LW: Tada, I'm back, and so is the manga! Now to see what else is going on in this mishmash of an island.

Rubber King and Mirror Master - New World Chaos: A Heart Swapping Alliance! An Almost Friendly Partnership

Destroyed Labs

"These kids could wake up at any time, plus we could be discovered if you take too long, so hurry back" Nami pleads to the group before they leave, getting amused eye rolls from Kaya and Victor.

"I hope we learn why this Master guy is experimenting on these kids" Chopper scowls, eyes starting to turn blood red.

"He'll talk, or else I'll shove my foot so far up his ass it comes out his eyesocket" Franky threatens, getting scolded by Robin, while Kaos and Artemis actually consider if that were possible.

"Well, time to head out!" Luffy declares, beginning the procession of basically the entire group besides Nami, Chopper, Valentina, and Kaya.

The main lab

"Shirororo, did you hear, that 4 of them are already dead, the Yeti Cool bros really do work quickly. Maybe it was overkill to set them loose on the Straw Hats after all" Caesar muses.

"Quite a disappointment" Monet nods, as she flips through a pirate logbook with her wings "The Straw Hats, much like our dear friend Law, are part of the Worst Generation, you'd expect them to at least put up some sort of fight. Not only are the marines keeping an eye on them, but they're starting to get even the Yonko's attention, not to mention Blackbeard. I hear he's still licking his wounds from what Mirror Demon did to him at Marineford" she grins "The papers haven't shut up about them being back in action, I expected more to be honest than to lose so quickly. But it's all speculation, you know more about them Law, you've met them twice now. Once at Sabaody, and again at Marineford" the harpy purrs, Law sensing her gaze even past her thick glasses.

"That true Law?" Caesar asks curiously, his lips curling into a frown, as he draws a gun from his smoky labcoat "You traitorous bastard, you summoned them didn't you?" he accuses sharply.

"You idiot. I didn't even know you had them captive in the lab until they nearly came crashing out of the facility while I was attempting to get the G5 Marines to leave. So no, I didn't summon the embodiment of chaos to this island, I'd have already left if I had" the Doctor admits "But on the subject of issues, let's talk about your negligence. I was unable to get the navy to leave thanks to your escapees, if our plans are exposed here, it could spell bad things for all involved, so I get nothing from any of this going the way it seems to be flowing"

Caesar and Law stare for a minute or 2, before the gasman puts down his weapon "True, if you'd summoned them you'd have been more discrete, or not stuck around long enough to see if they managed to succeed in whatever plan you had for them. You had to do a lot of sucking up…

"...and off" Monet coughs, but is ignored.

"... to get your cushy Warlord position, especially given the disaster that was Blackbeard's appointment 2 years ago. Surely you wouldn't risk losing that all for making a mess of this island, or exposing our secrets in such a barbaric and blunt manner as this. How silly of me, my apologies" Caesar concludes, shoulders dropping.

Law sighs softly "Listen, you mentioned the kids begging to come back earlier, what did you mean by it, and did it have anything to do, with that one?" he asks, pointing to the doped-out cold Medusa, her wing antenna twitching cutely as she slept.

"Her? No I stole her from the pirates when we captured them Shirororororo!" Caesar laughs, missing Law's wide-eyed stare and how even Monet's glasses slip off her nose in their shock, no wonder she said her parents would kill him…. They're still ON THE FUCKING ISLAND! "As for the other kids, they'll never leave because I've been feeding them drugged candies since they arrived. Sweet, fizzy, and highly addictive, they can't last more than a day without going into withdrawals, they NEED to return for more candy, it's the perfect failsafe" the gasman grins.

"You're a sicko you know that right? You remind me of someone" Law scowls, before getting out of his chair and heading for the door.

"And where do you think you're going?" Monet asks with a purr

"I need to take a walk, and clear my head. If you need me you can call, I'll even deliver any heads you ask for" Law calls back before exiting the room.

"It's always the clever ones who are hard to manage" Caesar muses, once the Warlord was out of earshot.

Wrecked lab

"The storm's starting to pick up, I hope the others are ok" Nami hums as she stares out into the snow.

"I'm sure they'll be fine, Sanji, Brook, and Alvida will make sure Zoro doesn't get lost in the snow. They'll have that Samuari in one piece in no time" Chopper assures her with a grin.

BOOM!

BOOM!

"Shit, seems either someone found us, or we've got the worst luck in the world" Valentina grimaces

Not too far away

"Big feet. Huh, looks like Ussop was right after all" Luffy hums, as his group stare at the massive footprints in the snow.

"Yeah that's not what I meant, honestly Chopper's Heavy point looks more like BigFoot from the stories. This, is just a giant, one who walks around in the snow barefoot for some reason"

"Shoes are expensive, maybe it saves them a lot to just walk around bare?" Robin suggests, mostly as a joke.

"Hey Kaos, you and Artemis walk around everywhere barefoot, why?" Luffy asks, turning to his tallest crewmate.

"Well for me, it's because the talons don't fit in shoes, while Artemis learned Mother's barefoot Kuja Kenpo, and it's easier to just jump straight into a fight than lose the shoes, during which the opponent can get the drop on you" the researcher suggests.

BOOM!

BOOM!

"That was from where we came!" Vivi squeaks "The others…"

"Are in danger" Victor finishes "Should we head back Cap?"

"Yeah, I can sense something, 2 somethings, beastly and massive" Luffy agrees "Let's go, the others are in danger!"

With the kids

"We're being bombarded, if the place takes much more of this it'll collapse, then bye bye kiddos" Valentina grimaces as more explosions shake the area they were staying in.

"Shit, maybe we should have had some of the heavy hitters stay, I'd have let Psycho or Artemis do it" Nami frowns "Anything's better than nothing"

"Well we don't have them, just us" Kaya grimaces "Any options?"

"Chopper, you can wall walk to get to the top of the facility, maybe try to find our mystery enemy, so we can actually make a plan" Valentina suggests, getting a nod before the former reindeer shimmies her way to the roof.

"There's nothing out here, but how… arg! Val, your eyes are giving me a headache!" Chopper whines, as she's unable to pick out any enemies in the snow.

"Yeah, they'll do that, your brain isn't used to processing that much information, from your eyes at least" Valentina agrees "But that should also help, finding the enemies even in this snowy wasteland. That's quite literally what they were created for, detail and precision in battle"

"We could also ask our captive" Kaya suggests, as some of the falling debris had awoken the now bisected Brownbeard "Any chance you can tell us who's attacking us?"

"Why would I do that?" the bearded man asks gruffly.

"Well we won't have to kick your ass for one" Val argues, getting a nod from Nami.

"Kaos will give you back your legs" Kaya offers, surprising the 3 other occupants of the room.

"Really? Almost wish I had useful information for you, but those guys out there are practically ghosts. We work with them and we don't even know what they look like" Brownbeard admits "All we know is, they will carry out any assassination once they've been paid, they're never spotted, and all we can confirm is that they're feet are big and their voices are deep. Rumors suggest they're some kind of Beast-men, covered head to toe in thick fur, prowling the snowy landscape of Punk Hazard, silent as the grave. Oh, as we know their names: are Scotch and Rock, the Yeti Cool Brothers!"

"That was mostly unhelpful, but it's better than what we had" Nami sighed "Don't know if it's enough to get your legs back, but should be enough to stop Kaos killing you, I think"

Seems silent as the grave was accurate, as even as Chopper was climbing back down to join the others, nobody heard one of the brothers sneak into the compound until his rifle was pointed between Brownbeard's eyes "You're Brownbeard, correct?" he asks, surprisingly softly all things considered "You're on the list too"

"FUCK! How does something so big, move so quietly?" Valentina gasps as Chopper, Nami, and Kaya panic.

"Scotch, don't joke around like this, the Master would never have me killed, which means you came to rescue me. Unchain me and I'll do everything in my power to assist you, even tell you the Straw Hats plans and current whereabouts" the former pirate offers, but the Yeti just clicks off the safety of his rifle.

"I'm not joking, I was sent to kill you too. Here's the proof" the beastman hums before replaying Caesar's message via Den Den Mushi for the entire building to hear.

"Oh by the way, what was that big guy called? The one with the dumb-looking braided beard the straw hats captured? The dunce, famous for being stupid? Oh yes, Brownbeard!"

"Wow, what a dick!" Chopper hisses, while Brownbeard looks shattered, the straw hats feeling a pang of sympathy for the alligator centaur.

"He's a fool so manipulating him was child's play, but he's outlived his usefulness, so kill him with the rest of the intruders"

Scotch puts away the snail, then raises his gun to the crying man's face "Once more, you Brownbeard?"

"No, don't do it, Master!"

BOOM!

Point blank, there was no way Scotch could miss, nor the other shots as he hammered into the broken man.

"Hey Scotch!" everyone looks up to see the other brother peering in from the damaged roof "Don't shoot so recklessly, you might kill or injure the brats"

"Opps" Scotch hums with a shrug "You're right, that wouldn't be cool" he says, as Brownbeard falls to the ground, his chains destroyed in the repeated bombardment.

"Brownbeard!" Chopper gasps.

"But they're on the same side?" Nami panics.

"Just prove's Caesar's a spineless, honorless worm" Valentina scowls, fur bristling in anger.

"Seems we have company" Rock notes "Their captain in almost upon us. Let's take care of them first"

"More More 50 fold Rifle!"

BOOM!

"Ah! Not cool man!" Rock cries as his right knee explodes "Not cool at all"

"But they did bring back the cyborg the Master wanted us to retrieve alive and intact, saves us the trouble of hunting him" Scotch muses, aiming his rifle at the approaching Straw Hats.

Of course, given they were going downhill, at speed, in the snow, accidents were bound to happen, as the snow drift that was both princesses 2 seconds ago proved.

"Owwie. I really don't like snow! Can we get Medusa and leave yet?" Shirahoshi whines as her head peaks out of the snow.

"MGRFGAWMFDOFMDFVM" came a muffled response.

"Should we be worried about, that, or that?" Ussop asks Robin as they run a little more carefully, referring to the pileup, and the lowly cackling Kaos.

The reason for the latter made sense 5 seconds later, as to the shock of the yetis and the Straw Hats, the area around and beneath Shirahoshi exploded/erupted in a plume of sand, which reformed into a severely pissed-off Vivi.

"I don't have time for this, I don't want to be in this frozen hellscape, and getting titty smothered by my sister-in-law doesn't help my mood!" Vivi scowls.

"That's what Alvida's for" Robin chirps.

"That's what…. Not helping!" the princess yells, even as Artemis and Shirahoshi giggle.

"Not cool trying to ambush us like that, but these gas grenades will stop you from losing your cool" Scotch scolds, as he undoes the safety.

"I think not. Strong R-aijin!" Artemis cries as he shoots his metal fist at the giant yeti, the crackling of electricity lost in the blizzard… until it hits it's target, right between his eyes.

BZZZZZZZZZZT!

"Holy crap, how'd you do that?" Franky gasps, eyes twinkling, Chopper not far behind her.

"I'm a sorceress Franky, I'm gonna use any magic I can draw upon, such as your almost entirely Lightning-aligned core. A few focusing runes on the edge of the fist…" he points to them after retracting his arm "...and the power is contained to the point of impact"

"And if he can combine it with Frank Boxing, we could even get Thunder Rajang" Kaos cackles.

"I'm confused" Franky admits.

"Big Monkey, hits like a sea train" Artemis sighs "Now back to fighting the stealthiest giants the world has even seen"

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

"That use mortar fire as weaponry. Of fucking course they do"

"I've had enough of your uncool ways, the Master wants you dead, I'll see you all dead!" Rock shouts as he unloads upon the straw hats.

"You have to hit one of us first!" Vivi screams as her wires explode from her arms…

"Room: Dissection!"

SHING!

Silently, Rock was quartered, bifurcated at the hip then split straight down the middle along his spine, and as it fell to the snowy ground… his arms were much more viciously torn off by Vivi's hail of sandy wires.

"That, seemed a little excessive" the Straw Hats turn, to see Law walking through the snow towards them.

"Well given they can reform with minimal effort, better to be safe than sorry" the princess huffs.

"Yeah, the Samurai you chopped up adds 'discount Bari bari no mi' to the list of bullshit your devil fruit can do" Kaos muses as everyone gathers just outside the base camp.

"Hey Traffy, what you doing here?" Luffy asks.

"Honestly looking for you, as there's something I wished to discuss with you. It's clear you all ended up here by accident, but it is quite useful for me, and in turn, yourselves, hidden on this island, one powerful enough to throw the New World into total chaos" Law begins to explain.

"That sounds right up our alley, unfortunately," Nami mutters.

"You see, there are only 2 ways to make it in the New World, working under one of the Yonko, or fighting against them, and you don't strike me as the following type"

"Nah, he told Pops where to shove it, albeit more politely than that, 2 years ago when Ace made the offer" the researcher grins, getting a nod from Luffy confirming the story.

"Well, in that case, you can work WITH me, and we take down one of the Yonko. I've got a good plan, you in?" Law asks with a smirk.

"While they are, probably just as human as the rest of us, I'm not sure we should let this random ass pirate convince us to go on a suicide run against one of the Yonko" Valentina argues, getting agreement from Nami, Chopper, Kaya and Shirahoshi.

"I'm not saying it would be easy, I just think the odds of success increase dramatically if we work together to accomplish our goals" Law retorts.

"Well, there's 4 of them, only 2 of which I'd agree to, so who are you thinking?" Luffy asks, curious but behaving level-headed for a change, though the statement itself surprised Law.

"Our target, is Kaido of the Beast Pirates. Is he one of your exceptions?" the Surgeon of Death asks, only partially sarcastic.

"Nope, those would be Shanks and Whitebeard, don't wanna run into him yet, and Kaos would mutiny, taking his wives and daughters with him if I decided to fight his dad just cause some random pirate told me to" Luffy chuckles "So, we fighting Kaido… why does that name sound familiar?" he hums.

"It's Auntie Shaula's Captain, she rejoined their crew after the War, given mother's death meant there wasn't anyone to threaten her with house arrest again" Kaos answers "Should be fun to see how the Beast Pirates fight"

"You're actually ok with this!?" Ussop shrieks

"Yep," Kaos grins.

"We appear to be avoiding the elephant in the room though" Robin pipes in "That he's currently working for the man who kidnapped my daughter"

"I'm aware, just didn't think killing him would get her back any quicker" Kaos hums, Law's eye twitching at how little the Straw Hat's 1st mate seemed to care about his prescience or any level of danger.

"She is right though, if you want an alliance, I need my niece delivered, or at least helping us to retrieve her safe and sound" Luffy adds.

"There's also the fact pirates are well known for backstabbing and betrayal, and given he's already decided to fuck with us, this morning, how do we know he won't kill us if and when we actually do defeat Kaido?" Victor argues.

"Traffy won't betray us, he's good people" Luffy states, surprising even his fellow pirate captain "Plus, between Robin and Kaos, they could handle him, as well as make him wish he died quickly as they slowly tear him to pieces and eat his heart"

"You of all people shouldn't be able to say stuff like that with a straight face and happy tone!" Chopper cries.

Given the 2 Luffy mentioned seemed to be the ones he'd accidentally pissed off, Law decided to not argue with Luffy's assessment that his brother and future sister-in-law could 'handle him' and instead focus on the main point, that he'd just agreed for the Straw Hat and Heart pirates to join up in an alliance to defeat the Yonko Kaido.

"Now….. SWITCH US BACK YOU STUPID-HAT WEARING WEIRDO!" Valentina bellows, tired of being in this tiny, furry body, even if she looks super cute.

"Of course. Room: Shambles" Law nods and with little more than a flick of his wrist and a pulse of his Devil Fruit power, most of the Straw Hats were in their original bodies, Nami still stuck in Sanji's due to the cook being out of range, to her continued annoyance.

"So, this is all the kids huh?" Law muses as he looks upon the wall of chained-up, sleeping, giant children.

"Yep, or at least all the ones the others found. We need to figure out some way to help them" Luffy confirms.

"Not worth it, just leave them here, they're addicted to the drugs Ceasar's been feeding them" Law scoffs, hoping to get off this island and onto his agenda as soon as possible.

"We already know that, we tested them already before they went nuts!" Chopper shouts angrily "I wanna help them somehow, load them up on the ship and take them to safety if I could. But they need time to build up their strength, and I don't even know where to start on reversing their size"

"What kind of sick bastard experiments on kids?" Ussop scowls, arms crossed and pacing as he tries to distract himself from both their future plans and his own helplessness.

"The World government for one, they've been trying to do something like this for centuries" Law comments.

"Makes sense, even magic won't get results like these, and both the Size Size and Big Big fruits aren't exactly easy to acquire, plus they can short out just like any other fruit" Artemis agrees "Explains why Caesar went the 'get them while they're young' method of making giant supersoldiers, he's basically highjacking their growth patterns, and kicking them up to 30" the sorceress muses "Especially given Horrigan went insane and tried to kill everyone when he was experimented on for these kind of results"

"It's possible, though this for lack of a better term, quick and dirty method of Ceasar's is clearly him trying to get ahead of the competition and figure out gigantification ahead of Vegapunk or the World Government. Though there's more here, it can't be that simple, especially with Caesar. Are you sure you really want to do this, you don't even know who these kids are?" Law asks.

"You're right we don't, but what we do know is that they're children, who don't deserve to be treated like this, torn from their families and experimented on" Vivi retorts.

"I saw the desperation and pain in their eyes, as they reached out to us for help, I can't just ignore that" Nami frowns "Caesar tricked them into coming here, into dosing themselves, and he's going to pay, but helping these kids, is the most important thing of all. I'm not leaving, until i know these kids are safe" he declares, eyes softening as they look at the sleeping kids.

"If I leave with Luffy, are you all going to be ok?" Law asks, with some level of concern.

"I'm not going anywhere" Luffy responds almost instantly, surprising the other captain "This is important to my crew, it's important to me. Just like Sanji wants to help the samurai find all his parts, Zoro will probably want you to unfuck Tatsumaki and Smoky, Kaos and Robin want their baby back, and if you helped I'm not protecting you from their wrath… I think that's everything, besides just wanting to kick this Clown man's ass" he lists off rather casually "Listen, if you're working with us, then get used to helping people, it's kind of what we do along the way to wherever we're going" he explains, completely missing Law's mildly traumatized expression, he didn't sign up for this 'Good Samaritan' 'Hero' bullshit that's for sure.

Deciding to cut their new ally some slack, Ussop pipes in "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into buddy. Here's the thing, most of the time, when allying, you have groups with common goals or desires and you negotiate how best to accomplish those goals to keep all parties happy"

"I'm aware of how an alliance works, even amongst pirates" Law scoffs, unsure why the long nose was explaining things he already knew to him.

" Well, with Luffy…. It's a little different" Ussop says, trying to find the right words to explain Law's new situation.

"It just means we're friends now!" Luffy blurts out with a wide grin.

"You're not getting special treatment in terms of priorities unless your plan is literally on a timer, these kids were here first, and Medusa is his niece, therefore both of those jobs come before you try to kill everyone in this room by fighting the King of the Beasts, the Azure Dragon Kaido" Kaos summarises "Once Luffy makes up his mind on something, there's basically nothing that can change it, especially not something as easy for him to ignore as logic or reason, not that you have either of those on your side as you're trying to talk him into a suicide mission"

Law sighs, at least understanding Luffy's stubbornness "Fine, fine. The samurai and the brat can be your crew's job, I'll help deal with the drugs the kids have been given. Who's the ship doctor?" he asks.

"That would be us, I'm Chopper and this is our medic Kaya" the reindeer explains, happy to be back in his original body.

"Ok, let's head out, we need to be stealthy to figure out a cure under Caesar's nose" Law says as the trio prepares to leave "Meanwhile the rest of you will need to be careful when approaching him, Caesar not only ate the logia Gasu Gssu no mi, but he has plenty of dangerous weapons on hand, understandable given his 300 million beri bounty. Unless you have haki, I'd recommend you steer clear"

"So thats me, Kaos, Zoro, Sanji, Alvida, Kaya, Valentina, Victor and Artemis…I think. Also you" Luffy lists off, getting a half smile from Law.

"That's more than enough, we should hopefully be fine, but it's best not to underestimate the snake"

"I have a question, why are we capturing him, he's the boss on this island, so it's not like we can ransom him for safe passage or something?" Franky asks.

"It's to cause chaos, and disrupt the goings on of the facility long enough for us to get the job done and leave, preferably with our quarry still in our possession, and without alerting his more, esoteric employees"

"You mean the vampires don't you?" Vivi asks, getting raised eyebrows from Law, and a scream of "Vampires are REAL!?" from Ussop.

"I didn't expect you to know about them, the WG has been rather good at keeping things of that nature relegated to myths and storybooks" the doctor hums.

"Unless you work for the elite private monster hunting organization, you normally are, but given I spent 2 years in Hellsing, trained under the Angel of Death, and participated in the Crusade of the North, I know a LOT about that side of the world, including that Caesar has vampires under his employ" the bluenette explains

"Indeed. Dealing with them is a hassle I'd rather avoid, so keeping the entire island on the backfoot is preferable for all of us. Last chance to back out Straw Hat"

"Nope, I'm good" Luffy grins "Let's get going"

"Alright, in that case, I have no problems with cooperating with you, now both of our goals have been laid out. Let's get moving"

Caesar's lab

"Master, you have a call" one of the Satyrs states from the doorway, carrying the Den Den Mushi as he does.

"Just let it ring, I'm sure it's something along the lines of 'We opened the door, and something terrible was inside. It's killing our comrades left and right. Oh master please help us' etcetera, ad nosium. Why would I want to listen to that?"

"You're lucky we don't need to breathe Clown"

"Oh, shit, I forgot Commander Violet was in that detachment. I presume the centaurs are all dead?" Caesar grimaces, forgetting some of his test subjects/staff would be resistant to, if not outright immune to his weapon's poison.

"Yes, they are, as are a few of my men who got too close to this river of pink goo you just had us unleash. Of which I'm calling to ask, why? The intruders are all on the Frozen side of the island, this side is empty of everything but your own men"

"My pet is the final solution to the intruder problem. It may seem like overkill to you, but I can't allow even a chance of someone leaving this island alive and spilling the beans on what I've been up to these past 4 years" Caesar explains "Smilie will make his way to this side of the island and kill all in its path, as a creature made of deadly slime should, Shurorororo" Caesar cackles, as the slime beast levels a large portion of the Burning lands, the vampires avoiding it with liberal use of Gepo and Soru, hopping from roof to roof just out of reach.

TBC

LW: So, we have a pirate alliance, of sorts, and Caesar proves he's playing for keeps, but also that he's probably still the dumbest smart person on the island.