The freezing winds of Punk Hazard howled across the shattered remnants of Caesar Clown's laboratory. The G-5 Marines, having successfully loaded the cured children onto the secured tanker, were now sweeping the surrounding icy plains to ensure no lingering threats remained.
Vice Admiral Smoker walked at the front of the patrol, his dual cigars burning brightly in the perpetual blizzard. Behind him, Tashigi gripped the hilt of Shigure, her eyes scanning the debris.
"Vice Admiral! Over here!" a Marine shouted from a nearby snowdrift, his voice trembling with alarm.
Smoker marched over, his heavy boots crunching against the ice. Lying in the center of a small crater were two bodies. One was a massive man wearing a propeller-like emblem, and the other was a slender woman in a maid's outfit. Both of them were completely lacking their heads.
"What the hell is this?" Smoker growled, kneeling to inspect the clean, bloodless cuts at their necklines. "These are Donquixote Family executives. Buffalo and Baby 5. Law must have dealt with them before he left."
"But where are their heads, sir?" Tashigi asked, shivering in the cold.
Before Smoker could answer, a high-pitched, whistling sound pierced the wind. The Marines looked up. Plumting down from the gray, snowy sky were two objects hurtling directly toward them. With a pair of heavy, wet thuds, the severed, still-living heads of Baby 5 and Buffalo crashed into the snow. They imdiately rolled across the ice, magnetically snapping right back onto their respective bodies.
"Ow, ow, ow! That hurts!" Baby 5 whined, sitting up and rubbing her reattached neck.
"Law is a monster," Buffalo groaned, his teeth chattering.
The G-5 Marines instantly raised their rifles, aiming at the two assassins. But before Smoker could issue the command to arrest them, the sky above them darkened. It was not a cloud. It was a presence. A suffocating, overwhelming aura of murderous intent descended upon the icy plains, heavy enough to make the air itself feel thick and unbreathable.
A figure dropped from the sky, landing with a soft thud amidst the snow.
Donquixote Doflamingo stood before them. He wore his signature pink feather coat, which snapped violently in the wind, and his crimson sunglasses reflected the pale light of the snowy sky. His face was twisted into a rictus grin of unhinged fury.
"Fufufu..." Doflamingo chuckled, though there was zero humor in the sound.
Without moving a single muscle, Doflamingo unleashed it. A massive, invisible shockwave of Supre King Haki erupted from his body. The force of his willpower slamd into the G-5 Marines like a physical tidal wave. Dozens of n instantly rolled their eyes into the backs of their heads, foaming at the mouth as they collapsed unconscious into the snow.
Only Smoker, Tashigi, and a handful of the strongest officers remained standing, though their knees were trembling under the imnse spiritual pressure.
"Where are they?" Doflamingo demanded, his voice a low, lethal purr. He raised his hand, his fingers twitching in a bizarre, rhythmic motion.
Suddenly, several of the remaining conscious Marines shrieked in agony as deep, invisible lacerations appeared across their chests and arms. They were cut down by unseen, razor-sharp strings, falling to the bloodstained snow.
"I won't ask again," Doflamingo hissed, taking a step forward. "Where are the Straw Hat Pirates? Where is Trafalgar Law?"
Smoker drew his Seastone-tipped jutte, stepping forward to shield his remaining n. He knew precisely what Doflamingo was capable of. He knew that the Warlord would never leave witnesses to his underworld activities alive.
"They're gone," Smoker lied smoothly, blowing a thick cloud of gray smoke into the air. "They set sail hours ago. I have no idea what direction they took. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell a filthy underworld broker like you... Joker."
Doflamingo's grin vanished entirely. The ntion of his criminal alias by a Marine Vice Admiral sealed Smoker's fate.
"You know too much, Smoker," Doflamingo whispered.
The Warlord blurred out of existence. He reappeared directly above Smoker, his leg coated in dense, black Armant Haki and trailing a whip of razor-sharp strings. He brought his heel down in a devastating, sweeping arc. Smoker raised his jutte to block, but the overwhelming force of the Warlord's strike shattered his guard, sending the Vice Admiral crashing into the ice in a spray of blood.
---
Far away from the slaughter on Punk Hazard, the Thousand Sunny sailed smoothly across the unpredictable waves of the New World.
On the grassy deck of the ship, Luffy and his crew sat in a circle. In the center of the group, sitting cross-legged with his nodachi resting on his lap, Trafalgar Law was giving them a grim, highly detailed lecture on the political landscape of their current ocean.
"The New World is not like Paradise," Law explained, his dark eyes sweeping over the Straw Hats. "It is a territory ruled by the Four Emperors. They hold spheres of influence that dictate the flow of power, money, and weapons across the entire ocean. However, to avoid drawing the wrath of the Marine Headquarters, the Emperors conduct the vast majority of their business underground."
"Underground?" Luffy asked, tilting his head. "Like, in caves?"
"No, idiot," Usopp sighed, smacking his own forehead. "He ans secretly. In the shadows."
"Exactly," Law nodded. "And the most powerful and dangerous broker in that entire underground network operates under the alias 'Joker.' He pulls the strings of wars, slavery, and weapons trading. And his true identity is the Warlord of the Sea, Donquixote Doflamingo."
Sanji lit a cigarette, his eyes narrowing. "So Doflamingo is the one pulling the strings behind Caesar."
"Yes," Law confird. "Joker is the biggest supplier to Kaido of the Beasts. Kaido is currently building an unstoppable army of Zoan-type Devil Fruit users. He uses the SAD manufactured by Caesar to create artificial Devil Fruits known as 'SMILEs.' That is precisely why I orchestrated the kidnapping of Caesar and the destruction of the SAD lab. We have severed Kaido's supply line."
"So Kaido is gonna be super mad at Mingo!" Luffy laughed, punching his palm.
"Exactly," Law smirked. "Our objective now is to head directly to Joker's base of operations: Dressrosa. We will locate the SMILE factory where the artificial fruits are grown, and we will destroy it, crippling Kaido's military power completely."
---
Back on Punk Hazard, the situation had deteriorated into a massacre.
Smoker lay on his back in the center of a deep crater, his coat torn to shreds, his blood staining the pristine white snow. He was breathing heavily, his Seastone jutte lying uselessly a few feet away. Tashigi and the remaining G-5 Marines were held back by Baby 5 and Buffalo, forced to watch their commander be brutally dismantled.
Doflamingo stood over the fallen Vice Admiral, his fingers coated in hardened Haki.
"A sha, Smoker," Doflamingo sneered, raising his hand to deliver the final, decapitating strike. "You were a nuisance, but an honorable one. I will find Law and the Straw Hats on my own."
Doflamingo swung his hand down.
"Arara..." A lazy, incredibly deep voice echoed through the freezing wind.
Doflamingo's hand stopped re inches from Smoker's throat. The temperature in the imdiate vicinity plumted so rapidly that the very moisture in the air instantly crystallized into falling diamonds of ice.
Walking slowly out of the blizzard, his hands tucked casually into the pockets of his dark green trench coat, was Kuzan. The forr Marine Admiral Aokiji looked down at the Warlord with a sleepy, half-lidded expression.
"Pardon , Doflamingo," Kuzan drawled, his breath creating a thick cloud of frost in the air. "But I'd appreciate it if you stepped away from him. He is my friend."
Doflamingo's eyes widened behind his glasses. He knew a threat when he saw one, but his rage over the loss of Caesar and the SAD clouded his judgnt. Gritting his teeth, the Warlord ignored the warning and violently thrust his string-coated fingers down toward Smoker's neck.
Kuzan didn't even blink. He simply exhaled.
"Ice Ti."
In a fraction of a millisecond, an overwhelming wave of sub-zero energy erupted from Kuzan's body. It swallowed Doflamingo entirely. The Warlord's forward montum was halted instantly as his entire body, from his feathered coat to his sunglasses, was encased in a massive, thick block of solid, unyielding ice.
The battlefield fell dead silent. The G-5 Marines stared in awe.
A mont later, a sharp cracking sound echoed through the ice. Doflamingo, utilizing his Supre King Haki, violently shattered the frozen tomb from the inside out. He landed heavily on the snow, panting, his breath ragged.
Doflamingo looked at Kuzan, who hadn't moved a single inch. The Warlord calculated the odds. Engaging a forr Marine Admiral of this caliber, especially without his full crew, was a battle he could not afford to fight right now.
"Fufufu..." Doflamingo laughed darkly, turning his back on the fallen Smoker. "Seeing nothing to gain here, I will take my leave. But tell , Kuzan... what exactly do you stand for these days? The rumors in the underworld paint a very confusing picture of your current allegiances."
Kuzan remained silent, his icy gaze fixed on the Warlord. He didn't offer a single word of explanation. He simply turned his head toward Tashigi. "Call for a dic. He's losing a lot of blood."
Doflamingo scoffed. He signaled Baby 5 and Buffalo, and the three of them took to the sky, fleeing the island and leaving the shattered Marines behind.
Once the Warlord was gone, Smoker coughed, struggling to sit up as Tashigi rushed to his side with dical supplies.
"Kuzan," Smoker grunted, wincing in pain. "Why are you here? Punk Hazard is a top-secret location. How did you know to find us? Are the rumors true? Are you doing business with the criminal underworld now?"
Kuzan crouched down, retrieving Smoker's fallen jutte and handing it back to him. "I haven't changed, Smoker. Even when I was an Admiral, I never completely trusted the World Governnt. Now that I am on the outside, I can see the world clearly. I can still make a difference without wearing a uniform."
Smoker stared at his old friend, finding a quiet reassurance in those words.
"Do a favor, Smoker," Kuzan added, his sleepy eyes narrowing slightly. "When you contact Headquarters, advise Fleet Admiral Sakazuki to keep a very close eye on Doflamingo. He is the biggest threat the Marines are currently facing. And... request that your n do not report my presence here."
"Understood," Smoker nodded, leaning back into the snow.
---
The sun began to dip low over the horizon, casting a warm, golden glow over the Thousand Sunny.
On the grassy deck, a fierce argunt was taking place. Kin'emon stood pointing an accusing, trembling finger at Zoro, who was currently polishing the black blade of his prized sword.
"You vile grave robber!" Kin'emon shouted, his face red with indignation. "That blade is Shusui! It is the sacred national treasure of Wano Country, wielded by the legendary Sword God, Ryuma! How dare a pirate like you flaunt it so brazenly?!"
Zoro rolled his eyes, sheathing the black blade with a sharp click. "I didn't rob any graves, you stubborn old man. I fought Ryuma's reanimated zombie on Thriller Bark, and I beat him in a duel. He entrusted the sword to himself. If you want it back so badly, you'll have to take it from my cold, dead hands."
"A duel with a corpse?! Preposterous lies!" Kin'emon yelled, reaching for his own katana.
Before the two swordsn could escalate into a full brawl, the heavy wooden door to the n's quarters swung open.
"Ahhh, that was refreshing!" Vivi smiled, stepping out onto the deck with a towel wrapped around her wet blue hair.
Walking beside her, looking incredibly smug, was the young Momonosuke. The little boy had just shared a warm, luxurious bath with the princess.
Sitting on a nearby bench, Sanji, Brook, and Kin'emon stared at the boy. A dark, terrifying aura of envy radiated from the three n. Sanji was biting a handkerchief, tears of jealousy streaming down his face. Brook was playing a deeply sorrowful tune on his violin. Kin'emon was gritting his teeth, completely forgetting his argunt with Zoro.
"That lucky little brat," Sanji muttered, grinding his teeth.
"To share a bath with the radiant Princess Vivi... my heart is breaking, even though I don't have one! Yohohoho!" Brook wept.
The trio stood up, cracking their knuckles as they slowly advanced toward the smug little samurai.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Three massive, cartoonish bumps instantly erupted on the heads of Sanji, Brook, and Kin'emon. Nami stood over them, her fists smoking, her eyes burning with rage.
"What do you three idiots think you're doing, bullying a little kid?!" Nami scolded fiercely, placing her hands on her hips.
Momonosuke instantly turned on the waterworks. He ran forward, burying his face directly into the valley of Nami's chest, wrapping his small arms around her waist. "Nami-san! Those scary n were looking at with such evil eyes! I was so frightened!"
"There, there, Momo," Nami cooed, hugging the boy tightly and glaring at the three downed n. "Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you."
Over Nami's shoulder, Momonosuke turned his head. He looked directly at Sanji, Brook, and his own father. The innocent, crying child facade vanished entirely, replaced by a lecherous, arrogant smirk.
Sanji's eyes practically popped out of his skull. "THAT MANIPULATIVE LITTLE MONSTER!"
Robin, who usually enjoyed watching these codic interactions, was notably absent from the deck. She had quietly slipped away earlier, heading toward Ben's bedroom for a long, quiet, and deeply private discussion with Ben.
Determined to seek vengeance, Sanji quickly formulated a devious plan. He grabbed Brook and hurried over to the ship's galley, where Bonney was currently raiding the refrigerator.
"Bonney!" Sanji called out, holding up a finger. "I have a proposition for you. I need you to use your Devil Fruit powers on Momo. Increase his age. Turn him into an adult."
Bonney chewed on a piece of ham, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. "Why should I do that? Sounds like a lot of pointless effort for a prank."
"I will personally bake you a brand new experintal pizza," Sanji promised, his eyes narrowing cunningly. "A recipe you have never tasted before in your life."
Bonney's ears literally perked up. She stopped chewing. "I am listening."
"Two pizzas," Sanji negotiated smoothly. "Two entirely different, gourt flavor profiles."
"Deal!" Bonney grinned, slamming her fist into her palm.
A few monts later, back on the deck, Nami was still consoling the "crying" Momonosuke. Bonney casually strolled past them, whistling a quiet tune. As she walked by, she sneakily brushed her fingertips against Momonosuke's shoulder.
A flash of pink light washed over the boy.
In a single second, the small, eight-year-old child rapidly grew. His bones lengthened, his muscles expanded, and his childish features hardened into the chiseled, towering physique of a fully grown samurai, standing tall and imposing.
However, because the transformation was instantaneous, Adult Momonosuke's hands were still firmly and aggressively planted directly on Nami's chest.
Nami blinked, looking down at the massive, muscular adult hands currently gripping her. She looked up, her eyes eting the bewildered face of the towering samurai.
A demonic shadow fell over Nami's face.
SLAP!
The sound echoed across the entire sea. Nami delivered a strike so powerful it sent Adult Momonosuke flying backward through the air. He crashed violently into the wooden railing of the Sunny, groaning in pain as stars circled his head.
"N-Nami-san!" Momonosuke stamred, his deep, adult voice cracking in confusion. "It is ! Momo! I don't know what happened!"
Nami ignored him, her furious gaze snapping toward Bonney, who was currently rolling on the floor, laughing so hard she was gasping for breath.
"BONNEY!" Nami shrieked, raising her fists. "Why did you do that?!"
Realizing she had been caught, and refusing to lose her promised pizzas, Bonney scrambled to her feet and made a full sprint toward the crow's nest, laughing the entire way maniacally.
Sanji, anwhile, casually strolled over to the groaning, adult Momonosuke. The cook leaned down, a victorious smirk on his face.
"Did you enjoy that, you little brat?" Sanji whispered, lighting a fresh cigarette. "You're an adult now. The 'cute child' privileges are officially over for you. Welco to the real world."
---
As the chaotic day gave way to the serene quiet of night, the Thousand Sunny settled into its routine.
Down in the sleeping quarters, the majority of the crew—Luffy, Vivi, Brook, Nami, Robin, Law, Caroo, rry, Sunny, Bonney, and Momonosuke, who returned to normal 8 years old after Nami told Bonney to revert him to his original age—fell fast asleep.
Up on the deck, the night watch assud their positions to protect the ship as they sailed through the dangerous waters. Usopp, Chopper, Franky, Sanji, Zoro, the four Elbaf Giants, and Kin'emon stayed awake, keeping their eyes on the dark horizon.
Deep within the ship, locked inside his specialized research room, Ben was wide awake. The glow of magical runes and holographic data streams illuminated his face as he ticulously analyzed the stolen blueprints of the SAD factory, planning their strike on Dressrosa.
Hours passed in quiet vigilance until the first light of dawn broke over the ocean.
With the rising sun ca the sharp, familiar squawk of a News Coo. The delivery bird swooped down, dropping a rolled-up newspaper directly onto the grassy deck before flying off to its next destination.
Sanji walked over, picking up the paper and unrolling it. He took one look at the front page, and the cigarette dropped directly from his lips.
"Hey... guys!" Sanji called out, his voice filled with shock. "Wake the others up! You need to see this!"
Within minutes, the entire crew, yawning and rubbing their eyes, gathered on the deck. Law pushed his way to the front, snatching the newspaper from Sanji's hands.
The headline was printed in massive, bold black letters across the front page:
DONQUIXOTE DOFLAMINGO ABDICATES! WARLORD TITLE AND DRESSROSA THRONE RENOUNCED!
"He actually did it," Law whispered, a dark smile spreading across his face. Doflamingo had folded under the threat of Kaido's wrath.
"Look at the next page!" Usopp shouted, pointing a trembling finger.
Law flipped the page. There, plastered in equally massive print, was a high-quality photograph of Luffy and Law standing side-by-side on Punk Hazard. The article beneath it sent a shockwave through the crew.
NEW PIRATE ALLIANCE FORD: STRAW HAT LUFFY AND TRAFALGAR LAW JOIN FORCES!
"Whoa!" Luffy cheered, looking at the picture. "I look super cool in that photo!"
"How did they get that picture?!" Chopper panicked, running in circles. "We're going to be huge targets now!"
Ben stepped out from the lower decks, adjusting his hat as he looked at the newspaper over Law's shoulder. He smiled, looking out toward the sparkling horizon.
"Well, the secret is out," Ben chuckled. "The whole world knows we're coming. Set the course, Nami. It's ti to visit the Joker."
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