Chapter 54: Heading to the Frozen Zone
"Look! It's not just a snow mountain—there's a river ahead!"
Zoro pointed toward the distant boundary where fire met ice, a dark channel of water separating the two halves of the island.
Itachi had already crouched, hands forming seals.
"We'll fly over. Faster."
But as the Black Fire Crow began to materialize, the leopard-print centaur—still dancing with Luffy moments ago—suddenly answered a ringing Transponder Snail. His expression shifted instantly.
He swung a massive club at Luffy's head.
"YOU LIAR! You're not companions—you're INTRUDERS!"
Luffy dodged easily, genuinely confused.
"Hey, Uncle! We were having fun! Why the sudden change?!"
The centaur swung wildly, but Luffy's speed made him impossible to hit. Finally, a single kick sent the creature tumbling unconscious.
Simultaneously, Robin's Transponder Snail rang.
"Robin?!"
Brook's voice crackled through, urgent and alarmed.
"It's me." Robin's expression sharpened. "What happened?"
"TERRIBLE NEWS! Nami and the others have been KIDNAPPED!"
Everyone froze.
"Kidnapped?!"
"Gas! Hypnotic gas of some kind! There are people in strange suits on the ship now!"
In the background, Brook's sword sang—the sound of multiple bodies falling.
Robin's mind worked quickly. Brook wasn't taken... they must have thought he was just a skeleton.
"We'll return immediately."
"DON'T!" Brook's voice stopped her. "I'm at the opposite end of the island now! The frozen side! They brought us here!"
Robin's eyes widened. "Understood."
She hung up and turned to the others.
"It seems the frozen side is definitely our destination."
Itachi's Black Fire Crow materialized fully. He extended a hand to Robin.
Usopp turned to call Luffy—and found several unconscious bodies surrounding their captain.
"Weren't you just... dancing with them?!" Zoro stared.
Luffy shrugged. "They suddenly said we were intruders and attacked! So troublesome!"
Itachi and Robin had already boarded the crow.
"We need to find Nami and the others first," Itachi said. "Reunite the crew."
Luffy's expression shifted—the easy smile replaced by something more focused. His arms shot out, grabbing the crow's framework, and he vaulted aboard.
The five of them together, Itachi guided the Black Fire Crow across the river dividing the island's two climates.
The moment they crossed into the frozen zone, the temperature plummeted.
Cold—not ordinary cold, but bone-deep, lung-freezing cold—slammed into them.
"SO COLD!" Usopp immediately pressed himself against the Black Fire Crow's flaming wings, desperate for any warmth. "I didn't bring ANY clothes for this!"
Zoro shivered, arms wrapped around himself. Robin trembled beside him, her breath forming ice crystals.
Only Itachi, standing at the crow's forefront, seemed unaffected—or at least, unaffected enough to function.
"The flames generate heat," he explained, "but at this speed, the wind carries it away before it can warm you."
He glanced down.
"There are people below."
Luffy and Zoro peered over the edge. A group of figures moved through the snow—armed, armored against the cold.
"INTRUDERS SPOTTED!"
"How are they FLYING?!"
"FIRE! SHOOT THEM DOWN! SEND THEM TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA!"
Weapons rose. Cannons aimed.
The Black Fire Crow dove.
Luffy and Zoro stood on its back, eyes gleaming.
"I want that woman's coat," Robin said through chattering teeth.
"Zoro—be careful with the sword." Itachi's voice was calm.
"I know."
They jumped.
Minutes later, the five of them stood over a pile of unconscious bodies, now properly dressed in thick winter gear.
Usopp pulled on gloves with visible relief. "Finally... warm..."
Itachi held his sword to the throat of the largest man—a massive figure with a tea-colored beard, the apparent leader.
"Where are the kidnapped crew members being held?"
Tea Beard—for that was his name—couldn't believe how quickly his men had fallen.
"I... I don't know—"
A flash of steel. Half his beard fell away.
"The next cut won't be your beard."
Itachi's voice was soft. Absolute.
"I'LL TALK! I'LL TALK!"
Tea Beard spilled everything.
This island was a government禁 zone—no outsiders permitted. Anyone who landed was either killed or taken for... experiments.
Robin's expression darkened. "Experiments?"
"Nami and the others were captured as test subjects!" Usopp wailed.
"In those thin clothes?! They'll freeze to death!"
Robin's calm response didn't help. "Perhaps."
"ROBIN!"
Itachi pressed the blade closer.
"You're part of the defense force here. Guarding this place."
Tea Beard's eyes darted. The blade moved—a shallow cut across his cheek, blood welling in the cold.
"I'LL TALK! I'LL TAKE YOU TO THE LAB!"
He scrambled to his feet. Itachi leaped onto his head, sitting cross-legged as if on a throne.
"If this is a trap, you die first."
Tea Beard's smile was bitter.
"I don't need a trap. When you see the master's forces, you'll die anyway."
"We'll see about that." Zoro's hand rested on his sword.
Tea Beard laughed despite his situation.
"I know who you are! Monkey D. Luffy! Roronoa Zoro! The supernovas of the Worst Generation! The problem children of the seas!"
Luffy perked up. "You know me?"
"OF COURSE! Your generation—I remember every name!"
Itachi studied Luffy from his perch on Tea Beard's head.
This man... a "problem child of the seas"?
He couldn't reconcile the title with the rubber idiot who danced with centaurs.
"Since you're so confident your master will kill us," Itachi said, "tell us everything you know."
Meanwhile, elsewhere on Punk Hazard's frozen side, Nami ran.
She and the others—Chopper, Brook, Franky—had escaped their cell the moment Franky's laser carved through the door. They fled through corridors, past laboratories, until they burst into a room that made them all stop.
Children.
Huge children.
Enormous, oversized children, some twice the size of normal adults, all of them looking at the intruders with wide, confused eyes.
Nami's instincts screamed that something was deeply wrong.
But there was no time to analyze. They had to run. And now, they had to run with these strange children.
In the laboratory's highest chamber, two figures faced each other across a table covered in charts and data.
One was Trafalgar Law—the Surgeon of Death, newly appointed Warlord of the Sea. His spotted hat cast shadows over his calm eyes.
The other was a man in a gas mask, his lab coat pristine, his voice dripping with self-importance.
Caesar Clown. The world's most wanted scientist.
Law's Transponder Snail clicked.
"Smoker's ship has been sighted. He's landed on the island."
Caesar's eyes narrowed behind his mask.
"Then deal with him, Warlord. That's what you're here for."
Law said nothing. He simply rose and walked toward the door, Kikoku resting on his shoulder.
Somewhere in the frozen wastes, a Marine G-5 unit was about to have a very bad day.
(End of Chapter)
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