flying through the air.

Absalom’s body slammed into a mound of dirt, shattering the broken gravestone on top.

“Whoa!”

Blood spurted from Absalom’s mouth as he coughed painfully.

“How are you this strong?”

“Who knows?” Sanji exhaled, almost mocking.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Sanji didn’t pause for even a second, raining relentless kicks down on Absalom.

He looked like a soccer ball, getting kicked back and forth by Sanji.

“Aagh!”

Absalom collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, eyes fixed on Sanji as he walked past. Unwilling to accept defeat, his eyes finally slid closed.

Sanji was still furious, especially since Absalom had eaten his favorite Clear-Clear Fruit.

But the Straw Hat Pirates had always held back against their enemies. Sanji didn’t intend to take Absalom’s life, just beat him until he couldn’t move.

Meanwhile, Franky, now separated from everyone else, ended up at a small manor.

Even beneath the cloak of fog and darkness, the manor was decorated in an unmistakably girlish style. This was Perona’s home.

“Horohorohoro!”

“You actually made it all the way here.”

“Who? Who’s there?”

As Franky heard a voice from nearby, he tensed and raised his left hand. It had been modified into an energy cannon. From his palm, a barrel slid out, aiming straight at the manor.

To Franky’s alarm, a cluster of ghosts floated right out of the manor toward him.

Boom!

Overreacting, Franky’s left-hand cannon fired an energy blast instantly.

The energy round shot through the ghosts and exploded against the manor behind, demolishing a third of the building instantly.

Perona, still watching Franky’s goofy antics inside, nearly got buried alive by the collapsing rubble.

“That’s an awesome toy!”

“Go!”

With a simple flick of her wrist, Perona sent several ghosts flying from her body. They phased through the manor’s walls and soared straight for Franky.

“What the heck are these things?”

Franky was stunned. His shot had gone right through the ghost, so he started sprinting madly around the manor, blasting energy rounds everywhere, terrified of being caught.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Franky looked like a demolition crew all by himself. In just a few shots, he’d turned the manor into something that looked like the surface of the moon.

“Huh?”

Zoro, who was lost as usual, heard the explosions in the distance. He quickened his pace, but after only four or five steps, he veered off toward the right again.

Inside the manor, Franky spotted even more ghosts drifting out. He realized that had to be the culprit.

“I don’t care what kind of Devil Fruit you’ve got—there’s no way you can just shrug off my blast.”

“Super!”

Franky slammed on the brakes. He ignored the ghosts swooping in from behind. Raising both hands, energy swirled at his palms.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In just seconds, a dozen cannon blasts flew directly into the manor’s buildings.

Seeing this from inside, Perona blanched in terror. If those blasts hit her, she’d be done for. She quickly turned into a ghost and drifted out from the ruins just in time.

A moment later, a barrage of energy shells reduced the manor to dust.

“Horohorohoro!”

“That was close!”

“But now, what will you do next?”

Suspended mid-air, Perona wore a pink-and-white dress, a cute pink umbrella in her right hand and a fan held coyly to her lips. She floated there, looking at Franky in shock.

Whoosh!

“I’m a pervert. I shouldn’t be running around in just my underwear…”

The instant Franky laid eyes on his opponent, a ghost drifted out from behind and passed straight through him. He instantly collapsed into a state of absolute negativity.

He knelt on the ground, face full of despair, mumbling endlessly about his perverse deeds.

Perona seized the moment, running to Franky’s side while he was under the influence of her negative ghost. She lifted his left hand curiously.

“So, where’s that awesome weapon? Where are you hiding it?”

But no matter how much she twisted or turned his hand, she couldn’t find any trace of the energy weapon.

“Pretty well hidden, aren’t you?”

Unwilling to give up, Perona kept using her Devil Fruit powers to spawn more negative ghosts, one after another passing through Franky.

Swish!

Sensing danger, Perona floated upward just in time.

A blade of Sword Aura sliced through the ground where she had just been standing, gouging a deep trench and splitting the ruined manor straight down the middle.

“Franky, you okay? Are you hurt?”

Zoro appeared from the mist, Wado Ichimonji in hand.

Even though his terrible sense of direction let him down again, luckily the manor wasn’t far from where he’d been.

After running down a few wrong paths, he finally arrived unscathed at the manor—just in time to see a strange woman getting handsy with Franky.

“Waaah, I’m such a pervert. I’m a criminal—a hopeless pervert…”

“Useless. I can’t do anything right this week. I’m just no good at all.”

“I’ve lost the will to go on. Everyone in the world is laughing at me…”

Franky was completely overwhelmed by the effects of the negative ghosts. This wasn’t his real self at all, but he couldn’t control his own body.

It was his first taste of just how strange and tricky Devil Fruit powers could be. One wrong move and you could end up like this. It only made him more determined to invent even better gear.

If he could block these kinds of attacks, maybe he wouldn’t have to make a fool of himself again. At least only Zoro saw it—small mercies.

“Nada Guru!”

But then, a voice behind him plunged Franky into utter despair.

Nami, Sanji and the others had finally arrived.

The ship was huge, but everyone had the same goal—reach the castle at the center. After dealing with his rival, Sanji sped up and bumped into Nami’s group heading in.

They’d just reached the main castle gates when the explosions rang out from the left.

Usopp’s keen ears recognized the sound instantly—Franky’s energy cannons. They guessed Franky must be caught in a tough fight, so they ran this way.

Why’d you all take so long to get here?

When is this cursed negative effect finally going to end?

“Depression! Depression!”

Robin looked up at the white ghosts swirling across the sky, listening to their eerie cries.

“Ah, that’s Perona’s power—the Ghost Princess. Her floating ghosts can put anyone into a state of deep depression.”

Zoro held his sword in his right hand, glancing at Franky kneeling in defeat, speaking with his usual pride.

“Seriously? What a bunch of losers! It’s just a lack of proper training. That’s why these weird ghosts have you all wrapped around their finger.”

But as Zoro was bragging, a ghost had already drifted behind him—and before anyone could warn him, it passed right through his back.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have been born in this world.”

Three seconds of cool, and it’s all over. Even the iron-willed Zoro was no match for the negative effect.