In the blink of an eye, he returned to the tree hollow that still retained some warmth.
Law slowly opened his eyes. Realizing his extremely dire situation, he grew eerily calm.
He looked at the nearly extinguished fire, raised his hand lightly, and directly took a few pieces of wood from the tree wall. After removing the moisture, he tossed them into the fire.
After that, he didn't bother to stoke the flames, merely watching as the fire gradually grew stronger, emitting warmth that brushed against his face and made his eyes reflect the flickering light.
This was the fourth time. And during the third time, it could be said that cards were laid on the table.
If he wanted to escape, he had to find that 'it' and then pierce through the root cause.
How to find it was one problem, and there was another point to note: 'Did 'it' have the ability to kill me outright? Was I like a fish on a chopping block, without even a chance to struggle?'
'If that were the case, then any action I took to escape would be in vain.'
As the saying goes, it's better to believe something exists than to believe it doesn't. At this moment, Law could only choose to believe 'it' didn't have that ability.
'It' had already taken off its mask and could no longer continue the game pleasantly.
If the scenarios of the first three times were merely to satisfy some spiritual enjoyment, then there shouldn't have been a fourth time.
In other words, that 'it' might need him to wander endlessly for some reason, to obtain something.
Looking on the bright side, it meant that 'it' couldn't directly take his life.
"Let's stay here for a week, right in this tree hollow."
Law suddenly turned to Biscuit and spoke without context.
Biscuit happened to wake up at that moment. Hearing Law's words, she was taken aback.
"Give him a week to recover. Before that, I'll stay in the tree hollow. If he still can't move after a week, we'll abandon him."
Law pointed his thumb at Tonpa, who was lying asleep on the ground, not using his name but referring to him as 'him'.
'If this were the real Biscuit, how would she react?'
"A week should be enough."
Biscuit's reaction was unusually calm. She glanced at Tonpa with a hint of pity.
Law quietly observed Biscuit's words and actions, then suddenly shifted backward, distancing himself from the firelight and burying his face in the shadows.
It was only natural to have such a thought: all of Biscuit and Kuro's words and actions stemmed from his own perception, like a script created by his subconscious, dictating what they should say and do next in what seemed like a natural progression.
"Biscuit would be obsessed with her muscular physique."
Law used a subjective attitude, almost like self-hypnosis, to see if Biscuit would suddenly shed her little girl appearance and revert to her true, muscle-loving form.
He thought this while staring intently at Biscuit.
The expected change didn't happen. Instead, his malicious gaze made Biscuit return a strange look.
Even if it was an illusion, Law didn't want to be seen as a pervert by Biscuit, so he promptly averted his gaze.
He thought to himself, ''It' really didn't know how to play along. It was also possible that the lethality of Biscuit's muscular physique wasn't strong enough for 'it' to feel the need to reveal itself again.'
'Or perhaps, from now on, 'it' would never appear in a way that exposed its identity.'
Thinking of this, Law reached out and gently stroked the head of Bruna lying beside him. If possible, he wished she would remain asleep every second from now on.
Knowing clearly that this was an illusion, he felt a sense of inexplicable nonchalance. Of course, he was also worried about his real-world situation and the situations of Biscuit and the others.
Telling himself to 'go with the flow' wasn't convincing at all.
However, aside from waiting quietly for what would happen next, there was nothing else he could do.
Just then, Kuro approached. Since Law and Biscuit were awake, there was no need for him to keep watch at the tree hollow entrance.
"You're not really planning to hole up here for a week, are you? How about we go out for a stroll and see if we can find the vegetables and fruits you need?"
Kuro looked expectant. He was still thinking about that chicken, worried that leaving it too long would affect its original flavor.
"Not going," Law refused coldly.
Kuro widened his silver eyes and said, "Didn't you always say we should preserve the freshness of every rare ingredient? If it's left too long, no matter how good the ingredient is, its flavor will fade, right?"
"Did I say that?" Law replied lightly.
Kuro stared at Law in disbelief.
Afterward, Law stayed in the tree hollow the entire day. Late into the night, the shadow cast by the firelight suddenly turned against him, dragging him into darkness.
This time, he truly experienced the sensation of death.
In the previous three times… once when his body disintegrated into countless flesh tendrils, once when he turned to sand in the sound waves, and once when he was directly swallowed, the entire process from start to finish was painless.
But this fourth time, being dragged into darkness by the shadow, he experienced the process of suffocating to death.
The 'it' hiding behind the scenes was starting to bare its fangs.
After that, it happened once a day.
The fifth time, a few thumb-sized flames jumped out of the extinguished fire, piercing his chest and injecting into his heart, making Law experience what it meant to have pain piercing deep into his heart.
The sixth time, countless small insects drilled out from the tree wall, biting through Law's back and even gnawing away his bones.
The seventh time, several small black hands burst through Law's eyes, then, like a hydraulic press, flattened his body inch by inch.
The eighth time, several fleshy tumors emerged from Law's abdomen and exploded, turning into highly corrosive acid that instantly melted him into a pool of pus.
...
...
Using various exaggerated methods, 'it' made Law experience death again and again, attempting to crush his nerves.
However, the more this happened, the calmer Law became. Even though he had to endure some genuinely painful physical sensations, it gradually indicated that 'it' might truly lack the means to kill him outright.
By the fifteenth time, 'it' likely realized this. Thus, in Law's solo death show, it added an 'interactive' element.
…
On this day, the wind and rain that had persisted through over a dozen cycles vanished the moment Law opened his eyes.
Listening carefully, everything was silent, not even the faint crackling of the fire remained.
This change felt somewhat unfamiliar to Law. Despite observing closely during all those deaths, he had found nothing.
In the tree hollow, Biscuit and the others were still asleep, and Kuro wasn't keeping watch at the entrance but was instead imprinted on the back of Law's hand. This was the second change.
Suddenly, two chimes rang out from the silent outside… one urgent, one slow, completely out of sync.
The urgent chime sounded like it was hastening the soul.
The slow chime sounded like it was summoning the soul.
Law frowned and looked toward the tree hollow entrance. The bark was torn apart like paper, and directly ahead stood an identical tree at the center of his vision. At the same height, there was another tree hollow.
From it, a two-tailed snake covered in peculiar patterns crawled out. At the ends of its tails hung walnut-sized fleshy tumors that swayed and emitted chimes.