One Piece: A Warlord's Path

Chapter 806: Luffy: "I’m Kidnapping You, Caesar!"

Inside the Biscuits Room.

"Candy!"

"Candy!"

"We want the yummy candy!"

Inside the massive, playroom-style chamber, a group of "children" several meters tall were clamoring rowdily.

"Hehe~ If you’re all good, everyone gets candy!" Monet stood in the center, looking at the surrounding children with a gentle smile.

"Shurororororo~ Don’t worry, children. Everyone gets some. There’s plenty of candy for everyone, shurororororo~" Caesar clownishly dragged a large sack of brightly colored candies toward them, his face masked with a kind, genial smile.

Just as Caesar and Monet were distributing the sweets to the children...

BOOM!

Suddenly, the heavy metal doors, several meters high, buckled under a massive impact, warping instantly.

BOOM!

Another heavy strike followed. The entire metal gate was ripped clean off the wall, flying several meters into the room before crashing heavily to the floor, kicking up a thick cloud of swirling dust.

Everyone stood frozen in shock. A metal door half a meter thick... forced open in just two hits? You’ve got to be kidding!

"Caesar! Get out here!"

From within the smoke, a figure shouted with an arm raised, charging rapidly into the Biscuits Room.

As the silhouette became clear, he was wearing a red-and-white striped coat, a straw hat, and sandals.

"Straw... Straw Hat Kid!"

Caesar and Monet gasped in unison, recognizing Luffy immediately.

Having just burst into the room, Luffy spotted Caesar in the center and blinked in surprise.

"Yo~ Caesar!"

Luffy recognized him because someone had shown him Caesar’s photo beforehand.

"Caesar, I’m kidnapping you!" Luffy declared with a dead-serious expression, staring straight at the scientist.

"Pffft—!"

Both Caesar and Monet nearly choked. Since when did kidnapping become something you announced so righteously and coldly?

"Gomu Gomu no... Pistol!!!"

Luffy’s expression tightened. His arm stretched far back before snapping forward, a fist hurtling toward Caesar.

POW—!

Before Caesar could even react, Luffy’s fist slammed into his stomach, sending him hurtling backward.

"Caesar!" Monet cried out.

"It hurts! It hurts so much! Agghhh!"

After flying dozens of meters, Caesar transformed into gas to stop his momentum. He clutched his stomach, howling in agonizing pain.

"You bastard! I’ll kill you!"

"Gas Robe!!!"

Stung by the pain, Caesar was utterly enraged; it had been a long time since anyone had managed to actually hurt him. He thrust both hands forward, his gas surging and swirling as visible tendrils of vapor lunged out like ropes.

"Gear 2!!!"

Luffy’s body turned a flushed red, steam hissing off his skin. He vanished instantly, evading the encroaching gas.

"Gomu Gomy no... Jet Pistol!!!"

A second later, Luffy appeared directly above Caesar, his fist descending with explosive pressure.

Suddenly, the temperature in the air plummeted. Snow began to fall, and a massive amount of frost coalesced into a spherical igloo, encasing Caesar within.

BOOM—!

Luffy’s fist, moving at speeds nearly invisible to the naked eye, struck like an air cannon against the roof of the snow hut, resulting in a deafening crash.

CRACK—!

SMASH!

Fissures spider-webbed across the snow hut. In an instant, the cracks widened, and the entire structure shattered, sending dense blocks of packed snow tumbling to the ground.

"What is this? It’s so hard!"

Luffy was shocked. A blow in Gear 2, infused with Haki, had actually been blocked by this snow-shack thing.

"As expected of you. An ordinary pirate wouldn’t be able to break this wall," Monet said, flapping her wings as she hovered in mid-air.

The snow hut, condensed and compressed from vast amounts of snow, possessed a hardness comparable to steel. To break it with a casual punch... this "Straw Hat" truly wasn’t someone to be underestimated.

"Who are you? Are you an Ability User?" Luffy looked at Monet, startled by her bird-like wings and talons.

"Curse you! You damn rubber brat!"

Caesar shoved aside the heavy blocks of snow pinning him down, glaring at Luffy with venom. "It’s because of you bastards that my important experiment was ruined! Because of you, I might be blamed, or even killed, by King!"

"Master, since things have come to this, our only choice is to take down Straw Hat Kid ourselves, or hold him off until the others finish their business and come to support us," Monet said calmly as she landed.

Turning to the group of children cowering in the corner, she smiled gently. "Children, I think you need to find another room to eat your candy. Go on, head out!"

At Monet’s word, the giant children scrambled to grab the large sack of candy Caesar had brought and hurried out of the Biscuits Room.

"Are those the kids Nami and Chopper were talking about?" Luffy watched the multi-meter-tall children leave, looking dazed. "They’re so huge! Are they children of the Giant Tribe?"

"Hehehehe~ I’m afraid I can’t tell you that!" Monet giggled, covering her mouth.

...

Kingdom of Clifford.

Nakor City.

Inside a private room, Aeridar sat on a sofa, looking restless. Although he had already issued the order to eliminate the Straw Hat Pirates, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

The protagonist of a world shouldn’t be that easy to kill!

Aeridar carefully retraced the events of the original Punk Hazard arc in his mind. Law had betrayed Doflamingo, goaded Luffy into kidnapping Caesar, and destroyed the SAD production room, which eventually triggered the Dressrosa arc and Doflamingo’s downfall.

In that battle, the vital scientist Caesar was taken, Monet was outmaneuvered and met a tragic end at Caesar’s own hand, and Vergo, who had been undercover in the Marines for decades, was exposed. Ultimately, due to underestimating his opponent, Vergo was sliced to pieces by Law and blown up in the SAD room. It was a catastrophic loss for Doflamingo.

In fact, if Doflamingo hadn’t arrived at Punk Hazard in time, even Baby-5 and Buffalo would have been wiped from the Spades Army’s roster.

But now, the Punk Hazard research facility had the support of both Doflamingo and himself. Law shouldn’t be foolish enough to betray both of them at once.

Law had to know that while they were all members of the Seven Warlords, they weren’t on the same level. The gap between them was immense, whether in personal strength or the power of the factions behind them. It was far beyond what two rookie crews like the Heart Pirates and Straw Hat Pirates could contend with. As a member of the Seven Warlords Alliance, Law should understand this better than anyone.

Furthermore, Otto, Cavendish, and Jason were all there. Vergo might even be present. The captured Straw Hats and Smoker’s unit should be as good as dead.

And yet, for some reason, the unease persisted.

"Master, are you feeling anxious?"

Zhurong flew over to Aeridar, asking curiously.

Aeridar glanced at Zhurong but didn’t reply. After a moment of thought, he pulled a small, long-eared Den Den Mushi from his robes and dialed.

Pere pere pere...

The call was picked up quickly.

"Hello~ Captain, didn’t I tell you not to bother me lately?" A lazy voice, tinged with a hint of annoyance, drifted through the receiver.

"Cut the crap, Enel!" Aeridar barked back unceremoniously. "I have a mission for you. Head to Punk Hazard right now. I know you’ve been there before!"

"Punk Hazard?" On the other end, Enel sounded puzzled. "What would I go to that godforsaken place for?"

"A few bugs crawled in, and I’m not feeling easy about it. The Marines have been restless lately, so I need to stay here and hold the fort. Go and check things out for me!" Aeridar replied in a heavy tone.

"Honestly, those annoying Marine flies..." The Den Den Mushi’s mouth moved, relaying Enel’s indignant voice and perfectly mimicking his irritated expression.

"Besides, I told you those guards are trash. Fine, I get it. I’m heading there now!"