Candy

Behind the Punk Hazard facility, the group tries to understand what happened to Kin'emon's missing body. One of the children suddenly reacts to Chopper's Guard Point and shouts, "WHOAAAA!! I SUDDENLY GOT ALL BIG AND FLUFFY!!" Chopper explains, "THAT'S CALLED 'GUARD POINT'. I CAN TRANSFORM INTO SIX DIFFERENT FORMS JUST BY PICTURING THEM." Someone points out, "THAT'S A PRETTY UNSTABLE BODY YOU'VE GOT!" and Chopper says, "YOU JUST HAVE TO GET USED TO IT!" Nami then brings everyone back to the samurai: "WHAT DID YOU SAY?! THE SAMURAI WENT OUTSIDE?!" Brook answers, "YES." He explains that after he mentioned meeting a person who was only a torso, Kin'emon questioned him for details and then "RAN OFF INTO THE SNOW...!!" Brook blames himself: "UGGHHHHH!! I KNEW IT WAS TOO QUIET AROUND HERE...!! I SHOULD HAVE PAID MORE ATTENTION!!" Kin'emon is shown striding into the blizzard, accepting responsibility for dragging his head out of the facility and saying that if the fool gets killed now, it will be his fault.

The group considers whether to chase Kin'emon. Brook reasons, "I SEE, I SEE. HE MAY BE A SAMURAI, BUT WITHOUT HIS TORSO TO WIELD A SWORD... HE HAS NO WAY TO DEFEND HIMSELF SHORT OF FLEEING." Nami asks, "THEN DO YOU INTEND TO... GO AFTER HIM?" and promises, "I SWEAR, WHEN I FIND HIM..." Luffy is ready to move on separately: "LUFFY!! I NEED TO GO OFF SOMEWHERE FOR A BIT. IS THAT ALL RIGHT?!" Luffy answers, "SURE, GO AHEAD!!" Brook, however, turns the expedition into his usual request: "IN THAT CASE, I WILL GUIDE YOU TO THE LOCATION IN QUESTION. BY THE BY, WOULD YOU CARE TO SHOW ME YOUR PANTIES?" Nami's fury erupts: "HOLD ON A MINUTE!!" Brook then laments, "ALAS, I WAS BRUTALLY PUNCHED... WERE MY BONES SHATTERED, YOU ASK? NO... ALL THAT WAS SHATTERED WAS MY DREAMS OF SEEING PANTIES." Zoro, annoyed, tells him, "SO TELL ME AGAIN, WHY DO I HAVE TO GO AND HUNT FOR THAT FARTING SAMURAI JUST BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN A PRIZE IDIOT?!" but he is sent anyway: "ZORO!! YOU GO ALONG WITH THEM."

With Zoro, Brook, and Sanji assigned to the samurai search, the remaining Straw Hats try to decide their next move. Franky, still trapped in Chopper's body, says, "SO, LET'S FIGURE OUT WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO NEXT. OUR PRIORITY HAS TO BE CHANGING OURSELVES BACK TO NORMAL!! I CAN'T STAND BEING THIS PERVERTED FREAK ANY LONGER!!" Chopper's body laughs, "AWWW, C'MON, NO NEED TO COMPLIMENT ME THAT MUCH!" and someone warns, "PLEASE DON'T MAKE THAT FACE AS CHOPPER. EVER AGAIN." Robin adds the practical concern: "THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THOSE KIDS. DEALING WITH THEM AIN'T GONNA BE EASY, Y'KNOW?" Franky begins, "FRANKY, I DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD SPEAK AT ALL IN THAT BODY," and Robin confirms, "EVER AGAIN." Chopper then begins checking one of the children with his equipment. He says, "I HAVE THE RESULTS...!!" and starts, "THIS IS...!!" before the child's body suddenly convulses. The others shout, "WHAT'S WRONG?!" and "ARE YOU FEELING COLD?!" as the child groans, "URGH HH..."

The children begin collapsing one after another. One cries, "IT HURTS... URGHHH..." while the others call out, "SHINDO!! ARE YOU OKAY?!" "HEY, CHOPPER, IT LOOKS LIKE HE'S HURT!! HELP HIM OUT!!" and "WHOA, WHAT'S GOING ON?" More names follow in panic: "MOCHA...!" "UUNHH HH...!!" "AAARG HHH...!" "DORAN, TOO?!!" Sanji asks, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH THEM ALL?!!" Chopper's face hardens as he watches the pattern. Luffy asks, "CHOPPER, YOU JUST EXAMINED THEM, DIDN'T YOU?! DO THESE CHILDREN REALLY HAVE SOME KIND OF ILLNESS?!!" Franky, Nami, and the others stare while the big children writhe in pain. Chopper answers quietly and decisively: "...NO."

Chopper questions the children while they pant through the pain. "IS THERE SOMETHING YOU WANT ABOUT NOW?" he asks. "WHAT DO YOU USUALLY DO AROUND THIS TIME?" A child answers weakly, "USUALLY...? WE HAVE OUR EXAMINATION... AND THEN... THEY GIVE US SOME CANDY..." Chopper repeats, "CANDY?" The children explain, "UH-HUH, IT'S ALL FIZZY AND SMOKE COMES OUT OF IT. IT'S REALLY FUNNY AND REALLY TASTY." Another child says, "YEAH... WHEN I EAT THAT...!! UERGH HHHHHHHH HH...!!" Then, in the grip of craving, the child says, "WHEN I EAT THAT, IT ALWAYS MAKES ME FEEL REALLY HAPPY...!! IF I HAD SOME, I MIGHT FEEL BETTER...!!!" Chopper's eye widens as he understands. What looked like illness is tied to something administered regularly inside the facility.

Brownbeard insists the children are not victims of disease. "BROWN-BEARD! THAT'S YOUR NAME, RIGHT? WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?! THESE CHILDREN DON'T HAVE A DISEASE AT ALL!!" Chopper demands. Brownbeard answers, "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? OUR JOB IS TO PATROL OUTSIDE, SO I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE THE LAB... BUT THOSE KIDS ARE ALL HORRIBLY ILL!!" He repeats Caesar's story with total faith: "OUR MERCIFUL MASTER WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO GATHER THEM FROM THEIR ISLAND HOMES... SO THAT HE COULD TREAT THEM WITH HIS OWN SPECIAL TECHNIQUES AND MEDICINE!! HE'S A TENDER-HEARTED SCIENTIST!!!" As the children continue retching and crying, Brownbeard takes their collapse as proof: "YOU SEE?! THIS PROVES IT!! AS SOON AS YOU TAKE THEM AWAY FROM THE LAB... THE KIDS ARE COLLAPSING IN PAIN BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T HAD THEIR TREATMENT!!"

Chopper rejects Brownbeard's explanation. Nami shouts, "YOU'RE WRONG!!!" and asks Chopper, "CHOPPER, WHAT'S WRONG?! DID YOU FIGURE SOMETHING OUT?!" Chopper explains what he found in the children's bodies: "NHC-10. THAT'S WHAT I FOUND FROM EXAMINING THESE CHILDREN. ONLY TRACE AMOUNTS, BUT IT'S DEFINITELY THERE." The name shocks him because he knows exactly what it means. He declares, "THIS IS A STIMULANT DRUG!!!" The others react in disbelief: "!!?" Chopper says only a very small number of doctors in select countries are even permitted to possess it. He adds from his own medical knowledge, "DOCTORINE USED TO HAVE SOME, SO I KNOW ALL ABOUT IT. IT CAN LEGITIMATELY BE USED TO TREAT SOME ILLNESSES, BUT ONLY IN THE SMALLEST OF DOSES. IT'S NEVER ACCEPTABLE TO EXCEED THE MAXIMUM DOSE, BECAUSE THE DRUG CAN BECOME HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!!"

Chopper identifies Caesar's true method. "THESE CHILDREN HAVE BEEN TAKING THE SAME DRUG EVERY DAY FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. THEY'VE REACHED THE CHRONIC ADDICTION PHASE!!" he says. "THEIR BODIES ARE SEEKING THEIR NEXT DOSE TO ESCAPE FROM THE PAIN!!!" The horror is simple and intentional: the candy was not kindness, it was control. Chopper shouts, "JUST TO STOP THEM FROM ESCAPING THE LAB?!! WHY?!! WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THIS TO INNOCENT CHILDREN?!!" Brownbeard still refuses to accept it and warns, "YOU'D BETTER NOT BE TRYING TO INSULT OUR MASTER!!" Chopper points at him and asks, "WHAT IS YOUR SO-CALLED 'SAVIOUR'... REALLY DOING WITH THESE CHILDREN?!!" Luffy, seeing the children suffer, asks what they should do. Chopper refuses the easy answer: "NO!!! WE MUSTN'T LET THEM SO MUCH AS TASTE THAT 'CANDY' EVER AGAIN!! THE PEOPLE IN THAT LAB HAVE BEEN USING IT TO FEED THESE CHILDREN DANGEROUS DRUGS!!!"

The children beg for the candy anyway because their bodies are already trapped by the drug. One asks Luffy directly, "STRAW HAT GUY... ARE YOU GONNA BRING US THE CANDY...?" Luffy starts to answer, "HM? ...NO!! I CAN'T." He explains with complete trust in his doctor: "IF CHOPPER SAYS IT'S BAD, THEN IT MUST BE BAD!! HE'S OUR SHIP'S DOCTOR!! WE HAVE TO TRUST HIM!!" But the answer terrifies the children. Shindo's face twists and he asks, "WHY?" The others shrink back: "AHHHH...!! SHINDO, WHAT'S WRONG?! YOU'RE SCARING US...!!" One child reminds him, "DIDN'T YOU JUST SAY YOU'D GO AND GET IT?!!!" The craving is no longer just pain; it becomes rage and strength.

Shindo snaps and attacks with huge force. He roars, "YOU SAID YOU'D GET IT!!!" and slams through the snow with enough power to blast Luffy aside. The others shout, "LUFFY!!!" and "AAAG HHHHHH HH!!!" as the impact tears across the group. Robin watches the child's strength and asks, "WHERE IS THAT STRENGTH COMING FROM?!" The other children panic: "SHINDO, STOP!!" "AAAA HHHHHH HH...!" "I'VE NEVER SEEN SHINDO ACT LIKE THIS BEFORE!!" Someone says, "I GUESS EVEN YOUNG GIANTS MUST STILL BE PRETTY STRONG!" but another corrects the scale of the problem: "YEAH, BUT THIS STRONG?!" The violence is not normal childhood anger; it is the drug's withdrawal twisting a frightened child into a danger to everyone around him.

The group realizes the children were not simply born huge. Sanji says, "HUH?! SHINDO ISN'T A GIANT!!" and another child explains, "NONE OF THE BIG KIDS ARE GIANTS! WHEN WE FIRST ARRIVED ON THIS ISLAND... ALL OF US WERE NORMAL SIZED!!" The longest-held kids grew the largest: "I THOUGHT WE HAD A DISEASE THAT MAKES US GROW! ISN'T THAT RIGHT? THERE'S NOTHING ELSE WRONG WITH US! THE KIDS WHO'VE BEEN HERE THE LONGEST ARE ALWAYS THE BIGGEST...!!" Chopper pieces it together: "THAT'S RIDICULOUS!! THERE'S NO DISEASE THAT WOULD MAKE ORDINARY HUMANS GROW TO THE SIZE OF GIANTS!! PEOPLE WITH GIANT BODIES AREN'T EXTRA LARGE TO BEGIN WITH... BUT THEN... THEIR PITUITARY GLANDS ARE RELEASING HORMONES AT AN ACCELERATED RATE... BUT THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN NATURALLY... WHICH MEANS THAT THESE CHILDREN ARE BEING... EXPERIMENTED ON...!!" Sanji erupts, "HOW DARE HE CONTROL THESE CHILDREN WITH HIS DRUGS...?!!" while Luffy steps forward: "NO, LUFFY!! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!! SHALL I TAKE CARE OF THEM?!!"

Usopp chooses a nonlethal way to stop the rampaging children. He fires "HISSATSU!!" and calls the move "BAKUSUI-BOSHI!!!" with the note "TN: 'HEAVY SLEEPING STAR'." The attack bursts across the snow, filling the area with sleep-inducing force. Shindo and the other children collapse heavily, the huge bodies finally still as the Straw Hats stand around them panting. "*PANT*" hangs in the quiet. Looking at the children asleep in the snow, someone says, "...SO THESE CHILDREN REALLY WERE KIDNAPPED..." Luffy stands with his arms folded, taking in the truth that Caesar's facility had not been treating the children at all. It had been trapping them, drugging them, and altering their bodies.

Luffy reaches the direct conclusion. Sanji says, "I CAN'T JUST LEAVE THESE CHILDREN! THEY JUST WANT TO GO HOME! ...THEY WANT TO SEE THEIR PARENTS! ...WE HAVE TO HELP THEM!!!" Luffy answers, "HMMM MM... THEN LET'S TAKE THEM TO THEIR PARENTS...!!" Robin warns him immediately: "YOU IDIOT!! IT'S NOT NEARLY THAT SIMPLE!! THERE ARE A MOUNTAIN OF PROBLEMS TO DEAL WITH!! INDEED... AND WE STILL DON'T EVEN HAVE A PROPER GRASP OF THE SITUATION. UNTIL WE EXPOSE THE MASTERMIND BEHIND THIS, NOTHING CAN BE CERTAIN!!" Luffy asks, "YOU MEAN THAT 'MASTER' GUY...?" Since Zoro, Sanji, and Brook have already gone after the samurai, Luffy decides, "OH, WELL, I GUESS WE'LL JUST HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE LAB WITHOUT THEM! TO FIND THIS 'MASTER'!!" Chopper hesitates because the children need care: "I NEED TO STAY BEHIND HERE...!! I CAN'T FORGIVE THAT 'MASTER' FOR WHAT HE'S DONE... HONESTLY, I'D LIKE TO BEAT HIM UP MYSELF, BUT..."

The crew divides responsibilities around the unconscious children. Chopper says, "I'M STILL WORRIED ABOUT THE CHILDREN. I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF THEM..." and Franky volunteers, "GOOD POINT! THEN... I GUESS I'LL STAY BEHIND AS WELL!!" Sanji protests, "THAT'S DIRTY AND LOW, NAMI!! YOU'RE JUST SCARED, AREN'T YOU?!!" and Luffy admits the obvious danger: "BUT WHAT IF THE KIDS START GOING CRAZY AGAIN LIKE JUST NOW? THAT WOULD BE BAD!!" The answer is grim but practical: "LET'S TIE UP THE BIG ONES... SO THEY CAN'T DO ANYTHING!!" Someone notes, "THAT'S A LITTLE CRUDE..." but another insists, "IT'S THE ONLY WAY. THESE KIDS FIGHT LIKE HEAVIES!!" The body-switch issue still hangs over them. Franky asks, "BUT HANG ON. WHAT ABOUT THE WHOLE BODY-SWITCH THING?" and Sanji answers, "I FIGURE THE FOUR OF US... NEED TO ALL MEET UP WITH TRAFALGAR AGAIN IF WE WANT TO CHANGE BACK." Luffy waves off the concern: "OH, JUST STAY AS YOU ARE! IT'LL BE FINE!" earning, "THERE IS NOTHING FINE ABOUT THIS!! HAVE YOU GOT THAT?!"

Farther along the road to the mountains behind the lab, Zoro's team has already been taken down. Zoro, Brook, and Kin'emon lie unconscious in the snow, sprawled beside their footprints while the blizzard blows over them. The scene cuts at the same time to Caesar Clown's research facility, where Law holds a small cube marked as "THE LIVING HEART... OF G-5 MARINE ADMIRAL... SMOKER." Law looks down at the heart in silence, thinking, "...SMOKER." The page connects two dangers at once: the Straw Hats' separate search party has been ambushed on the mountain road, and Law still possesses the prize that keeps Smoker vulnerable.

Inside the facility, Caesar enjoys receiving Smoker's heart. "A FITTING PRESENT INDEED!" he says. "I HAVE ALREADY SENT SOLDIERS TO TAKE CARE OF THE MARINES, BUT... SHURORORO! WITH THIS, THE OUTCOME IS CLEAR." Law says, "I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING A LITTLE OVERBOARD, MYSELF... BUT I'VE SENT THOSE TWO TO TAKE CARE OF THINGS." Caesar asks about the Straw Hats and replies with cruelty: "WHAT ABOUT MISTER STRAW HAT AND HIS FRIENDS? WELL, THE CHILDREN WILL BE DYING TO COME BACK HERE SOONER OR LATER REGARDLESS... BUT MONÉ INSISTED THAT I PREPARE FOR EVERY EVENTUALITY...!!" Outside, two immense figures appear in the snow. Caesar names them: "THOSE SNOWY-MOUNTAIN KILLERS... THE 'YETI COOL BROTHERS'!" Their enormous silhouettes stand over the mountain road, implying they are the ones who struck down Zoro's team.

No description for this page.