Chapter 183: Law Joins! Departure for Elbaf
"Captain!"
"Law!"
The instant Law hit the ground, four voices rang out at once, thick with shock and worry.
They belonged to the four remaining members of the Heart Pirates.
"Yare yare. Very loyal, are you. In that case… go take a nice, quiet nap together."
Before they could reach him, Bepo and the others stumbled, momentum cut short, and dropped into a deep, childlike sleep.
…
"Mnn…"
Law's eyelids twitched a few times, then slowly lifted.
What greeted him was an all-too-familiar ceiling pattern and the slightly damp gleam of metal overhead.
This was his cabin on the Polar Tang.
"When did I get back here…?"
His mind was a fog. The words slipped out without thinking.
"No."
Memory surged back all at once.
Law jerked upright, every muscle going taut.
"You are awake," said a calm voice beside him, one that now made his skin crawl.
Law snapped his head toward the sound.
The masked man from the museum sat casually in a chair by the bed, mask gone, a small knife in hand, leisurely peeling an apple.
That face… he knew that face.
Kai.
"You are Calamity Kai," Law said, pupils narrowing to pinpoints, his throat suddenly dry.
"Bingo. No prize, though." Kai replied without looking up, his tone as flat as if they were talking about the weather.
With a deft twist of his wrist, he shaved away the last strip of peel. A single, thin, unbroken ribbon of apple skin dropped to the floor like a piece of art.
In his hand sat a perfectly smooth, polished apple.
"Perfect. Now that is art."
He admired it for a second, then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, pressed the peeled fruit into Law's still-stunned hand.
"A reward. And for the record, I have never peeled fruit for an outsider before."
Kai clapped his hands lightly, as though he had done something grand. "So you can feel honored."
Law stared down at the cold, slick apple, then up at Kai.
His face twitched.
What was this even supposed to be?
Beat him down, then give him an apple?
Did everyone at the top of the world act this… arbitrarily?
He drew a slow breath, forcing the chaos in his head down.
Then he raised his eyes and met Kai's without flinching. "Drop the act, Kai. You are here for the Ope Ope no Mi, right?"
It was not self-pity. With the Heart Pirates' current size and reputation, the only thing that could possibly draw someone of this level was the fruit in his body.
"Yes," Kai said simply.
"So. Your answer?"
Law's heart sank.
He clenched his fists, knuckles whitening.
After a brief silence, he spoke in a hard, almost desperate voice. "Fine. I will go with you. I will work for you. But you have to let my crew go."
"I can promise you they will never talk about you. But if you will not accept that condition…"
His tone turned vicious. "Then I would rather die than use the Immortality Surgery on you."
It was the only leverage he had. He had to wring a chance at survival for his friends out of it.
The expected pressure, the bargaining, the threats never came.
Instead, Kai frowned slightly, as if Law had said something bizarre.
"Hm?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"When did I ever say I wanted you to give me that Immortality Surgery?"
His gaze flicked over Law. "And with your fruit still unawakened, do you really think you could perform the Immortality Surgery?"
Do I look that easy to trick?
Law froze.
"I want you to join the Beasts Pirates. If your crew is willing, they can come too," Kai said, tone even.
"As a welcome gift, or to show my sincerity… I can help take care of a little problem for you."
"What kind of 'gift'?" Law asked.
"Donquixote Doflamingo. Or more accurately, the entire Donquixote Family," Kai said lightly. "From what I know, you have quite a grudge with them."
His eyes sharpened as he laid bare the deepest scar in Law's heart. "Your benefactor, Donquixote Rosinante. On Swallow Island, first beaten half to death by Vergo, then shot down by Doflamingo himself."
"That's right, isn't it?"
"How do you know that?" Law's voice spiked, raw panic bleeding through.
That was the secret he had buried deepest, the nightmare behind every sleepless night.
A heartbeat later, his sanity returned. Law forced himself to be calm and pressed on. "Doflamingo is an important business partner for the Beasts Pirates. You would really move against him for me? Tear up a partnership that profitable?"
Doflamingo's work for the Beasts was half an open secret in the underworld.
Law had not missed it.
Kai only smiled faintly. "You seem to be underestimating your own value."
Forget anything else. If Law could make contact with the Whitebeard Pirates and treat Whitebeard's illness, even just buy him a few more years…
Those division commanders would absolutely help him wipe out the Donquixote Family.
Doflamingo was not exactly a saint.
No one would lose sleep over putting him down.
Law grit his teeth, staring hard at Kai, voice trembling. "If you really help me get my revenge, then I, Trafalgar Law, will serve you from that day on. No second thoughts. No betrayal."
Rosinante had given him a second life, a reason to keep breathing.
If avenging Corazon meant making a deal with a devil, selling his soul and future, so be it.
He knew very well that at his current pace, even ten more years might not be enough to reach Doflamingo and that sprawling family.
He was growing. So were they.
This was going more smoothly than expected.
Kai's lips curled. He held out his right hand.
"Then we have a deal?"
"Deal."
Law gripped it firmly, like he was catching hold of hope itself.
When he later told Bepo and the others, after waking them, they practically turned to stone.
They were just small-time North Blue pirates.
How had they suddenly become crew under a Yonko?
They dragged Law aside in a panic, voices low and rushed. "Law! What happened? Did they force you? You do not have to worry about us. We can run when we get the chance."
This was a Yonko crew. The New World's storms were not something their scrawny backs could weather.
They had not even conquered the North Blue.
Law shook his head. His eyes held no trace of reluctance, only clear, solid resolve.
"Relax. I am doing this of my own will. The New World is far more dangerous than the North Blue. If you do not want to risk that with me, you can walk away now. I will not hold it against you."
He met each of their eyes in turn, serious. He did not want to drag them into something they could not handle.
They stared at him for a moment.
Then all four reacted with a kind of casual inevitability.
"Oh, so you are planning to ditch us and go enjoy the New World alone? Not happening," one snorted.
"Idiot captain. From the day you pulled Penguin and me out of that hell, we swore we would never leave you," another said.
"That is right."
"Law, I am not going anywhere. You promised to take me back to Zou. You cannot throw me overboard halfway," the last added stubbornly.
In their own ways, all four refused the idea of "leaving" without a heartbeat's hesitation.
"You…"
Looking at the friends who were ready to live and die with him, to walk blind into whatever waited ahead, Law felt his eyes burn.
He ducked his head quickly, not wanting them to see his face twist.
He could only grit his teeth and mutter, thick with a blocked nose, "Idiots."
From not far away, Viola tilted her head toward Kai. "They really care about each other," she murmured.
Kai nodded.
That was how this sea was. Even the cruelest pirates still had their bonds.
"All right. Since it is settled," Kai said, dusting his hands, cutting through the mood, "we are heading out. Time is not going to wait."
"Got it, Boss Kai," Law replied, pulling himself together.
He turned and told Ikkaku, the Polar Tang's helmswoman, to get them underway.
"No need," Kai said.
"Your submarine is too slow."
"Too slow? In the North Blue?" Penguin blurted out.
He was not bragging. The Polar Tang's tech outclassed anything most people had ever seen.
He had yet to meet a faster ship.
Not even a Marine battleship.
"Just watch," Viola said, hands on her hips, chin high with pride.
Still confused, the Heart Pirates followed Kai out of the submarine.
Then they saw something they would never forget.
"A d-d-dragon!" Bepo yelped, eyes bugging out.
"We see it," Penguin, Shachi, and Ikkaku said, not one of them any calmer.
All of them stood slack-jawed, staring up.
Even Law, usually cool and grim, stared in stunned silence, pupils blown wide.
Watching Kai's colossal dragon form coil in the sky, Law's confidence in their deal shot up.
"Hold on," Kai's deep dragon voice rumbled overhead.
Claws reached down, one on each side of the hull.
In the next instant, before the Heart Pirates' mix of terror and exhilaration, the entire submarine lifted from the sea and rose into the air.
"We are… flying," Bepo squealed, beyond containment, clamping both paws around Law's arm and shaking it like a bell.
It was the only way he could bleed off even a fraction of his excitement.
"Hmph. Get used to it. You are going to be shocked a lot from now on," Viola said, watching the "greenhorns" with the air of a veteran big sister, arms folded and a smug little smile on her lips.
After a stretch of flight, a ring of sheer cliffs and the land they hid came into view.
"Look. That is Wano. Headquarters of the Beasts Pirates," Viola said with unmistakable pride.
"Whoa…"
The Heart Pirates plastered their faces to the portholes, noses and cheeks flattening against the glass.
Their eyes were huge, greedy for every detail.
"Brace yourselves. We are going down," Kai called.
The dragon tilted, dove, and at the last moment released his grip.
Splash.
The Polar Tang slammed into Wano's inland sea, throwing a wall of spray into the sky.
The submarine rocked wildly for several long seconds before settling.
Law and the others staggered out of the cabin, hands braced on the walls, legs still jelly.
"Kai-sama! You are back!"
"Welcome home, Kai-sama!"
The moment the dragon appeared, throngs of pirates poured toward the water's edge.
The raw, aggressive energy rolling off them made Bepo's shoulders hunch. "S-so scary," he whispered.
"So this is a Yonko crew," Penguin muttered.
"Their presence alone is terrifying," Shachi added, swallowing hard.
"Tch. These guys? They are nothing. The real officers are on a whole other level," Viola said, unimpressed.
Kai exchanged a few brief words with the crowd, then led the still-rattled Heart Pirates toward Onigashima's main keep.
There, he called in his core crew and introduced old and new faces.
When the Heart Pirates saw Loki in person for the first time, their jaws dropped a second time.
"Th-that is a big giant," Bepo stammered.
Loki barely reacted. He only dipped his head slightly to look at Law. "Kai. This little guy is the one you said can cure Jarul?"
"In theory," Kai said. "Whether it works or not depends on how hard the procedure actually is."
At that, the pieces clicked into place for Law.
"You invited me to join so I could operate on someone," he said.
"Yes. His name is Jarul. He is an elder of Elbaf. He lost his memories because there is a sword stuck in his head. Safely removing it and keeping him alive…" Kai spread his hands. "That is something only a surgeon with the Ope Ope no Mi stands a real chance of pulling off."
Law frowned deeply. "That sounds… extremely difficult. I need to see him and examine him before I can say anything."
"No rush," Kai said with a wave. "Rest up on Onigashima today. We leave for Elbaf tomorrow. And you will not be working alone."
…
The next day, at Onigashima's harbor, Rayquaza eased away from the dock under a chorus of reluctant shouts from the Beasts Pirates.
This time, Loki did not need a flame cloud to ride.
The Beasts' craftsmen had built him a raft. It would do for now.
On board, Law met the rest of the team assembled to save Jarul.
Along with several doctors, two key figures were there to assist: Dr. Kureha and Princess Mansherry.
"Dr Kureha's experience will help you design the safest possible plan. Princess Mansherry will be your final safeguard for Jarul's life."
"H-hello," Mansherry whispered, peeking shyly out from behind her guard captain, Leo.
"Hello," Law answered, calm.
Then he looked to the old woman tipping back a bottle of plum wine.
Kureha.
His brow creased before he even realized.
Aside from her impossible energy for someone her age, nothing about her fit his idea of a careful, restrained physician.
From the moment he saw her, the bottle had not left her hand.
What kind of doctor drank like that?
Noticing the contempt and doubt in his eyes, Kureha snorted. "Do not think that just because you have the Ope Ope no Mi, you can look down on ordinary doctors, brat."
"I have been a doctor for over a hundred years. There are only two reasons a patient vanishes from my sight: one, they recover. Two, they die."
Law lowered his head slightly. "You are right. That was rude of me."
"Hmph."
Kureha clicked her tongue. "Come on, boy. Use your ability on me. I want to see what you can actually do."
"Excuse me, then," Law said, not wasting time.
A translucent sphere bloomed around him, and he sliced Kureha's arm clean off.
"Doctorine!" Chopper yelped.
"Idiot! Look before you scream. How can a doctor panic like that?" Kureha snapped.
"S-sorry!" Chopper bowed in fright.
When he straightened and looked again, he saw what he had missed.
The severed arm's fingers were wriggling freely.
And from Kureha's shoulder stump, not a drop of blood fell.
She did not even flinch.