Chapter 674

Chapter 674 is titled "The Observers".

Cover Page
Cover Story No. 20 Vol. 1 - "A Scream Resounds from Mermaid Cove".

Short Summary
The children's withdrawal symptoms continue to overpower them, and they rampage against Usopp and Nami in the hopes of receiving candy from Caesar Clown. Nami prevents Usopp from retaliating, and convinces him to fight their real enemy, but Caesar uses his Devil Fruit ability to manipulate the oxygen levels around him, nullifying Usopp's Firebird Star and suffocating both Straw Hats. Brownbeard arrives in time to rescue them from being crushed by the children, but he is quickly defeated by Caesar.

Caesar boards his airship with the children, and broadcasts a video message to brokers in various locations in the New World. He offers to demonstrate the power of his new poison gas weapon against those who have intruded on Punk Hazard, promising that the capabilities of his weapon will go beyond anything the World Government could ever produce.

Long Summary
In the shelter of the destroyed lab, Nami and Usopp are having a difficult time dealing with Caesar Clown, who came to reclaim the children the Straw Hats had freed. He mockingly asks why they took the kids out since they are in pain, while Usopp reminds Nami that Caesar is a Logia with a bounty of 300,000,000. Demanding to know what he made them take, Nami tells Caesar that all of the children want to go home and their parents must be worried sick about them. Behind them, the children continue to beg Caesar for candy, causing Caesar to rebut by asking Nami to show him one child that wanted to go home. Usopp tries to convince them not to go, but one of the enlarged children delivers a powerful uppercut, sending Usopp flying back. Nami tries to grab one of the children and begs him not to go, but due to the withdrawal symptoms causing him to hallucinate, the child believes Nami to be a cockroach and knocks her off of him, delivering a vicious right hook. Usopp gets back up and angrily tells them to calm down as he grabs his slingshot, only for Nami to grab it out of his hands, saying the kids have done nothing wrong and are just victims. Arguing that force is the only way to stop them at this point, Usopp explains that since they are hallucinating from withdrawal they may end up killed.

As the children moan to have their chains released, Nami realizes that they have to redirect the children's anger at Caesar Clown. The children break through the chains, astounding even Caesar as to how strong they have become. Realizing that there is a way to stop the gas Logia, Usopp launches a Firebird Star at him. However, the flames burn out just before touching Caesar, much to Usopp's surprise. Caesar concludes that Usopp thought it would ignite due to his body being made of gas, concluding that Usopp knows about his Devil Fruit abilities. Caesar tells him that his abilities do not extend just to poisonous gases, but to any gas within a certain distance of him, including the oxygen in the air around them. He then demonstrates this ability by removing the air around Usopp, causing the latter to choke. Nami tries to attack him with thunder clouds, but suffers the same fate as Usopp. As they are choking, Caesar tell the two Straw Hats that he had indeed met Luffy's group and suffocated them just like he is doing now. The children begin to demand candy, causing Caesar to turn to the children and explain that they will only get their candy if they return to the lab. But before that, he orders them to kill Nami and Usopp, and two of the children pick up a large pipe.

Before they can deal the blow, Brownbeard bursts through them, also carrying a pipe, knocking the two children down and tries to attack Caesar, only for the latter to just use his ability to dodge the pipe. However this breaks Caesar's grip on Nami and Usopp's deprived oxygen, allowing them to breathe once more. They are surprised to see Brownbeard, who tells him he is awake now. Caesar sarcastically asks who he is, remembering him as his subordinate, and asks what happened to him that would burn his body so much. Brownbeard remembers Scotch saying he was here to kill him on Clown's orders. Brownbeard continues to attack him, saying he trusted Caesar. Clown tells him not to get so angry, saying he was surprised he survived the attack by the Yeti Cool Brothers. Clown tells the children to get away from this place since it is dangerous and to get on the Flying Gas Balloon as they continue to hallucinate, one seeing a huge snake and another seeing zombies coming up from the ground. Nami continues to try in vain to keep them from going with the madman.

Brownbeard tells Caesar he does not care that he was tricked, but he wants his subordinates back so they do not suffer the same fate as he did. The demand takes Caesar totally by surprise, so he reminds Brownbeard that he no longer has any men, that they, including Brownbeard, are now his men, and Brownbeard shouldn't act like a captain, calling him trash from the New World. While the two conflict with each other, Nami and Usopp run after the children still intending to keep them safe. Clown reminds him that his subordinates still see him as their savior and are too dumb to know any better, and then admits that he is only keeping them alive so he can use them as guinea pigs, enraging Brownbeard even more which prompts him to attack, but Caesar intercepts it with Gastanet, causing a huge explosion. Nami and Usopp are barely outrunning the blast when Caesar appears right behind them, causing another explosion to engulf the two.

Caesar then gets on the Den Den Mushi, telling Monet he recovered the children, and asks her how the preparations are going for Smiley's bait. Monet replies that all the preparations he ordered have been complete. Clown tells her that all that is left is to wait for Smiley to arrive. He then orders her to connect him to all receivers. Caesar then begins talking to various illegal brokers. He apologizes for the delay due to the experiment, but what he has is well worth the wait. He explains that the poison gas weapon he is about to show them has been enhanced to a greater extent than what it was four years ago. He calls it a weapon the World Government could never recreate. Brokers all across the New World are watching the broadcast, some of them including representatives for one of the Yonko, some unknown brokers also watch it as Clown tells them he is willing to make a deal if they are interested. Tamago and Pekoms are seen among the brokers viewing it. Another one of the viewers turns out to be Eustass Kid. A subordinate asks him if he is interested in the weapon of mass destruction. Kid replies that he is not, but knowing about it does not hurt.

Chapter Notes

 * Brownbeard is revealed to have survived the Yeti Cool Brothers' attack.
 * Caesar Clown reveals that he is planning to use his subordinates as guinea pigs.
 * Caesar explains how he managed to defeat Luffy, Robin, Franky, Smoker, and Tashigi.
 * Due to his Gasu Gasu no Mi abilities, Caesar can manipulate the air around him.
 * Caesar defeats Nami, Usopp, and Brownbeard, and takes away the children.
 * The silhouettes of some brokers (three of them are unknown) are seen:
 * The silhouettes of Pekoms and Tamago are seen.
 * The silhouette of Eustass Kid is seen, marking his first appearance since the timeskip.

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