CHAPTER 42 - Law Strikes Back
He couldn't remember all the faces that had shown up a while back as reinforcements. One of them within the group of Demon Slayers must have had slipped to the lab without notice. Indeed, Law and Aoi were keeping themselves aware for any sort of Demonic aura. That's what troubled them when they found the male Demon Slayer with no sinister aura.
The fellow dropped Daki on the wooden floor.
"Captain Trafalgar D. Water Law." he mentioned. "I was warned to be wary of you."
"Who told you my name?" Law demanded. Not many had known of his full name, and then an obvious thought had crossed through his head. "Doflamingo."
The former king of Dressrosa was the only one who had knowledge of Law's full name from their fight atop the palace. There was no doubt Doflamingo was involved, since no one else, including Zoro had any idea regarding his full name.
"I'd have known your face if you had worked for Doflamingo. But I guess you are Kibutsuji's henchman." Law stated.
"Very perceptive. But since you have caught us red-handed, there's no way this is going to end without bloodbath. I know you are strong, Hashira." hissed the impostor Demon Slayer.
"Be cautious, the pirate has weird powers." Daki warned him, trying to get to her feet in her weakened state.
Law knew he couldn't risk using his Devil Fruit powers, not unless he was sure that the breathing spasm had been stopped. Instead, he planned a different approach.
He drew his blade.
"Armament!" he beckoned, covering his hands with black coating. The Haki flowed into his blade covering up the whole weapon.
"I don't know what you are planning, but I am not sticking around to find out." The impostor said, grasping Daki and running out of the Mansion.
Law rushed after him outside. At that moment, he sensed a large gush of energy rushing towards his location. He stumped his long sword into the soil, covering the full length of his arms with Armament Haki.
"Second Form! Rice Spirit!" The imposter resounded.
Five streaks of lightning rushed straight upon the Captain. Thanks to his prediction and quick thinking, the attack was immediately nullified.
"Damn! It was almost as if he knew my attack was coming." The imposter bellowed.
"That was Thunder Breathing." Aoi gasped, observing the imposter.
"Never seen this move. That brat Zenitsu knows the one technique that he uses whilst dozing off." Law replied.
"Zenitsu?" the imposter asked from the other side.
"What? You know the blonde kid?" Law asked back.
He realised that he had struck a nerve upon the enemy. The imposter seemed to stow the idea of escaping, but to retort at that very moment.
"Calm down." Daki advised her companion, but to deaf ears.
Aoi observed the terror ahead with surprise. The imposter began to change and his true colours began to show up. Not only did his physical looks change, the imposter gave off the typical Demon vibe that every Demon Slayer could verify and detest.
"A Demon using a Breathing Technique? Well, that's news." Law remarked.
"Shut your mouth!" the imposter replied, emitting black lightning. "That brat Zenitsu was favoured more than myself despite my obvious skills that had surpassed him! If that's not enough to make me angry, I was sent to rescue a Demon rather than to fight the Master's enemies. It's appalling."
Law and Aoi observed the fellow's eyes. The imposter was a Demon Moon, ranked No. 1, Lower. Aoi remembered that Tanjiro and his friends had defeated the former Lower Moon No. 1, named Enmu, during the train incident.
"He must have replaced the former Lower Moon in the past few weeks." she stated.
"Stay back. This fellow is fast."
Law kept his Imbuement up on his sword. He could have had great leverage and maybe a quick victory against the enemy should he have employed his Op-Op powers. But he was adamant to fight the enemy. Since he faced no trouble from employing his Haki, he believed the same alone should do the work.
"That brat Zenitsu is nothing but a wimp! He can't even use more than one Thunder Breathing Technique! I heard he was in cohorts with you newcomers. Would have liked to stamp on him like the bug he is."
"Unfortunately, you have to cope with me." Law replied, getting irritated with the comments. "But regardless, he has the ability to defeat you if that's the extent you have."
"You jest! I am a Demon now. He can't defeat me."
"Well, let's test it out, shall we? The kid displayed that particular First Form technique in training more than enough for anyone to remember it in their dreams. But he does it well."
Law prepared to attack. The imposter seeing him move, decided to be wary.
"For what's a consolation, you shall be defeated in your own game." Law replied.
"Bring it on!" the imposter bellowed in fury, yet terrified to gaze upon the calm glare of the Captain.
"This will take you out from afar. Thunder Breathing... Fourth Form!" The imposter bellowed.
Law observed a ball of black lightning around the enemy, ready to burst and unleash.
"Law-san!" bellowed Aoi.
"Stay back!" Law replied, breathing in. "His conceit has taken hold of him.'
He withdrew his long blade.
The imposter observed Law's stance which looked awfully familiar.
"Distant Thunder!" the former roared.
The electric ball let off a sharp streak of black lightning aimed straight for Law. At that moment, Law vanished from sight, seemingly dodging the strike. Instead, the incoming black lightning was split apart the whole way.
"Thunder Breathing... First Form..."
"No way!" The imposter observed.
"Thunderclap And Flash!"
Thunder roared through the area.
"What's going on?" Shinobu caught notice of the noise from the other end.
"No time. We need to get to Moria." Tomioka emphasised, breaking through a zombie horde right in front of them.
The imposter observed Law in an upside down view, as his torso was lopped off from the rest of his body. At the same time, unaware to Law, Daki's head was chopped off with the imbued blade, resulting in her ultimate demise.
All out of the blue, Law felt a heaviness in him lifted off from inside. He realised it the moment that it was that pressure he had felt from the aftermath of Gyutaro's poison.
"Damn it!" The imposter realised that he was not only been defeated by the enemy but failed to secure Daki alive. He observed the disintegrating Upper Moon and knew there was no choice but to retreat for the time being.
"Room!" Law bellowed, much to Aoi surprise.
"What's that?" the imposter observed the membrane. "Wait, I have heard of this."
"Captain!" Aoi bellowed.
"I'm alright." Law replied, realising the truth for the first time. He was more than confident in his Devil Fruit power employment.
Aoi noticed that Law gave off a different vibe than before. He no longer looked weak or strained.
"What happened?" she wondered.
"Shambles!" Law roared, flipping himself with a stone.
Aoi realised he had swapped places to the other side of the Mansion.
Piles of cadavers on the path.
"Captain Law!" bellowed Makio.
Law looked around and observed Makio and Suma near the gate.
"Where are the others?" he asked.
"They have gone ahead. Tomioka was especially adamant on taking down the enemy." Makio replied.
"Yeah, I can understand." Law remembered the incident back on the Ryukyu Islands where Moria had succeeded in stealing Tomioka's shadow once.
"But I must say you all did a number upon all these zombies." Law observed around.
"Lady Shinobu and Hashira Tomioka led the charge through the gate. I have never seen Lady Kocho this riled up." Suma stated.
"That's good news, I guess. Seems Zoro-ya's training is paying off." Law planned his next move.
"I'm going on ahead, but I want you two to keep an eye around inside the Mansion. Weird things have happened tonight and I am afraid, I couldn't connect the dots." He said.
"What do you mean?" asked Makio.
"You remember all the fuss back in that murky room? Moria's head had escaped, that's one thing, but there were others who managed to sneak inside. First, there was Moria's heart that went missing, and then, there was an imposter Demon Slayer that tried to rescue that Upper Moon-Demon, Daki. Well, that one's taken care of atleast."
"Wait, what?"
Makio realised all the commotion on the other side just a while back.
"That was you out there?" she asked.
"Yeah, Daki, the Upper Moon is dead. And I believe she had played her part in pissing me off." Law replied.
"But you seemed unwell, and now..." Suma observed that the Captain was looking much better in health.
Law rushed out of the gate following the footprints left behind.
"I can't understand these pirates." Makio remarked.
"Same here." Suma nodded.
Five minutes back...
"You see this. It's finally back to me. Kishishishi..." Moria laughed, getting hold of his heart.
"So it's true." Shinobu stated, observing facts in front of her.
"It doesn't change anything." Tomioka said. "He's gotta pay for the last time."
"I remember you. I took your shadow and you could do nothing about it. That's right, it doesn't change anything. Kishishi... What the..."
All out of the blue, the heart upon Moria's hand disintegrated into ash.
"What's going on?" bellowed Dr. Hogback, who couldn't believe what he saw.
"The heart vanished." Muttered Lady Tamayo.
Moria was furious as well as terrified. He knew it was a fake, else he would have been dead.
"Doesn't matter. The night is my domain. Brick Bats!" Moria bellowed, releasing his attack upon all the enemies.
"He's getting away!" bellowed Hinatsuru, who observed the big pirate making a run within the chaos. She made a rush ahead.
"After him!" Tomioka bellowed. "Water Wheel!"
With a single wave, he shot off the shadow bats in the front. Shinobu took the opportunity and cleared out of the jam.
"36-Pound Phoenix!" she bellowed, unleashing a Flying Blade. All the shadow bats swooped in and blocked the attack. But that allowed the others to break free of the bat bind.
"Kishishi... Damn it all. It pisses me off to run like this." Moria stated.
"I didn't see the Pirate Hunter or Trafalgar with them. But either way, I can't believe that puny swordswoman and her friend managed to muster a force and defeat all the dead samurai." Dr. Hogback said, running along the same.
"Speaking of which, that attack she used, it belonged to that annoying Pirate Hunter. What the hell is going on?"
"We must retreat for now, Master."
Zombies popped up, impeding the pursuers' progress.
"This is endless." heaved Shinobu, striking off the heads of the zombies, and yet there seemed more fight left in the rest of them.
"We can't let him get away. Who knows what he'll come up with next time?" Tomioka said.
In a sudden surprising moment, the zombies made a great halt.
"Ugh!" Moria grasped his chest, falling to the ground.
"Master!" Dr. Hogback was shocked to find his Captain wreathing in pain.
"Look! He has stopped." Tanjiro pointed.
"What's going on?" Tomioka wiped the sweat off his face. "The zombies gave up the fight. I don't buy that."
Hinatsuru leaped down from the trees in the front, holding a kunai knife by Moria's neck. Hogback bellowed in surprise.
"Where did she come from?"
"Don't try anything funny." Hinatsuru retorted with a cold vibe.
"Good. She caught him." Yushiro observed.
To everyone's surprise, Law had shown up.
"What are you doing here?" Shinobu demanded.
"Can't a fellow take a stroll in the middle of the night?" Law asked.
"That's not what I meant."
"I saw part of the events from afar. But Moria seemed to give you the last slip. That wouldn't have proved prudent should he have escaped, right?"
"Uh..."
"That's where I come in and stop the play right at its tracks."
Much to everyone's surprise Law took out a heart from his pocket and grasped it hard. Moria yelled from the distance.
"I guess he found out that the stolen heart from my room was a fake."
"It had shrivelled away." Tanjiro reported.
"Hmm. As a matter of fact, that heart belonged to the Upper Moon-Demon, Daki, whom I had ended in an accidental move, a while back."
More surprise.
"That explains the sudden disintegration." Tamayo agreed.
"Wait, why did you do that? We were in the middle of an experiment with her." Shinobu complained.
"That was a neat trick, Law-san." Tanjiro bellowed. Nezuko applauded the Captain's smart move.
"Did you predict the events tonight?" Yushiro asked baffled.
"I thought the fake heart idea was failsafe if nothing else. I didn't expect Moria to attack tonight or anything like that. But a pirate of his calibre could cause trouble that would be unwanted to our interests. Especially, since the situation's pretty bad with everything that's going around."
Law walked ahead to the pirate.
"Now, I don't know how you got information on the fake heart and that too in my desk drawer, but I guess you made that commotion all for nothing." Law remarked.
"You bastard!" Moria yelled back, releasing a surprise attack.
Law saw the shadow spike hurl out. He dodged it the very moment.
"Nice try."
"Room! Radio Knife!" He hacked Moria's body to pieces, making the enemy pirate unable to rejoin his body.
"Master!" Hogback observed in terror.
"Gosh!" mewed Hinatsuru, who had observed the circumstances unfold from point-blank range.
"It'll be easy to kill you and be done with, but that won't serve my purpose." Law remarked, aiming his blade upon the terrified Dr. Hogback.
"You were defeated twice. And now it's strike three." he added.
"Alright, you win! Just don't cut me up." Hogback pleaded.
"Scalpel!" Law retorted by taking Hogback's heart out as collateral. Hinatsuru gasped from the sight.
"What the hell did you do?" Hogback was terrified to find the open space on his chest instead of his heart.
"We are both doctors, Hogback. And we can be reasonable."
"Alright, already! We surrender!"
Law withdrew his 'Room' along with his long blade. The rest of the group arrived at the location and observed the aftermath.
"And all the trouble we had to go through and this is the outcome?" Shinobu asked in disbelief. "That Devil Fruit power of yours is terrifying."
"Best to keep him in pieces." Law mentioned of Moria, "And I shall need some immediate answers. Hope your tongue's looser than your Captain, Hogback."
TO BE CONTINUED...