Chapter 59: The Corridor of Schemes
The final assignments shook out like this:
Route One: Sanji, Brook (who had encountered the upper body before), Zoro, and the currently disabled samurai. Their mission—find the samurai's missing upper body.
Zoro had been assigned specifically because Nami caught him napping.
"Perfect. Put him with Sanji. They'll argue the whole way and he won't have time to sleep."
She was right.
They ran—and argued.
"STUPID COOK!"
"GREEN-ALGAE HEAD!"
"PERVERTED KAPPA!"
"FERAL SWORDSMAN!"
"NANI?! WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"
"ZORO-SAN!" Brook called after them. "YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG DIRECTION!"
Route Two: Law, Itachi, and Chopper—enter the laboratory, find research materials, destroy key equipment.
The problem: Chopper could barely move, bandaged and weak.
Luffy and Usopp examined the situation with intense focus.
"That hat on Law's head..." Luffy mused.
"Yes..." Usopp nodded.
"It's perfect for Chopper to lie on!"
"EXACTLY!"
The result: Chopper draped over Law's hat, legs dangling on either side. Law's expression of profound suffering was only matched by Chopper's gleeful ignorance.
"SHISHISHISHI!" Luffy rolled on the ground laughing.
Law's eye twitched.
"How... HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THIS?!"
Route Three: The frontal assault team—Luffy, Robin, and Franky. Their target: capture Caesar.
According to Law's intel, Caesar had rushed to the laboratory's main entrance. He appeared to be summoning something.
Rear Guard: Nami and Usopp stayed with the children—now chained and unconscious, with Usopp ready to reapply Sleep Stars if any stirred.
"YOSH! MOVE OUT!"
Luffy waved and charged toward the laboratory.
Law watched him go, then turned to Itachi.
"Then we'll go as well, Itachi-san."
Chopper perched happily on his hat.
They walked toward the laboratory's interior.
At the main entrance, Caesar had arrived—alerted by Law's earlier transmission that Smoker had been neutralized.
Smoker himself—now in Tashigi's body—had regrouped with the G-5 forces. He divided them into two teams: one to defend the entrance, one to send a distress signal beyond the island.
Under Tashigi's (now in Smoker's body) suggestion, their focus had shifted. Not the Straw Hats. The children.
Because both of them suddenly remembered: those children matched missing persons reports from islands near Punk Hazard. Families begging the Navy for help.
At the laboratory's rear entrance, Law extended his hand.
"ROOM."
A gesture. They appeared before an unremarkable side door.
Law glanced at Itachi—who had already formed seals, ready for anything.
"Must you be so wary?"
"Unavoidable."
Itachi relaxed slightly.
Law couldn't contain his curiosity.
"Are you REALLY a ninja? What Devil Fruit did you eat? You seem to have so many abilities—"
"I'm a ninja."
"SODA SODA!" Chopper confirmed from Law's hat. "Brother Itachi is a REAL ninja!"
Law stared.
Both of them say the same thing.
He deliberately avoided meeting Itachi's eyes—those eyes that had trapped him in that endless red world.
Ninja. The word held strange temptation for someone who'd grown up reading adventure comics.
Law pushed the door open.
"The Straw Hats collect quite the talents."
Itachi had his own questions.
"How did you break my genjutsu?"
Law's interest sharpened.
"So it WAS genjutsu! You're not a Devil Fruit user at all!"
He filed this away.
"The first one—I broke with Haki. The second... that one I couldn't break."
Itachi nodded. So Haki provides mental defense. The strength of that defense must depend on the user's willpower.
Chopper piped up. "Brother Itachi! Do you know Haki?"
He immediately covered his mouth.
"Ah! Did I say too much?!"
Itachi shook his head.
"No. I don't know Haki."
Law stopped walking.
"You DON'T?"
He turned to stare—forgetting, for a moment, the danger of those eyes.
"You defeated me without Haki?!"
Itachi blinked. "Is that surprising?"
Law's jaw worked.
This man...
They entered the laboratory proper.
Law refocused.
"Caesar's secretary is here. Monet. Snow-Snow Fruit user. Troublesome, but manageable. The rest are fodder."
He outlined the plan: neutralize Monet first, then destroy the equipment.
Chopper would be deposited somewhere safe.
Law produced a bag and unceremoniously dropped Chopper into it.
"HEY!"
"Quiet."
They moved through corridors until Monet's office was near.
Itachi vanished into a ventilation shaft above—perfect vantage.
Law continued alone.
Monet sat at her desk, taking notes. Through half-open doors, Itachi observed.
Chopper, from within the bag, whispered. "A bird woman..."
Monet looked up, greeting Law warmly behind her thick glasses.
"Ah, Law. You're back."
Law's voice was flat.
"I'm leaving this island."
Monet's expression flickered—surprise, then something else.
"Is that so? This place will feel empty without you."
"If you wish to leave, I'll use your ability." Law gestured at her wings.
Monet smiled—too easily.
"Of course."
She stood. Below her waist, no legs—only prosthetic limbs crafted from swords.
She followed Law through the door.
Law stepped into the corridor—
And collapsed.
His knees hit the ground. Pain contorted his face.
"THIS IS—!"
Monet hadn't moved. Hadn't touched him.
But from the corridor's far end, a voice spoke—a voice Law knew intimately.
"It's been years, Law. You've grown."
A figure emerged from the shadows.
In his hand—Law's heart. Beating. Vulnerable.
A squeeze sent agony through Law's body.
The man smiled.
(End of Chapter)
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