One Piece: A Warlord's Path

Chapter 793: The Fourth Party – The Straw Hat Crew

Law held Kikoku, glancing at the fallen Smoker with an expressionless gaze. "I can’t let you go back, Vice Admiral Smoker. My apologies."

Law swung his sword toward the sky.

Slash—

CRASH!

In an instant, the massive warship in the air was cleaved in two by an invisible blade. The cut was perfectly clean, as smooth as glass.

"Smoker-san!"

"Bastard! He cut the ship!"

"We’re doomed! The Surgeon of Death, Trafalgar Law! The 5th Division Commander of the Chris Pirates, Orc Otto! And Cavendish! We’re all going to die here!"

"Dammit! Why? Aren’t the Warlords our allies? Why is this happening?!"

Tashigi and the G-5 Marines cried out in despair. On a frozen wasteland like this, without a ship, they would freeze to death before the day was out.

"Law, you bastard!"

Smoker coughed up blood as he surged out of the crater. His lower body transformed into smoke, acting like a thruster to propel him forward at high speed.

"White Out!!!"

A barrage of smoke-enhanced fists flew toward Law.

"It’s useless. Facing the three of us, even a Logia user like you has nowhere to run," Law said coldly.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Law waved his hand, and massive chunks of ice fell from the sky, acting as a shield. The muffled thuds of Smoker’s fists echoed as they shattered the ice into frozen dust.

"We’re outside!"

At that moment, a square, reindeer-like creature kicked open the doors of the research facility.

"It’s... so cold out here!"

Following behind was Nami, showing off her figure in a bikini. She immediately hugged her arms, shivering violently.

"We escaped the building!"

"We can go home!"

"I can see my mommy and daddy again!"

"So cold!"

A group of giant children in white smocks followed them out, cheering and laughing. Finally, Franky emerged in his Franky Tank form, carrying two children with Sanji perched on the back. Strangely, Sanji was holding a living, severed head.

"The Straw Hats! And children!" Tashigi exclaimed.

"I can’t even tell what’s the weirdest part!"

"A giant tanuki! A bikini in winter! Giant kids! A robot! A severed head! Is this a dream?!"

The G-5 Marines couldn’t process the bizarre group before them.

"The Straw Hats... and giant children!"

Jason, Otto, and Cavendish were equally stunned. They expected the Straw Hats, but giant kids? Had Caesar been experimenting on them? They knew Caesar was a researcher, but they didn’t know the specifics.

"These children... has Caesar restarted the World Government’s ’Giant Soldier Project’?!" Jason muttered, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the giant kids.

The noisy Straw Hats and children finally noticed the crowd standing before the facility.

"I remember that guy!" Nami pointed at Law.

"Right! He was at Sabaody Archipelago!" Chopper added.

"Whoa! You’re..." Sanji jumped in surprise, spotting Smoker among the ice. "I thought you were some big villain, but it’s just Smoker!"

"And his cute little subordinate!" Sanji’s eyes turned into hearts as he swooned over Tashigi.

"Crap! There are Marines here!" Sanji snapped back to reality, his eyes moving to the trio. "A monster-looking guy, a knight, and a doctor... what kind of combination is that?"

"I think I’ve seen them in the papers!" Nami frowned, unable to place them immediately.

Sanji waved his hand, shouting, "This way is no good! Let’s find another exit! Everyone, back inside!"

While everyone was still processing the shock, Sanji began directing the giant children back into the facility.

"Dammit! This place cannot be exposed!" Otto roared at Law. "Is this your security? They broke out from the inside, Law!"

"The samurai is with them; it’s my mistake," Law said, his expression darkening. "Leave it to me."

Cavendish gripped Durandal. "Get them out here and kill every last one of them!" He thought of Aeridar’s power and added nervously, "If anything goes wrong here, I don’t want to be the one killed by that monster of a Captain!"

"ROOM!!"

Law extended his hand. A swirling, hollow white vortex appeared in his palm. After a few spins, a massive translucent dome engulfed the Straw Hats.

Shing—

Sanji, Nami, Chopper, and Franky vanished instantly. In their place, four waist-high blocks of ice appeared.

"Onii-chan?"

"Onee-chan?"

The children stopped, looking confusedly at the blocks of ice.

Outside the facility, Sanji and the others suddenly appeared near Smoker, sandwiched between the Marines and the pirates.

"So cold!"

"What happened?"

"Weren’t we just inside?"

"Am I seeing things? But this cold feels real..."

The four of them looked around in confusion, unable to understand how they had been teleported outside in the blink of an eye.

"Black Leg Sanji, Cat Burglar Nami, a strange tanuki, and Iron Man Franky... only four of them," Otto noted, identifying the group.

"Dammit! I’m a reindeer! A REINDEER! Not a strange tanuki!" Chopper roared, his fangs bared at Otto.

"A talking monster... is he a Zoan user?" Sanji mused, eyeing the hybrid Otto.

"It seems the rest of them are elsewhere on the island," Cavendish noted.

"Then we’ll deal with these four first, then go find Straw Hat!" Otto swung his axe, creating a fierce gust of wind.

"Aaaah—why?!" Nami screamed, hugging her arms.

"So scary!" Chopper wailed, covering his face.

"I knew it... there’s a secret here," Sanji’s expression turned serious. He was putting the pieces together.

"If you want to kill me, let’s see if a monster like you has the guts!" Franky raised his massive robotic arms, staring defiantly at Otto.

BOOM!

Otto kicked off the ground, his massive body lunging forward. He raised his metal axe and swung it down at Franky with lethal force. The wind pressure alone was razor-sharp.

"Bring it on! Let’s see how ’Super’ I am against a monster like you!" Franky tightened his fist, preparing to meet the strike head-on.

Suddenly, Smoker shouted a warning. "Get out of the way! Don’t try to take him head-on!"

"What?"

Everyone, the pirates, the Straw Hats, and the Marines, was caught off guard by Smoker’s shout. However, Franky took the advice to heart. The four of them dove to the side just in time.

BOOM!

The earth shuddered violently. A shockwave of snow and air blasted outward, knocking Nami and Chopper off their feet.

CRACK—CRACK—

The razor-sharp axe blade buried itself deep into the earth. The sheer power split the ground in a crack as wide as a man’s palm, extending for over a hundred meters before finally stopping.