【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 551 Undercurrents Beneath the Calm

"A ferocious fish with horns; any boat that dares to approach will be immediately capsized." The shop owner gestured with his index finger to his head, trying his best to show the ferocity of the fighting fish. Although these were a group of strange customers, a certain sympathy in his heart made him unable to help but warn them.

"Even bridges reinforced with steel are of no use against them."

"Could it be... that they can even collapse a steel bridge?!" Usopp exclaimed incredulously.

"I don't know about the bridge, but no one has ever come back from there..." The shopkeeper said before leaving with his tray, having already kindly warned them.

Caesar panicked and cried out to Law, "You must protect me!"

"Change the location of the transaction right now!" Usopp shouted back.

"I won't change it. Now that you're here, stop complaining!" Luo said expressionlessly. "More than that, I'm worried about the situation in this country. The people here are acting too calmly. Even though the king has abdicated, this has completely exceeded my expectations..."

Robin listened to Usopp and Law's argument, her eyes constantly scanning the crowd, trying to observe and gather information. When she noticed the three tall figures in white clothes and masks, she immediately turned around, pulled down her hat brim, and covered her face.

Usopp, sitting next to Robin, immediately noticed something was wrong with her and asked in confusion, "What are you doing, Robin...?"

Robin gestured for Usopp to be quiet, her eyes still fixed on the three masked figures passing by behind them until they were completely out of sight.

"CP0! Why are you here?" Luo's expression was somewhat solemn. There must have been an unforeseen problem with their plan, but now their plan could not be stopped.

"Could it have something to do with CP9?" Usopp suddenly remembered the group of agents they encountered on Enies Lobby.

“It’s its highest-level agency. When they’re deployed, it’s definitely not for a good reason,” Robin explained. She felt uneasy about CP0’s presence on the island; the situation was probably more complicated than they imagined.

“Indeed…” Luo replied, but since they had already come this far, they could only continue on their way as planned. “Let’s go.”

……

Dressrosa Acacia

Lu Qi strolled quietly along the edge of the crowd, calmly slipping away the people who had been following him. He even had the leisure to observe the market area where he was. Amidst the bustling noise, there was the laughter of children and toys. Humans and toys seemed to get along exceptionally well here, but the toys seemed to be more than just toys.

Lucci pondered. At first, he did think that these toys were so lifelike because of the maker's superb skills. But when he failed to put the toys into his spatial storage, he realized that these toys were not simple. They were alive, even though his Observation Haki couldn't sense them.

He was still unsure of the exact cause of this situation, but he knew that the country was not as peaceful as it appeared. He had a feeling that some kind of darkness was lurking there, but no one knew just how dark it was.

What he needed to do now was to find the entrance to the factory that made SMILE according to the plan, but he had no clue what to do. Moreover, there was only half an hour left until 3 o'clock. Lu Qi glanced at the person hiding behind the wall out of the corner of his eye, wondering if this guy could provide any information. He had been waiting for them to make their move long enough, and there was no point in leading them any further.

The man who had been hiding behind the wall watched in panic as Lucci disappeared. "Where did he go?"

“Here I am.” The moment he turned around, Lucci plunged a dagger into his cheek, his voice chilling. “Can you tell me why you’ve been following me all this time?”

"I...I don't know. Our boss only told me to report your whereabouts." Seeing the approaching blade and hearing the man's sinister tone, the fear of death completely overwhelmed him. He frantically added, "And told us not to do anything!"

"Doflamingo?" Lucci frowned. What was this guy up to? He couldn't just be observing without doing anything. He thought at least one of his subordinates would come looking for him. If that was the case, then he'd been keeping this bastard around for nothing...

"Where are your officers?" Lucci asked again, looking at the trembling man.

"They're all at the arena right now. If you want to find them, you'll have to go to the arena..." the man hurriedly said. "The arena is hosting a big event today, and all the officers have been called there!"

"The arena?" Lucci frowned and asked, "You mean the officers and the like are all gathered in this arena?"

"Yes, all the cadres have been summoned!"

Hearing this answer, Lucci's lips twitched. This was clearly a trap, designed to keep them occupied. He hoped that Luffy wouldn't fall for it. However, with Ace around, he probably wouldn't let Luffy step into such an obvious trap. Just then, the sound of a Den Den Mushi interrupted Lucci's thoughts.

Lucci casually knocked the terrified man unconscious and took the Den Den Mushi out of his pocket.

"Hey, Lucci."

"Frankie, have you found the entrance?"

"Ah, things seem to be more complicated than I thought. I've encountered a strange toy soldier."

"Toy soldiers?" Lucci asked.

“Yes, I find it strange too. He seems to know quite a lot of things.”

"Does he know anything about himself?" Lucci asked curiously. He had tried asking the toys about themselves, but they didn't seem to know where they came from.

"Not only that, but in short, you should also go to the big garden; the factory entrance is right there."

"Where are Luffy and Ace?" Lucci asked. He really hadn't seen them since then. Knowing Luffy's personality, he should be attracted to the most exciting places...exciting...could those two have gone straight to the arena? Lucci thought to himself as he asked the question.

"That's right, they went to participate in the competition show, and by the way, their identities were exposed as well."

"What are those two doing?" Lucci covered his face in exasperation. Wasn't that arena an obvious trap?

"They're having so much fun, it makes me want to join in too. By the way, I can't get in touch with Nami or Sanji."

"The Sunny? There won't be any problems. Sanji and Killua are both on board," Lucci said calmly. He wasn't too worried about Killua's situation; even if Doflamingo went, there wouldn't be any issues.

"Yeah, and Brook and Chopper are with them too!"

"Are you going to the big garden with the toy soldiers?" Lucci asked.

"I wanted to inform Luffy and Ace, but the arena was heavily guarded and no one was allowed to enter."

“I’ll leave those two to them,” Lucci sighed. “When will they ever develop the habit of carrying Den Den Mushi?”

"Then it's up to you, Brother Lucci."

"Click"