Dealings

Law's proposal lands harder than a normal alliance ever could. When he hears Luffy speak as if every Emperor is a target, Law stares him down and says, "YOU'LL TAKE DOWN ALL THE YONKOU!?" He warns that their goal may point in the same direction, but Luffy is badly underestimating the scale of it: "WE'RE AFTER THE SAME THING, BUT I THINK YOU'RE UNDERESTIMATING THEM." Law explains that the Yonko are the emperors who once fought territorial wars with Whitebeard himself. Among them is Kaidou: "AND THE ONE KNOWN AS KAIDOU OF THE HUNDRED BEASTS... IS SAID TO BE THE STRONGEST CREATURE IN THE WORLD." The room erupts in alarm: "EH!? WHAT! HE'S NOT EVEN HUMAN!?" Law sets the term plainly: "OUR ALLIANCE WILL LAST UNTIL WE TAKE DOWN KAIDOU." Then comes the brutal estimate, "THE CHANCE OF MY PLAN SUCCEEDING IS... WELL... ABOUT 30%..." The others immediately panic at the low odds: "THAT'S WAY TOO LOW!! WHAT A TERRIBLE PROPOSITION!! COME ON, LUFFY!!"

Luffy does not weigh the numbers like a strategist. He lets the danger sit for a moment, then answers with his usual blunt certainty: "IS THAT SO... ALRIGHTY." A beat later, he commits: "LET'S DO IT." The reaction is instant: "LUFFY!!?" Law's dangerous alliance has been accepted almost casually, and that very casualness leaves everyone else scrambling to catch up. Nearby, Law turns his attention to Smoker and makes it clear that mercy was not given for sentiment alone: "IT'S NOT AS IF I HAVE A PARTICULAR REASON... FOR LETTING YOU LIVE ...WHITE HUNTER." He is already thinking ahead, planning to head for Green Bit, while Smoker looks at the Straw Hats with a tired, wary expression and mutters about the chaos he has been left to handle: "I WONDER IF I'LL REALLY BE ABLE TO MANAGE ...STRAWHAT-YA'S CREW...!!" The alliance has begun, but no one around Luffy seems certain they can survive the practical consequences of his answer.

The party winds down into logistics. The noise of celebration still clings to the scene, but the next move is being arranged. Law and the others discuss the tanker, and the question is raised: "SO AM I TO UNDERSTAND THAT YOU'LL BE USING THE TANKER...?" Luffy refuses that plan. Nami and Chopper will not leave until they know the kidnapped children have safely departed, so he explains, "NAH, NAMI AND CHOPPER SAID THAT THERE'S NO WAY WE'RE LEAVING UNTIL WE KNOW THAT THE KIDS HAVE SET OFF SAFELY." He also knows it would be dangerous if the wrong Marines handled them: "AND THERE COULD BE TROUBLE IF ANY MARINES BESIDES YOU GUYS TAKE THEM." The solution is simple in Luffy's mind: "SO WE NEED YOU TO GO AHEAD USE THE TANKER FOR THAT." The Straw Hats hand the practical burden to G-5 because, despite being Marines, these are the people the children can now be trusted with.

The children are herded toward the boat while G-5 resumes its loud Marine posture. "GET ON THE BOAT, BRATS!" one of them shouts. "WE'RE TAKING YOU HOME!" The children wail, "WAHH!!" As the Straw Hats approach, the Marines draw a ridiculous invisible line between the two groups: "HEY, HEY, STRAWHAT CREW...!! IF THE TANKER IS OURS..." Another Marine finishes the idea: "THAT'S RIGHT!! YOU CAN'T COME OVER HERE!! THIS IS THE BORDER THAT SEPARATES JUSTICE FROM EVIL!!" Luffy is unimpressed and confused by the sudden return to roles: "THAT AGAIN? WEREN'T WE JUST HAVING A PARTY TOGETHER?" G-5 answers with overblown hostility that almost sounds like gratitude turned inside out: "YOU DUMB BASTARD!! YEAH, ABOUT THAT, THANKS A LOT FOR THE HOSPITALITY!! BUT YOU'RE PIRATES!! THE SHAME OF ALL HUMANITY!!" Their words are harsh, but their behavior is clearly meant to protect the children from becoming attached to pirates.

The children look past the Marines, searching for the pirates who saved them. They call out, "BIG SIS NAMI-CHAN!!" and "CHOPPER-CHAN!!" Another child asks, "WHERE'S THE ROBOT!?" and then, "HUH AND WHERE ARE THE OTHER PIRATE GUYS!?" G-5 quickly throws itself into the role of a human wall: "MAKE A BARRIER!! YOU SHOULDN'T LAY EYES ON SUCH PIRATES!!" The act is clumsy enough that someone mutters, "YOU GUYS... WHAT A PAIN." Another voice wonders, "WHAT'S THE POINT OF THIS..." Nami watches the commotion and focuses on the important part: "BUT IT LOOKS LIKE THEY'RE SAFELY ABOARD." Meanwhile the Marines keep shouting their creed for the children to hear: "WITH OUR JUSTICE..." "WE'LL MOP UP ANY PIRATES WHO WOULD DARE TO MAKE GOOD PEOPLE CRY!!" "PIRATES ARE THE SCUM OF THE EARTH!!!" They are trying to restore the simple world of Marines and pirates, even though Punk Hazard has already made that simplicity impossible.

With the children aboard, the Straw Hats prepare to move too. Sanji says, "OK, WE SHOULD SET SAIL TOO." There is relief in the report about the children's treatment: "THEY SAID THEY'LL CONSULT WITH VEGAPUNK ABOUT THE CANDY AND THE HEALING PROCESS." The answer comes with hope: "REALLY? THAT'S GREAT!" Then someone notices Law and asks, "HEY, IS HE COMING WITH US?" Law calmly reminds them that the alliance is still new information to some of them: "AH, RIGHT... YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE ALLIANCE YET." On the tanker, G-5 continues blocking the children, yelling, "WE ARE JUSTICE!! WE WON'T LET THE BRATS SEE THESE PIRATES!!" The children still cry out, "BIG BRO SWIRLY!!" and protest, "THE MARINES ARE BLOCKING THEM!! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!!" The Marines double down: "RUN YOU GUYS!!! RUN IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE!!" and even threaten, "WE'LL LEAVE YOU ON THIS ISLAND IF YOU TRY TO THANK THEM OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT!!" Their final rule is absurdly strict: "ANYONE WHO WOULD SAY GOODBYE TO PIRATES IS A BAD KID."

G-5 keeps hammering the old lesson into the children: "GOT IT? PIRATES ARE EVIL!!! IT'S THE MARINES THAT REPRESENT JUSTICE!!" But the children have lived through something that refuses to fit that lesson. One of them cries that when they asked the pirates to save them, "THEY DID... EVEN THOUGH..." The words spill out through tears: "...THEY DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT US" and "THEY DIDN'T CARE THAT WE WERE GIANTS," yet they still came and got them out. Memories of terror and rescue overlap on the page. The children remember wanting to go home: "I WANNA GO HOME...!!" They remember being told, "WE'LL GO HOME SOON... JUST HANG IN THERE!!" On an island where there was nothing and where no one should have come looking, they did come: "ON AN ISLAND WITH NOTHING, WHERE NO ONE WOULD EVER COME FOR US..." "THEY CAME!!" The grief breaks into apology too: "I'M SO SORRY!! IF ONLY I'D FOUND YOU SOONER...!!" The children are not defending piracy as an idea; they are defending the people who reached them when no one else did.

The Marines try to keep the performance going: "PIRATES ARE DIRTY AND SMELLY BUT THE MARINES ARE-" But the children's anger cuts through it. If the Marines will not even let them say goodbye, then the children are ready to call the Marines something terrible instead. A Marine scrambles to interrupt with, "SORRY ABOUT THIS!!" and another forces the old slogan back into the air: "THE MARINES ARE BRAVE AND ALWAYS IN THE RIGHT..." Tashigi can no longer stand it. Seeing grown men twist themselves into cruelty just to keep a clean public story, she shouts, "PLEASE STOP, YOU GUYS!! THIS IS DISGRACEFUL!!" The G-5 men answer with tears and panic: "BUT TASHIGI-CHAN!! IF WE DON'T KEEP INSULTING THEM...!! THESE NO-GOOD OUTLAWS...!!" Their voices shake because the insult campaign is no longer convincing even to themselves.

G-5 finally confesses the real danger they are fighting: "WE'RE GONNA END UP LIKING THEM!! EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE PIRATES!!" The admission breaks the scene open. The Marines cry, Tashigi cries, and Smoker hides his face rather than let the emotion show too openly. Luffy, on the other hand, bursts into laughter: "HAHAHA HAHAHA." He sees the contradiction and accepts it without needing to solve it. Chopper watches the Marines bawl and sums them up with innocent bluntness: "WHAT WEIRD MARINES." The farewell has become comic, painful, and sincere all at once. G-5 has not stopped being the Marines, and the Straw Hats have not stopped being pirates, but for this moment everyone understands that the children were saved because these particular people crossed the official line between justice and evil.

At last the children get their goodbye. From the tanker they shout to the Straw Hats, "PIRATE BIG BROS!! BIG SISTERS!! THANK YOU FOR SAVING US!!" Their gratitude is so strong that it turns into a dangerous dream: "WHEN WE GROW UP, WE'LL DEFINITELY..." The obvious answer explodes from the scene, "BECOME PIRATES!!" and is immediately rejected: "DON'T DO THAT!!" The goodbye turns into a promise of future rivalry. The Marines shout, "BE READY FOR THE NEXT TIME WE MEET!!" Another voice calls, "SEE YA!!" G-5 warns, "WE'LL BE ENEMIES AGAIN!!" and "WE'RE GONNA CATCH YA!!" The ship pulls away carrying the children home, while the Straw Hats remain pirates on the far side of the line. The children leave Punk Hazard with tears, gratitude, and a memory of pirates that no Marine slogan can erase.

Far from the warmth of the farewell, Doflamingo cuts across the sky at high speed. The page narrows the world to motion: his face, his sunglasses, his coat, and the sharp rush of air as he travels along his invisible route. The sound of movement dominates the silence, a long "WHOOSH" carrying him forward. There is no conversation here, only pursuit. Punk Hazard's battle may be over for the Straw Hats, but Doflamingo has not accepted the outcome. He is already moving toward the island, and the empty sky makes his approach feel colder and more dangerous than a normal chase. The story shifts from rescue and parting back toward consequences: Law's operation has wounded Doflamingo's business, and the man himself is coming to answer it.

Doflamingo's route suddenly fails him. Hanging in the air, he exhales with irritation: "HAA... LOOKS LIKE I'VE RUN INTO A SPOT OF BAD LUCK." He glares ahead, realizing that his path has been broken. His anger sharpens into accusation: "YOU BRATS...!!" Then he laughs with that cruel edge of his, unable to ignore the absurdity of being delayed in the sky itself: "HOW CAN IT BE THAT THE 'SKY ROAD' HAS BEEN INTERRUPTED...!!! FLUFFLUFFU!!" The interruption is not a battle, but it matters. It slows him just enough for Law's plan to keep moving. Doflamingo is powerful enough to cross the sky, yet even his route can be cut by circumstance, and that small delay becomes another piece in Law's gamble.

Doflamingo finds his subordinates left behind in humiliation. Baby 5, wounded and furious, spits, "SHIT!! WE WERE REALLY BETRAYED BY LAW!!" Buffalo calls out desperately, "YOUNG MASTER!!!" Their bodies and pride have both been used as messages. Doflamingo stands over the scene while they prepare themselves for punishment. One of them declares, "THERE'S NO EXCUSE!! WE'LL ACCEPT DEATH AS PENANCE...!!" Baby 5 twists her failure into personal anguish: "EVEN THOUGH I WAS NEEDED... I COULDN'T ANSWER THE CALL!!" Law's betrayal is no longer abstract. It has reached Doflamingo through his own people, displayed like damaged goods, and the sight makes clear how deliberately Law is provoking him. Baby 5 and Buffalo are alive, but their condition tells Doflamingo that Law has already taken control of the rhythm of this negotiation.

The insult becomes clearer when Doflamingo recognizes the small craft: "THIS IS THE LIFE RAFT FROM MY TANKER, ISN'T IT..." Baby 5 and Buffalo sink deeper into shame, saying, "WE'VE LOST ALL HONOR...!! IN THE END, WE..." Doflamingo cuts them off with cold control: "IT'S FINE. SAY NO MORE." He does not blame them for obeying him, telling them, "YOU TWO... WERE JUST FOLLOWING MY ORDERS." Then the real speaker enters the exchange. Law sits with Caesar Clown under his control, the prize Doflamingo needs most. The narration underlines the scale of the moment: "THE BOSS HIMSELF MAKES AN APPEARANCE..." Law answers that appearance with a calm taunt: "WELL THIS IS SURPRISING..." The board is set. Doflamingo has found his men, but Law has Caesar, and that means the conversation will happen on Law's terms.

Law opens the negotiation without pretending: "IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR CAESAR, HE'S WITH ME." Caesar panics from captivity, crying, "...JO... JOKER, HELP ME!!!" Doflamingo keeps his voice playful, but the threat underneath is plain: "LAW... IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME... YET WE STILL CAN'T MANAGE TO MEET PROPERLY..." His first question is for his subordinates: "WHERE ARE BABY-5 AND BUFFALO'S BODIES?" Law refuses to be pulled off course: "COME NOW... DON'T ASK SUCH SUPERFLUOUS QUESTIONS." Doflamingo laughs, "FU... FLUFFLU FLUFFLU FFU!!" and warns him, "HEY LAW, HOLD YOUR HORSES. CHILDREN SHOULDN'T GO AROUND ACTING LIKE GROWNUPS!! WHERE ARE YOU NOW!?... DON'T MAKE ME ANGRY...!!" Law answers the threat with the real purpose of the call: "LET'S MAKE A DEAL..."

Law explains why Doflamingo cannot simply rage his way through this. "MAKE YOU ANGRY? RIGHT NOW, YOUR MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESS PARTNER IS ONE OF THE YONKOU... THE GREAT PIRATE 'KAIDOU OF THE HUNDRED BEASTS'." The threat is not Law's strength alone, but the chain of business that Caesar's capture has broken. Law presses the weak point: "I'D IMAGINE THAT, RATHER, IT'S YOU WHO SHOULDN'T GO AND MAKE HIM ANGRY...!!" He asks what will happen if Kaidou learns the supply has stopped: "WHAT'LL HAPPEN IF HE'S INFORMED THAT YOU CAN NO LONGER PRODUCE SMILES?" Baby 5 and Buffalo see their master's expression shift and whisper, "YOUNG MASTER... YOUR FACE..." Law states the danger plainly: "HE'S NOT A VERY UNDERSTANDING MAN...!! IT WOULD RESULT IN A TERRIBLE CONFLICT, NO?" Then he delivers the final knife: "YOU'D BE KILLED." Doflamingo's patience cracks: "ENOUGH WITH THE JOKES, LAW...!! WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET CAESAR BACK...!? HURRY UP AND TELL ME YOUR DEMANDS!!"

Law finally names the price: "RESIGN FROM THE SHICHIBUKAI!!!" The demand hits Doflamingo like an attack. It is not just money, not just Caesar, not just a prisoner exchange. It is the legal shield and political structure Doflamingo has used for years. Doflamingo snarls, "WHAT AN IMPUDENT BRAT!!" Law does not soften it: "JUST THROW AWAY EVERYTHING YOU'VE BUILT OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS ... AND BECOME A SIMPLE PIRATE AGAIN." The implication reaches Dressrosa itself. Doflamingo says, "WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO STAY AT DRESSROSA ANYMORE." Law agrees by making the danger even sharper: "BUT OF COURSE, IF YOU DO THAT, MARINE HQ'S ADMIRALS WILL HUNT YOU DOWN...!!" He gives Doflamingo a deadline that turns the newspaper into a weapon: "YOU HAVE UNTIL TOMORROW'S MORNING EDITION!!"

Law closes the terms with the same precision he used to open them. "IF THE NEWSPAPER REPORTS THAT YOU'VE SHED YOUR SHICHIBUKAI TITLE... I'LL BE CONTACTING YOU AGAIN." If Doflamingo refuses, there will be no bargaining left: "IF THERE'S NO SUCH REPORT ... THEN THAT'S THE END OF OUR NEGOTIATIONS. ... LATER." Doflamingo snaps back, "WAIT A MINUTE, LAW!!!" but the line is already dead. The call ends with a hard click, and Baby 5 can only murmur, "YOUNG MASTER..." Doflamingo's control finally breaks in a visible gesture: "SNAP!!!" The chapter leaves him caught between every force Law has named: Caesar, Kaidou, the SMILE trade, the Shichibukai title, Dressrosa, and the Marines. Law has not defeated him in combat here; he has trapped him in consequences.

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