【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 536 Artificial Devil Fruit

Sanji looked at Law sitting to the side and kindly reminded him, "Let me give you a heads-up: the alliance you envision will be somewhat different from the alliance Luffy has in mind. Be careful."

Law looked at Sanji speechlessly, but he had more or less understood something. When asked if he regretted it now, he could only say that he deeply regretted getting on this ship, especially after boarding it by ramming it...

"No wonder Luffy keeps talking about kidnapping." Sanji, a cigarette between his fingers, walked up to the bound Caesar and pointed at him, complaining, "You guys captured this weird goat and made me cook a dish? Even if I'm incredibly skilled, this would be a nightmare..."

“This will affect a person’s IQ if they eat it,” Qi said in a serious tone.

"Lucci, you can't eat people." Ace yawned, woke up from his sleep, and subconsciously replied to Lucci's words.

“I’ll eat when I’m hungry,” Luffy interjected.

"Even if I'm hungry, it's not allowed!" Ace was fully awake now, rubbing his forehead. "Luffy, you're not allowed to talk about this again!"

“It was Ace who started it,” Qi retorted.

"Where did Lucci go?" Ace looked around in confusion, noticing that Lucci wasn't on the deck again. Why did that kid always seem to suddenly leave the group lately?

"Lucci said he was going to wash up, but he's been inside for ages." Luffy frowned and asked, "Did he drown?"

Ace slapped Luffy on the head speechlessly, "What on earth are you thinking?"

"It's not that bad, your brother isn't that stupid..." Qi twitched his lips. "Don't worry too much."

"What are you talking about?" Lucci had just arrived on the deck when he heard Luffy ask if he had drowned.

After kicking the scoundrel Caesar, Sanji felt much better. Seeing Lucci coming down the stairs with wet hair, he kindly handed him a cup of hot tea and answered his question, "You idiot captain, you're worried you'll drown while taking a bath."

Lucci took the black tea Sanji offered, and upon hearing his words, his eyes twitched. He stepped forward and grabbed Luffy's cheek, "What are you thinking, kid? Do you think your brother is that stupid?"

“Sometimes…” Luffy retorted.

"When did I give you that impression?" Lucci put the cup on the deck and used both hands to pinch Luffy's cheeks in annoyance. "No one has ever called me stupid before, so forget about that idea! Tell me that your brother is smart and powerful! You admire your brother Lucci the most."

"You little brat, you're trying to sneak in your own agenda!" Upon hearing Lucci's last two sentences, Ace angrily pulled Lucci's hand away from Luffy, successfully saving Luffy's cheek.

"No! My brother can be an idiot sometimes." As soon as he escaped Lucci's grasp, Luffy immediately jumped away, still insisting on his opinion: "Idiot brother!"

"Luffy!" Lucci was almost in tears. He never expected that his image in Luffy's heart would be like this, when Luffy had admired him the most when they were children.

"Straw Hat Brothers! Lucci Brothers!" Law shouted, utterly unable to believe the farce unfolding before him. Even the crucial news that these men were brothers couldn't stop him. "Now, let's get down to business and talk about our plan!"

“Go on,” Killua said to Law, pulling Luffy to sit on the deck. Then he looked at Lucci and Ace. Lucci was clearly frustrated by what Luffy had said, while Ace was gloating. Killua shook his head. Lucci probably wasn’t in the mood to listen to the plan now. Killua turned his attention back to Law.

"Back in Punk Hazard, you were tasked with capturing Caesar, while Lucci and I were tasked with destroying the device that manufactured SAD."

"What!?" Upon hearing Law's words, Momonosuke and Kin'emon exclaimed once again.

Qi frowned and glanced at the two of them. What was going on with these two?

"Our goal is the head of Kaido, one of the Four Emperors! In other words, the key is how to reduce his fighting power." Law looked at the Straw Hat crew seriously, glancing at Lucci, who was still immersed in dejection. He couldn't help but twitch his lips. He never expected that such a powerful person would be defeated by Lucci's words.

"Kaido has now bought a large number of Devil Fruits from the clown, which are artificial Devil Fruits called SMILE. Now the Kaido Pirates have more than 500 Devil Fruit users."

"Raise your hand if you're planning to quit!" Upon hearing this, Usopp raised his hand again to initiate a vote, and Nami and Chopper immediately responded.

"Stop messing around." Zoro said speechlessly, while glancing at the dejected Lucci. Why did this guy seem unreliable now? He never felt this way two years ago. Ace was the same. Zoro looked at Ace, who kept mocking Lucci, and couldn't help but twitch his lips. Two years ago, he was clearly a very steady older brother!

“But the number of ability users won’t be increasing anymore,” Law said, glancing at Caesar.

"Did he do this?" Sanji frowned, looking at the shy expression on Caesar's face.

"Wow, that's amazing! Did you make this?" Chopper looked at Caesar in surprise.

“He’s the mastermind, what’s there to praise!” Usopp shouted indignantly.

"This is just an application based on the Vegapunk lineage factor," Luo bluntly exposed.

"What? So it's just that Vegapunk is stronger." Sanji retorted.

"Shut up! Can you even do that?!" Caesar shouted angrily. "You're just a bunch of idiots..."

"boom!"

"Alright, quiet down." Qi shifted his gaze from Caesar, who had been kicked unconscious, and turned to Luo with a smile. "Continue."

"So...so brutal!" Usopp muttered, looking at Caesar who had been kicked unconscious by Killer. "What did Caesar do to make Killer hate him so much?"

“The Joker is finished, we should move on to the next step.” Law glanced at the unconscious Caesar, knowing that the next topic was not suitable for him to hear: “There’s a factory somewhere in Dressrosa that manufactures SMILE.”

“We just need to find it and destroy it, right?” Franky, with his two braids, interjected.

“That’s right, the enemy is also an expert at making deals, they won’t be careless,” Luo added.

"Is this the place you want to go, Jin?" Luffy asked.

“One of my men has been arrested here.”

"Let's go together then!" Luffy said with a grin, then looked at Lucci, who was sitting on the other side, exuding a gloomy aura, and Ace, who was grinning and had his arm around Lucci's shoulder, and blinked in confusion.

Qi chuckled and patted Luffy's head, which was covered by a straw hat. "What are you thinking about?"

Luffy turned to look at Qi, then turned his gaze back to Lucci and asked, "Is there anything different after you two merged?"

Qi blinked, surprised that Luffy would ask such a question. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "Nothing is different."

"I see." Luffy nodded, then looked at Qi and asked seriously, "Qi, why didn't you tell me back then that Caesar took Lucci's heart to threaten him?"

"I'm sorry, Luffy," Qi said earnestly, looking into Luffy's eyes.

"I understand." Luffy nodded. He now understood why he felt that Lucci was different from before, but at least the change in Lucci was for the better. He could see that his brother was slowly letting go.