Everyone stares at Jewel, who, for dramatic effect, has jumped onto the table, blocking the maps with her body.
"So what is your idea, little one? I hope it doesn't involve these primitive balls of destruction," Benezia says, showing a hint of concern.
"You heard her saying something about Secret techniques, so that question is actually redundant," Menchi sighs. "It can only go in one direction."
Princess Jewel has thought for a long time about what to do next while fishing. Do you remember what happened to those giants in the original story?
"Nothing much," Alex says, "They fight each other for one hundred years, then Mr. 3 arrives and sabotages some barrels of alcohol to explode in one of their stomachs, trying to capture them for their 100 million bounty. The main characters arrive, beat his ass, and the giants continue their dumb fight."
Princess Jewel thinks that Mr. 3 had a smart idea, but the explosives he used were far too weak! Princess Jewel wants to use a variation of her Ultimate Secret technique. She also suggests waiting for them to fight and become exhausted, then hiding the Grenades in their food and blowing them up.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Why are you all looking like that?" Tereza asks, staring at Alex, Benezia, and Menchi, who all look visibly frustrated. "Isn't it a pretty good idea? I still have a lot of poison left; you gave me so much, after all, Alex. We can add the poison as well! This could work."
"Sounds risky," Alex says. "You know, power levels in One Piece aren't exactly clear. Didn't they recently get a bounty of 1.8 billion Belly in the current chapters? They're crazy strong there. It's also hinted that they know Haki. Always risky to mess with retconned characters, isn't it?"
"Indeed," Benezia says. "It's certainly not impossible to succeed, especially if they're the same characters who actually lost to Mr. 3, who is a relatively weak character. I still don't think our odds are great, though. Realistically, the giants should be way more powerful. Even if your grenades explode inside a giant's stomach, I don't think it will be enough to kill them. I say, with just the grenades, we shouldn't go ahead with it."
"I think Mr. 3 is the funniest and best character out of the whole Baroque Works bunch," Alex says, remembering him. "Cool ability, and his character is funny too. Might be worth recruiting him as a Supporter. I like him!"
"We're getting off topic a little," Menchi says with a smile.
Alex nods, "Sorry... I am not sure, should we take the risk? I mean, they definitely do not have Observation Haki; we might be able to sneak-attack them and still get away, even if we fail. The only question is, how does the system treat retconned characters? I don't think the players you've spoken with have experience with that, Benezia?"
"No, I don't have any information... It's a huge gamble, especially since that also means messing with Canon. If we take them down, the story drastically changes, but this will happen anyway. With thirty players in this world, I'd say the chances of everything going like in the original story are almost zero. My instinct tells me it's possible, but risky. There are some reasons for the giants' weakness during this arc. Their constant battles over the last 100 years have left them weak and dull. At some point, too much training hurts the body. Their weapons are also useless at this point. Also, despite being giants, their internal organs are similar to those of humans. It doesn't matter how strong they are—if something explodes in their stomachs, especially if they don't expect it, it will be highly effective. Since they are pretty stupid and predictable characters, we can pull it off."
"I have an idea," Menchi says. "It's gonna cost you a lot of precious cooking ingredients though, so if you go to Little Garden, you'd better bring me as much as you can!"
"What is it?" Benezia asks, glaring at her.
Menchi instantly shrinks a little and responds, "That gunpowder—you turned in. It shouldn't have been delivered to Arabasta yet. Steal it back! Jewel, you have a limited inventory, don't you? Move now and get it. Also, Tereza, you mentioned poison? Give it to me!"
Princess Jewel doesn't like being ordered around, but for the sake of creating a Secret Technique the world has never seen before, she reluctantly obliges.
"Yeah, I've got [Two Headed Black Eel Poisonous Blood] that Alex gave me a few months ago. You can have it all since my approach to combat has changed a lot," Tereza explains.
[Two Headed Black Eel Poisonous Blood]
World: Hunter x Hunter
Quality: Light Green
Effect: Contains the poisonous blood of a Two Headed Black Eel. This poison can be easily neutralized once it's heated to a certain point. Although not lethal, it's still very dangerous, attacking the victim's nerves and causing involuntary twitching if exposed to a high concentration.
"Not bad," Menchi says. "I'll use my Hatsu to change the properties of the poison, reversing the effect and making it highly resistant to heat. In return, I'll sacrifice some of its other qualities, drastically reducing the duration in exchange."
"..."
This is getting crazier and crazier.
Menchi quickly leaves and heads to the kitchen, hauling out a mountain of fish and squid dishes she had prepared.
When Alex takes a look, he realizes both are unrecognized by the system.
So it's just trash! These are the scraps from the squid and the unranked fish she used for experimenting.
Menchi then uses her knives to slice them open, carving large spaces inside the cuts of meat. She drags out as many seasonings as the table can hold and uses them all, spicing the meat so heavily that Alex recoils in disgust.
What is she doing?
Just ten minutes later, Jewel returns—not only with the twelve barrels of gunpowder they delivered, but with three additional ones.
"Good!" Menchi says. She grabs the barrels and dumps huge quantities of gunpowder into the dishes, mixing the gunpowder with the spices and seasonings. Then she activates Gastronova, blue flames flaring up in her hands. Alex watches as she infuses the flame into the meat, the food subtly shifting, looking the same but somehow feeling different. She repeats the process with a few more fish, this time using Tereza's poison instead of gunpowder.
Synthesizing... and her Hatsu!
It takes Menchi nearly two hours to finish processing the poison and gunpowder, eventually creating a mountain of deadly food that, despite the dangerous changes, still looks quite delicious and fresh.
She hands hundreds of giant pieces of meat to Alex, each packed with spices, poison, and powder.
That much food... will be enough! Even for Giants.
"I've rigged the dishes. The gunpowder and spices are absorbed into the food now, making it highly explosive. I also added fresh oxygen to the mix. It'll stay sealed inside and slowly release once the dish loses its integrity. That'll bloat their stomachs, and hopefully they'll be too poisoned to react before the eventual boom. This should make for a truly nasty explosion… but it comes at the cost of taste and nutrition. The food will taste bad, but still good enough by this world's standards. They won't smell a thing thanks to my skill and the spices. The downside is that the food doesn't explode on its own. It needs something to light it up, preferably a strong flame, which will be difficult once swallowed. Your grenades should do the trick, though, but it's your job to make sure they swallow them while the grenades are lit. I also suggest bringing more alcohol, at least sixty percent strength with you, and offering it to the giants. That will boost the effects even further."
"What the... You could really do that?" Alex asks. "That is awesome! It's so vicious I almost feel guilty… but no, I've decided not to care. It's our survival on the line, and we'll go for maximum rewards!"
"These are NPCs… we'll do what we have to!" Tereza adds.
"They're just puppets. If I imagine being reborn again and again, losing all my memories… I'd rather be killed sooner than later," Benezia says coldly. "Don't waste your time feeling guilty, or worse, hesitating. We already discussed this."
"I know… I know." Alex nods. "Anyway, thank you, Menchi. When we're in Little Garden, we'll bring back some presents, and if we reach a new place, I'll summon you as soon as possible."
"Hehe, thank you. It just depends on you making the best of it… please, be careful! Your lives are worth more than some stupid chest! I will work on my food now, my new dish is almost ready; I can feel it." Menchi says, looking just a little worried before returning to her usual self.
"We'll be careful," Benezia answers, fixing her with a firm stare. "Your foolish behavior from earlier is forgiven. You've earned my respect—don't make me regret it."
Menchi nods silently in response.
"Hehe, aren't you happy?" Tereza teases, elbowing her gently in the side.
The group, now with a plan, leaves their place and heads back to the same warehouse as before. While Alex, Menchi, and Jewel slip inside using their own ways of hiding, Benezia remains outside.
They fill their inventory with as much alcohol as possible before finally disappearing.
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