"There really is no end to this."
Usopp raised his hand and launched an attack, forcefully blasting away a leaping Fighting Fish.
Afterward, he said, "Just how long is this bridge anyway?"
No one answered his question, however, because it was everyone's first time here.
"Long-Nose-ya, take off Caesar's handcuffs," Law said. "Let him fight too!"
Although this guy was just a useless scientist, he should have no problem dealing with these Fighting Fish.
"Release me?"
Hearing this, Caesar was inwardly overjoyed. If they were willing to let him go, he would fly straight into the sky and escape immediately!
Shurorororo~
As if reading Caesar's mind, Usopp said, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"If we let him go, he'll just fly into the air and run away!"
Caesar: "..."
Damn it, he saw right through me!
"Don't worry, he won't do anything that stupid." Law calmly glanced back at Caesar and said, "After all, this guy's heart is in my hands."
As he spoke, Law pulled out Caesar's heart to show him.
"Huh?"
"HUH?!"
"Th-That's my heart!"
"Bastard, Law, you're definitely going to hell for this!"
"Hell?"
Law sneered in his heart. If he could kill Doflamingo, what did going to hell matter to him?
"Long-Nose-ya, unlock him!"
"All right."
Seeing how persistent Law was, Usopp stopped agonizing over it. Putting on his gloves, he unlocked Caesar's handcuffs.
"To actually order a genius scientist like me around like this..." Caesar shouted in grief and indignation, "Is there anyone who exploits people like this?!"
"Damn it, just you wait!"
With that, Caesar wasted no time attacking the Fighting Fish charging from behind.
"Gas Impact Beam!"
Whoosh~
BOOM!!
The terrifying burning gas slammed into the Fighting Fish, blasting it away in a single hit.
Judging from the damage the Fighting Fish took, it wouldn't be getting back up anytime soon.
"Impressive, Caesar!" Usopp praised. "As expected of someone with a 300-million Bounty!"
"Who wants your compliments?!"
His greatest strength wasn't his fighting ability, but his brain, okay?!
Thinking this, Caesar continued firing attacks at the Fighting Fish chasing after them, forcefully keeping them at bay.
"Cut the chatter and hurry across," Law urged.
"Of course I know we have to hurry, but..." Usopp glanced at Law and said, "Why aren't you helping at all, man?"
"Yeah, exactly!"
Caesar also glanced back at Law in annoyance and chimed in, "Don't make me do all the work alone!"
Even if he was a prisoner right now, prisoners shouldn't be treated like this!
"It seems I have to explain myself." Law let out a helpless, quiet sigh before clarifying, "The more I use my Devil Fruit Ability, the more stamina it drains."
"We might cross paths with Doflamingo on the way back, and I'll need to step up then. So, I have to conserve as much strength as possible right now."
If he exhausted his abilities fighting here, he might not be able to kill Doflamingo later.
Therefore, the enemies here had to be left to these three.
"Doflamingo, huh..."
Usopp instinctively glanced in the direction of Green Bit, then nodded and said no more.
Since he understood Law's reasoning, there was no need to dwell on whether he fought or not.
Meanwhile, Caesar looked at Law in surprise, thinking to himself: Is Law really planning to fight Joker to the death?
Does this kid have no idea how strong Doflamingo is?
Or... does he already have the confidence to defeat Doflamingo?
If it was the former, fine, but if it was the latter... he might be completely done for.
At that thought, worry surfaced in Caesar's eyes.
Yet, remembering Doflamingo's terrifying strength, Caesar gradually calmed down again.
His master was immensely powerful, so there was no real need to worry too much.
Just then, the three people in front suddenly stopped in their tracks, catching Caesar off guard.
"What's wrong?"
"The bridge is broken!" Usopp said, on the verge of pulling his hair out. "What's going on here?"
"It was probably destroyed by the Fighting Fish," Nico Robin guessed.
Looking at the jagged fracture, it indeed looked like their doing.
Then, Nico Robin turned to Usopp and said, "Usopp, use your plants."
"But the fog on the opposite shore is too thick; I can't see what's over there at all," Usopp said. "What if..."
Although Usopp didn't finish his sentence, the others understood what he meant.
If there was something waiting on the other side, being suspended over the sea meant they could very well get tossed into the water, and then they would truly be dead.
"If only Merry were here," Usopp sighed.
If Merry were around, they could use her ability to fly across.
"There's no point dwelling on that now. Why don't we..." Before Law could finish, he noticed something and yelled, "Look out, a Fighting Fish is charging straight at us!"
"Damn it, there really is no end to them!" Usopp grumbled in annoyance.
As he spoke, he pulled out another seed, preparing to take down the oncoming Fighting Fish.
However, before he could make a move this time, several harpoons and a massive fishing net suddenly flew from the distance, stopping the enormous Fighting Fish dead in midair.
"Huh?"
Staring at the ensnared giant Fighting Fish, the group standing at the bridge's edge was utterly dumbfounded.
"What... is going on?" Usopp said in shock.
Why had this Fighting Fish been captured by such strange contraptions?
Could there be people on the opposite side?
Right at that moment, voices drifted over from across the gap.
"Great, we caught it!"
"Pull, hurry! Take it back!"
"Today's the day of the decisive battle! Let's make Fighting Fish stew to restore our energy~"
"Yeah!"
"Whose voices are those?" Nico Robin wondered aloud. "Islanders?"
Why did they sound like children's voices?
And rather cute, at that.
"That can't be," Usopp said. "Didn't that old guy earlier say this was an uninhabited island?"
When that old man told them about Green Bit, he had indeed mentioned it was deserted.
"Then how do you explain those voices?" Law asked.
"Well..."
Usopp hesitated, at a loss for how to explain the situation.
"There's no point overthinking it," Nico Robin said. "Let's first see if we can communicate with them."
At the very least, they needed to find out if the other side had hostile intentions, or they might come under attack while crossing over.
"Fair point."
Usopp nodded, then shouted across, "Hey, is anyone there?"
"We want to cross the bridge. Could you help us out?"
Upon hearing Usopp's shout, the people on the other side were startled, clearly not expecting anyone else to be there.
"Oh no, it's humans!"
"Quick, let's take the Fighting Fish and get out of here!"
"Run for your lives, hurry!"
With that, the members of the Dwarf Tribe exerted their strength, quickly dragging the monstrously huge Fighting Fish away, leaving Usopp completely flabbergasted.
Such a massive Fighting Fish, and they just dragged it away like that?
Just who on earth is on the other side?
"What just happened?" Nico Robin mused, puzzled. "They said... 'humans'?"
"Could it be that they aren't human?"
"Ghosts?"
"Hey!"
Usopp looked at Nico Robin in horror and exclaimed, "Don't say such terrifying things in a place like this!"
Saying something like that in such dense fog was genuinely scary, okay?!
In response, Nico Robin merely chuckled and said nothing more.
"Whatever they were, as long as they don't interfere with our plan, it doesn't matter," Law said. "Let's go. It's time to move."
"All right, leave it to me."
Hearing this, Usopp didn't dwell on it either. He pulled out a seed, intending to sprout some plants to reconnect the broken bridge.
"There's no need for that."
"Huh?"
Usopp froze for a moment. What did he mean, no need?
Law offered no explanation, instead turning to look at Caesar, who was wearing a sour expression.
"Caesar, the rest is up to you."
"Haah?!"
Caesar immediately protested, "I already helped you block those Fighting Fish! What more do you want?!"
Did these bastards even realize he was an important bargaining chip?!
Huh?!
"Cut the crap," Law said, his expression darkening. "Or else I'll..."
As he spoke, Law brought out Caesar's heart once again, his unspoken threat painfully clear.
Caesar: "..."
What's with this bastard threatening people with their heart at every turn?!
Damn it, just wait until I get an opening—I'll make him pay!
After spewing a string of furious curses in his head, Caesar grumbled, "What do you want me to do this time?"
"Use your Devil Fruit Ability to fly us over to the island," Law said, pointing toward the land ahead.
Though they didn't know what those creatures were just now, for safety's sake, it was better not to cross via the bridge.
Having Caesar use his ability to fly them over was the best option.
"Haah?!"
"This is exploitation—"
"Hmm?"
Caesar: "..."
Looking at the heart in Law's hand, Caesar felt profoundly humiliated, but he swallowed his complaints and obediently used his Devil Fruit Ability to create something that could lift them all.
Grabbing the three of them, he flew into the air, calling out bitterly, "Damn it, remember this, all three of you!"
Why did a scientist like him have to endure such suffering?
For a moment, Caesar felt like crying tears of sheer frustration.
Unfortunately for him, none of the other three cared in the slightest about his misery; after all, the guy was total scum.
"The view really is pretty great up here~"
Looking down at the sea below, Usopp broke into a relieved grin and said, "Now those Fighting Fish look a lot less annoying."
I wonder how they taste, though~
Yeah, I'll have to catch one when I get the chance.
Meanwhile, Nico Robin glanced at Law and asked, "Why didn't we just do this from the beginning?"
"Now that you mention it, that's true," Usopp chimed in. "If we had flown through the sky from the start, we wouldn't have had to worry about the Fighting Fish at all."
"Are you kidding me?!"
Caesar yelled in annoyance, "Do you have any idea how much gas energy it takes to keep three people floating in the air?!"
"I'm an important hostage, you bastards!"
"What, you got a problem with it?" Usopp shot Caesar a glance and said, "Don't forget your heart is in our hands."
Caesar: "???"
Caesar looked at Usopp, his mind flooded with question marks. Couldn't they come up with a different threat for once?!
Damn it!
What if I just drop them all into the sea right now!
At this thought, Caesar was genuinely tempted.
However, the moment he recalled Law's Devil Fruit Ability, Caesar abandoned the idea.
The instant he tried anything, Law would save the other two in a heartbeat, and then crush his heart into paste.
Realizing this, Caesar sighed inwardly.
Forget it, best to just behave.
Seeing Caesar settle down, Law lowered his raised hand and explained to the other two, "I didn't expect to run into all these obstacles at first. Besides... taking to the air right away wouldn't have been safe."
"Don't forget, this is Doflamingo's territory!"
If they had flown up directly from the Dressrosa side, they might have been spotted by his subordinates, and what awaited them would have been an ambush orchestrated by Doflamingo.
Walking on foot had been the safer choice.
Hearing this, Nico Robin and Usopp thought it over and realized he made sense. Setting the matter aside, they focused peacefully on observing their surroundings.
Soon enough, through Caesar's efforts, the four of them successfully reached Green Bit.
After scanning the area, Law fixed his gaze on the scratch marks on the ground.
"The trail from dragging the fish disappears here," Law said, staring at the dirt. "It seems we can't determine where they went by following the tracks."
"Why are you looking for them?"
"Naturally, to confirm whether they'll interfere with our plan," Law said, looking up.
If they were heading in the same direction, he would have to determine whether they were friend or foe.
Yet now...
"Then what do you plan to do?" Usopp asked.
"Since there's no way to confirm where they went, we'll leave it," Law said. "The top priority is reaching our destination."
Though he didn't know if they were friendly, since they couldn't track them anyway, there was no point wasting time; business came first.
Nico Robin nodded in agreement. She looked around and said, "I don't see any figures... though we still can't rule out Doflamingo setting an ambush."
"He wouldn't dare."
Law stated, "If he dares set an ambush, I will crush Caesar's heart instantly."
"HEY!"
Caesar looked at Law in horror. Did this bastard even view him as a human being?!
Was he not a person too?!
Unfortunately, none of the three paid him any attention, leaving Caesar deeply hurt.
"It never hurts to be careful," Nico Robin remarked.
As a woman who had survived in the underworld for twenty years, Nico Robin knew full well that one could never be too cautious at a time like this.
This time Law didn't argue; he simply nodded in agreement with Nico Robin's words.
Just as Nico Robin said, even if he was confident Doflamingo wouldn't dare pull any tricks, being careful was never a mistake.
--Enjoying the story? Want more chapters? Check out my Patreon and support me for 40+ advance chapters.
Just search for "LegendaryTL" on Patreon!"
Thanks!