"Serving the great Celestial Dragon Eleco-sei is my sister's honor!"
Niji was the first to speak. Although Sanji's three brothers were all cold-blooded and ruthless, there were still subtle differences among them.
For instance, the eldest, Ichiji, was relatively steady, while the fourth son, Niji, was much more malicious.
"What a cold-blooded younger brother you are!"
When Judge finally made his decision, he informed his children of the transaction, so Reiju had long known that her future life was already arranged. Soon, she would no longer be a member of the Germa Family.
Yet, hearing it stated so bluntly and cruelly by her brother still prompted a hint of self-mockery in her words.
Thinking of her unfeeling father and her emotionless bastard brothers, a trace of sorrow welled up inside her.
She had lived her entire life in such a cold-blooded family, forced to pretend to be just as cold and ruthless as them.
Otherwise, possessing true emotions as she did, there was a chance her father would subject her to secondary modification.
She loathed this family, yet she was powerless to resist her father's control.
That's right—even though Eleco had demanded that Judge release his control over Reiju and transfer it to himself, Judge had insisted on obtaining some of Eleco's blood in exchange. Therefore, Reiju was still taking orders from Judge and remained subject to his arrangements.
Speaking of which, I wonder if that foolish younger brother of hers, Sanji, survived in the North Blue, and if he ever met someone who gave him warmth.
Just as Reiju was reminiscing about her mother, Sora, and her younger brother, Sanji, a shrill alarm sounded from the snail-island ship they were riding, and countless soldiers shouted as they opened fire with guns and cannons.
"Enemy attack!"
"Water cannon barrage!"
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
A barrage of water-bubble shells surged from the seafloor toward Germa's ship. This was an underwater attack launched by Penguin, a member of the Heart Pirates.
Now, let us dial the clock back half an hour.
Half a month ago, in the waters near Swallow Island.
"Damn it, how could anyone be targeting Wolf? Are they Bax's men?"
After Stephie hung up the Den Den Mushi, Law immediately ordered his crew to set sail and rush back to Swallow Island.
Although the entire town had received word yesterday that a wealthy merchant had come to inspect Swallow Island, Law hadn't paid it much mind.
After all, Swallow Island truly was just a small island, and that flamboyant mayor of Fun Town, in order to boost his own prestige, always claimed that any merchant coming to invest on the island was a major tycoon.
Thus, they were already used to it.
By now, the strength accumulated by Law and his pirate crew was nearly sufficient, and thanks to Wolf's unremitting efforts, they had finally completed yet another upgrade of the Polar Tang.
According to plan, they were simply testing the submarine's performance in the waters near Swallow Island this morning, never expecting that their home would be raided in the blink of an eye.
"Captain! We are about to reach the offshore waters of Swallow Island. Wait, what is that...?"
"Hey, Bepo, what do you see?"
At this moment, the periscope of the Polar Tang was operated by a white bear—a Mink belonging to the polar bear tribe.
He had the appearance and physique of a polar bear, with bead-like eyes that looked quite cute, alongside sharp teeth and claws. He wore a long-sleeved orange jumpsuit and a pair of brown boots, with the emblem of the Heart Pirates emblazoned on the left chest of his garment.
As the navigator of the Heart Pirates, he was usually the one in charge of the Polar Tang's periscope.
"I-I'm sorry..."
"Stop that, Bepo, what time do you think it is?!"
Because of his fragile personality, he was extremely prone to bouts of depression, possessed very low stress tolerance, and had poor psychological endurance. He was exceedingly sensitive to other people's criticisms and couldn't handle being praised, always bowing his head to apologize whenever he was reprimanded by those around him.
Therefore, faced with Penguin's rebuke, Bepo habitually began to apologize.
"It's Germa's snail ship..."
Bepo still understood the severity of the situation. Among everyone present here, only he, Law, Penguin, and Shachi were people who had lived with Wolf for a long time.
To him, Wolf was also vital family, so he quickly adjusted his state and reported his discovery to the others.
"Germa? What are they doing here, and why have they surrounded the port...?"
Shachi exclaimed: "Is that *the* Germa?!"
Nearly all the members of the Heart Pirates had lived in the North Blue, and they were very familiar with Germa as a famous North Blue family. Influenced in particular by the comic book *Sora, Warrior of the Sea*, they could practically all be considered Germa fans.
"Germa? Could it be that Germa's people have taken control of Wolf? That makes no sense!"
"Boss, could it be because of the old man's inventions? After all, the Germa Family naturally excels at technological power, and the old man loves inventing all sorts of bizarre things. Who knows, maybe one of his inventions caught their eye?"
"No, that shouldn't be it. Their target is very clear—they're coming straight for me..."
"Penguin, go get the files. If I recall correctly, the Germa Family's eldest daughter is Poison Pink?"
At this present time, Law had not yet crossed paths with Luffy, nor had he been led astray by them; he was still a thoroughly aloof and handsome man who would carefully analyze whatever situation arose.
The female voice from the earlier phone call, combined with the port currently surrounded by Germa's ships, led Law to subconsciously deduce that the newcomer was Vinsmoke's eldest daughter, Reiju!
"Boss, based on intelligence analysis, if it really is Poison Pink, then only a few members of the Germa Family have likely come. The head of the Germa Family probably hasn't shown up."
Hm?
Noticing Law's doubt, Penguin immediately added: "Judge is a man with an overwhelming desire for control. If it were him who came, he would have been the one on the call... Uh, that's in the comic book..."
Meeting Law's gaze, Penguin's voice instantly trailed off and grew softer.
"Here's what we'll do: Penguin, Shachi, take a few people who are good swimmers and dive into the sea to create chaos at the port. Bepo and the others will pilot the Polar Tang to pick you up and take me straight to the underground port first. I'll see if I can take advantage of the chaos to get the old man out of there."
There was an underground port at Wolf's house, which served as a docking and research site for the Polar Tang. Law intended to return there first to make preparations.
As long as Penguin and his group initiated an attack, Law could fish in troubled waters from the other side, seize the opportunity to find Wolf—who was being controlled by the enemy—and use his Devil Fruit powers to rescue him.
Unfortunately, their knowledge and awareness were still lacking. The moment they approached the coastal waters near Swallow Island, their movements had already been detected by the surveillance Sea Slugs arranged by Stephie.
After the servants took over, Stephie arranged for Wolf to be kept in a constant state of relocation while being brought closer to her...
"The enemy is underwater!"
"Spark Red, Transformation!"
"Spark Revolving Strike!"
At the port, facing those water cannon attacks, the one returning fire was Ichiji in his transformed state.
"They're here. They certainly have some nerve, daring to attack a Celestial Dragon. But I suppose this is just a feint to draw our forces away?"
Knowing that the Heart Pirates traveled by submarine, Stephie had brought along plenty of alert Sea Slugs this time out—creatures capable of monitoring the movements of ships underwater and transmitting information.
Upon landing on Swallow Island and taking control of Wolf, she had ordered her servants to deploy Sea Slugs for underwater surveillance.
Furthermore, Stephie was already well aware of the intelligence regarding Law and his crew members over the years.
Thus, when Germa's snail ship was attacked and her servants reported it, she knew immediately that Law and his crew had arrived.
Though something seemed slightly off—ah, right, they were attacking Germa's ship, not assaulting a Celestial Dragon.
Never mind, whatever. Eleco had briefly mentioned Law's powers to her, and she had studied them carefully on the journey here. To prevent Law from using his abilities to create a distraction and quietly whisk Wolf away, Stephie decided to go straight for a grand gesture.
"Since you're here, show yourself, Trafalgar Law! I am the Celestial Dragon, Fieldro Stephie! I'll count to three. If you don't show yourself after three counts, I will execute Wolf directly!"
This was something Stephie had arranged the moment she arrived on the island: she had special amplification equipment installed across the island to ensure her voice could be heard loud and clear no matter where anyone was.
Doing this was meant to immediately pin the highest possible crime onto Law—assaulting a Celestial Dragon!
As Stephie finished speaking, and at a gesture from her, the attendant beside her immediately pulled out a communication Den Den Mushi to dial their stronghold, while a servant hoisted the Fieldro Family crest flag beside her.
Having notified those left behind, Stephie began to count:
"One."
...
"Two."
...
At a time like this, counting naturally involved drawing out the cadence of the words as much as possible.
"Wait, Room!"
Splash! Splash!
Bang, bang, bang!
With several sounds of figures breaking the water and landing, Trafalgar Law and his comrades who had been lying in wait underwater were all teleported by him directly onto the ground of the port.
What had he just heard?
A Celestial Dragon!
How could it be a Celestial Dragon?!
To verify whether it was true, the moment Stephie had counted "one," Law had already used his power to transport himself into the air near the port. What immediately came into his field of vision was Stephie standing beneath the crest flag of the Fieldro Celestial Dragon family.
Law was no mindless brute like Luffy who understood nothing and only knew how to charge in blindly; he gathered intelligence on the seas everywhere he went, which was the duty of a captain responsible for his crew.
As for that group of Celestial Dragons living at the pinnacle of the world, although Law lacked any special means to gather every piece of useful information, he at least recognized the crests and flags of the nineteen Celestial Dragon families.
After all, this was something the World Government heavily publicized to remind the world precisely whose "world" it was.
Fortunately, because Stephie had deliberately prolonged her counting, by the time she reached "two," Law had already confirmed it was real—after all, surely no one would dare impersonate a Celestial Dragon, right? (P.S.: Luffy and his crew chuckle knowingly.)
He then activated his ability, swapping places with some of the Germa clone soldiers surrounding Stephie and her group.
Of course, there was a method to this as well. Law wanted to try one more time: the moment he spotted Wolf, he would use his power to extract him, and the positions of the few people he swapped with were chosen to provide a convenient escape route.
While this might offend a Celestial Dragon, he still held a trump card in his hand.
First, he was an Ope Ope no Mi user, which meant that in the eyes of the world, he was someone capable of performing the ultimate technique of the Ope no Mi—the Immortality Operation.
This was the greatest temptation of all.
Secondly, these past few years, he hadn't failed to investigate information regarding the person who had spoken with Rosinante over the phone back then.
Synthesizing all the intelligence pointed to a single individual: the current Fleet Admiral, Sengoku.
Rosinante was an undercover agent planted by the Marines inside Doflamingo's ranks, and the one who had pursued Doflamingo all those years was Vice Admiral Tsuru.
Yet the voice on those communications clearly didn't belong to her. Back then, only a handful of top-ranking Marine figures possessed the authority to command Rosinante and knew the whereabouts of the Ope no Mi.
With a little bit of investigation, he had uncovered information about Sengoku—who back when he was a Marine Admiral, had brought back a child from the North Blue and raised him as his own son.
Had he not been so young at the time, and had his trust in all Marines not been shattered by the incident with Vergo, he would likely have sought out Sengoku long ago.
In truth, if he had simply gone to Sengoku to play the pitiful victim, he might already be thriving within the Marines by now.
Alas, that was merely a "what if." Fate had brought him across another benefactor instead, and therefore, he would absolute not allow anything to happen to Wolf.