The crumbling laboratory.
The spread of the poisonous SAD gas.
Those disasters seemed isolated from this place, quietly reduced to background scenery.
Ozz sat on the railing, looking at Punk Hazard, an island like a tragedy carved into the human world.
"From the very beginning, the moment Law called out the name Teleport, you were already affected."
Vergo fell silent.
He admitted that was true.
With his Armament Haki trained to such a high level, he should not have feared strange Devil Fruit abilities. But the Teleport-Teleport Fruit was different.
At that moment, he had been careless.
And nervous.
Ozz found it amusing.
Law had actually turned around and copied him.
The key was that the imitation was so crude.
Sitting on the railing beside Vergo's hanging head, Ozz conjured a bottle of orange juice and poured it into his mouth.
"Speaking of which, it really is funny. You didn't seriously think that brat Law's ability could actually make you unable to move, did you?"
"This..."
Vergo froze.
Earlier, he had indeed felt as if he could not move forward.
It had been very similar to one of Ozz's legendary signature techniques, Don't Move.
According to rumors, once someone exceeded a certain range of movement, they would be teleported back to their original state.
Seeing Vergo's expression, Ozz burst into laughter.
Too funny.
"You really got bluffed by that brat Law. You wrapped your whole body in Armament Haki and got overconfident. You didn't even use Observation Haki properly."
"That brat Law couldn't teleport you at all. So what he teleported was the ground and the surrounding buildings."
"???"
Even someone as cold and restrained as Vergo could not help stiffening when he heard that.
As a spectator, and as someone standing at the peak of Observation Haki, Ozz had seen everything clearly.
After bluffing Vergo at the start, Law expanded his Room to a terrifying range while Vergo was advancing.
Then he moved himself and the entire building backward at the same speed Vergo was moving forward.
From Vergo's perspective, the surrounding environment and Law were moving along with him, creating the illusion that he was still standing in place.
So Vergo truly believed it.
He believed this was something only a Devil Fruit ability like Ozz's could accomplish.
That was why his mind wavered for an instant.
As for Law?
Perhaps he had been inspired by Ozz's awakened Devil Fruit power, the way Ozz released teleportation outward and used it to control external space.
Add to that the automatic plus-one-hundred comprehension boost that came when a man of great luck faced a desperate situation.
And somehow, he really did touch the faintest beginnings of Devil Fruit awakening, shallowly attaching the power of Room to his blade.
Then, while Vergo's mind wavered, he cut him open with a single slash.
If Vergo had learned a few things from Ozz, persistence, the pursuit of power, and the spirit to fear no death...
Then what had Law learned?
Surely it couldn't be scheming, right?
Vergo fell silent.
Ozz's laughter echoed beside his ears.
The winner was king and the loser was a bandit. No matter how he put it, he had lost.
"So? In Doffy's eyes, you're already dead. Want to come work for me?"
"Mr. Ozz..."
Vergo's expression shifted slightly.
Then came the sound of fingers snapping.
His body, which had been chopped into pieces by Law, began to reassemble.
Torso, limbs, head.
They drew toward each other and connected.
At last, his powerful body returned to its original form.
In his hand, he held the final piece of his body.
His heart.
"Think about it?"
"If we wait a little longer, Doffy might order this island destroyed."
Ozz spoke with a smile.
Vergo was silent for a moment.
Then he knelt on the ground and raised his heart with one hand.
"Thank you for granting me a new life, Mr. Ozz."
It was a symbol of loyalty.
After giving his life for Doflamingo, only for Doflamingo to decide to destroy this island, the bond between lord and retainer had reached its end.
He had already proven his loyalty with his willingness to die.
From now on, the man he would serve was the one before him, the man who had given him a second life.
"I am willing to offer you my heart."
...
Elsewhere.
On the Thousand Sunny.
Zoro was grabbing Sanji by the collar and shaking him nonstop, clearly extremely agitated.
"What did you say, curly-brow?!"
"Master and Kuina appeared on Punk Hazard?!"
"Let go of me, moss-head!"
The two pressed their foreheads together and started butting heads again.
It was only after Robin asked that Sanji patiently explained.
"Here's what happened."
"At the time, Father and that beautiful woman suddenly appeared inside the laboratory. Trafalgar switched their bodies too."
"You should have felt the aftershock from back then."
Luffy nodded at this.
"Yeah. The whole island suddenly started shaking. I thought it was an earthquake."
"And that huge crack appeared out of nowhere, like a canyon."
Law, sitting quietly nearby wrapped in bandages, shook his head.
"That wasn't a crack in the ground. That was a slash Mr. Ozz unleashed using that woman's body."
"Even with a weak body, Mr. Ozz is still Mr. Ozz. That Marine Vice Admiral and I had almost no chance of winning against him."
The group chatted among themselves.
Meanwhile, in a corner of the Thousand Sunny's deck, a small boy heard the name they were discussing.
Deep fear appeared in his eyes.
Kin'emon, who was beside him, noticed that something was wrong.
"What is the matter, Lord Momonosuke?!"
That was right.
This cowardly little boy curled up in the corner was none other than the rescued Kozuki Momonosuke, the castrated version.
Unlike the original version, he no longer tried every possible way to dive into beautiful women's chests.
And thanks to Kozuki Oden's absurdly durable constitution, even after physical castration and long-term starvation, he had still survived with plenty of vitality.
He just looked much more feminine than before.
"It was... it was that person who... who did that to me..."
Momonosuke stammered and could not explain it properly.
Because he understood clearly that in a place like Wano, losing his identity as a man meant losing the legal legitimacy of his bloodline.
So he could only mumble vaguely.
"Lord Momonosuke, are you referring to Lord Ozz? He was once Lord Oden's companion!"
Kin'emon seemed to sense nothing wrong at all and smiled cheerfully as he spoke.
Momonosuke became even more despairing.
Right now...
He had completely lost his desire and impulse toward beautiful women.
And just as they left, heading toward Dressrosa...
Doflamingo, burning with fury, had already flown from Dressrosa to Punk Hazard.
There, he caught Smoker, who had not yet left.
The killing intent in his eyes was nearly impossible to suppress.
"Ara-ra..."
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