"Absolutely perfect removal. Not a single scratch."
Seeing that the Golden Lion was still hesitating, Law knew he had to raise the stakes.
He stepped forward without the slightest trace of doubt and spoke with iron certainty, throwing out what he believed to be an offer the other man simply could not refuse.
The moment the words "perfect removal, without the slightest damage" left his mouth—
Shiki let out a cold, amused chuckle.
Especially when he saw the look on Law's face—the look of someone convinced he had the upper hand.
Without a word, Shiki reached into his coat, pulled out a thick cigar, lit it, and took a long, deep drag before clamping it between his teeth.
Nearby, Gern Reginald Sigmar acted as though none of this concerned him in the slightest. He calmly refilled his teacup, then tapped the side of his purple clay teapot lightly with his knuckle.
In an even, unhurried tone, he said,
"Just a reminder. My garden… every blade of grass here is worth more than the two of you combined."
"I can tell." Shiki sneered faintly around the cigar, his tone unreadable.
Then—
"BZZZT!"
The air detonated with a sharp sonic boom.
Shiki vanished from where he stood.
In the same instant, he appeared directly in front of Law.
The speed exceeded Law's reaction limit by an overwhelming margin.
"—?!" Law barely managed a startled grunt.
Shiki didn't waste a single syllable.
His right leg snapped upward in a brutal, high-line kick and smashed into Law's abdomen.
"BOOM!!"
The force made Law's eyes bulge. His stomach churned violently. His entire body shot straight upward like a severed kite, launched into the sky.
"SHING! SHING!"
Two slicing sounds split the air.
The legendary blades Kogarashi and Oto—which had been carelessly discarded earlier—responded to their master's call, transforming into streaks of light that flew precisely into Shiki's waiting hands.
He bent his knees slightly. The air beneath his feet exploded.
He shot upward faster than Law's body was rising, chasing him into the sky.
Midair, Law endured the tearing agony in his abdomen and the suffocating pressure clawing at his lungs. Gritting his teeth, he thrust his left hand outward and forced his Devil Fruit ability into motion.
"ROOM!"
A pale-blue spherical space barely began to form—
When a thick, acrid cloud of cigar smoke enveloped him from behind first.
At the same time, Shiki's savage voice exploded beside the back of his skull.
"Know your place, you damn brat!"
"Shambles?!"
"In front of Haki, you're not even qualified to show off your Devil Fruit tricks!"
The faint blue "ROOM" sphere shuddered violently—like a soap bubble caught in a typhoon.
Under the crushing pressure of Shiki's Haki-infused presence, it warped… flickered—
—and collapsed entirely.
Law's ability never even fully manifested before it was forcibly crushed.
"You think having some special little ability…" Shiki's wild laughter roared in Law's ears,
"…means you can stand on equal footing with me and negotiate terms?!"
He didn't even draw his blades.
Or rather—he had never intended to.
From the very beginning, he'd planned to use Law as a sandbag.
To test his newly restored legs.
Shiki moved with extreme speed, sticking close to Law in midair.
His newly transplanted right leg swept viciously across Law's side.
"CRACK!"
The unmistakable sound of bone fracturing echoed.
"AAAGH—!" Law screamed, his body spinning out of control like a top struck by a bat.
But Shiki's figure followed him relentlessly.
From all directions he attacked, exploiting the inertia of each strike to keep Law suspended in midair.
The "Flying Pirate" lived up to his name.
The sky was the lion's territory.
Only after some time did Shiki reappear above him.
His left leg lifted high into the air, coated in jet-black Busoshoku Haki—
—and came crashing down.
"BOOOOM!!!"
The kick smashed into Law's back.
The force penetrated straight through him.
"PUAH—!"
Blood erupted from Law's mouth as he could no longer suppress it. His body accelerated downward like a meteor and slammed violently into the training grounds below—Barrett's training field.
"BOOOOOM!"
Dust billowed everywhere.
A human-shaped crater formed in the ground.
Law lay at the bottom, his bones feeling as though they had been completely dismantled. Agony flooded in from every direction. His vision darkened at the edges. Even breathing carried the taste of blood and burning pain.
He tried to move—
—but his body refused to respond.
"Heh… heh heh."
Shiki descended slowly and landed at the edge of the crater.
He looked down at Law's limp form as if gazing at a dead dog.
Kogarashi and Oto rested casually on his shoulder. Smoke from the cigar coiled around his wild, unrestrained face.
"When I was tearing across the seas, fighting Roger for treasure, arm-wrestling Newgate…"
His voice was cold, carrying the arrogant authority unique to a tyrant of the old era.
"…you were probably still sucking milk somewhere!"
"You think just because I need something from you right now, you get to climb on my head and negotiate? Order me around? Tell me who to kill?"
He slowly raised his right foot again, coating it in Armament Haki—
—and stomped down.
"BOOM!!!"
Not on Law.
But on the ground beside his head.
The solid earth instantly spiderwebbed with cracks. Stones exploded outward. Several sharp fragments sliced across Law's cheek, leaving thin streaks of blood.
Death and overwhelming power—mere inches away.
Law's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
"Listen carefully, brat!" Shiki crouched down and grabbed Law by the hair.
"The only reason you're alive—still breathing—is because I need that little trick of yours!"
"But that does NOT mean you have the right to bargain with me!"
"Remnants of the old era… are not something a child who's only been at sea a few years gets to look down on!"
"You want my help? Fine!"
"But first…"
His grip tightened.
"…you'd better learn what kind of posture you use when speaking in the face of absolute power!"
Shiki released him, straightened up, removed the cigar from his mouth, and exhaled a thick plume of smoke directly into Law's face.
"Now tell me."
"Do you understand your 'place' yet?"
"Trafalgar Law."
At the bottom of the crater, Law lay among shattered stone and spreading blood.
Every inch of him burned.
Shiki's merciless, overwhelming beating had crushed the small seed of arrogance and illusion that had grown inside him during these days of preferential treatment.
With immense effort, he lifted his head slightly.
Through blood-blurred vision, he forced words out between clenched teeth.
"…I… understand…"
In that moment, the young pirate was taught a lesson he would never forget.
He finally grasped the true weight of legends from the old era.
And understood that in the face of absolute power, calculation and negotiation looked pitiful—almost laughable.
Next time—
If there was a next time—
He'd find someone like Straw Hat.
Not someone like the Golden Lion.
Men like Shiki… cunning old monsters.
There wasn't a single one of them who was easy to deal with.