A semicircular space enveloped part of Rocky Port. Under the influence of the Op-Op Fruit's power, Koby's position was swapped with a table. Not only was he not crushed by the boulder, but he instead appeared right in front of Law.
"You're Trafalgar Law?"
"Looks like I'm quite famous, Marine."
"Why are you here?"
"Are you joking? I'm a pirate. A pirate showing up in Fullalead, isn't that the most normal thing? On the contrary, your actions are unbelievably foolish. Do you really think your Marine identity can reassure the people here?"
Law had no impression of Koby. In the original timeline, due to his miraculous actions and association with Buggy, he was somewhat of a celebrity. But now, he is just an ordinary Marine soldier, perhaps with a little bit of connections.
Law only knew he was a Marine because Koby revealed it himself.
The aftermath of Jack's attack reached Rocky Port and caused chaos here. In the confusion, ordinary people were easily affected. When a stampede broke out, Koby, trying to restore order, shouted out his identity, which is how Law, who was nearby, discovered it.
In other places, being a Marine could indeed calm people. But Fullalead was different. Since the days of Rocks' voyage, this place had been pirate territory for decades. Even though it changed hands multiple times, it was always taken over by powerful pirates.
Unless absolutely necessary, the Marines didn't want to waste troops here. As a result, Fullalead had long been without any Marine presence, and the people here had already lost faith in them.
"So what? Don't trust the Marines, but trust the pirates instead?"
"I don't want to argue with you about this. It's meaningless. Marine, you came here to save people, right?"
"That's right."
"Then there's no problem. But clearly, you don't have the strength to accomplish that."
Before he even finished speaking, Law suddenly drew his sword and slashed to the side. Two pirates who were trying to attack him were sliced cleanly at the waist.
Their bisected bodies scattered across the ground, but the cuts were exceptionally smooth, there wasn't even any blood visible. Even the pirates themselves, now in two halves, had terrified expressions.
There was no pain, and they still had sensation, but their legs were no longer attached to their bodies.
"Beasts Pirates' people are at the center of the island. I don't know how Fullalead's pirates angered the Beasts Pirates, but those guys are in big trouble now.
This is a great opportunity to save people. I can help you deal with the remaining pirates, but on one condition. You must help me deliver a gift to the Marines."
"A gift?"
"That's right. Nothing like a terror attack, it's something completely normal."
While Law spoke, the two bisected pirates grabbed their runaway lower halves and reattached them to their upper bodies.
"Damn rookie! Is your ability just for circus tricks?!"
"It's good for magic tricks, but what's the use of an ability without destructive power?!"
The pirates in Fullalead were far more vicious and ruthless than those outside. They acted without any regard for consequences. Standing up again, they once more swung their blades at Law. They hadn't realized that from the very beginning, they had always been within Law's surgical space.
"ROOM • Scalpel."
Kikoku slashed a few times through the air. Then, two strange cubes appeared in Law's left hand. Blood vessels on them were clearly visible, and they were still pulsating.
Anyone familiar with human anatomy, or who had been to a market, or survived intense fights on the battlefield, could tell that what Law held were two human hearts.
The two pirates who tried to attack him collapsed suddenly, as if all their strength had been drained.
Two square holes appeared in the spots where their hearts used to be. The hearts in Law's hands belonged precisely to them.
"Counter Shock."
Law sheathed his sword Kikoku, then brought his hands together. The moment his thumbs touched, an electric current shot out from his palms. Under the shock, the collapsed pirates weakly clutched at their chests before finally losing consciousness.
"Ghost Claw Lampt, Blood-Hand Baruch; both with bounties of fifty million Berries. Pirates like these may not seem like much… but what if there are a hundred of them?"
"Including those stronger than them, their hearts are my gift. Although delivering them personally would be better, having a Marine like you deliver them is also a good choice.
You wouldn't try to take credit for this achievement, would you, Mr. Righteous Marine?"
"What are you trying to do?"
"I'm helping you clean up pirates. As for what I want, of course, it's the position of Shichibukai. With both strength and merit, that should be enough, right?"
Law had his own plan. Right now, he still harbored hatred toward Doflamingo. To get revenge, he needed to find a way to get close to Doflamingo and learn more about his current situation. That meant he needed a new identity to better carry out his next moves.
Before all of this was settled, he would rather Lami never remember him again. After all, he wasn't even sure if he had the power to defeat Doflamingo.
Now that Weevil had been taken down by the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates, there was an open spot among the Shichibukai. Law had his eyes on that position.
He couldn't defeat pirates who were too strong. Without the faction buff, fighting those monsters was simply too difficult.
But pirates who were too weak weren't valuable enough. So he set his sights on Fullalead; many pirates gathered here matched his criteria. Originally, Law's goal was to conduct guerrilla-style attacks in the surrounding area, hunting pirates who left or were returning.
In this, he had a natural advantage, because the Polar Tang was a submarine. Ordinary pirate ships didn't have sonar, and couldn't defend against Law's underwater ambushes.
However, Jack's attack revealed an opportunity for Law to pick up the pieces. With the island's most troublesome monsters lured away by Jack, he could handle the remaining pirates. And now, Koby's appearance presented Law with yet another opportunity.
"I can't decide on something like this."
"Of course I don't expect a mere Warranty Officer to accomplish anything. I just need you to be a messenger. But thinking it over, I don't really trust you, I better play it safe."
"What are you trying to do.."
Smack. Koby's body also fell to the ground.
Although he awakened Observation Haki during the Summit War, his strength was still far behind Law's. He couldn't react at all to Law's surprise attack.
In that moment, he felt what those two pirates had just experienced. The hollow feeling in his chest and the powerless feeling in his body filled him with terror.
"Don't worry, this is just a precaution. Wait a bit and your strength will return. But until then, I'll be keeping your heart."
Once again, another heart appeared in Law's hand — it belonged to Koby. Law couldn't trust a Marine's character. Compared to unreliable moral integrity, it was far more secure to hold someone's life in his hand.
"I'll take that as your agreement. Don't be afraid. Whether or not I become a Shichibukai, I'll return your heart. But you'd better hope the Marines and World Government agree to this request. I'll get the imprisoned people out. How you help them afterward is up to you."
As he said that, Law tossed the two pirates' hearts in front of Koby.
"These are their hearts. Under the influence of my ability, the hearts can function normally even when separated from the body. But if an external force crushes them… their owners will die. If these two wake up, you can use this to threaten them into helping you."
"As for your heart, I'll keep it safe."
After storing Koby's heart away, Law waited a while longer. Once Koby's strength had recovered, he used the Op-Op Fruit's teleportation to leave.
After Law left, Koby found himself face-to-face with a panicked bystander. The man was clutching his head, clearly having narrowly escaped danger earlier. However, the sudden shift to safety didn't bring him any relief. Instead, the abrupt change in surroundings was so shocking that he fainted on the spot.
Law's goal was to hunt pirates. Rescuing people would have to be Koby's job. Just like Law didn't trust him, Koby didn't trust pirates much either. But to him, saving people was the more important thing.
Just as Koby was still unsure about what to do next, a nearby building suddenly collapsed with a loud crash. A massive Allosaurus stepped onto the rubble of the building, followed by a group of pirates from Beasts Pirates.
As the current top combatant, although Drake had no real authority, with Jack's permission, he was still allowed to temporarily lead a small team into action.
"Red Flag, do you really know where the hostages are?"
"According to the intel, they should be over there. The tough ones were already lured away by Lord Jack. We can just break through directly."
Within the Beasts Pirates, strength was still the highest law. Ordinary pirates wouldn't call Drake a newcomer like Jack did; instead, they addressed him by his former codename.
And in order to blend in with this group more quickly, Drake had gradually begun acting more like a brute himself. None of them noticed Koby standing nearby. The pirates simply ignored a random passerby, and as for Drake, he just didn't recognize him.
In terms of position, Drake was the captain of the SWORD squad, but Koby had joined the team after Drake had already begun his undercover mission, so Drake had no idea such a rookie even existed.
Just as Drake was about to continue moving forward, several giants made of clay suddenly appeared around them and began closing in on Drake's team.
The other pirates instinctively raised their weapons and aimed at the clay dolls, but when they pulled the trigger, the barrels did not spit fire as usual, instead, a large number of flowers bloomed from the muzzles.
"You go rescue the client. Leave this side to me."
Seeing the familiar clay giants and the change in the pirates' weapons, Drake had already guessed their source.
SWORD was a small team, and Drake knew the abilities of the other members. Though they hadn't coordinated in advance, this was clearly the other members taking action to support him.
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