"Dahahaha~! Well, looks like that's that, then!" Run laughs, looking at the pile of rubble in front of them. After beating down all the men that had decided to give chase after the children, they did their best to create a barrier between themselves and any potential reinforcements. "Good job, Franky!"

"That's enough!" shouts Sanji. "Let's go already! I just felt Nami's inner-scream! I'm sure she wants to tell me that she loves me!" Franky and Run stare at their cook for a few moments in silence before looking back at the large pile of rubble.

"What are those people?" Franky wonders, looking at of their unsuited pursuers. "They're half sheep. I think there was a mythological creature like that."

"Satyr to be exact," confirms Run, earning an arched brow from Franky. "Ahem! Robin collects a lot of old books that I skim over from time to time."

"Don't worry about that now," Sanji tells them. "We have to get the whole picture first! Let's just go save Nami now!" While Sanji is chomping at the bit to get moving again, they have one person who is less than enthusiastic to leave the area.

"I'm not going!" shouts the Samurai. Sanji quickly picks him up by the hair of his head and holds him up to speak face to face. "Leave me here! I want to stay here! My boy was not among those children! There has to be other rooms so I'll stay and-"

"What?" Run asks him. "Roll from room to room? Leaving you here is the same as abandoning you here, samurai. We already took you this far, so we can't just leave you behind now!"

"I'm here to rescue my boy!"

"We don't need this aggravation!" bellow Sanji. "Why don't you just ask us to find your body and be done with it?! Where is it?!"

"I don't want to owe you pirates anything! I wouldn't ask you even if it kills me!" The two glare at one another for several tense moments before the samurai huffs. "H-However...if you want to look for my body...I won't stop you." Sanji quickly swings the head skyward, intending to smash it into the ground.

"You're just a severed head! Don't be so arrogant!"

"Planning to use violence against me?! I have no regrets! I'm not going to beg a thug for my life!"

"Relax, relax!" Run tells him quickly, catching Sanji's wrist and taking the samurai's head from his hands. "Even if you toss him to the floor it's not gonna make you feel any better. We'll take him with us and figure it out later." Sanji rants and raves for several long moments before finally settling on glaring at the head...who responds by sticking his tongue out to taunt their cook.

"Damn it, he's pissing me off!" screams Sanji. "How was I stupid enough to let myself be moved by his determination?! I don't want to help him anymore!"

"Dahahaha~! Man, he is gettin' to you! I think I'm actually starting to like him now!"

"I'm not even capable of fighting back if someone hits me," taunts the Samurai. "So I guess you can carry me if-" Sanji silences the samurai by suddenly kicking him several times in the face and head.

"Do you think Nami found a way out?" Franky asks...

As it turns out, Nami has indeed found a way out. Unfortunately, it involves passing through a hall of giants frozen completely in ice. Naturally, the children are scared of seeing the bodies frozen in ice, and it takes a bit of encouragement to get them to pass through. They push through the building they're in as quick as they can toward what they perceive to be the exit. Run follows behind the children with Franky and Sanji, making sure that none of the children fall behind or get separated from the group.

"So scary!" cries one of the children. "Those people were frozen!"

"I've had it with this place!" shouts Chopper.

"Look, there's a door ahead!" calls Nami. "We can get out!" Ahead of the group, they can see a break in the darkness, and it is most certainly a welcome sign. Chopper rushes ahead and kicks open the door with ease, revealing a frozen landscape to all present.

"Out of the way, kids!" screams Franky, rolling towards the exit in tank form. "Hey, hey, hey, Franky! Hey, hey, hey, tank! Clear the way, clear the way, Super the way~! I'll run you over if you stand in my way~! But I avoid running over flowers. I'm kind of sweet - Franky Tank~! Alright, here we go, everyone! One...two...three...Super~!" While Chopper, and the children join in Franky's pose, the red head comes to a stop in front of the doors. Franky is busy showing off his body, Sanji is stripping to give Nami his jacket...and only Run seems to notice Smoker or Trafalgar Law standing only a few feet from their group.

"Aah, long time no see, Law!" Run says with a grin. "See you found something of mine." He briefly motions to the cutlass held in Law's hand. "Well, thanks for holding on to it for me! I'll just take that and we'll get out of your hair! You seem, uh..." He briefly glances at Smoker. "...busy, and we don't wanna over stay our welcome." This seems to attract everyone's attention to the man leaning against one of the large doors...and moments later to Smoker, and the Navy gathered in front of them.

"What?!" shrieks Nami. "Are you the one who locked these children up?! You brute! You can't take them back!" Sanji seems to finally notice the Navy standing by and jumps in surprise.

"Crap!" Sanji exclaims. "You're that villainous guy! Smoker! And-" He turns to Tashigi. "-hello, cutie! This is not good! The Navy's here! We can't escape from the Navy here! Let's look for another exit! Get inside!" Chopper, Nami, Franky and the children quickly follow the cooks orders, running back inside away from the Navy. "Hurry up, kids! Go to the back! There should be a back door!"

"Ahem, my sword?" Run ventures, holding a hand out in Law's direction. "Please, and thank you, Law." Sanji grasps the red head by his shoulder and pulls him in the direction that the children and the rest of the crew are making their escape.

"We'll get your damn sword back! For now let's just go, you damn red hair!"

"Hurry up!" cries Chopper. "It's this way, kids!"

"Wait!" screams the Samurai. "Go back! It was that man who cut me up!"

"Really? Then maybe that man has the rest of your body!"

"No, I don't think so."

"It can wait then," Sanji tells him.

"Well, maybe I can get a clue!"

"We need to find a back door! We can't go back to face the Navy!" While they're in the middle of their running, a sudden blue tint over-takes the whole group of them. Run's eyes widen slightly, and he very quickly and suddenly coats himself in Busoshoku from head to toe without a second thought. He'd seen Law's Devil Fruit in action very briefly on Sabaody, and it seems to require him to cut the person in question...so what happens if he can't cut through his opponent?

"What is this?!" asks Franky. "It's like some kind of film." As quickly as it's appeared, it disappears. "What the hell was that about?"

"Forget about it! Just keep running!" shouts Sanji. "Hey, brats! Make sure to keep up!"

"Follow me!" adds Chopper, suddenly breaking out into a coughing fit. "What the? What is this?!"

"This is no time to fool around, Sanji!" Nami yells.

"In this week, I'm SUPER~!" laughs Franky.

"Uhh...what?" Run finally asks, looking between the members of the crew. "What the hell is the-" Franky immediately smacks him in the back of the head, nearly causing him to stumble before he catches himself. "Ow! Franky?! What was that-"

"I said no cursing in front of the children! How many- wait, what? Franky?" The children surrounding them all look at them strangely as they continue their escape. In fact, they even point out that they're all acting really strange. "What do you mean? Actually...my breasts do feel lighter." Nami looks down at herself...and rather than finding staring at her own breasts, she finds herself looking at a rather flat chest. Naturally, she screams at the top of her lungs. "What happened?!" Run slides to a stop, and quickly looks down at...himself? The rest of the crew is just as confused, and quickly come to a stop. "E-Everyone calm down! Let's do a roll call! Chopper!" Sanji's body steps forward. "Franky!" Chopper's body jumps forward. "Sanji!" Nami's body steps forward. "And...Run!" The red head grins and raises a hand. "Wha- How come you weren't changed?!" He thumps a fist against his chest proudly.

"Aah, I guess my gut feeling was right! Looks like Haki can resist the effects of Law's Devil Fruit...!"

"We have to think about what we're going to do now," Run says, carefully bundling up some of the smallest children in his coat. It's not exactly thick enough to completely ward off the cold but it'll be better than just the white gowns that they're wearing. "We can't just keep them out here." Things have gone from bad to worse, and is usually the case. The crew has managed to make their escape, even after having their bodies swapped against their will...but they've only found themselves out in the freezing cold with a group of children in tow.

"Well, we have plenty of fur-" begins Franky-Chopper.

"No!" screams Chopper-Sanji, staring at his body. "It's my body!"

"We can't exactly find any warm coats around here. I was hoping that we could find a lodge or something."

"Everyone, listen up!" shouts the severed head. "Since it's come to this, you people, I need you to put a leaf on your head!"

"A leaf?" echos Run, staring at the samurai. "Has the cold gotten to you, too? The children are about to drop from the cold."

"There aren't exactly any plants out here, either," Chopper-Franky adds. "So there are no leaves!"

"Then a rock will do!" retorts the samurai. "It doesn't matter what it is! Just hurry up!"

"If this is some kind of 'spell-to-not-make-it-cold' bullshit, I swear I'll kick your ass," Franky-Chopper threatens. They all quickly find a number of rocks and place one on each of the children's heads and then their own before gathering around the samurai's head. The samurai closes his eyes for several moments before opening them and shouting 'poof!' at the top of his lungs. A sudden explosion of smoke quickly blinds all of them before being swept away by the biting wind and cold. All of them now find themselves covered in warm winter clothes.

"Wow! That's a pretty cool skill!" Run tells him. "This some kind of Samurai thing or did you happen to eat a-" He feels a gentle tug on the hem of his new coat and looks down to see one of the children he'd bundled up holding his coat out in offer to him. "Aah, thank you, kid!"

"Hmm," grunts the samurai. "The thing is, I ate an unusual fruit one day, and ever since then I can use magic which allows me to disguise myself or everyone else in any way I please. I don't know much about foreign clothes but will these suffice? Still, I have to warn you! Since it's magic, if you take those clothes off, they'll disappear." The children, now warm, swarm the samurai's head. It seems that they've over-come their fear in the face of his Devil Fruit abilities.

"Hold on a minute," calls Franky-Chopper, approaching as the children part for him. "If you had this ability all along-" He punches the samurai in the top of his head. "-why didn't you do it sooner?!"

"W-Well, to be honest...I enjoyed seeing her in her breast-band." Nami-Franky responds by adding another punch, burying him several feet deep in the snow.

"You idiot!" screams Nami-Sanji, standing over the hole in the snow.

"Oi! Guys!" screams a familiar voice, attracting their attention. Dashing through the snow, and riding on top of someone's shoulders is the rest of the crew. "Are you all alright...?"

"Aah, looks like mother nature sure took a bat to this place," complains Run, pulling on his grey coat. In spite of the warmth offered by the winter coat given to him by the samurai's Devil Fruit...he still prefers his own coat, or more importantly, the items he's stashed away in his pockets. After meeting up with the rest of the crew, they quickly made their way to the first bit of cover that they could find that would keep them out of the wind and snow. It's exactly what the children need if they're going to keep somewhat warm on this frozen island...and it makes for a good place to get to the bottom of what happened.

"It's certainly in a bad condition," Robin agrees, watching as the red head takes a seat on a fallen piece of metal beside her. "It almost looks as if an explosion or something."

"It'll work for now. As long as it keeps the kids out of that blizzard. Aah. Before we get started-" He suddenly reaches into his pocket, and pulls out an apple sized black and white mottled fruit for her to see. "After I sprung myself from that cell they had me in, I happened across this little gem."

"A Devil Fruit?"

"Yeah. A Mythical Zoan. I bet it would fetch a boat load of Beli."

"Huh? What's that, Run?" Luffy suddenly calls, attracting the rest of the crews attention.

"Well, it's a Devil Fruit I snatched from the place they were holding in." Luffy's eyes seem to change to sparkles as he seems to appear before Robin and Run, crowding around with almost the rest of the entire crew. "The notes I found called it a Mythical Zoan, so I figure that we can make a lot of money selling-"

"Sell it? Why? Aren't you going to eat it?"

"Hmm." Run raises the Devil Fruit up in front of his eyes, observing it's glossy black and white surface for a few moments before suddenly grinning. "Aah, what do you think, Robin?"

"Well, if it is actually a Mythical Zoan, then it may be worth eating," Robin tells him, turning her head up in consideration. "Even if the notes were incorrect, it's not as if you'll become weaker by eating it. But it's not a decision that I can make for you and certainly one that you need to consider carefully...especially, given how fond you are of the water. I-" A crisp 'snap!' echos through the air, and Robin immediately looks at the red head who holds a now half eaten Devil Fruit.

"Nothing ventured, nothing...ugh! That's the nastiest thing I've ever eaten!" He turns and tosses the remains of the Devil Fruit towards the entrance of their hide out with a grimace. "Ugh! Oh, that's so gross! That's worse than that cooking sherry!"

"Mm, I see you decided."

"How did you ever stomach something like that? I mean, it-it yielded in such a strange way. The flesh was so slimy but there was like a...a strange crunch to it. Ugh. I could've gone my whole life without tasting something like that."

"S...So, how do you feel?" Usopp questions him. "Do you feel any different?"

"Hmm. No, I d...ugh! I...I don't..." Run suddenly reaches out, grasping Usopp by his bicep. "...I'm suddenly...suddenly so hungry, Usopp!" The color drains from Usopp's face almost immediately, and turns away from the red head trying to free himself.

"Waaaaaah! No! Let me go, Run! No! I don't want to be eaten! I-"

"Pfft~! Dahahahaha~! Relax, relax~! I'm just having a bit of fun, Usopp! I-" Nami-Franky immediately smacks Run in the back of his head. "Owie!"

"That's not funny, idiot!" Nami-Franky screams at him. "We were worried that there was something wrong with you! And, you!" Nami-Franky suddenly rounds on Sanji-Nami, who stands several feet away admiring his...her own assets? "Don't think I don't see what you're doing! It's two-hundred thousand for touching and one-hundred for peeking!" Luffy and Usopp bursts out into laughter, only to be silenced by a harsh glare from Nami-Franky. When things finally settle down for a moment, they take the time to go over their next move. Obviously, they need to find a way to help the children, and with the appearance of Law and the Navy, it's going to be far more difficult now. They also have to figure out how to get back into their original bodies.

Of course, they also promised to help the Samurai find his son, which means looking for any more children still left in the facility. Speaking of the Samurai, the man identifies Law as the one who cut him into pieces and threw his head into the holding area they were kept in. Another surprising bit of information for the group that Robin passes on, is that the man has become one of the Shichibukai in the two years there were all separated. With a plan of action more or less settled on, Usopp quickly throws together a number of masks that look like each member who has had their body swapped and passes them out to them.

"Oi, what the hell is this?!" complains Sanji, pointing to the mask he's forced to wear. "It spoils Nami's natural beauty!"

"Stop complaining," Usopp retorts. "We'll get confused if nothing is done."

"Brownbeard?" questions Luffy, attracting their attention to the man chained up several meters away from them. They'd ridden on the strange crocodile-centaur to get where they are but since he's been oddly quite even while detained, and having his tail pulled by one of the larger children.

"Yes!" replies Brownbeard. "That's what I used to go by! I'm sure that you've heard it before!"

"Nope!"

"What is it?" Zoro asks. "You were clammed up not too long ago, and now you've suddenly got something to say?"

"You guys are done for," Brownbeard tells them. "Law is going to come save me! I despise pirates from your generation but Law is an exception."

"Aah, you mean the 'Worst Generation'," Run asserts. "That's what they call us, right? The twelve rookies with bounties over one-hundred million who all landed on Sabaody at the same time two years ago."

"You know your stuff, I guess...but you forgot Blackbeard, red hair. You thirteen are troublemakers who were born at the change of the era and hold the key to the future of this war-torn world. After Whitebeard died, you all came to the New World and wreaked havoc. When something big happened, there was always someone from your generation involved. Blackbeard! Kid! Law! Drake! Hawkins! Basil Hawkins was the one who shattered my pirate group. I lost both my legs and ended my career as a pirate because of him. My crew was annihilated, and I fled for my life and arrived here on Punk Hazard. Do you know what this place is? This island used to be a lush, green island filled with life."

"Really? Hard to believe."

"It housed the lab of Dr. Vegapunk, a government scientist. There were developing weapons and chemicals here. Instead of sending them to prison, they brought prisoners here and treated them like lab rats. But four years ago, Vegapunks chemical weapons test went wrong. Two of the three laboratories exploded, and this is one of them. The explosion spilled out the chemicals, killing every living thing on this island. The government quickly escaped the island, leaving behind the surviving prisoners. They took shelter in the only remaining laboratory, but even so, those that survived were mostly paralyzed from the waist down. They quickly lost all hope for the future. But just a year later, our merciful master came to this island, and purified it of the poisonous gas with his special abilities! He even created a mechanical means for those paralyzed to move again and took them as his underlings!"

"Aah, now...was that before or after he began abducting children, Brownbeard? Because not a one of them seems to want to be here willingly."

"You don't know what you're talking about! His kindness saved my life as it did for the others! And only a few months ago, our second savior arrived. Trafalgar Law, who had just gained the title of Shichibukai, came to the island! Using his special ability, he gave those of us who couldn't walk legs! The legs of animals! We thought we would never walk again, and so we couldn't stop shedding tears of happiness!"

"So, the Tra-guy is a good guy after all!" exclaims Luffy. "He saved my life once before, ya know!"

"That explains the half-animal guys in the lab," Sanji-Nami adds.

"Yeah, but what about the dragon?" Usopp asks him.

"The dragon," grunts Brownbeard. "It's an artifical life-form created by Vegapunk to guard the island. It can adapt itself to any environment. If you see it, you should run away. It's extremely aggressive. Anyway, now you know the rules of the island. No one wants to come near it. Punk Hazard it our Master's property now! Rejoice! Our master is still doing work for the future of mankind! He needs only a few guinea pigs and you can become one! You can't get away!"

"I don't mean to be rude," begins Run. "But have you considered that not all of this was done purely out of the goodness of his own heart?"

"I wouldn't expect a pirate like you to understand just how great our Master is! All you can do is think about yourself!"

"Relax, relax. I'm just offering you my own two beli on the situation. I mean, would someone who is truly that good have a bunch of underlings who are willing to open fire on us with a bunch of children in the way?" While Run and Brownbeard are debating with one another, it comes to the attention of Sanji-Franky that their samurai friend has made his escape from the cave. Apparently, he's gone to look for the location of his torso, which Brook kindly shared with him. Since Sanji feels responsible for him, he goes chasing off in the direction Brook points him in with their skeletal musican and even Zoro in tow...after a little threatening from Nami.

With things more or less calmed down for the moment, Chopper decides that he wants to look into their sickness in an attempt to cure it. Naturally, Nami-Sanji agrees to assist him by taking samples of the children's sweat for him to test. After they're collected for Chopper-Sanji, their doctor immediately goes about testing and examining them.

"Now, let's talk about what we're going to do next," Usopp says.

"First things first," begins Nami-Franky. "Let's get back to normal as soon as possible! I don't wanna be a pervert anymore!"

"Oi, oi, you're over praising me!" Franky-Chopper says with a perverse grin.

"Don't ever smile like that with Chopper's face!" Robin warns him. "Ever!"

"But what should we do with these brats? They're such a pain in the ass."

"Franky, I don't want you to say another word in Chopper's body. Ever." Run reaches out and gives her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"A-Aah, relax," Run attempts. "We'll get them all back into their bodies." While Run is trying to calm Robin down for the time being, the children around them suddenly begin to fall violently ill. All of them are crying out for 'candy', or more specifically, the candy that they're given after being examined back at the facility. Thanks to Chopper's quick work, it doesn't take him long to figure out that the children have all been continually dosed with a small amount of a highly addictive drug called 'NHC10'. Apparently, the drug, while highly addictive, can also be used as medicine if administered properly and under strict supervision by a highly skilled doctor, such as Doctor Kureha.

While Luffy is ready and willing to go retrieve more of the 'candy' the children are after, Chopper tells him that the kids can never have more of it...something that angers the large blond-boy, Sind. He becomes so enraged that he hits Luffy hard enough to send him flying into the far wall and create a small crater.

"Whoa-ho! That kid sure packs a hell of a wallop!"

"He's a giant," shouts Usopp. "It's no wonder he can hit that hard!"

"Sind isn't a giant!" calls one of the larger girls. "When we came to this island we were all normal sized! I thought we had a disease that makes us go giant!"

"There's no such disease!" Chopper-Sanji assures her. "Big people are big from the beginning!"

"Those who have been here longer have bigger bodies!" After a few heavy breaths the girl finally collaspes into the snow.

"That means...they didn't always have a problem with the over-secretion of pituitary hormones." As the kids begin to lose their minds, one after another, the crew are left standing surrounded and unsure of how to handle the situation. They can't just hit them, they're just children, after all. Usopp, however, surprises all of them by hitting the group of children with numerous pellets containing a drug to knock them out without hurting them. After knocking them out, they're left with no alternative other than chaining them up in the same manner they had Brownbeard. "Luffy...I want to help these children. They're going through all of this without knowing anything and it breaks my heart! They want to go home and see their parents! We've got to help them!"

"Luffy!" cries Nami-Franky. "I want to help them, too!"

"Alright!" chirps Luffy. "So, let's take them to their parents!"

"Idiot!" cries Franky-Chopper. "We've got a mountain of problems! It's not that easy!"

"What, then?" Run questions Franky. "You want to just leave them chained up here and go on our way? You're not as heartless and cruel as that, Franky."

"I hate to say it," Robin begins. "But he's right. It's all just speculation now. Nothing can be solved until we see this ringleader."

"So, let's go see this 'Master', then," Luffy tells them. "But Zoro, Sanji and Brook went out looking for the samurai so...well, that's alright! Let's go to the laboratory to see this master!"

"I'll stay here," Chopper-Sanji tells him. "I really can't stomach what the Master guy is doing and I want to kick his ass! But I can't leave these kids here. I have to look after them."

"Y-Yeah!" agrees Nami-Franky. "I-I'll stay here, too!"

"Hey, Nami! That's not fair!" screams Usopp. "You're just scared!" With the two of them deciding to stay behind, Luffy, Robin, Usopp, Franky-Chopper and Run leave to return to the facility and look for the 'Master' of the place. They leave the cave they've tucked themselves away in and head back in the direction of the facility the children were held in. Half-way there, however, they find themselves confronted with what seems to be a gigantic foot-print in the snow.

"Whoa! What are these?" Luffy wonders, staring at the prints.

"Looks like foot prints," Run tells him, approaching a bit closer. "They- ugh!" The red head raises a hand and waves it a few times in front of his face. "Ugh, they stink. I- why do I know that?" Confusion briefly flickers across his face for a moment.

"Really?" Luffy stands on tip toes and sniffs the air a few times. "I don't smell anything." Franky-Chopper approaches as well, looking at the prints carefully before suddenly crossing his arms.

"I don't smell a thing," Franky-Chopper tells them. "Just smells like snow, to me. I think yer losin' yer mind, red hair."

"It's possible that that Zoan Fruit you ate is affecting your senses," Robin says. "If it was truly a Mythical Zoan, the power could be affecting your senses even when you're not using it. Speaking of, you never did tell us what the name of it was."

"Aah, that's right," Run says. "It's the Dog-Dog Fruit, Model-" Several loud echoing explosions sound in the distance quickly, and everyone turns in the direction they've just come from...the direction of the rest of the crew. Luffy immediately takes off back in the direction of Nami and Chopper without a second thought. "Luffy! Don't just start running without a word!" They sprint through the snow back towards the cave where Nami, Chopper and the children are. The explosions continue as they run, eventually dying off just as the cave comes into view. The first thing that they see is two absolutely giant, white furred creatures bearing down on the entrance of the cave.

"You guys!" screams Luffy. "You better not have hurt my friends!" The nearest of the two turns and fires at Luffy in response. Luckily, Luffy dodges out of the way of the explosion, and then launches himself back at them, only for them to almost melt into the snow around them. Luffy crashes back down into the snow and looks around quickly for the two, now missing creatures.

"Luffy!" calls Chopper, sprinting in his direction. "I'm sorry! They took Nami...!"