A life raft bobbing on the sea.
Upon it drifted the heads of Baby 5 and Buffalo, severed by Law's Powers and therefore still capable of talking and crying despite being nothing but heads, along with a Den Den Mushi and a smoke signal.
The one who descended upon that raft was a member of the Shichibukai: Donquixote Doflamingo.
He had been traveling the Sky Road toward Punk Hazard when he spotted the little yacht below and came down. It didn't take long for him to realize this was a message from Law, addressed directly to him.
The Den Den Mushi was already connected. Its mimicked face glared back at him with the same unpleasant look in its eyes, unmistakably Law's.
Law's demand for returning Caesar was simple: Doflamingo must resign from the Shichibukai.
He would have to abandon every shred of the public standing he had built as a Shichibukai, as a Pirate who could not be pursued, and return to being hunted by the Marines alongside his entire Family.
If he accepted those terms, he could at least preserve his position as the Underworld broker "Joker." By recovering Caesar, he would be able to produce SAD again.
But in that case, the Marines would come after Doflamingo. Given the threat level of a Doflamingo stripped of his title, there was a high probability that an Admiral would be dispatched.
If he refused, Caesar would be killed and SAD would be lost forever. SMILE production would become impossible.
The result: enraging his most important business partner, Kaido of the Beasts, and being eliminated.
Faced with these terms from Law, Doflamingo...
"...Heh heh heh... Fuh fuh fuh...!"
He laughed.
Whether he was masking boiling rage or was genuinely composed, it was impossible to tell from his voice alone. Even Buffalo and the others watching couldn't quite read his expression. On the surface, at least, he appeared perfectly calm.
"That self-destructive brat's learned to talk like a big shot, hasn't he? I don't know whether to be happy or sad."
"I have no intention of indulging in reminiscences. I don't need a verbal response. Show me through action. Tomorrow's—"
"Are you sure you want to do this? You'll lose your place in the Golden Lion Pirates, you know."
"..."
Law's words stopped cold at that.
"No matter how much that Lady trusts you, no matter how much of a favorite you are, what you've pulled this time is far too reckless for one person to decide on their own. Does the Lady know about this? Does the Big Boss? When word gets out, neither you nor your current position will come out unscathed."
"That's not for you to worry about. No, actually, you're worrying about the wrong thing entirely. It's 'you' who should be worried."
"...!"
"A moment ago I only brought up the Marine Admiral and Kaido of the Beasts, but those aren't the only two threats you need to be wary of. There are some rather formidable 'business rivals' these days. Show any weakness, and there's no telling when or how they'll come cutting in to carve away your Underworld interests. Worst case, it could lead to losses that would blow away all the revenue from SMILE."
"Business rivals... you mean the Golden Lion Pirates?"
"But they're a Shichibukai crew! They're not supposed to be involved with the Dark Market...!?"
"...Officially, no. But who knows what they're doing behind the scenes. After all, the real head is still the Golden Lion himself. Conducting deals while cleverly hiding his face would be child's play for him. And lately, I hear things have been rather noisy between him and the Lady over exactly that sort of thing. Fuh fuh fuh..."
"...? If you know that much, then you should know what you need to do."
Perhaps the act of talking had cooled his head, or perhaps the irritation in his voice had simply run its course. Either way, Doflamingo's tone was settling back into its original composure.
Seeming slightly wary of that shift, Law paused briefly before continuing.
"If word of this affair gets out and the Golden Lion Pirates move before you can deal with it, even if the exchange itself goes smoothly, you're the one who'll take massive losses. A battle over Underworld distribution channels, or in the worst case, an armed clash. The longer you drag this out, the deeper the wound. Once you understand that, I suggest you start panicking a bit more."
"..."
"The deadline is tomorrow morning's paper. If your resignation from the Shichibukai is reported, good. I'll contact you again. If not, negotiations are over."
Click... beep, beep, beep...
"..."
"Y-Young Master..."
"We're sorry, it's 'cause we screwed up..."
Doflamingo held his silence before the now-dead Den Den Mushi for a while, and then...
"...Heh."
"...?"
"Impressive brat. At worst, he's planning to drag even the Golden Lion Pirates into this to sink his teeth into me. Or maybe he figured that the benefit of eliminating me would be enough bait to get the Golden Lion to move... Fuh fuh fuh..."
"...Foolish brat. Thinks he's become some kind of master strategist, running his mouth about things nobody even asked. Heh heh, thanks to that, I'm calmer than ever now. He seized Caesar, who can't be replaced, to gain leverage over me. Then he lined up every potential enemy, Golden Lion included, to pressure me into panicking so he could seize the initiative. That's what he thinks he's done, but..."
"The one who doesn't understand is you. Poor, ignorant Law...!"
***
The scene shifts to the deck of the Thousand Sunny.
Having finished his negotiations with Doflamingo, Law was explaining to the Straw Hat Pirates and the Heart Pirates about the Pirate Alliance, and about their future objective: the defeat of Kaido of the Beasts.
Reduced to its simplest terms, the plan was to make Doflamingo and Kaido destroy each other and then reap the benefits.
Kaido was currently purchasing massive quantities of the Artificial Devil Fruit known as SMILE from Doflamingo, using them to bolster his Pirate Crew from within. His Beasts Pirates were said to already have over five hundred SMILE Ability Users.
If Doflamingo could no longer sell SMILE going forward, though, Kaido's rage would turn on Doflamingo. According to Law, Kaido was "not someone you can reason with," and if there were any problems with the Merchandise or distribution, he would eliminate his business partner Doflamingo without a second thought.
Once both sides had been weakened, they would strike Kaido all at once. That was the plan.
"But obviously, Kaido's anger won't just be directed at Doflamingo. It'll come our way too, right? We're the ones who kidnapped Caesar and destroyed that SAD Facility."
"Yeah. But Doflamingo will be hit first. As a broker with a large clientele, his whereabouts are well known and he can't go into hiding. If he's isolated carelessly, the Marines will pick up on it. We're smaller in scale, which means we're more mobile. Lying low temporarily and striking when the timing is right won't be difficult in itself."
"Maybe, if the only opponents were Kaido and Doflamingo. But shouldn't we be worried about the Golden Lion Pirates getting involved too?"
"...!"
Law visibly flinched at Robin's observation.
"I know you might find this persistent, but it's an important matter, so let me confirm it once more. With this plan, isn't it possible that Kaido of the Beasts' anger could be directed not just at Doflamingo and us, but also at the Golden Lion Pirates, the crew you currently belong to?"
"She's got a point. If this Kaido guy really is the 'unreasonable type' you just described, there's no way he'd buy any excuse about you acting on your own. He could turn on Sue or Sou."
"That's not all, either. From the Golden Lion Pirates' perspective, Law-san's unilateral actions are tantamount to inviting a foreign enemy upon them. It's nearly an act of betrayal. Robin-san apparently already raised this point, but wouldn't there be a high chance of Law-san being expelled from the crew, or worse, having assassins sent after him?"
Franky and Brook piled on with their concerns.
Law's eyebrow twitched as if something had struck a nerve, but he kept his tone composed and explained point by point.
"I addressed that earlier. Ah, right, sorry. I'd put the details on hold."
Recalling that during the discussion on Punk Hazard he had said "after the first stage of the plan succeeds" and deferred the matter, Law began his explanation.
"As I've already stated, in the stages of the plan going forward, I intend to strip away any elements that would be detrimental to the Golden Lion Pirates. If I can remove any reason for the Beasts Pirates to target the Golden Lion Pirates, that should suffice. I have several ideas."
"Such as?"
"To give one example: Underworld interests. As you know, Doflamingo operates as an Underworld broker, conducting large-scale transactions on the Dark Market and generating enormous profits. If he falls, his clients will be left in the lurch. The Golden Lion Pirates could cover a portion of that. Not all of it, but a fair share. The revenue from new clients alone would easily reach tens of billions of Berry."
'Tens of billions...' For a split second, Nami's eyes turned into Berry signs at the sheer magnitude of the figure. But she quickly recovered and posed her own question to Law.
"But I've never heard of Sue's crew getting involved in that kind of shady dealing. Among the Shichibukai, they're known as especially cooperative with the Government and Marines. Clean and upstanding. That's their public reputation, at least."
"Miss is, sure. But rotten as they may be, they're still a Pirate Crew. There's plenty going on behind the scenes. Mainly the Big B—"
"Hey, mind cutting it off right about there, Law?"
"...!?"
A voice rang out across the deck without warning.
It had no business being heard on this ship.
It didn't match any member of the Straw Hat Pirates, and it wasn't Kin'emon or Momonosuke either. It certainly wasn't the bound and captured Caesar, and it obviously wasn't Law.
And above all, for several of those present, it was a voice they recognized.
Everyone reflexively looked toward the source: straight up.
Atop the Sunny's main mast, at its very peak, a crow's nest was mounted, just as there had been on the Merry.
Standing on the underside of that crow's nest, upside down, defying gravity, was a single figure.
"...Wait, isn't that...?"
"Oh."
"Tch... already here."
Luffy, Zoro, and Law each reacted in their own way. The figure gave a light kick off the surface and dropped into freefall.
But just before hitting the deck, the fall suddenly decelerated. A single midair rotation, a shift in posture, and a clean landing.
A quick run of fingers through hair slightly tousled by the descent. Short-cropped golden locks smoothed back into place. The figure turned toward Law, but first glanced at Luffy.
"Sorry for boarding your ship without permission, Mugiwara-san. I just need to have a word with our problem child over there."
"I knew it was you! Haven't seen you since the Summit War! Did you get a little taller?"
"Ahaha, I'm still growing, you know! Now then..."
This time, she turned to Law for real.
"Tch... the strongest of the Retainers, showing up out of nowhere. Did you make Miss that angry?"
"It was Grandpa's orders, not Mom's. So with that in mind, would you care to explain, Law? Without so much as a word to Mom, what exactly were you thinking when you did all this?"
With that, she, Alice, settled onto a bench on the deck and fixed Law with a bright smile.
Her face was smiling, but her eyes were anything but. Those who witnessed the scene would later attest to that.
To be continued...