While Davy Jones led the "Whitebeard Remnants" in battle against the Blackbeard Pirates,
"Surgeon of Death" Trafalgar Law stood before a row of people kneeling with their hands bound behind them, his gaze icy cold.
He had lost his trademark round spotted hat during the campaign to seize Big Mom's territory; in its place, he now wore a spotted baseball cap with a similar pattern.
The Law of today carried an undeniable aura.
When he approached with Kikoku resting on his shoulder, stride sharp and steady, the once-noisy area instantly fell silent.
He passed by the kneeling captives, then leaned casually against a rough, uneven wall.
"Talk."
Dark circles under his eyes, Law's tone was lazy—as if he'd just woken up.
"Who sent you to assassinate me?"
Almost on cue, the "assassins" began shouting as if rehearsed.
"We serve Beast Kaido! This assassination may have failed, but more of us will keep coming—day after day—until you can't eat or sleep in peace!"
"You'd better release us! Kaido-sama will never let you off!"
"Before long, Kaido-sama will personally lead the All-Stars, the Flying Six, and the Beasts to flatten your island and sla—"
The last assassin didn't finish.
With a blur of movement, Law drew Kikoku from its sheath and unleashed a slash.
In an instant, several of the loudest men had parts of their bodies severed—some lost their heads, some their arms or legs, some were cut at the waist, others across the hips.
As their screams filled the air, Law flexed his fingers like a puppeteer manipulating marionettes, freely rearranging the severed pieces—mixing them, reattaching them arbitrarily.
Soon, several men had been combined into a grotesque mass of flesh: arms connected to waists, heads attached to hips, and other unthinkable configurations.
They were still alive.
But for them, death would have been far kinder.
The horrifying scene made everyone's hearts tremble.
"Still want to lie to me?" Law asked the remaining assassins, who stared in terrified silence.
"How could Kaido send nobodies like you for such an amateurish assassination?"
He was thinking of the attempt the day before—carried out right in the street, with no planning at all, as if the group had acted on a whim. Naturally, they were all captured.
And Law did not believe the matter was that simple.
He did not believe Kaido was behind this clumsy attempt.
Rather, it looked exactly like the handiwork of someone trying to frame him.
"Heavenly Yaksha" Doflamingo.
Why this suspicion?
Because Crocodile—acting on Captain Davy Jones' orders—had deployed batteries of cannons to various key positions.
Davy Jones had decided to join forces with the Whitebeard Remnants to crush the Blackbeard Pirates.
Those cannons were positioned specifically to deter any meddling factions.
In the current New World, only two major forces were capable of reinforcing the Blackbeard Pirates:
Kaido's Beast Pirates
and
the Donquixote Family.
Thus, Crocodile, along with "Magnetism" Kid and "Magician" Hawkins, personally held position along Kaido's most likely reinforcement routes.
Law, meanwhile, had been stationed at the doorstep of the Donquixote Family's territory to observe Doflamingo's movements.
Knowing Doflamingo well, Law found it far more plausible that the Joker had sent these assassins to muddy the waters and shift the blame.
But after waiting a moment, the remaining assassins—though visibly shaken—stubbornly insisted that Kaido had sent them.
Compared to Law, they were clearly far more terrified of Doflamingo.
Continuing the interrogation would be a waste of time.
Only by killing a few—to make an example—could he pry open their mouths.
Realizing this, Law's patience evaporated.
He was about to literally cut them to pieces when he noticed something unusual among the group.
All the other captives were screaming insults at him—faces red, veins bulging—hurling curse after curse.
But one female assassin was different.
She only mouthed the curses silently, following the others' lip movements.
Her expression remained calm. Her eyes stayed fixed on Law.
She blinked once—slowly—at him.
Law looked at her for a moment, then quietly returned Kikoku to its sheath.
He called out loudly to his men:
"Lock them up. Captain Davy Jones will question them personally later. Separate them—don't give them a chance to coordinate their stories."
The Sea King Pirates immediately rushed forward, forcing the assassins to the ground and hauling them toward the nearby cells.
Most continued shouting curses, but a few had collapsed into desperate pleas for mercy.
Law ignored them.
He noticed one fish-man subordinate restraining the female assassin.
She only put up a token struggle before allowing herself to be taken away.
That night, Law sat in his study, flipping through a medical journal while waiting for the subordinate he trusted to quietly bring the woman to him.
After a long while, a knock sounded. The door opened, and the female assassin was escorted inside.
Law dismissed the subordinate.
Now they were alone.
Her hands were still bound, yet for a prisoner she carried an elegance and composure unmatched by the others.
She sat on a soft sofa, long black wavy hair loose and wild down to her waist.
"Who are you?" Law asked directly. He already sensed her identity was not ordinary.
"I was once a princess of Dressrosa—before Doflamingo seized the kingdom."
Her voice was cool, steady.
"Now, I am merely Viola, an ordinary officer under the Joker."
The answer was unexpected, but Law's deep knowledge of Doflamingo and the Donquixote Family allowed him to grasp its meaning immediately.
Which meant one thing for certain—
these assassins were sent by Doflamingo.
Viola continued:
"Trafalgar Law, I know your history with the Donquixote Family—you were once one of them."
"But then the death of the former 'Corazón'—Rosinante—who was also Doflamingo's brother, tore your relationship apart."
"You know quite a lot," Law said, setting aside his book, expression serious.
"Tell me, Princess of a fallen Dressrosa—what is your purpose?"
"To you, Rosinante must have been family, yes?" Viola had spent years gathering information.
"And like you, my family was destroyed by Doflamingo."
"My father, King Riku, was driven from the throne by Doflamingo's deceit—reviled by the people, hunted across the kingdom… until he vanished."
"My sister Scarlett was killed by them. My brother-in-law Kyros and their daughter Rebecca disappeared. I fear… they did not meet a good end either."
"I agreed to work for Doflamingo, on the condition that he spare my father. And so the years passed."
"You and I share the same blood hatred for Doflamingo and the Donquixote Family. So when I learned he was sending assassins to kill you, I found a way to slip into the group."