【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"First up are the one-star torturers: Nico Robin, Iron Man Franky, Fire Fox Kin'emon, Rebecca, and Violet!"

"Two-star executioner, Kyros, pirate hunter Zoro!"

"The three tortured ones, Straw Hat Luffy, Revolutionary Army Chief of Staff Sabo, Fire Fist Ace, Trafalgar Law, and King Riku!"

"A four-star torturer, Monkey D. Lucci!"

"This last guy is the one who annoys me the most today. He's the one who pushed you into this cruel game! I will reward the person who takes his head with 500 million Berries! Usopp, the god of the Straw Hat crew!!"

"Usopp's bounty is really high," Lucci chuckled, looking at Usopp's image on the screen.

"You're not short either," Zoro retorted. "What did you do?"

"Yeah, why are Lucci and Usopp both taller than me!" Luffy shouted in dissatisfaction.

"Why do we have to compete in this?" Lucci complained, then looked at Zoro and said, "Zoro, you still have the Den Den Mushi, right? Contact Usopp and the others. With this bounty on their head, a lot of people will probably be hunting them down."

Zoro nodded and began contacting Usopp and the others via Den Den Mushi.

"Zoro! Where are you?"

"Robin, I'm with Luffy and the others right now. It seems we're in a place called King's Highlands... Things are getting more and more complicated."

"Robin!? Did you see that infuriating Doflamingo just now!?" Luffy grinned and snatched the Den Den Mushi from Zoro's hand. "But Usopp's appearance was hilarious!"

"What did you say, Luffy!" Usopp's angry shout came through the Den Den Mushi.

"But Rebecca got dragged into this too, is she alright?" Luffy asked.

“I’m right here, Lucy!” Rebecca’s voice came through the Den Den Mushi.

"Oh, that's perfect. The soldier's here with me now," Luffy said with a smile, then turned to hand the Den Den Mushi to the toy soldier, only to find he was gone. "Where's the soldier?"

"It seems like they suddenly ran out just now," Lucci recalled.

"Has the soldier regained his human identity? Lucy, what does he look like?"

"What does he look like? Why are you asking me that?" Luffy asked, puzzled. "Isn't that one-legged soldier your dad? He's the guy with the bronze statue in the arena!"

“Just as I thought…” Rebecca’s voice, trembling with tears, came through the Den Den Mushi.

"That's great! Although I don't know where he's gone now, Rebecca, listen up!" Luffy said earnestly into the Den Den Mushi.

"I absolutely will not let Soldier die, and you must stay safe too! I will definitely blast Doflamingo away for you to see! Remember, don't leave my comrades' side! I will end this stupid game right away, so you must survive!"

"Luffy, tell me about your crew over there, what's happening here now..."

"Have you even got the facts?! Straw Hat!" Law's angry voice interrupted Robin. "Our original strategy was to let Doflamingo live to clash with Kaido. Now, if you defeat Doflamingo, Kaido's anger over losing SMILE will all be transferred to us! Then we'll be directly fighting an enraged Yonko!!"

"We'll talk about what happens later. Take a good look at this country! How can I stand idly by now?!" Luffy roared, his anger evident on his face.

Looking at Law's gloomy face, Lucci thought for a moment and then said, "Your goal has been Doflamingo from the beginning, right? Instead of using Kaido, why don't you achieve this goal yourself? Also, don't forget that we are allies."

Luo fell silent, feeling something tighten in his chest.

After Lucci finished speaking, he took the Den Den Mushi from Luffy's hand, which was still connected to the phone. "Robin, King Riku, Princess Violet, and Law are with us. There are six of us in total."

“Oh, I see. This is Rebecca, Ace, and Sabo with us.” Robin looked at Sabo, who was trying to stop her from saying her name, with some confusion.

“Sabo…” Lucci smiled, but there was no smile in his eyes. “Robin, tell that kid he’s finished.”

“Lucci, would you believe me if I told you that the person you were with an hour ago wasn’t me?” Sabo said seriously, leaning close to Robin’s Den Den Mushi.

"Haha, what do you think?"

“I think you’ll believe it,” Sabo said with a grin. Ace couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched the anger that appeared on the Den Den Mushi.

"So how do you think I'll beat you up?" Lucci said through gritted teeth.

“You’re not cute at all now, Lucci,” Sabo said, pouting.

"You're really done for, Sabo!" Lucci growled through gritted teeth. "I want to go over there and beat you up right now!"

"Don't be angry, Lucci," Sabo said with a bright smile. "I'll keep those photos safe!"

"Sabo!!" Lucci shouted angrily as he looked at the Den Den Mushi that had been hung up on.

"Hey, Lucci, don't crush the Den Den Mushi." Zoro, seeing Lucci's volatile emotions, was curious about what kind of photo Sabo was talking about in the Den Den Mushi.

"Lucci, what photo is it?" Luffy asked curiously.

"You don't want to know?" Lucci said expressionlessly, shoving the Den Den Mushi into Luffy's hand.

"Let's go find Doflamingo now!" Luffy said, putting his arms around Zoro and Law's necks. "Alright, let's go!"

"Wait, unlock my handcuffs first!" Luo shouted impatiently.

"It will open naturally when the time comes," Luffy said casually.

"Start what?!" Law shouted angrily upon hearing Luffy's casual remark, then turned to Lucci, who seemed indifferent, and said, "You better figure out a way to get rid of him!"

Lucci held Law's sword in his hand, looked at Law glaring at him angrily, and tilted his head to say, "I can't touch Seastone."

"Don't mess with me! Open it right now!" Luo glared at Lucci. Just because this kid couldn't touch seastone didn't mean his clone couldn't. He clearly remembered that it was his clone who put seastone handcuffs on Caesar, and how could that equally powerful guy not be able to handle these seastone handcuffs?

Seeing Travis's angry expression and then Lucci's innocent look, Luffy said with dissatisfaction, "Travis, what are you talking about? Lucci can't touch seastone either! The handcuffs will open naturally."

"Naturally my foot!" Luo shouted angrily, "Lucci is the boss!"

Lucci touched the tip of his nose, summoned Kill to help, and then explained to Luffy, "Luffy, Kill can open it."

"That's right!" Luffy suddenly realized, "Ki can swim!"

“That’s right, Luffy.” Qi replied with a smile, then told Luffy to put Law down, and Luffy curiously squatted down next to Qi to watch.

"Lucci, isn't Lucci supposed to stay on the ship with Nami and the others to guard it?" Zoro looked at Lucci in confusion. He remembered Lucci saying that Lucci and Nami were on the ship.