Ch. 21- I Call it Shinokuni

One Piece © Oda

Blizzard, Aika, Kumi, and Jupiter © Me

At the front entrance of Caesar's lab, Caesar and the children had just arrived there on his balloon, much to G-5's surprise.

"Hey! What the hell's up with that balloon?!"

"Hey, Caesar! Open up these damn shutters, you coward!"

"Give us back Smokey and Tashigi!"

Soon, Caesar had docked the balloon on a bridge, allowing him and the children to enter the lab safely.

"Off the balloon, now, children!" Caesar said. "This is your home now, remember? Don't you ever run away again!"

"M…Master," Synd murmured. "Hurry…and give us the candy!"

"Yeah!" agreed Dolan. "My head hurts! I need my candy, Master!"

"Of course, children!" Caesar said. "You'll have your precious candy right away! But first, you need to return to the Biscuits Room. You'll find all the candy you need in there. I must first return to the lab control room. You all go back to your room and savor the taste of your yummy candy!"

"YAY!" the children cheered…except for Mocha.

"Umm…M-Master?" she asked.

"Yes, Mocha?" Caesar asked.

"W…what are you going to do…with her?"

Caesar followed Mocha's gaze…to the still unconscious Aika in his hand.

"Oh, this little one?" Caesar asked, holding Aika up by the scruff of her neck. "This one was being a bad little girl, always not doing what she was told. I'm simply going to punish her, is all."

"Punish her?" Mocha asked.

"You seem concerned," said Caesar. "Didn't you tell me you don't like this one? Why should you care what happens to her?"

"W…well…I…umm…" Mocha murmured.

"Well? Have you nothing to say, young lady?" Caesar asked…with an almost wicked grin on his face, which startled Mocha a little.

"N…no," Mocha replied, nervously.

"Good," Caesar said before he began to leave. "Now run along. Go get your candy."

"Y-yes, Master," Mocha said before she began to follow the other children to the Biscuits Room.

"Listen closely," Caesar said to a guard as he held up Aika. "I'm taking this one to a…timeout chamber. Once the other children are all in the Biscuits Room, lock the door tight and don't let them out again!"

"Yes, Master!" the guard saluted as Caesar took Aika away.

Mocha watched as the other children headed to the Biscuits Room, looking unsure and a bit nervous.

"Uh…this place looks scary…!" she whispered.

"What's wrong, little brat- err, I mean, Little Miss?" asked one of the guards. "Go on! Go with the other kids to your room, now…"

As he talked…Mocha saw him beginning transform into a giant snake.

"…and eat your tassssty candy~!" he hissed.

"EEEEK!" Mocha screamed.

"What's wrong with you, bra- I mean, Little Miss?!" asked the guard.

Mocha panted as voices began to speak in her head.

"I…I don't wanna eat that candy!" Aika's voice said. "It smells weird!"

"Hold it!" Usopp's voice shouted. "Don't go! You don't really wanna go back to the lab, do you?!"

"No! Stop!" Nami's voice cried. "Please, you can't go with him! Don't you kids wanna go home and see your families?!"

At that moment, Mocha seemed to finally regain her senses before she looked back at the door…only to see the guards closing it!

"No!" Mocha cried. "I…I'M LEAVING THIS PLACE!"

"What are you, nuts?!" asked one of the guards. "It's freezing out there! And this isn't the ground floor! Now go on to your room and-"

"NO!" Mocha shouted before she began to pound on the door. "LET ME OUT! HELP ME, ORANGE LADY AND LONG NOSED-MAN!"

"Mocha?!" asked Dolan.

"C'mon! What are you waiting for?!" asked Synd. "Let's go and get our candy!"

"Aika…Nose Man…Orange Lady…!" Mocha whimpered. "I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you before! Something is wrong with this place! LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! She started pounding on the door again.

"HELP ME~!" she screamed. "HELP ME, LADY~!"

XXX

Back at the remains of Labs 1 and 2...Nami gasped as she finally came to.

"Oh, my god…!" she whispered. "I thought I saw Bellemere, sitting in a field of flowers on the other side!"

She then looked at Sanji's hand.

"Poor Sanji's body…it's all bloody and battered," she said, "and yet…it's so tough and resilient! It's because of his body I'm still alive, right now!"

Then, she heard Usopp gasping for breath and ran to his side.

"Usopp!" she cried. "Are you all right?! Hang in there!"

"Ugh…" Usopp groaned. "S…Sanji? You saved my life…!"

"I'm NAMI, you moron!" Nami shouted.

"Oh," Usopp muttered.

"WHY DO YOU SOUND DISAPPOINTED?!"

Suddenly, the two of them heard a soft, pained whimper coming from under the snow.

"Kumi!" Nami gasped before she ran to her side. A river of blood dripped from the poor Akita puppy's forehead, but when Kumi raised her head and licked Sanji's face, Nami know that she was going to be all right.

"Oh, thank heavens," Nami said, relieved.

"Hey, Nami," Usopp said. "If Kumi's here…then where's Aika?"

"Oh, no…Caesar must've taken her, along with the other children, back to the lab!" Nami said. "We gotta save them! If they get their candy, they'll never wanna leave this place!"

"Yeah…and something tells me that whatever he's got planned for Aika, it's not gonna be good!" Usopp said.

'You don't realize how right you are,' Kumi thought. 'If you ask me…the other kids are lucky. It's Aika who's really in danger, now!'

Flashback

After he knocked out Nami, Usopp, and Brownbeard with the explosion, Caesar turned to face Aika and Kumi, the latter growling viciously in an attempt to defend her master.

"You think you scare me, you little mongrel?" asked Caesar. "Shulolololo!"

Then, he proceed to suffocate Kumi the same way he suffocated his other victims.

"No! Kumi!" Aika cried.

"Aika…run away…while you can!" Kumi choked out.

Then, Caesar grabbed Kumi and threw her into a piece of metal pipe, headfirst. After that, she began to fade into unconsciousness.

"Kumi!" Aika cried before she looked at Caesar, who stood towering over her with the same malicious grin. The girl gasped before she transformed into her wolf form and attempted to make a run for it, but Caesar roughly grabbed her and picked her up by the scruff of her neck, holding her up so that he could see his face.

"You've been quite a naughty girl, Aika," Caesar hissed, causing Aika to wince at the smell of his breath. "You and that puppy of yours have been thorns in my side ever since you got here!"

"You don't scare me!" Aika shouted before she bit Caesar's nose.

"YOWCH!" Caesar cried. "THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN! Ever since you showed up, all you've done is made a mess of things! First, you steal one of my Artificial Devil Fruits and you eat it, thus giving you the form you have now! Second, you refuse to cooperate, and you even made some of the children suspicious! Finally, whenever I try to take you away to use you for my SAD research, you and that mutt of yours keep BITING AND SCRATCHING ME! Do you know how many stitches it took to close the bite wound you left on my right palm?! YOU'RE JUST TOO MUCH TROUBLE!"

Aika just blew a raspberry at him.

"I don't know where you got this boldness of yours from," Caesar began…as a wicked smirk appeared on his face, "but it ends today."

"W…what are you gonna do with me?" Aika asked.

"Oh…just put you to sleep in a little gas chamber," Caesar said before he gasped in mocking shock. "Oh! But wait! When you fall asleep…you won't wake up…EVER. Shulolololololo!"

Aika gasped at this, but then, Caesar held out his hand…and began to take the oxygen away from her!

"For now…take a little nap," he said.

Aika gagged and gasped for air as she looked over at Kumi, who is watching with horrified eyes as she struggled to get them.

"A…Aika…!" Kumi whispered before she flopped down in the snow.

"Shulololololo!" Caesar laughed as he headed to the balloon with Aika in his grasp. "You can call help as much as you want…but no one will save you."

Kumi reached her paw out to stop him…but soon, she blacked out.

Flashback end

'I can't let that guy kill Aika!' Kumi thought. 'I swore I'd protect her, no matter what!'

"Nami! Maybe Brownbeard's still alive!" Usopp said. "Wake him up so we can get to the lab, and fast!"

"Right!" Nami said before she went to go find Brownbeard.

XXX

Inside the lab, Caesar had just come in to see Vergo and Monet…as well as his prisoners.

"Ah, Vergo," Caesar said. "What a surprise! Sorry to keep you waiting. Shulolololo!"

"No problem," Vergo reassured. "I've just been sitting here, enjoying coffee and cookies."

"I didn't give you any cookies," Monet pointed out.

"Oh, yeah," Vergo realized. "I didn't snack on cookies. So where did you go, Caesar?"

"Oh, I just had to take care of a little…pest problem," Caesar replied.

XXX

In a chamber located somewhere in the lab, someone is heard screaming and pounding at the locked door.

Inside…it is revealed to be Aika, now in her human form, trying to open the door. As she screamed, a strange hissing noise is heard coming out of the pipes, and Aika started to gag and cough.

Caesar is slowly suffocating the poor child with the same gas he used on one of Brownbeard's men.

"HELP ME~!" Aika screamed as she kept trying to pound on the door, hoping someone would hear her. "NAMI! USOPP! KU-GACK-KOFF-KOFF!"

She gasped for air and covered her mouth, trying so hard not to breathe in the gas.

"H…help me…!" she cried. "…Luffy…! Help…me…!"

XXX

Luffy suddenly gasped in surprise before he started to look around.

"…Aika?" he whispered.

"What's wrong, Luffy?" Robin asked.

"I…I heard Aika's voice, just now!" Luffy replied. "She sounds like she's in trouble!"

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble," Franky said, "but we can't really help her out until we get ourselves outta this mess!"

"So, Caesar," Vergo said, "when does this little experiment of yours begin."

"Very soon, Vergo," Caesar replied. "Monet! Get the video feed started!"

"Yes, Master," Monet answered as she approached a nearby screen.

"And you, Vergo," Caesar said, "can't you keep a short leash on your own men?! I swear, I had chills when I saw Smoker was here!"

"Sorry," Vergo said. "He's a wild dog, Caesar. I can't control this one…but that all ends, today."

Smoker glared at Vergo as he said this.

"Shulolololo!" Caesar laughed as he looked at Law. "This look suits you, Law. You could hardly lay a finger on Vergo, eh?!"

Law just sneered at the scientist.

"Looks like our little deal paid off handsomely for me," Caesar said.

Flashback

Caesar had agreed to let Law and Jupiter stay on the island under the condition that Law gave Caesar's minions some new legs.

"This is a very good deal," Caesar said, "but there's one problem. You're more powerful than I am, and I'm the one in control of this island, here! If you want to stay, you must weaken your position!"

"Jupiter and I mean you no harm," Law said. "What do I need to do?"

"How about this, Trafalgar Law?" Caesar inquired. "I will allow you to keep the heart of Monet, my invaluable secretary. Is that fine with you, Monet?"

"…It's all right with me," said Monet, who had human limbs.

"And in return," Caesar began, "I will have YOUR heart, Law! So? Do we have a deal?! That way, we will have our hands at each other's throats! It ensures that you WON'T try and funny business and I can do my work in peace! Shulolololo!"

"Law…maybe you shouldn't-" Jupiter began.

"No, Jupiter," Law said before he heaved a sigh. "I'll do it."

"Excellent!" Caesar exclaimed. "Shulolololololo!"

Flashback end

"It never pays to trust others," Caesar said. "You reap what you sow! A bitter lesson you've learned by now, I'm sure."

Vergo then approached the cage…with a beating heart trapped in a cube in his hand.

"Vergo has your heart," Caesar said, and Vergo then started to squeeze the organ, causing Law to scream in pain.

"Traffy?!" Luffy questioned in concern.

"I'm sure even you failed to notice," Caesar began, "that Monet cleverly changed her shape to follow you, and I overheard your entire plan!"

Law growled at this once Vergo stopped squeezing his heart.

"I'm so disappointed in you, Law," Caesar said, "and here I was, thinking I had finally made a friend!"

"So, your brilliant secretary saved your ass," Law said. "I should've been more careful with her. I figured with a master as stupid as you, she wasn't worth paying attention to."

"URK!" Caesar grunted angrily before he punched Law's heart, causing him to scream, again. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU INSOLENT BRAT!"

"Ugh…!" Law groaned and coughed up blood.

"Whoa! You really are strong, Traffy!" Luffy said. "They've got your heart and you're still alive?!"

"Undone by your own powers?" Smoker asked. "Humph…what a disgrace. Where's my heart, then?"

"Shulolololo!" Caesar laughed…before he held it up. "I've got it, right heeeere…Smooooo…"

"Ahem!" Monet cleared her throat. "Master, the Video Feed is ready."

"Ah, good," Caesar said. "Display!"

With that, Monet switched on the Video Transponder Snail, and an image appeared on a screen, revealing a video of what looked like a giant piece of candy.

"The image you see before you," Caesar began, "is from the center of the icy side of the island!"

XXX

Outside, G-5 is watching the video feed on the wall of the lab and started clamoring in surprise.

"Whoa! There's an image on the wall!"

"When did this Video Transponder Snail get here?!"

"Where's that image coming from?!"

"That candy is huge!"

XXX

Right now, around the New World, criminal brokers observe the events.

"And all about the icy side," Caesar said as the video showed pieces of Smiley conjoining into a bigger mass, "making their way from the burning side of the island are the Smilies, fragmented pieces of Smiley launching themselves forward and coalescing toward the center of the island."

XXX

"In time," Caesar said as he spoke into the receiver of a regular Transponder Snail, "they will reunite here on the icy side, and when Smiley is whole, the experiment will begin. I used Smiley to kill this island once, 4 years ago. He is incarnation of the H2S Gas! The biggest problem with my last test was that those who were poisoned could still evacuate to safety in their weakened state! Therefore, I found that by giving Smiley, my weapon of 4 years ago an enormous meal of special food, his toxic gas carries an added effect that transforms him into the perfect killing machine! And today, you will all bear witness to the birth of a brand new weapon. I call it…Shinokuni: the Land of the Dead. Shulolololo!"

XXX

Meanwhile, in the center of the island's icy side, Team Zoro is still running away from Smiley!

"Here it comes!" Brook cried.

"Can we really outrun that thing?!" Zoro asked.

Behind them, Smiley had regained most of his pieces and roared.

"It's finally whole again!" Brook shouted.

"No! It's still getting larger!" Sanji cried.

"What in the world is that creature, anyway?!" Kin'emon asked.

"Don't bother thinking about it!" Zoro shouted. "Just run!"

"Wait! Everyone!" Brook cried. "What is that?!"

Up ahead, they saw the huge piece of candy.

"There appears to be an enormous…ball up ahead!" Brook said.

"Of candy?!" Sanji questioned.

"I see someone standing behind it!" Zoro said.

It is revealed to be a bunch of guards, sitting in a sleigh, which is harnessed to a small dragon scales and black spots, eating a piece of meat.

"We have a visual on a large, gelatinous creature, Master!" said one of the guards. "I think it's Smiley!"

"We're screening the video of you on the mist now, Master," said another.

XXX

"Good," Caesar said. "Once that's done, you'll need to clear the are. It's dangerous. Ride on the dragon sled and-"

"OH, NO!"

"What's wrong?" Caesar asked, although he had a grin on his face that said that he knew what happened.

"Master! We've got a big problem! The dragon sled…it melted! It's totally useless now! It looks like there's some sort of chemical on it!"

"AGH! The dragon escaped!"

"What, what, WHAAAAT?!" Caesar questioned, putting on a fake shocked expression.

"…He is such a terrible actor," Law whispered.

"I actually agree with you," Monet added.

"Uh…hey, is there popcorn to go with this movie?" Luffy asked, causing everyone to glare at him. "What?! I'm hungry!"

"Listen to me! Just run for it!" Caesar shouted. "Your suits won't protect you against Smiley! Take them off and make a beeline straight for the lab!"

"What?! Are you sure?!"

"Trust me! It's for your own good!"

"A-alright, Master!"

XXX

Back outside, the satyrs took off their suits and ran for the lab, and at that moment, Zoro's team had spotted Caesar's face displayed on the mist in the air.

"What's this?" asked Brook. "There's a huge face in the air!"

"Just ignore and keep running!" Sanji said.

Just then, Smiley seemed to spot something, while Caesar laughed happily upon seeing his "pet".

"Oh, my dearest Smiley!" he cried. "How I've missed you! It's been three whole years!"

BRRAAAAOO! Smiley roared.

"It's so good to see you again," Caesar said. "I've got your favorite snack ready!"

Smiley approached the candy, anxiously.

"No, no, no, Smiley! Wait!" Caesar said. "Don't eat it, yet! Shulololololo! We so much catching up to do, Smiley. Do you remember that one time, 4 years ago, when-"

CHOMP! To Caesar's shock…Smiley ignored him and ate the candy!

XXX

"…Uh…g-good boy, Smiley!" Caesar praised, stammering. "Yes! Eat the yummy candy!"

"He's not listening to you," Monet said.

TO BE CONTINUED…

2 chapters in one day?! DAMN!

Review, please!