Well, we had a thunderstorm knock out the power and internet around here, thus the late chapter. It's pretty hard to update when you can't get the computer to connect to the site in question. Anyway, the problem's fixed. Obviously. I hope you all enjoy.

And give a thank you to my Patrons who got this chapter *counts fingers* 22 weeks ago? Here's to them, my Patrons: Aaron Ashbaugh, Andrew Bohl, Animephilosopher1, Ankhseram123, Ant Franklin, Badmr7, Cam Bliss, Christopher Mitchell, Clark Kent, Claude Walker, Cordell Sanders, Cory Johnston, Cyberprime, 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 Cheung, Joseph Morrison, Joseph Vargas, Joshua Groves, Kcx1, Kevin Calderon, Korakas, Kyo Anamoto, Lamont Hale, Marielle Orff, Matt Walther, Matthew Burley, McBanjo, Mcgin28, Milagros Peres Davila, Neridian, Rafael Cardenas, ReactedLyric, Ranger Ellis, Richard Barkley, Riley Bolerjack, Ryuu, Sasha, TheWolfThatExist, Thomas Sanders, Tom Peissig, and ViewtifulSoul!

Now, on to the Chapter!

Chapter 49:

Blackout

The folks around Sunny didn't know what to make of Velo's announcement, Brook and Sunny's concert only stuttering as the doctor's voice echoed over the snow. Only Brook's experience with playing over adoring crowds kept them going, keeping the kids asleep and their addiction at bay. The musical pair glanced at each other (though neither had eyes to glance with) and decided to leave the reaction to this new development to their crewmates.

"Who was that supposed to be?" Amy questioned, the blonde sitting on Sunny's railing as she and the marines watched Zoro in Billy's body swinging Wado Ichimonji through the air. It was, in all honesty, both impressive and hilarious to see a look of such concentration on the duck's face as the swordsman stuck within found the best way to wield a sword with a beak.

Now, he was jumping and flipping as he practiced a new style since his temporary body did not possess the muscle mass (nor the thumbs) to pull off his usual attacks. Several marines had already challenged the great Pirate Hunter to fights in the hopes that they could claim victory while he was handicapped, but Billy-Zoro had trounced them all. Nonlethally, of course. Their pride, however, was far more wounded.

On the other side, Franky laughed with his new shipwright buddies, the pirate and marines trading stories of the dents they'd had to patch and what crazy Grand Line shenanigans caused them. They'd taken an unnecessary amount of interest in his nipple lights too, so Amy had readily tuned them out. Luckily, she'd found something of a friend to talk to as well.

"I haven't a clue," one of the sole female members of G-5 replied, the woman sitting beside the pirate. She was rather masculine with sharp, angular features and a pair of scars that cut across her cheeks. One of her blue eyes was dulled with blindness and her marine uniform made her look like any of the men. Only her voice, soft but tinged with the gruffness everyone in G-5 seemed to have, and her medium-length rusty hair gave her away. She wore a helmet reminiscent of a standard trench soldier that she usually stuffed her hair into and had a two-handed hammer strapped to her side. "It certainly didn't sound like what I expect Caesar to sound like."

"Oh?" Amy asked. "And what do you expect Caesar to sound like, Tune?"

"I'm not certain," Petunia, or Tune as she preferred to be called, replied. "Maybe something like, 'Oh bloody me, me beaker's gone an' cracked again. Guess I gotta go back to me calculations. Oh well, I suppose I'll throo it oot on the pile of oother cracked beakers an' unchecked chemicals. I'm sure noothin'll explode or noothin'."

Amy felt a grin come to her face at Tune's fake accent. It was nice to have someone to talk to that didn't leer at her or go off on tangents about chemicals. Not that Amy wanted to interrupt the work Chopper, Grace, and Billy were doing inside considering the risk to the children, nor could she play any instrument well enough to assist Brook and Sunny. (Speaking of, the chocolatier had had no idea there were so many variations of Binks' Sake. Did they never get tired of it?)

Down below, Billy-Zoro froze, his eyes furrowing. This change in demeanor caught the attention of the other fighters, each one perking up.

"Wah," the swordsduck muttered through the handle of his weapon. "Wa-wahwah."

"You know we can't understand you, Zoro!" Amy reminded him. The man/duck waved a wing to silence her, his head turning until he was staring at a point out toward the water to their right. He lowered his stance.

A leg appeared out of the water, long and thin with a grey carapace and ending with a rounded tip. Another two legs like it followed along with a massive claw of the same color. A gargantuan crab climbed out of the cold water, but where the face would be was not that of a crab. It appeared like a hole from which water poured.

"What," Tune began, "is that?"

"Off the top of my head?" Amy responded. "I think i might be one of those 'cute little babies' Caesar called for." A second crab emerged from the water, following in the path of the first. "And there's a second one. Good, that leaves one for me."

Down below, Billy-Zoro stalked toward the first crab, his usual intimidation lost when he was just a just a large duck with a sword in his beak. Not that he didn't have some level of intimidation considering any creature effectively wielding a sword was dangerous. He just had less than usual. The swordsduck planted his copper-plated talons in the snow, blocking the scuttling path of the first crab. It turned its hole toward him, as if studying him. Billy-Zoro tensed.

Something long and thin shot from the hole, Billy-Zoro responding instantly to jump and block it with Wado Ichimonji's blade. The force sent the man/duck flipping backward, unharmed. He spread his wings, slowing his momentum.

Where he'd been, stretching out from inside the crab's exoskeleton, was the body and head of an eel. It was the same grey as the chitin and had wide, brown eyes and a mouth lined with sharp teeth. As if to show them off, its lower jaw unhinged and separated down the middle, multiplying its area and reach to show it could swallow the duck —or any one of the pirates or marines for that matter— whole.

"In what world is that cute?" Tune asked, getting to her feet and pulling out her hammer.

"I've got a crewmate that would probably think so," Amy laughed. She opened her umbrella, reducing her mass and catching the wind. The cold drafts were a little more difficult to navigate than more temperate climates, but the pirate had some very unusual talents for the use of her Devil Fruit. The blonde positioned herself over the first crab monster and closed her umbrella, increasing her mass and covering her legs in Armament as she did so. "Ten-Thousand Kilogram Obsidian Press!"

She smacked into the top of the crab's exoskeleton like a meteor, the sound of the impact echoing through the snow, The crab's legs drove into the earth, bending at their joints until the undercarriage hit the frozen ground. Amy smirked to herself, ready to take credit for first blood of the fight, but her smile fell as the creature tilted. The pirate's eyes widened as first one side's legs pulled themselves free before the others. Despite Amy maintaining her increased mass, the crab rose to its full height and hissed a renewed challenge, its voice compounded by the second.

"Wa-wah," Billy-Zoro smirked through his sword. "Wa-wah wahwah."

"We can't understand you!" Amy reminded him again. The crab shook, trying to dislodge the pirate riding atop its carapace, but Amy held fast. Apparently deciding that trying to shake her off that way was an exercise in futility, the eel head whipped upward and smacked itself against the top of its own, hard body. Amy stared into its eye. "You wanna go, ugly?"

It seemed to smile, a chill unrelated to the snow going down Amy's spine before sparks started to dance across the eel's body-neck.

"Oh fu—"

Her world turned a blinding white.

The monster was sitting just outside the door, as if waiting for the group to step out of Caesar's lab. The first thing they noticed about it was the head of a mountain lion, though sized for something more akin to a hippo. Its body was more of a light brown compared to the dark yellow of the head, the near entirety covered in shaggy fur. Its front legs ended with massive claws tucked back so they were pointed at its body, the part against the ground flattened unnaturally along what would have been a curve otherwise. Finally, a single, massive buck tooth stuck out over its bottom lip, its point chipped.

"Uh, hello?" Gin tried. The creature blinked at them, its movements almost cat-like in the way its head tilted almost 90 degrees. "You, uh… You're not gonna attack us, yeah?"

The creature tilted its head the other way, as if hoping that seeing them from a different angle would explain at what it was looking.

Sanji's boot tapped the floor, his one visible eye eyeing the beast warily as he considered the best way to take it down should it decide to threaten Nami and Ace. The creature's eyes went to the source of the noise, one of its claws rising slightly to mimic Sanji's tapping.

"Another strange creature," Kin'emon observed, rubbing his beard with one hand.

"This one is… new," Law said. "I don't know that much about Velo's research, but I know this thing's bloodline was still in the experimental phases."

"I'm gonna call him Bucktoof!" Ace announced, one little hand waving at the beast. Its eyes followed the hand, its head swinging back and forth slightly.

"Bucktooth, huh?" Gin muttered.

"No, Bucktoof!" Ace corrected. "Toof sounds better'n tooth!"

Sanji and Gin both bit their tongues, memories of Nami's naming of Eyelash coming to their minds.

"Do not grow attached," Law warned. "Incomplete it may be, but it is still one of Velo's creations. We don't know what sort of instincts she implanted in its mind. It might be a pack animal. Or it could be the kind that tries to earn your trust before eating you."

"Nah, Bucktoof won't do that," Ace insisted. "I can feel it."

"We aren't keeping it," Nami said before her son could suggest the possibility. "Good or bad, we just don't have room for it on Sunny. But, if it doesn't attack us, then we won't attack it. You got that, Buck?"

"Gaoh!" the newly-named Bucktoof seemed to reply. Nami still eyed it, taking a small step forward. Bucktoof responded by taking a small step back. Emboldened, Nami moved forward with a little more confidence, causing the creature to shuffle backward, allowing the group to exit the room.

"We should get back to Sunny fast," Nami announced as they stepped into the hallway, her navigational instincts telling her to turn right.

"I must find Momonosuke!" Ke'emon reminded them.

"Knowing our crew, the others probably found him by chance," Nami replied. "Most likely Luffy. Law, how are you holding up?"

"If you want me to teleport you, I'm afraid it won't be that simple," the Warlord answered. "Transporting myself within my Rooms is trivial, but bringing along others, much less a group of this size, is not a feat I can pull off consecutively. It leaves me… I suppose 'out of breath' is a decent enough comparison. If we were to come upon something, I would be a liability. Even moving us up one floor left me unable to effectively help against the slug."

"Is that so?" Nami muttered. Gin glanced back, noting that Bucktoof was following them at a distance. "But you do know the layout of the lab?"

"Well enough to navigate it," Law confirmed. "I have been living here for the past many months, after all."

"That makes things easier. Law, I want you to take the lead and get us out of here."

Law nodded and stepped ahead. At the same time he did, Gin felt electrical signals in Bucktoof's brain pick up. The creature's head rose.

"Gaoh!" Bucktoof called. "Ga-gaoh!"

"What's gotten into him?" Sanji questioned.

A trapdoor opened beneath Law's feet. The Warlord's eyes widened, the man unable to react in time before gravity dragged him downward into the dark.

"Law/Spotted Hat Guy/Magic Swordsman!" the other pirates and Kin'emon called. As quickly as it appeared did the doors shut, leaving no sign that a rival Supernova had ever stood on its metal. Gin's eyes instantly combed the walls, the monk pointing to something ahead of them.

"There," he said. "On th' wall. It's a visual den-den. Somebody's watchin' us."

"That's just perfect," Sanji groused. "As if the monsters aren't bad enough. Is it Velo?"

"Or Caesar," Nami commented. "Thoughts? I don't want any of us to get caught up in a booby trap and separated."

"Snrk." Kaku tried to hold back a laugh but still received a side-eye from Gin. "She said trap," he whispered as explanation. It was probably some inside joke the rest of them didn't understand. Gin rolled his eyes.

"Let me see if I can fry th' wires in th' walls, Donna," the monk offered, avoiding the spot where Law had fallen in. Gin closed his eyes and laid his hand on the wall, the flow of electricity through the building's wires buzzing to life to his senses.

'Oh, that much power would be delicious,' Rum whispered in his mind. 'The ambient charge in the air is fine and all, but the power moving through this system is something else. I suppose it would have to be for a building of this size.'

'What would happen iffin I absorbed it?' Gin thought.

'It would be replaced,' Rum answered, Gin unable to tell if he was being completely truthful. 'Hundreds of electronics are constantly draining energy from the system, and you'd only be one more, like the difference between 200 ticks and 201.'

'Then how can we prevent these traps from takin' any of us?'

'We have two options,' Rum suggested. 'We could take the dismally slow way, following the wall and diverting the electricity for whichever traps we sense in our immediate vicinity. Assuming you sense them correctly, that is. You cannot trust me to divulge what I know, after all. Kukuku!'

'An' th' other thought?'

'Kill the system.' Gin felt Rum give the equivalent of a shrug. 'That would disable every trap's functionality as well as prevent whoever is observing us from continuing to do so, assuming the owner has these connected to monitors and not a large visual den-den.'

"Alright," Gin said aloud. "I'm gonna kill all th' traps ahead of us, but it might be a bit bright."

He extended his free hand to the side, a ball of electricity forming in his upward-facing palm. It crackled and sparked, growing slowly as Gin pulled more and more power out of the system to power it. Periodically, it would shrink slightly as Gin compressed it, working to pack as much electricity into the space as he could. Ace watched in awe at this show, his desire to have his own "cool Fruit powers" growing at the scene. Gin nodded to himself after a minute, the ball rivaling his head in size.

"Zeus' Palm," he muttered, slamming the sphere into the wall. Almost instantly, the lights in the hallway popped and shattered, plunging the group into darkness. The wires in the wall burned at the sudden influx, singing the metal with ash. This destruction was not just local, a series of pops echoing outward as the power surge ripped through the building, destroying bulbs and old wires alike. The constant hum of the building's systems ground to a halt with a shooom, leaving them in eerie silence.

Said silence only made Rum's cackling laughter sound louder in Gin's head.

"That was awesome, Uncle Gin!" Ace grinned. The monk's lips pressed into a line, the man not needing Observation to feel the burning glare Nami leveled at him through the darkness.

"Hey, Gin?" Sanji questioned.

"Yeah, Sanji?"

"I don't think this was your best plan."

"Yeah, you're prob'ly right. Did't think it'd bust the lights, too." He frowned. 'This is what ya wanted, in't it?'

'Indubitably,' Rum replied. Gin could feel his self-satisfied smirk. 'Such a shame you do not possess the ability to sense creatures in the dark. Not to the extent that Observation Haki would allow, anyway. Kukuku!'

'Asshat.'

"At least we don't have to worry about the traps now," Nami sighed. "Alright, we might as well get moving. We'll get nothing done just standing around here."

"Gaoh!" Bucktoof offered from behind them, as if in agreement. Nami ignored it.

They could not move quickly on account of the dark. Each individual with Observation could tell Gin was embarrassed and ashamed of his stunt's ramifications, the man having opted to take the lead in case they came upon a creature less amicable than Bucktoof was proving to be. Said beast didn't seem bothered by the dark, following them easily by scent and sound but never getting closer.

The group crept through the hallways carefully, glancing around corners and opening each door in the hopes of finding another staircase. They tried to avoid using light lest it give them away, only lighting their way in bursts using Gin's lightning or Sanji' fire, neither of which was steady enough to rival a handy flashlight. Each door they tried held only small labs, one containing the eviscerated bodies of half-a-dozen workers. Nami made sure to keep Ace from looking into that one as they passed. Bucktoof sniffed it, glancing between the gore and the group before ultimately deciding to ignore what would have been an easy meal.

The next door led to a large room. It was nowhere near as large as the Mania Room, but it was certainly bigger than most of the others they'd passed. Something substantial —little more than a shadow in the gloom— sat at the far end, obscuring half of another door. The pirates and samurai shared looks, sneaking into the room.

Whatever the thing was, it did not breathe. The air in the room was stale, smelling faintly of mildew and pine. The pirates fanned out, careful to keep their footsteps muted lest they alert something to their presence. It was, after all, better to be safe than sorry.

"Grrrrr!" Bucktoof broke the silence, spreading its front claws and crouching to growl at the shadow. Nami and Kaku's desperate attempts to shush it failed. The thing blocking the doorway shifted, a mighty CRACK echoing through the room.

The pirates had to squint to tell what had happened. The shadow had split down the middle and, much to Sanji's horror, a pair of ovular, semi-transparent wings rose upward. A loud ba-bump coincided with rusty fluid filling a lattice of tubes in the wings before they started buzzing.

"Bug!" Sanji screamed, bodily flinging himself the other direction. The vibrating wings caused the shadow to shake, further cracking its outer shell as the old exoskeleton fell away. Six legs stretched free, blood-red eyes unblinking and a proboscis sampling the air at the end of its pipette-like mouth, as a pair of razor serrations on the front legs carved lines in the tile floor.

Before them stood a four-foot-tall cicada.

"Never before have I seen an insect of such growth!" Kin'emon commented, having to yell to be heard over the bug's constant buzz. He drew one of his katanas. "Still, despite its size, insects are paltry foes!"

"Let me show this bug th' fate o' its kind when they stand against us," Gin offered, building another ball of electricity between his hands. "Ten-Thousand-Volt… Lightnin' Shot!"

He threw the sphere, the attack crashing into the gargantuan bug with a peal of thunder and a screech from the creature. The humans had to avert their eyes from the flash. When they looked back, there was little more than a blackened husk, the seared wings collapsing in on themselves as they turned to ash.

"That was boring!" Ace whined.

"Please don't jinx us," Kaku whispered to the universe. "Please don't jinx us. Please don't—"

CRACK

"Dammit."

The fried husk split down the middle, the pirates, samurai, and Bucktoof watching in awed disgust as a new pair of wings rose out of the remains. Again, the wings' lattices filled with blood and dried instantly, but the buzz they made sounded different than before. Where before it had been the standard hum like that of a million insects, now it sounded closer to one standing beside an electrified fence. As if to punctuate that point, a jolt of electricity jumped between the wings. The massive cicada shucked off the rest of its old exoskeleton and lowered its stance, a little bit bigger than before.

Sanji made a noise that no letters could put into word.

"It grew back!" Ace observed aloud. "Cool!"

"Oh, this thing rapidly evolves," Nami sighed. "Isn't that just perfect?"

The bug shot forward.

"So, what are we going to do, sir?" Tashigi asked, still eyeing the pirates warily. Her swordhand never moved more than in inch from the handle of her weapon, as if the Marine Captain was just waiting for an excuse to unsheathe Shigure. Smoker frowned beside her. If what Tri-Horn said was true —and he had no reason to suspect it was not— then there was little else for them to accomplish within the old lab.

"Let us return to our ships," the white-haired man suggested. "We have nothing to gain by standing around."

"But big monsters!" Merry whined.

"Merry, I swear," Usopp swore, pinching the bridge of his long nose. "We need to meet up with the others and get out of here."

"I'm not happy to say I agree," Tashigi said. "We need to work out our plan for getting the children off this island sooner rather than later."

"Children?" Coby demanded. "What do you mean children?"

"She means the children your crewmates stumbled across and released during their escape. When a group of us reentered the lab —looking for your group, I might add— we left the children in the care of our men and the Straw Hats that opted to remain with your ship."

"They could be attacked at any moment. Captain, we need to get to the ship."

"That's fine with me," Luffy nodded. "Let's—"

The humming of the lights rose for only a second before a sort of pulse seemed to rush through the system, said lights brightening to uncomfortable levels before the bulbs shattered. Glass rained down on the pirates and marines, the group covering their heads from the debris. Everything was dark when they opened their eyes, finding it possible but difficult to see each other in the hallway. Some were easier, such as Smoker, Merry, and Luffy on account of their white hair or the pink lizard around their neck. Others, like Robin with her dark hair and clothing, were harder to see.

"The Hell?" Merry questioned, ignoring Usopp's cry of 'language!'. "Who turned out the lights?"

"This may be another step in a plan to eliminate us," Robin suggested far too calmly. "Based on the lack of mechanical ambiance after the outage, we can deduce that the climate control systems are no longer operational as well. If we do not regress forthwith, we may suffer hypothermia as the laboratory's heat escapes into the arctic conditions outside, leaving us at increased risk."

"What's that mean?" Luffy asked.

"It means we will freeze to death if we do not get out of here!" the lizard around the pirate's neck yelled, its horned head rising to glare at the captain.

"Wow, Momo!" Luffy laughed. "You can understand Robin's smart stuff? I thought you were stupid!"

"My name is Momonosuke, you buffoon!"

"Poot!" the samurai's legs... coughed. "Does anyone else feel a breeze?"

"Everyone be quiet!" Smoker ordered, filing away the talking lizard and legs as something to be addressed at another time. "We are not alone here."

"N-N-N-Not al-lone?" Usopp squeaked. Tashigi took the excuse to draw her sword. "Is it another dragon? Please tell me it's not another dragon! Three dragons is enough for one island, thank you!"

"It's that thing from before, isn't it?" Merry asked, pulling her corundum hammers from her belt loops.

"Most likely," Smoker confirmed. He spread his arms, smoke pouring from his hands to add a haze to the air. "Above us!"

Everyone moved, the space where Luffy had been filling with the upside-down body of the creature from before as its beak stabbed the floor. Luffy lashed out with a Gum-Gum Whip, but the creature pulled itself free and practically faded into nothingness, leaving only air to take Luffy's kick.

"We must be careful," Tashigi muttered. "This creature may be clever enough to lay some form of booby trap."

"Srnk." Merry stifled a laugh, her surrogate uncle sending her a confused look. "She said trap."

"Usopp, behind you!" Coby warned. The sniper ducked, just barely avoiding having a new hole put through the back of his skull. He swung Kabuto like a bat but hit nothing as the creature, once more, vanished into the darkness. "What is this thing? It's so fast!"

"It's some kind of bird," Smoker replied, his focus on where the creature's movements disrupted his cloud of smoke. He growled, his jutte slashing through the air to the same effect as the pirate sniper's slingshot. "I caught a glimpse of it when it attacked us before."

"So it's a bird that relies on stealth?" Merry questioned. "Oh, Hell yes! We're on a snipe hunt!"

"What‽ A snipe‽" Luffy asked, stars in his eyes. "These things were back in Fusha! My brothers told me to catch one once 'cause they're super tasty, but I never found any! Ah man, Ace would love it!"

The other pirates did not have time to correct Luffy's apparent interpretation of his own past as the so-named snipe launched itself toward the center of the group. Coby rolled away from its stabbing beak, Hoshokusha swinging out to just miss the bird's tail feathers. Robin crossed her arms, half-a-dozen hands blooming out of the ground but none fast enough to snag the creature by the feet before it disappeared back into the darkness.

"I can't believe we found a snipe," Coby huffed, letting out something akin to an angry snort unlike anything a human could typically make. "And, of course, it had to be artificially created and completely murderous. Of all the things—"

"You can moan about it later," Smoker snapped. His arm shot out, catching the snipe's beak between the rods of his jutte, its point inches from Tashigi's throat. The female marine gasped, swinging Shigure toward its long neck, but the bird simply vanished into the gloom again, leaving behind only the afterimage of three feathers from atop its narrow head and a flash of muted yellow and red from its beak. "I think we have more pressing concerns, Tri-Horn."

"The outside world is scary," the lizard around Luffy's neck bemoaned.

"Poot!" the legs offered. "What is this strange breeze?"

"Why are these things even here‽" Usopp demanded, loading a seed into Kabuto's pouch. "Was this Velo woman just making these things for the heck of it?"

"According to Trafalgar Law, Velo is a member of the Beast Pirates under the Emperor Kaido," Smoker replied, his head swiveling to follow the movements of the snipe that he could feel in his smoke.

"Kaido‽" the lizard —Momonosuke, if Smoker remembered correctly— echoed. "Then creatures like this may be running wild throughout Wano!"

"Wano is outside our jurisdiction," Tashigi muttered, gritting her teeth. "Velo cannot get away with this, but if she reaches that country's shores..."

"We'll get her eventually," Smoker said. "We have to get ourselves out of this, first. And that means mounting this bird's head on the wall in my office."

"You can have the head, Smokey," Luffy said, licking his lips, "but my crew gets the meat!"

"I don't think it has much..." Coby trailed off, shaking his head. "You know what? Nevermind. Let's just hunt this snipe before it hunts us."

Law hated slides.

To be fair, he hated a lot of things. Amusement parks, rollercoasters, silence, Celestial Dragons, the color pink, bread. Oh, how he hated bread. But even if the Warlord liked slides or rollercoasters, he had a feeling his current decent into darkness would not be fun anyway. His body bounced between walls, the near-vertical tube he found himself in both cold and slick.

"Roo—" he tried only for his feet to slam into a buildup of ice. It cracked and gave way under Law's weight and momentum, but the jolt still caused his half-formed Room to dissipate. He broke through several such sheets of ice on the way down, grunting and cursing all the way. At least it was cold, so that should negate some of the bruising.

Finally, after several minutes, the tube curved, the man breaking through one final sheet of ice before he was spit out into a cavern, his body spinning along the slick floor before slamming into something. He grunted, pulling himself to his feet.

Ice lined the walls, making the rocks shimmer in the dim lighting that came from holes in the ceiling far above. Stalactites of ice— one of which had stopped his uncontrolled momentum— had formed under these holes, reaching upward like a dozen spiked fingers. Water glimmered on the far side of the cave, forming a pool the Warlord suspected was connected to the ocean. There were two piles of rocks containing what looked like large pearls and broken human bones sitting so they were on opposite sides of the water. What bones weren't part of the piles were in three locations at the edge of the water, one very clearly containing a human skull. The silence was deafening, broken only slightly by the slow drip... drip... drip... of droplets falling onto the frozen stalactites. He frowned.

"Room," he intoned, the blue sphere expanding from his palm, his breath condensing in the air as he spoke. His frown deepened as he noticed that the ceiling was too far above for his Room to reach, eliminating his chance of simply teleporting himself out. To his back and sides were nothing but solid rock, proving his regular teleportation would be only a death sentence if he tried.

Something rumbled, the surface of the pool rippling as it was disturbed. Law's hand automatically settled on Kikoku's handle, the man ready to draw it at any moment.

"Come out!" he ordered, knowing that most of Velo's experiments were smart enough to pick up on intent if not language itself. Maybe they were not smart enough to be considered sentient —if they were, that still wasn't something that mattered to the Warlord— but they were certainly clever enough to be dangerous enemies in combat. "Come on! I don't have all day!"

The water in the pool rippled again, Law drawing Kikoku slowly. The first thing to come out of the water was purple-blue in color, its hulk almost undulating as it climbed onto the frozen floor. Its base form was that of a walrus, though it was larger than any walrus Law had ever seen. Rather than two tusks, this creature had six, three on either side of its mouth with serrated edges facing the pirate. In addition, it had four flippers rather than two as well as the regular tail one would expect from such a creature. Another tusk, though much more like the horn of the mythical unicorn, stuck out from the top of its snout, curved with a swirl similar to the narwal. Two similar beasts climbed out of the water, one on either side, but their one difference was the lack of an upper horn and being slightly smaller in size. Law concluded that the one in the center must be a male while the other two were most likely female. As if in response to his thoughts, the hornless creatures separated from the one on the center, each taking a position before one of the piles of rocks with the pearls.

No, not pearls. Eggs. Of course, Velo would what to breed more monstrosities. Why wouldn't she? Caesar had been selling them off, after all.

"I don't have time for this," the Warlord complained. "Go back to the ocean and leave me be."

The horned walrus licked his lips, slapping his four flippers against the frozen ground.

"WHHHAAAOOOOO!" the creature bellowed, pulling its tail up and out of the water. It balanced itself on its forward flippers and charged with a speed Law never suspected a beast of such weight or girth to ever be capable of since it lacked legs. Legs, however, were not a concern for the walrus as it ripped up chunks of the frozen ground with its tusks and threw them forward.

"Room!" Law yelled, his personal area forming quickly enough for him to teleport out of the way of the incoming attack. The rocks smacked into the ice with a CRACK, shattering and unleveling the area where the Warlord had stood. He wobbled, the split in the ice reaching under him prompting the man to teleport himself further than before.

"So that's how it's going to be," he sighed. "Fine, I guess I'll just have to use you as a pair of stairs."

He leaned forward, planting his feet before charging forward. The walrus bellowed and turned to face the human, Law spinning out of the way of another chunk of ice before lashing out with Kikoku. The blade easily cut through the walrus' righthand tusks, severing them at the base. Said walrus didn't seem to notice, flipping forward off its flippers to swing its tail downward.

Law raised his sword, catching the attack on the flat of the blade. He grit his teeth as the full weight of the blubber-filled walrus caused the ice under his feet to shatter. He would not lose to such a simple creature, however. He was a Warlord, a Supernova, the captain of the Heart Pirates. Trafalgar Law would not die to a mutant walrus in some random cave.

"Amputation!" Law pushed, forcing the mammal into the air so his sword had the space it needed to move. The blade cut through the beast but drew no blood, the walrus smart enough to recognize that this, at least, was not how things usually worked in the world. A moment later, the walrus separated into parts, sliced from head to tail multiple times. Law smirked, releasing Kikoku with one hand to gesture at the strips of mammal. "And Tact."

"Whaaooo?" the marine creature practically squeaked, the females of the species letting out their own cries of worry. One of them charged forward, Law turning to it as soon as it entered his Room.

"Tact!" he called, lifting the creature off the ground to where its flippers could get to traction. It flailed in the air. "Now leave me alone!"

Another push of his hand threw the female from his Room, the marine beast crashing into the far wall before splashing into the water. Law turned his attention back to the male, arranging the strips of living creature into a staircase. Once complete, he pressed it against the wall and almost casually climbed it, much to the horror of the walruses.

High enough now, the Warlord held out his palm and called forth another Room. This one extended over the cave's ceiling to the open air above. He latched onto a snowflake in his senses.

"Shambles."

And he was somewhere else, his shoes sinking into the snow. Law breathed a sigh of relief and, uncaring for the fates of Velo's monsters, he set out to get his bearings. Separated from the Straw Hats, now would be the time to search for his heart that he'd had to give up when Caesar demanded it.

He stopped, his eyes widening. If Monet left already, then she would already have retrieved her own heart. Law had no doubt that she would take the opportunity to snag both Velo's and his own if given the chance. He took off toward the lab, praying he was not too late. Who knew what Monet or any of the rest of the family might do with his heart.

"Nobel's nutsack!" Caesar cursed as the monitors before him fried, smoke wafting from their burned-out circuitry as the lights shut off. He'd managed to separate Law from the pirates he'd chosen to ally with —hopefully for Velo's pets to finish him off while he was alone— but then one of the pirates had to go and destroy his lab's systems. That was simply one more thing to add to the list of things that needed to be repaired before he could declare his laboratory back to full functionality after this disaster of a day. Assuming, of course, that he could muster the manpower after the loss of all his stupid minions. At least now he didn't have to watch them die one by one on the monitors. Maybe he'd get lucky and one or two of them would survive this ordeal.

At this rate, he would need to abandon the island altogether and relocate. Starting over would be a pain, but it wouldn't be impossible. And he could even take the survivors with him. Any island with any sense of technology and medicine would grovel at his feet for the chance to host a renowned scientist such as Caesar Clown, no matter what sort of reputation he might have in the wider world. Sure, that might make it more likely for the Marines to track down his whereabouts, but they had no proof to whatever crimes he may or may not have committed or what criminals he may or may not have been in league with. Of course, that plan hinged on ensuring that none of the marines on the island now made it back to their headquarters to report on his actions to date.

"Damn those pirates," he muttered, a fist pounding the tabletop. A thought struck him. He'd used his system to call on Smiley, but he could not ensure the start of Shinokuni without the monitors. He'd have no way of knowing if and when his own "little" pet ate his special candy. Not unless he went himself, exposing himself to the elements and the possibility of Shinokuni's effects. "Damn them and damn Law too, the lying pyrite."

He paused, reaching into his lab coat to pull out the heart Law had given him during their last interaction. He studied it, the organ still beating but much slower than was normal. It was large, cold to the touch, and nearly too big to fit in his palm. At the time, the Warlord had told him that it belonged to the Pirate Hunter, but now Caesar had reason to doubt those words. The other hearts in his collection were surely gone already. How long had Law been planning to betray him? Was he somehow in league with Monet? Had these Straw Hat Pirates come here at Law's behest, or at Monet's? Did the marines play a role in this betrayal? Who did this heart really belong to? Questions without answers piled up, and Caesar hated having questions without answers.

Soon enough, none of those questions would be important, however. Not after everyone who had wronged him and was still here was dead. He could plan his revenge on Monet and Velo once he had escaped. That being said, he couldn't take off without activating Shinokuni and getting hold of a ship that could withstand the weather of the New World should he need sleep before he reached another island. The marines' vessel would do nicely in that regard.

Leaving the heart on the table —it was useless to him, after all— Caesar departed from the room. One of Velo's creatures with the basic body structure of a bear roared at him from atop a mound of bodies, but Caesar barely acknowledged its challenge.

"Begone, ursa," he ordered, an unnatural coldness in his tone. The bear did not accept the suggestion, turning to face him and snapping its jaws in challenge.

"Very well then. Vacuum." With a wave of his hand, the scientist removed the oxygen from the air around the bear's head. Its eyes widened, fur bristling to become sharp as if that would help it. Too slowly for the man's liking, the bear kneeled over and asphyxiated, leaving the hall empty of living beings save the master of the island. "That's what I thought."

Caesar floated through the hallways in this manner, suffocating whatever monsters felt brave enough or foolish enough to get in his way. None of them presented any challenge to the Logia, the man finally positioning himself at the cave-in that had been Monet's favored entrance and exit. The debris had not been cleared —it had not been a priority with the threat of intruders— but he could feel the wind coming between the stones and that was enough for him. Dispersing into gas, Caesar slipped between the rocks and out into the cave where the walls were merely cracked. The winds howled this high up, blowing snow hither and yon, but such force was a paltry obstacle for the scientist. Another wave of his hand made the air around him still, his gaseous body floating easily through the wind. He could see little through the snow, but he knew the maps of the island well enough to know where the Burning Lands were in relation to the laboratory. He turned slightly and urged himself forward.

The white landscape slowly gave way to the flickering red of the lands forever altered by the Fleet Admiral. The freezing winds shifted to a warm updraft, easing Caesar's already-minor strain as he flew through the air. From above, his eyes quickly found everything he'd been looking for. He floated downward, placing himself between the massive Zoan and the candy he'd had his men prepare. Said candy, a 20-foot-tall sphere striped dark and light blue, sat in a boat beached on the edge of the lake. On the opposite side sat a sleigh filled with fruits. Caesar eyed the sleigh for a moment, estimating the time it would take him to fly to it, and found his calculations to be satisfactory.

Smiley itself was tall enough to be mistaken for a mountain, if one expected a mountain to move or have a vibrant red/violet coloration similar to a dark ruby. It was shaped like an axolotl, complete with a mouth, glowing yellow eyes, legs, external gills, and a caudal fin. Pieces of its body drooped and fell like melting plastic, splattering on the semi-molten ground before gaining their own glowing eyes and moving just enough to fuse back into the whole via one of the legs. Smiley did not notice Caesar's approach until the gas-man lowered himself directly before the Zoan's face.

"Smiley!" Caesar called, not having to try hard to feign excitement. He truly did like Smiley more than most of his minions. "Oh Smiley! I have a snack for you! Come! Follow me!"

Smiley made a noise Caesar chose to accept as assent, the man floating backward toward the massive piece of 'candy' in the boat. The behemoth plodded after him, waddling along through whatever buildings stood in its way. Smiley's focus shifted from Caesar to the so-called candy as soon as it was in sight, the being's waddle becoming more of a gallop. Swiftly and without needing to be ordered to, it snapped up the offering and hummed.

"Good boy!" Caesar praised even as Smiley's hum became more of a whine, its body starting to foam and bubble. "Good boy! Oh Smiley, I'm so proud of you! Change form and spread now! Cover the island like you once did and destroy my enemies! Shilololo! Shiiiilolololo!"

End of Chapter 49

The creation of several of these creatures go to my VIP Patron Joseph Baty. All familiar characters are property of Oda and other affiliated One Piece companies.

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-SwordOfTheGods