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Fire chewed across the ground in slow, molten lines; lava bled through cracked earth.
Above, a sky black with storm, split in half, with a blizzard on one side, ash on the other.
Punk Hazard.
Once Vegapunk's island lab. After the gas leak, it became a ten-day arena where two Admirals carved the world in half ice and fire.
At the island's center, a lake gathered snowmelt from the howling squalls.
Over its surface, a golden gate irised open without a sound.
A man stepped through.
Neji's sandal touched the lake as if it were polished glass. He lifted a palm to catch a drifting snowflake, watched it melt to a bead of water.
"So it's here," he murmured. "Didn't expect that."
The fire half lay quiet, save for the skittering silhouette of a western basalt lizard stalking the slag. Neji's eyebrow ticked.
"Test subject… Caesar's work?"
He turned toward the ice half, vision slicing through drifts and ruined walls into a buried research wing.
A swordsman sat inside, blade across his knees—Trafalgar Law. No Straw Hats yet. Neji's mouth curved.
"Right time, then," he said—and vanished.
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Inside the lab, Law rested with Kikoku sheathed, eyes closed, pulse steady. Waiting for Caesar.
The cushion dipped.
Law's eyes snapped open; his hand slid to the hilt in the same breath. No footsteps. No breath. Just… someone sitting across from him.
A white-haired, blue-eyed stranger watched him from the opposite sofa.
No memory. Unknown strength. An intruder who bypassed every sensor and guard.
"Who are you?" Law asked.
The man reached toward the low table—Kikoku flashed and two fingers caught the blade at the edge.
"Easy," the stranger said, releasing the steel. "Drink first. Host isn't here yet; introductions can wait."
Two goblets of dark red wine appeared with a casual flick.
Neji lifted one, sipped, and offered the other with an open hand.
Law didn't drink. But he slid Kikoku back into the scabbard and watched.
Silence stretched. Then steps outside. The door swung wide.
Caesar Clown minced in with Monet at his shoulder. Caesar's grin was already forming when Monet's lenses flashed; her snow-white wings scissored up and kissed the intruder's throat with a crystal edge.
"Name," she said, voice cool.
Caesar yelped, jolting back so hard his stool scraped. "In-in-intruder! Monet, protect me! Law, take him down!"
The law didn't move. Monet kept the wing at Neji's neck.
"If he twitches," she said, "I cut it off."
Across from Neji, Law's mouth flicked into a tiny, private smile. After what he'd just seen, Monet's threat barely counted as theater. He still didn't warn her.
But he did set a limit. "Don't kill him," Law told Monet, eyes never leaving the stranger. "He's useful to my plan." Then, to Neji: "Now talk."
Neji's gaze slid past Law and settled on Caesar—almost fond, almost nostalgic.
"Long time no see, Caesar."
The scientist's pupils pinpricked.
"Didn't expect you to wriggle out of Big Mom's leash and crawl back here. Who's shielding you now?"
Caesar's face drained. "Who— who are you? Are you with Big Mom?"
Neji laughed softly. "You really do forget faces. I chased you through Totto Land myself, remember?"
Caesar staggered a step. "Impossible—no, no, he—he died—"
"Marineford, right?" Neji finished for him.
Monet's wing tensed, frost sharpening to a killing edge. Law's stare thinned.
"Caesar," Neji said, tilting his head, "did you forget my ability?"
Something ugly clicked in Caesar's memory—something the man had joked about once, a power that cheated endings.
"Monet!" Caesar shrieked. "Kill him!"
Her wing blurred—
CLANG.
Law intercepted with Kikoku, parrying the snow blade aside.
"Law!" Caesar howled, fumbling a small cube from his coat. A heart beat beneath glass. "His head or yours—don't forget who holds your heart!"
Law didn't even look. "Too bad. I want to know who he is."
Neji raised two fingers and pressed a seal.
> [Henge]
Smoke curled. Flesh shifted.
Caesar's breath hitched; the stool behind him thumped into the wall as he stumbled back.
His mouth worked. "No—no, this is—this is not—you—how are you still alive—"
The stranger's eyes, those impossible blue rings, looked back at him like a verdict.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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