【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Didn't you just say you'd get it for us?!" Sind suddenly punched Luffy angrily, the force of which was so great that it created a large crater in the ground.

Ace had already noticed the giant boy's strange aura, and when the giant boy threw a punch, he immediately pulled Luffy aside to dodge the attack. Luffy stared in shock at the giant boy who had suddenly attacked them.

"How can his arm strength be so great!" Usopp exclaimed in shock.

"Find a way to put them to sleep, or I'll do it my own way." Ace released Luffy and frowned at the giant child who had gone berserk.

"No, we can't hurt them!" Nami hurriedly stopped her.

"Here I come, Killer Move: Sleepy Star!!" Usopp fired the hypnotic substance at the boy who had gone berserk.

"They're asleep." Nami breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Luffy and said, "Luffy, these children were indeed kidnapped..."

"They're so pitiful. They want to go home and see their mom and dad. Let's help them!" Chopper said dejectedly.

“Then let’s send them to their parents,” Luffy replied, climbing onto the giant boy’s head and frowning as he looked in the direction of the research institute. Had Lucci not come out of that institute yet?

……

Kaiser Courant's Institute

"There are three corpses lying below the cliff in the F16 section... Pirate Hunter Zoro, Little Burglar, King of Spirits, please collect them."

"Huh? They've all been killed?"

"Wow, that was fast! They're dead." Caesar said with a smile as he listened to the Den Den Mushi's announcement, looking at Monet sitting on the other side of the sofa. Then he grinned at Lucci, who was sitting on the other side of the sofa, "Looks like the people who came to see you weren't very capable."

"This is truly astonishing..." Monet chuckled, speaking in a calm tone as he made these divisive remarks.

"It's a shame they're considered a generation as sinful as Law. The government keeps spreading propaganda about their complete resurrection, so I thought they were quite capable, right? Law, you should know them well, after all, you two fought off the Navy together in Sabaody."

"Law?" Caesar looked at Law suspiciously. "Could it be that the Straw Hat Boy came to see you instead of Lucci?"

“Being exposed here is a troublesome matter for me as well.” Luo frowned as he looked at Monet. “What’s more, I didn’t have any contact with them before I met them at the gate.”

“Yeah, if you wanted to call someone, you could have done a better job... A man who went to curry favor with the government to become a Shichibukai and then came to this island wouldn’t go looking for trouble... Sorry.” Caesar grinned and said, “I was just suspicious of you.”

"You just said that even if we ignore those brats, they'll still come back, right?" Luo asked calmly.

"I feed them these stimulant candies every day. They're sweet and they hiss and release stimulant smoke, whoosh, hehehe!" Caesar laughed smugly, holding a candy. "If they go home, they won't get any more!"

Hearing this, Lucci frowned and glared at Caesar. He hadn't expected that this guy's disgusting nature was more than that. Not only did he experiment on children, but he also used such disgusting things to control them. He clenched his fists tightly, trying to suppress his anger.

But Caesar's triumphant laughter kept echoing in his ears. Just before he could stop himself from breaking Caesar's smug laughter, a hand grabbed his arm. Lucci immediately turned his angry gaze to Law sitting next to him. Law just looked at him calmly, reminding him of his current situation. Lucci cursed inwardly and forced himself to look away.

Unbeknownst to them, someone witnessed everything.

Luo withdrew his gaze from Lucci, who had calmed down, and hid his eyes under the brim of his hat again. He turned to Caesar and said, "That was a really cunning move of yours. It reminded me of someone."

"Huh?" Caesar looked at Luo with a puzzled expression.

Lucci took a deep breath, stood up from the sofa, and walked towards the door. He didn't want to stay there any longer. He had gathered enough information and needed to find Luffy and Ace as soon as possible.

"What about the battle with the navy on the island?" Monet asked with a smile, watching the two men leave one after the other.

"Call me when you need me... I'll get you whoever's head you want!" Luo replied expressionlessly.

“You probably don’t want to experience that again, Lucci,” Caesar grinned.

Lu Qi paused for a moment, then quickened his pace and left the room, with Luo following closely behind.

"Those smart guys are really hard to deal with..." Caesar said with a gloomy face as he watched the two leave.

“You can’t control this ferocious beast,” Monet chuckled. “Besides, now that two beasts have joined forces, it’s better to hand it over to someone who can control it than let them cause irreparable harm.”

"What does this mean, Monet?" Caesar asked with a grim face.

"It's the one you're thinking of." Monet smiled and gently touched the bandaged wound on his chest. "I suggest you be prepared."

Caesar glanced thoughtfully at Monet. "It has to be fair."

……

"How can we save those children who were experimented on?" After instantly returning to Law's room using Law's ability, Lucci frowned and looked at Law, asking directly.

"You want to save them?" Luo frowned at Lucci. "I heard they're all sick in the head. Let's not get involved in this kind of trouble. We already have enough trouble already."

"Just tell me how to cure their drug addiction," Lucci insisted. "You don't need to worry about the rest; Chopper can help."

Luo Dingding looked at Lu Qi for a while, and finally sighed helplessly, "Forget it, you really know how to cause trouble."

“If you want to form an alliance with Luffy, you should first understand that such troubles will not be uncommon,” Lucci shrugged.

Law stared speechlessly at Lucci, wondering if cooperating with the Straw Hat crew was really the right thing to do. This seemingly calm and trouble-free guy had already gone this far... one could only imagine what his captain, the head of the Straw Hat crew, would be like. Law sighed, but he didn't have much of a choice now.

……

Back hill of the research institute

"What's going on?"

"It's not an earthquake, it's an attack! Are there enemies in a place like this?" Sanji (Chopper) asked, feeling the tremors coming from outside. "Where are Luffy and the others?"

"He, Franky, Robin, and Usopp went to the research lab a long time ago, leaving just the two of us."

"Oh, right, and Ace too!" Franky (Nami) exclaimed in surprise as she looked at Ace, who was lying asleep on the ground.

As if he heard someone calling his name, Ace woke up from his sleep, looked around and looked at Nami and Chopper with some confusion, "Where's Luffy?"

"They went to the research institute to find Lucci first," Franky (Nami) explained.