【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Have you made up your mind?" Lucci looked at Law, who had a heavy expression, and realized that from this moment on, Law truly recognized their alliance. His previous request for help and his open heart now proved this point.

"Yes!" Luo nodded in response, his eyes full of determination. "Although I failed once before, I'm sure I can do it this time!"

“It should have been like this from the beginning.” Lucci grinned and patted Law on the shoulder. “To Luffy, you’ve already been his friend for a long time.”

“That’s right, Traman is my partner!” Luffy said with a grin.

"Who's your partner?!" Luo turned his head and retorted in a low voice.

Lucci glanced at Law, who was weak. This guy had asked him for help earlier in order to recover his strength as soon as possible.

Lucci glanced around and noticed that the strange group hadn't caught up yet, and there were no enemies ahead for the time being. This was a good time to replenish his strength. "Luffy, you want to eat..."

Before Lucci could finish speaking, Luffy suddenly stuck his head in.

"Lucci! I want to eat!" Luffy understood what Lucci wanted to say the moment he opened his mouth, and before he could even finish speaking, he opened his eyes wide and said expectantly, "I want big bone meat!"

"You little brat, are you making a wish here?" Lucci slapped Luffy's outstretched head, then handed him the remaining jerky and chocolate bars from his storage space. "There's no big bone meat, so eat these first."

"It's meat!!" Luffy excitedly took the food Lucci gave him and immediately stuffed the jerky into his mouth.

"Lucci, do you have any wine?" Zoro asked expectantly as he joined in.

Lucci didn't answer, but simply tossed a bottle of rum to Zoro, then looked at Law and took out the sandwich he had grabbed that morning.

Luo looked at the sandwich in Lucci's hand and immediately shouted, "I don't eat bread!"

Lucci looked up at Law, somewhat speechless, handed the sandwiches to Luffy and Zoro, then tossed a few packaged energy bars to Law. Turning to look at Luffy, who was happily eating, he couldn't help but smile and reached out to ruffle the boy's soft hair.

Zoro, holding a sandwich, looked at Lucci, who was just staring at Luffy eating, with some confusion. Considering that Lucci had the same big appetite as Luffy, he couldn't help but ask, "Lucci, aren't you hungry?"

Upon hearing Zoro's words, Lucci immediately thought of that restaurant. He then recalled Sabo's strange behavior when they left the restaurant, which meant he had been tricked back then. Thinking of this, Lucci's mood instantly soured. "I've already eaten."

Zoro noticed a brief fluctuation in Lucci's emotions, but he didn't pay much attention to it because Lucci quickly returned to normal.

Zoro's gaze fell on the group of strange people chasing after them. They were indeed quite odd; they were all very strong, but they insisted on following them.

Zoro chewed on his sandwich while thinking and drinking. As he ate, he suddenly realized that these were the sandwiches that the perverted cook had made that morning. Zoro glanced at Lucci's back with some doubt. With Luffy with them, there was no way there would be any leftover food at breakfast.

While Luffy and his crew were eating, Lucci took two sandwiches, sat down on the bull's head, and casually fed one of the sandwiches to Luffy's new friend.

Just as Lucci was engrossed in chewing his sandwich, a skinny guy suddenly came over and shouted. Lucci glared at the shouting guy with displeasure.

"My benefactors! You're all living too leisurely!"

"Yes! You're actually eating on the backs of oxen at a time like this!" Cavendish shouted, riding his white horse. "Ah, I see! That's the secret to your popularity. To remain so calm in such chaos...it's truly elegant!!"

Lucci completely ignored Cavendish's nonsense and instead said to the catching-up arena legion, "Didn't you want to repay a debt of gratitude? Defeating those Don Quixotes blocking your way will be your way of repaying a debt of gratitude."

"My way of repaying this debt is to take Doflamingo's head!" Hajrudin shouted angrily, "not to deal with these small fry!"

"I'm the one who took Doflamingo's head!!"

"It's me! It's me!"

"I'll chop anyone who dares to take it from me!"

Lucci was speechless as he watched the group of people start arguing again.

"What's wrong with these guys?" Zoro finished the last sip of his drink and looked at the group of people who had caught up and started making a ruckus again.

"Don't follow me, okay?!" Luffy swallowed the food in his mouth, angrily turning to look at the group of guys he'd met in the arena. Why did these guys always want to beat Doflamingo to a pulp before him? "I'll take down Doflamingo first!!"

"You're so annoying, you bastard benefactor!" Abu of the Babao Navy cursed angrily.

"Weren't there only 4 people just now? How did so many more suddenly appear?!" The Donquixote Family's subordinates frantically raised their guns, their hands trembling as they aimed at the group of pirates rushing out of the mist.

"Whether it's 4 people or 300, it's all the same to me!" Pica controlled the stone golem and swung its fist at the Straw Hat Boy who was leading his men towards the palace.

"Wow, that's so shrill!!" Upon hearing the voice, everyone immediately pointed at Pika and burst into laughter. "Pfft, hahaha! That voice really doesn't suit him!!"

"They're here!" Luo was speechless at the way these guys were mocking Pica's high-pitched voice to his face; they were just as thick-skinned as the Straw Hat Master.

"Leave it to me!!"

"Fist of the King!!"

"Eight-Strike Fist Secret Technique! Cone Dragon!!"

Before Pica's massive fist could even get close to them, it was shattered by the skills unleashed by the group of people in the arena.

"What a good-looking but useless fellow!"

"Don't let them pass! They're heading for the palace!!" Don Quixote's men, panicked and frightened, raised their guns and aimed them at the group of pirates led by a bull.

Sitting on the bull, Luffy had no chance to fight back. Whenever an enemy appeared in his way, they would be quickly defeated by the strange guys who had participated in the tournament with him.

Luffy was somewhat dissatisfied that all his enemies had been taken away by that group of guys who inexplicably followed them, and he was also unhappy with their idea of ​​getting to the palace and defeating Doflamingo before him.

Seeing the giant stone golem blocking their path, Luffy suddenly had a brilliant idea. Grinning, he commanded the bull to charge towards the golem's severed arm. "Charge, bull! Let's take a shortcut!"

"That's right, that's right! Charge, Brother Niu!"

"Who are you two?!" Luffy glared at the two men, one fat and one thin, who had suddenly jumped onto the bull. "Get off me! Are you trying to kill the bull with exhaustion?!"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, my benefactor. My name is Jet, and the big guy behind me is Abdora!" the skinny guy grinned.

"Who asked you what your names are?!" Luffy shouted in dissatisfaction.

"straw hat!!"

"Here we go again," Luo warned, watching Pica swing her fist at them once more.