Law rubbed his still-aching forehead. As his eyes adjusted, he saw clearly who surrounded him.
Not enemies—companions. He let out a small sigh of relief.
"You're awake."
Alvida stood before him, white wide-brimmed hat perched on her head, black wavy hair cascading down, her iron mace slung casually across her shoulder.
For a moment, Law felt a strange sense of déjà vu. He recalled old wanted posters of Big Mom Charlotte Linlin in her youth, when she had been strikingly beautiful.
He almost thought he was seeing her now—but after a closer look, he realized it was Alvida.
"What's wrong?" she asked, puzzled.
"…Nothing." Law shook his head. Though badly wounded by Moria, he managed to sit up—and then noticed the looming presence before him.
The giant, Oars.
Their eyes locked. For an instant, it felt like a wordless exchange of will. Then the giant reared up, chest swelling, and let out a thunderous roar at him.
Once, Law and his shadow had been one. But now each belonged to a different master, and there was no bond left—only hostility.
In fact, Oars seemed to despise Law. To him, Law was an unnecessary duplicate, an existence to erase—so that only he could stand unique.
Law's own feelings mirrored the animosity. He frowned, shaking his head.
"…My shadow is inside him," Law explained succinctly, believing his comrades would understand the danger with this information. "But he obeys only Moria's orders."
Crocodile cast Law a sidelong glance. "So, in other words, he wants us all dead."
"Yes."
"Just as I'd expect from you."
Law opened his mouth to snap back, but in the end he only exhaled in defeat.
No matter if Perona had blindsided him, the truth remained: he had lost. His shadow had been taken. Excuses meant nothing. Being mocked was something he had no choice but to endure.
Especially since he had often mocked Crocodile before—this was simply karma catching up.
Kuro and Alvida both scowled deeply, while Hachi swallowed nervously, six hands twitching. Oars' massive size pressed down on them like a physical weight.
Crocodile, however, appeared entirely at ease.
He raised his golden hook, lower body dissolving into sand until he floated aloft.
"You brats really are green. Letting yourselves be cowed by sheer size."
As Crocodile drifted higher, Oars' single eye tracked him, rising to the same level.
"Size is a kind of strength, but it's not everything." Crocodile's coat snapped in the wind yet never fell away from his shoulders. "If you're scared, then just cower behind me. Guhahaha—!"
The taunt made Kuro, Alvida, and Hachi freeze.
They exchanged glances—then, without further hesitation, struck together.
Whatever happened, they couldn't let Crocodile look down on them.
Law remained where he was, tending to Buggy. He himself wasn't in any condition to join the fight.
That was when he heard a sharp whistle through the air—something was hurtling straight toward him.
Thinking it an attack, he twisted around—only to see a sword flying into reach.
He instantly pulled it into his Room, halting its momentum. Looking closely, his breath caught—
It was his own blade, Kikoku.
Memories rushed back.
After being defeated by Moria and Perona, he had been dragged to the frozen chamber of the giant zombies.
There, Moria had taken shears to his body, cutting away the shadow bound to him, and planting it into Oars. At the same time, Moria had entrusted his body to Perona for safekeeping.
Because Oars was a "Special Zombie," one of the finest in Moria's army, its shadow source had to be guarded with utmost care.
So Perona had stuffed Law's unconscious body into a teddy bear puppet, planning to move him to the dungeon. Before that, she had taken Kikoku.
Even if Law had woken mid-transport, Perona could have subdued him indefinitely with her Negative Hollows.
But now—reunited with his blade—Law instinctively looked up to see who had returned it.
On a higher windowsill of Mast Mansion stood Captain Davy Jones.
Law froze.
Captain…?
Of course. With Crocodile and the others already here, it made sense the captain was nearby.
He must have retrieved Kikoku from that eerie girl himself.
Her ability was as bizarre as his own Ope Ope no Mi—different in form, but equally troublesome. He had been racking his brain over how to bypass her ghosts and reclaim his sword… but the captain had already handled it.
Law started to rise, intending to speak—
But Davy Jones only gave him a single nod, then turned away.
Before his silhouette vanished from the window, Law caught one last sight of his tentacles coiling tightly around the pink-haired twin-tailed girl, dragging her into the shadows with him.
So even she was no match for the captain…
But where was he taking her?
Meanwhile, Crocodile, Kuro, Alvida, and Hachi clashed with the "Demon of the Land of Ice"—Oars.
The giant towered higher than Mast Mansion itself, his body brimming with power. Yet what shocked them most was his speed.
Kuro used Geppo to circle around Oars' blind spot, flanking him from above.
If he could, he wanted to drive his claws into Oars' single eye—by far the most vulnerable target.
The giant's flesh looked too dense; even with his Cat Claws, Kuro doubted he could strike deep. But the eye… that was another story.
Yet when Kuro lunged, Oars reacted.
The massive head swung around with terrifying speed, a colossal fist already arcing toward him.
The wind howled.
Kuro didn't meet it head-on. Instead, he braked sharply midair, using the rush of air from Oars' punch to weave aside with Kami-e, his body bending with impossible lightness.
Before Oars could swing again, a sudden storm of sand blinded him.
Crocodile had dissolved completely, swirling around Oars' head in a raging sandstorm, a whirling tornado of grit.
Oars abandoned pursuit, swatting desperately at the storm around his face, but the grains never ceased.
He staggered, half-blind, and broke into a lurching run, charging from Mast Mansion toward the forests and graveyards beyond.
"Get away from me!" Oars bellowed, his voice rattling the earth.
But Crocodile only tightened his circling storm, like whipping a spinning top.
Each pass of the sandstorm shredded Oars' flesh, stripping it raw and white to the bone.
Yet Crocodile's usual method failed—the zombie body held no water to drain, leaving him unable to wither it.
Even so, he struck. With a savage thrust of his golden hook, he pierced Oars' eye—then dug it out completely.
The giant's scream split the night, one massive hand clapping over the ruined socket. But the eye was gone.
Now truly blind, Oars could do little but stumble.
Crocodile re-formed above, spreading his arms in mock triumph.
"Do you need me to spell out how it's done?"
The others needed no such lesson.
Alvida had already slid across the ground like an ice skater, circling Oars' right foot. In moments, she had polished the earth slick beneath it.
The giant's bare toes pressed down—and slipped.
Already off-balance, Oars swayed like a falling tower.
Alvida leapt high, mace raised, and brought it crashing into his knee.
Bang!
The joint buckled. Oars toppled backward, his massive body slamming flat with an earth-shaking crash.
Boom!
The whole of Thriller Bark trembled. For now, Oars was down—his strength neutralized.
Hachi sprang onto the giant's chest, plunging Shusui, Kashu, and Scythefand deep. The three blades unleashed a storm of flame like the dying sun, searing through Oars' belly.
Meanwhile, Kuro severed one of the giant's horns with his Cat Claws, before driving a vicious strike through Oars' temple, piercing skull with cutting force.
And overhead—
Crocodile's body re-formed midair, his right arm twisted into a colossal blade of sand.
It hung suspended, like a guillotine about to fall.
With a final crash, the blade cleaved down—severing Oars' enormous head from his neck.
The giant's body convulsed, then stilled.