Sorry this is a little later today than normal, but I blame Easter preparations. Speaking of, Happy Easter to all!

As per usual, this chapter goes out to those of you who enjoy this story enough to support me, even when I fall behind a little: Aaron Ashbaugh, Alex P, Andrew Bohl, Animephilosopher1, Ankhseram123, Anna Khuu, Ant Franklin, Badmr7, Christopher Mitchell, Clark Kent, Claude Walker, Cordell Sanders, Cory Johnston, Darko129, Dave Gh, David, David Bowling, David Reynolds, Emi Stafford, Eric Bandel, Eugene Malone Jr., EvilJelly, Fenrir ragnarok, FlakeTrain, Garvin Lee Nelson-Mathlin, GLADIUS315, GODA98, Illiasse Naji, Immagenius, Inucbus, Jacob McCarthy, JEP1010, Jkat, John Mekjian, Jonathan Moh, Joseph Baty, Joseph Morrison, Joseph Vargas, Joshua Groves, Kcx1, Kevin Calderon, Korakas, Kyo Anamoto, Lamont Hale, Marielle Orff, Markoos, Matt Walther, Matthew Burley, McBanjo, Mcgin28, Milagros Peres Davila, Milla, Neridian, Rafael Cardenas, ReactedLyric, Ranger Ellis, Richard Barkley, Riley Bolerjack, Ryuu, Sasha, TheWolfThatExist, Thomas Sanders, Tom Peissig, Ty Chaos, and ViewtifulSoul!

Chapter 43:

Motions and Emotions

Unamused by their back and forth, each of the creatures released their battle cries and charged.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Merry called, using Moonwalk to shoot straight upward. Coby launched himself to the left, toward the bouncy deer, while Usopp grabbed Robin and ran backwards, leaving the space where the tiger and dragon landed vacant of all pirates. The dragon let out a screech and charged after them, but the cat leapt away, dodging Merry's attack as her Iron Body kick cracked the floor.

"Pardon my theory," Robin began over Usopp's screaming, the green lizard slithering over and around the machinery in their wake. "I believe this dragon may, quite possibly, be male and the dragon we slayed before may —assuming we might not have possessed all the information at the time— not have been in the family Squamata. At least, not completely."

"Robin, I'm hoping you aren't saying you were wrong!" the sniper yelped. "I really don't like the implications of you being wrong!"

"Well, I would not use the term 'wrong'," the woman replied. "I am never wrong. Perhaps a synonym with a slightly different connotation. Inaccurate, mayhap. Or possibly misinformed. Yes, one cannot be completely wrong if they lack all pertinent information about the topic in question."

"Get to the point!" Usopp yelled. The dragon chasing them hissed, a spray of green liquid launching from some point on its neck. The substance splashed against one of the machines, the metal there darkening, smoking, and corroding in a matter of seconds. The smoke filled the air around with a horrid, sulfuric stench that threatened to make Usopp gag.

"Well, assuming I was, indeed, theorizing with incomplete and now-outdated information, then there is a somewhat-large possibility that —assuming those rare cases did, indeed, line up— the red dragon had a mate. If that statement is true, then all signs would point to—"

"Us finding it? Yeah, I picked up on that!"

"Ohshit!" A white missile crashed into the side of the dragon's face, the lizard reeling as its forward momentum was forcefully shifted. Coby unrolled, skidding to a stop as he glared at the deer that had just managed to kick him. A pair of hoofprints stained his coat, the Zoan trying to get his breath back after having his lungs forcefully compressed.

He jumped, avoiding the acid the dragon spat at him. Moonwalk carried Coby up into the air, a frown on his face as he and the deer glared at each other. The ungulate hopped, its springy hooves compressing and expanding with each bounce before it brayed and launched toward the triceratops-human.

Coby spun, shifting into his Drill Mode for the flat tail it provided. Said tail smacked into the deer's face, redirecting it to the side as the animal's antlers came within inches of Coby's eyes, impacting his horns with enough force to send both Zoan and mutation spinning. The pirate of the two was, however, very accustomed to the sensation, Coby recovering quickly to kick forward with Moonwalk.

"Three Point Style: Triassic Twist!"

The deer brayed, interposing its horns between its body and Coby's horns. Bone ground against bone until something caught, a length of the antlers slipping into the space between Coby's horns. The mutant took advantage of this, twisting its head to stop Coby's momentum before rearing back on its hind legs.

It kicked, Coby just barely smacking it off course with his flat tail. His neck strained, feeling his horns hooked on the deer's antlers as it cried out its anger. The pirate reached upward, taking hold of bone before, with a growl with a sharp yank, the antler caught in his horns broke of with a loud SNAP.

The deer screamed in pain, Coby falling to land on his feet as the now-separate horn crashed to the ground. The deer swung its head, its antlers now unbalanced, its wild flailing so random that even Coby's outstanding Observation Haki could not get a read on it. The beast swung its antlers downward, Coby reaching up to catch them only for the calcareous growths to pull him up off the ground.

The deer kicked, the bounciness of the creature's body and hooves rocketing Coby backward like it had before. The armor of the Zoan's Armor Mode grew over his body before he hit another machine, indenting the metal with a loud BANG.

"Damn, I wish I had my swords," he muttered, pulling himself out of the warped metal. The deer bounced from side to side with its tilted, off-balance head, building speed before shooting forward. Coby curled in on himself, protecting his vitals with his bone plating before the mutant plowed into him. The machine gave a groan before its parts collapsed under the strain, Coby's body leaving a hole behind.

Part of this machine, a massive rod of steel, shifted and fell, but this was little more than an inconvenience to the Straw Hats' first Klabautermann. She reached upward, catching the rod with Zoro and Luffy's strength before swinging it downward. The blue tiger growled at her, jumping to the side to avoid the improvised weapon. Said weapon cracked the floor, its impact seeming to be the signal for the beast to charge.

"Iron Body!" Merry yelled, crossing her arms to protect her neck. The tiger's claws tore lines into the sleeves of her coat and its fangs drew essence from her hairline, but the white-haired fairy stood her ground. The massive feline roared in her face, saliva getting carried along its breath.

"Two can play that game," the girl grinned, throwing the cat's claws away with a push of her arms. The tiger's eyes widened as she opened its underbelly, the Klabautermann jumping forward with a devastating roundhouse. "Black Sail Style: Under Galley Shoot!"

The tiger hacked up red as Merry's foot compressed its gut with her kick. Physics caught up a moment later, launching the tiger backward. It flipped several times before landing on its feet, claws digging into the metal as it growled down at Merry from the top of another inactive piece of machinery.

Merry kicked upward, rising with Moonwalk to be eye-level with the mutant. It's yellow eyes stared into hers without any fear, its lips pulled back in a snarl that showed off its many sharp teeth.

"You're big and tough, I'll give you that," Merry said, popping her knuckles, "but I doubt you're as fast. Shave!"

Merry vanished, only a blur of her corporeal form indicating where she'd been. The cat tried to follow her with its eyes while still keeping its balance on the machine. Its four tails whipped through the air in an attempt to help with the latter task. Merry came to a stop above, not giving the creature a second to breath as she yelled "Cross Sail Typhoon!"

X-shaped Tempest Kicks rained down toward the tiger, a satisfied smile coming to Merry's face.

And the cat vanished.

"What?" the Klabautermann gasped, her kicks carving numerous gouges into the inactive machine. A hint of blue appeared in the corner of her vision, Merry's body turning too slowly as her mind comprehended what happened. The tiger roared, batting her in the side of the head with its paw with enough force to send Merry across the room, bouncing off metal the whole way. She hit the ground with a roll, forcing herself to spin so she could keep the cat in her line of sight to confirm what she thought she'd seen.

Indeed, as she had feared, the tiger jumped once off the air itself before turning into a blur and reappearing behind her. Merry ducked the coming swipe, her hands shooting upward to snag the paw before twisting the cat over her shoulder. Its back hit the floor hard, Merry using the time she had gained to put some distance between her and feline.

"Be careful!" she yelled, being sure to pitch her voice so her companions could hear her. "These things are crazy smart! The cat just learned Moonwalk and Shave by watching me!"

Merry didn't have time to listen for any response she might have gotten, the mutant tiger pouncing on her once more.

"Did you just hear that?" Robin questioned, swinging herself from machine to machine with her bloomed arms, another grown from her side to safely hold the egg against her stomach.

"Hear what‽" Usopp cried, throwing four seeds behind them so his plants could sprout, the sniper trying to block the path of the dragon chasing them. This attempt had little success, the dragon plowing through the bamboo spikes, ripping through the Trampolia with its teeth, and using its acid to eat through the Skull Bomb Grass and the giant flytraps. "The sound of our impending doom‽"

"Well, possibly," the archeologist conceded. "Specifically, I meant Merry's warning about these creatures possessing the necessary intelligence to enact visual mimicry on techniques as advanced as—"

"Why is everything out of your mouth fancy and negative‽" Usopp interrupted, throwing more Skull Bomb Grass seeds at the dragon. It hissed as the purple-pink cloud of smoke engulfed it, but Usopp was sure it was too sturdy for something as simple as that to do the monster in. "You've got brains! Think of a way for us to get out of this with our lives!"

"Clearly, the answer to that is to defeat the dragon."

"Robin, I swear to Goda!" Wind beat against the pirates' backs, both looking back to see the dragon's wings flapping. It lifted from its perch, taking to the air to fly over Usopp's Green Stars: Devils. "It's flying! Robin, it's flying!"

"Cuarenta Fleurs: Hold!" Robin called, crossing her arms as she focused her powers. Arms bloomed along the lizard's back, her many hands grabbing at the base and patagium of the wings. She pulled, her arms trying to contract in an effort to stymy the dragon's flight.

It, however, did not seem to care about her attempts, the green beast rising higher into the air despite the increased resistance. Its eyes narrowed, staring down at Robin. More specifically, it was staring at her torso where she held the egg Luffy had chosen to take with them.

"Robin, give the dragon the egg!" Usopp yelled.

"Why would I perform such an act?" the woman questioned.

"That's what the dragon wants! If we give it the egg, it should leave us alone!"

"Perhaps," Robin conceded, "but Captain chose this egg to be little Ace-chan's souvenir and I refuse to relinquish it. Do you want to be the one to tell the Captain or his son that we lost his present?" She grinned. "Or would you rather be able to say with confidence that you defeated two dragons to protect it?"

Time slowed in Usopp's mind's eye, a little version of Ace appearing before him with the egg in hand. Imaginary Ace looked up with a smile.

"Thanks, Uncle Usopp! You're the best!"

A fire lit itself in the sniper's eye, the young man turning to fully face their scaly adversary. He pulled out a seed for his Bamboo Javelin attack and threw it on the ground, a veritable forest of the stuff growing around him. He reached out, breaking off one of the shoots at its base. Like a monkey, Usopp climbed the tallest of the lot to stare down the beast.

"I!" Usopp yelled. "Will be! The Favorite! Uncle!"

With his last word, Usopp threw the bamboo javelin, its sharp tip stabbing into the dragon's flank. It roared in pain, green blood oozing from within.

"An excellent throw, Usopp," Robin complemented, the man rubbing his nose with a thumb as he basked in the praise. "Would you, perchance, be able to accomplish that feat a second time?"

"Ah, why?" the sniper blinked.

"Well…" Robin gestured for Usopp to turn around, the man feeling a sudden wave of heat over his neck. A drop of sweat rolled down into the collar of his coat. He turned, his body nearly creaking with reluctance.

The dragon's large eyes, each the side of his head, stood millimeters from the end of Usopp's nose. The human blinked as it breathed on him, his eyes shifting to the wound he'd put in the lizard's side. In an instant, all the bravado and confidence Usopp's vision had given him drained away.

"A-Ah, n-nice dragon?" he tried, placing a hand on its snout. It shook him off, eyes narrowing. "H-Hey, Robin? D-Do you think if I s-say I'm s-sorry… d-do you think it'll g-go away?"

A rumble came from the dragon's throat, its acid tube shifting.

A scream Coby distinctly recognized as Usopp's I-think-I'm-going-to-die-please-somebody-help-me-save-me-something-please scream reached him from across the room, but the Zoan was in no position to help the sniper of the crew as he tried to match the bouncy deer in speed. The purple mutant was like a sea train, the more time it was given to get going, the harder it was to stop.

Giving it time was a mistake Coby had made, the deer now little more than a purple blur as it bounced around the room, each of its jumps leaving a new dent in the metal and machinery around them. Coby moved in his Slasher Mode, stopping only long enough to kick off the air when needed as he continued to Shave from place to place in his perilous game of tag with the animal. Had he had his swords, the roset was certain the fight would have been over by this point, but he did not, and as such he and the mutant were locked in their battle of speed.

"Needle Twister!" the young man yelled, spinning into a veritable tornado of claws and stabby growths. The deer slammed into him antlers-first, calcareous constructs grinding against each other. The creature threw its head upward, tossing Coby into the air, but that did not bother him. The pirate spun, kicking off the air to launch downward. The deer moved to interposed its antlers once more.

Coby caught them, landing within the mutant's impressive rack, but that had been his plan. The wicked tail Coby's Slasher Mode possessed whipped downward, its barb cutting across the deer's snout. Said deer roared in pain, shaking its head in an attempt to dislodge the pirate. Coby held on, his tail cutting two more gashes into the beast's face and neck.

Finding the situation not amicable, the deer brayed and started to run, lowering its head on a collision course with a sturdy-looking press.

"Oh no you don't!" Coby muttered. "Dino Mode!"

In his place within the deer's antlers, Coby grew into the heaviest of his transformations. Several of said antlers cracked as he grew, the animal all but screaming in panic as its velvet stretched and broke and the pain registered. It dug its hooves into the floor, stopping its momentum as Coby maintained his. He landed on all fours, a full triceratops now staring down the ungulate with a considerably-more-bare-than-before head of horn. It snorted out a puff of steam.

"I'll take that as an insult."

The deer snorted again, shaking its head. Its antlers rattled before, as one, the pair detached from the creature's head and crashed to the ground. Coby stared, aghast, as the nubs left behind started to grow before his eyes, spiraling upward.

"No you don't! Cretaceous Charge!" Coby yelled, charging forward with his horns pointed toward the deer's throat. It jumped, far faster now without the extra condensed weight. Sensing the creature's intentions with his Observation, Coby abandoned his charge and pushed into a roll to the side, shifting first into his Human Mode to avoid the beast's spindly legs before once more taking on his Slasher Mode.

The deer vanished as quickly as before, but the pirate had had a feeling that would be the case. He cast his gaze about, looking for something in the environment that could give him an edge. He could feel his crewmates nearby, each struggling with their own foes. (Usopp was still alive, by the way, despite his previous scream.) Barely avoiding another ambush, Coby started making his way toward the others, hoping that to interfere in their fights would inhibit his opponent long enough to land a decisive blow or to do the same to one of the others'.

Taking another turn, a dent appearing where he'd been standing not a single a moment before but not of his own doing, Coby found some evidence of the other fights. A grove of bamboo shoots stood atop its own web of roots, half of which were snapped off or melted by some means. The other half, however, still stood, their pointed tips standing toward the ceiling.

"Come on, you venison balloon!" Coby taunted, taking to the air. The deer may not have been able to speak Common, but it could understand the inflection in his voice as mocking, the creature roaring a response.

Coby pushed himself to his limits, moving erratically with Moonwalk to treat the deer like a matador with a bull. It seemed to grow angrier with each miss, the steam in its breath coming denser and heavier each time it paused long enough to appear visually.

All according to plan.

"Come get me!" Coby shouted from the ceiling. From his placement, using Moonwalk to stay aloft so high, he could see the whole room. The tiger Merry was fighting looked worse for wear while the dragon had a gash leaking green blood in its side. Coby had as much as a second to take in the scenery before the deer was heading his way, its newly-grown antlers primed to skewer him.

Coby kicked downward. The deer, he had learned, could only move in straight lines until it had something to kick off of, unlike Coby who could change direction in midair thanks to Moonwalk. As he expected it to, the Deer kicked off the ceiling, chasing him directly.

Directly into the Usopp's Bamboo Javelin.

Coby kicked to the side at the last possible moment, crashing painfully to the floor and rolling away his momentum. He felt rather than saw the deer's eyes widen, its spindly legs flailing but unable to do anything as its gravity-increased speed pulled it down onto the sharp flora. There was a panicked bray followed by a sickening squelch.

"Oww," the Zoan groaned, rolling his shoulder until he felt it pop back into its correct place. He refused to turn and see the final result of his plan; he would deal with the resulting emotions of that later when his crewmates were no longer in direct danger. Instead, he shifted into his Dino Mode again and tromped toward the light in his Haki that he knew to be Merry.

"So…" Amy began, staring down at the sleeping children wrapped in chains against the hull of the Thousand Sunny. "What now?"

"All we can do is wait," Franky shrugged. "We've got our super medics on the job, so we can focus on putting the rest of Sunny back together. That said, it's gonna be super tough without the giant kids helping out."

"It takes a lot out of me, but I can lighten the Adam Wood as we just saw," the blonde commented.

"You can lighten the wood‽" the marines yelled, eyes goggling at the woman. "Why didn't you do that sooner‽"

"I can't do it for very long," she explained with a wave. "That wood is probably the largest and densest thing I've ever used my powers on. It'd be better if we could get the remaining pieces as close as possible before I need to lighten them."

"I'm sure the marine bros and I can handle that," the Cyborg grinned. "At least, if they aren't super wimps."

"Wimps‽" the men demanded, Franky playing them like one-stringed guitar. "There's no way some ship parts will get the better of us!"

"Brook, strike up a super tune! It's back to work for us!"

Within the Sunny, away from the cold, the only present Straw Hats with any formal training of medical chemicals stood side by side before Chopper's desk, his damp notes spread out alongside the materials he considered pertinent to their current problem. Billy-Zoro and Grace-Billy stood on the opposite side of the room, the latter trying to focus on learning to use his temporary body's powers while the former watched the whole thing with what amounted to a frown on his beak.

"We need to find a way to purge the NHC10 from their systems," Chopper commented, frowning to himself as he dripped several drops of some green substance into a test tube of blood. He gave it a shake, the blood turning a beautiful sapphire color. "This level of concentration would usually be deadly to even an adult."

Z-Grace leaned over, one hand rubbing her chin as her lone eye studied the vial.

"That color is gonna be a bitch to recreate," she muttered.

"Wah!"

"I agree with Zoro," G-Billy commented. "Can we focus your chemical knowledge and not your artistic obsession, please?"

"Right, sorry." Z-Grace chuckled. "Colors that vibrant are hard to come by, you know. I can tell that's pure sapphire even with this one bad eye."

"Wah!"

"No, no," G-Billy commented. "I know what she's saying. Her eyes have a lot more color range than mine do. It is a pretty color. Like, really pretty."

"Can we get back to the drugs, please?" Chopper insisted.

"Right," Z-Grace responded with a shake of their head. "If I remember correctly, the problem with NHC10 isn't necessarily its addictiveness but its symptoms of withdrawal, yeah?"

"That's right," the small doctor nodded. "They can include hallucinations, migraines, increased aggression, seizures, insomnia, lack of hunger, and eventually death if not managed."

"And the symptoms onset very quickly," Z-Grace recalled. "Usually around 24 hours since the lass dose, the former three usually coming ahead of the latter."

"That's what makes using it as a medicine so difficult and, in most cases, experimental," Chopper agreed, studying the sample again. "These levels… The only way they're possible would be if they started with miniscule amounts and slowly worked their way up, allowing their bodies to adapt day by day."

"Using Imidogen Hydrocarbide as a growth stimulant," the chemist in a swordsman's body muttered with a shake of her borrowed head. "It's a crazy experiment that clearly has some chance of success, but why are only some of the children giant and not all of them? Most of the kids arrived here on the same ship. Does it have to do with age?"

"I don't think so," the reindeer said. "While Sind is one of the oldest children, Mocha is one of the youngest, yet they are the two children whose bodies took to the gigantification the most easily. I don't think it has to do with age, but with their lineage factors."

"Wah?"

"Never heard of it," G-Billy agreed.

"I've heard of it, but I'm spotty on the details," Z-Grace commented. "I know it's a new discovery in the last 20 years or so that has to do with ancestry."

"It's a science pioneered by the great Dr. Vegapunk," Chopper explained. "It's still technically a theory, even if biologists around the world are finding more and more evidence to its existence. Point it, the lineage factor is why you probably look like your parents."

Chopper looked around the room only to slowly deflate. Present were himself, Zoro, Billy, and Grace, all orphans in one way or another. Billy's parents were an unknown since he'd been hatched in a lab by Dr. Indigo and his assistants in their IQ experiments, but he'd never met them.

Actually, most of the crew were orphans by that logic, the only possible exception being Brook, who himself did not discuss his past before meeting those who would become his family in the Rumbar Pirates, and Ace, who was born into the pirate's life. That held interesting implications for a socio-philosophic study that could revolutionize humanity's understanding of logical rationalization. After all, Vivi —the one potential crewmate who had a serious chance of joining the crew but still had one parent that valued and raised her— did not join. She was also a princess, so she might also be an outlier.

"A-Anyway," Chopper coughed, shaking the thoughts away for later. "As I was saying, accepted logic tells us that certain traits like hair color, eye color, height, and other such factors are directly received from our ancestry. This is a known fact that people have been able to see and record for hundreds of thousands of years. Lineage theory, however, suggests that these things are recorded in our very beings. Not just the information of our fraternal parents, but our grandparents and great-grandparents throughout the generations! Not just physical characteristics but certain muscle memories or generalized philosophies!"

"…Wah?" B-Zoro prompted.

"I don't understand the question."

"I think what Zoro's asking," Z-Grace commented, "is how the lineage factor plays a part in why only some the children have gigantified when they all have the same levels of NHC10. Only, not in so many words."

"Well…" The doctor considered his words, wondering how best to explain. "Think about it like this. Giants are Giants because their ancestors were Giants. And we learned at Fishman Island that two merfolk can have any kind of child as long as one of their ancestors was that kind of fishman or merfolk. And we can look at examples like Whitebeard and most of the Admirals that show that average humans have the capacity to grow to heights beyond that of the average! Therefore, considering nothing is known about the parents of these individuals, we can assume they were altogether average until their progeny reached certain criteria!" Chopper was building himself into an excited rant, the rest of his crewmates present trying to follow along with only Z-Grace managing, if barely. "These giant-humans, therefore, must have some key in their lineage factors that allow for this! It cannot be a capacity for Haki else Garp would meet the same criteria…" His voice dropped into a mutter, the doctor grabbing a pen and paper to jot down his thoughts in his illegible-to-anyone-else shorthand.

"Although, this may be an aspect for Conqueror's and also possible propensities for certain other Hakis. They do say one needs to be born with Conqueror's, so could it be that the lineage factors must be present in an individual for them to achieve such skill? Both Luffy and his grandfather possess the power, and considering his role and notoriety we can assume Luffy's father is the same way… Should Ace develop the so-called King's Color himself, that would make at least four generations in a row, each with radically different upbringings and ideals for the most part but the same lineage factors…"

"Earth to Chopper," Z-Grace called, snapping her fingers before the reindeer's eyes. Chopper blinked, recoiling a little in surprise as he was pulled from his thoughts.

"Wha—?"

"You were muttering about Haki, but can we get back to the children?"

"Ah, yes," the doctor blinked, setting his new notes to the side. "As I was saying before, it seems some individuals have the ability to reach literal heights taller than others even if they are still human. Individuals such as Whitebeard, Akainu—"

"Real name Sakazuki," Z-Grace put in.

"—Aokiji—"

"Real name Kuzan."

"—Kizaru—"

"Real name Borsalino."

"—Bartholomew Kuma, and possibly others not mentioned have essentially grown to match their power relative to others. However, individuals such as Garp, former Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Monkey D. Dragon, Dracule Mihawk, and others achieve this same level of power yet do not reach the same physical height. If there is something required on one's lineage factor, then perhaps the deciding requirement is the presence of a true Giant in one's ancestry."

"…Neat," G-Billy commented. "But how does that help get the imido-stuff out of the kids?"

"It… doesn't," Chopper conceded. "But if these theories are correct, they provide a 'how' to why Sind, Mocha, and the others are so large and may be reverse-engineered to help shrink them once more."

"Fair point," Z-Grace commented. "We need to make sure they live that long first. We can't just keep having Brook and Sunny put them to sleep every time they wake up until the withdrawal runs its course. They'll get so well-rested at some point that it just won't work."

"If we could find something that would ease the cravings they feel without the dependance they feel for the NHC10, that would be ideal, but it's hard enough to synthesize NHC10, much less anything similar."

"We'd at least have a starting point if I had my powers," Z-Grace frowned, slamming a fist against the wall. "Damn Law. Zoro, if you hadn't—"

"But he and you both did," G-Billy interrupted. "I don't have the know-how to use your powers, Grace, but I know some scientists can map out chemicals and stuff. We can at least start there."

"We could make some theoretical Bohr models," Chopper agreed. "It does give us something to work with and we might find something in my medical stores that could act as a stopgap."

"Sounds like a plan," Z-Grace nodded. "Pass me a pad and I'll get started on the depressants I know how to make before moving on to the theoretical."

"I have arrived, Master," Velo said, strutting through the door as if the laboratory were her domain. Caesar did not turn to face her, busy as he was shaking a test tube of different gasses, but Law looked up from his place on the couch. Ace stayed silent in her hand, the boy looking forlorn as the door closed behind them. "Kaku and the samurai were not difficult to shake. This building is quite the dreadful maze if one is not familiar with it."

"Yes, so I am aware," the horned man replied, the chemicals in the test tube turning to a misty purple that was almost black. "Any other news?"

"I have brought the boy." Caesar turned, setting the vial down as he got his first in-person look at Monkey D. Ace. "Dreadful vocabulary he has, by the way."

"Yes, well, such a thing can be reeducated," the man grinned. His billowing coat shifted, the gasses that made up its structure moving forward to lift the child from Velo's hold. Caesar turned him this way and that, noting the hard frown on the boy's face. "What is your name, little one?"

Ace did not reply, his lips pursing.

"I asked what your name is," Caesar tried again. He knew how some children were —he'd had to interact with plenty of the little cretins for his gigantification tests, after all. "If you do not tell me your name, then I will assume you don't have one and give you one of my own."

"…" The child remained stubbornly silent.

"Very well," the scientist muttered, pushing out a dramatic sigh. "What name shall work for you? Albert? No, you do not look like an Albert. Darwin, perhaps? Yes, Darwin is a good name. Ah, Faraday rolls of the tongue, doesn't it? Newton is another strong contender... No? You don't like any of those? Then perhaps something more ostentatious. Galileo. Or Copernicus. Yes, I like the name Copernicus—"

"I'm Ace!" the boy said, breaking his silence. "Mommy named me Ace after Daddy's brother! I don't like Copper-whatsit!"

"Ace, an excellent name," Caesar grinned. "I will make you the foremost expert of many things, greater than even that big-headed Vegapunk. With you, I'll show him and the rest of the world what amazing things science can do with the right education. Shilololo! Shiiilololo—"

Ace reached out, his little finger jabbing into Caesar's eye. The man cried out in unexpected pain, dropping the boy. Ace staggered as he hit the floor, falling over but using the force to roll in what he thought was a very cool, sly, and effective manner, even if it only carried him one and a half tiles to the side. Law swallowed a chuckle, refusing to let any emotion show as Caesar clutched at his face.

Coming out of his very impressive roll, Ace climbed to his feet and began running toward the door. Velo intercepted him, snatching the boy up with her claws once more.

"Now that's no way to treat your new caretaker," Velo said. "If you continue with these dreadful manners of yours, boy, I don't think any of us could promise your safety."

"I don't need safey-tea!" the young pirate yelled. "My family's gonna come! And when they do, they'll kick all your asses!"

"I have warned you about using such dreadful language!" Velo growled, her eye spinning to glow red once more. "You will cease your meaningless struggles this instant!"

"No, Dr. Velo," Caesar muttered, blinking away the pain in his eye. He may be a Logia, but the ability to shift unconsciously comes with training, something the man considered beneath him when he had so many minions to do any fighting for him. "Children are entitled to a little… rambunctiousness once in a while. Besides, he had yet to learn how wonderful it is too live here."

"I don't wanna!" Ace yelled.

"Now now, child," Caesar cooed, gathering a ball of aerosol delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in his hand. It was a swirling, smokey vapor that Velo recognized instantly, the woman bringing up her free hand to cover her nose with her sleeve. "I promise you, living here will make you—" He opened his hand, the smoke rising into Ace's face. The boy coughed, an overwhelming rush of euphoria slowly overpowering the sudden burning in his throat. "—feel very good. Shiiilolololo!"

End of Chapter 43

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-SwordOfTheGods