【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 529 Will Not Sit and Wait for Death

"Well, I wanted to ask you, whose heart is this?" Qi handed the heart in his hand to Luo. "I got it from Caesar."

Luo frowned at Qi. "So you still faced Caesar before you got your heart back?"

“I won’t sit idly by and wait to die, and it’s Caesar who wants to come to the snowy mountains to take back the child.” Qi raised an eyebrow and said, “It’s only right that I take action.”

"Can't you just follow the plan?!" Luo said angrily. He always felt that since forming an alliance with them, there would be many more instances of them not acting according to the plan.

"Lo, where's my heart?!" Small chewed his cigarette hard, looking at the heart in Qi's hand.

"Here you go!" Law tossed the heart belonging to Smoker back to him. There was no need to keep it now, and the Navy wouldn't waste time dealing with them under these circumstances.

"So this is the bird woman's heart?" Qi asked.

“Yes.” Luo nodded. “Lucci’s heart has been retrieved. All that’s left in Caesar is the heart that I returned to him, which belonged to Monet.”

"Qi, come quick! Poison gas has entered! We need to get out of this research institute immediately!!"

Nami, standing on the back of the half-crocodile man, shouted to Qi, who was talking to Law, that they had to leave this place as soon as possible. They hadn't expected that the poison gas had already invaded the research institute. Who created that crack?! In short, they had to take the children straight to the gate of R66 and leave the research institute as quickly as possible.

"Then take it. She's your enemy, right?" Upon hearing Nami's words, Qi handed the heart in his hand to Law, and then used Moonwalk to quickly catch up with Nami and the others who were being carried away by the half-crocodile man.

Luo frowned as he watched Qi's departing figure, then looked at the heart in his hand. According to his original plan, this heart would be used by Caesar to take revenge on Smoker when Caesar failed, but now it was back in his hands. It might be better if he could deal with it himself, just like he had already dealt with Vergo.

Suddenly, Qi remembered something: their goal was to capture Caesar, but none of them had seastone handcuffs. He immediately turned to Law, who was dealing with a heart attack, and shouted, "Hey, Law! Can you get some seastone handcuffs?"

Luo looked up at the singularity hovering in mid-air and nodded in response, "Okay."

"Then I'll have to trouble you to find chains or handcuffs made of seastone and take them to Luffy. None of them have any seastone!" Qi grinned and said without any politeness.

"Got it!" Luo frowned. They went to capture nature-type creatures but didn't bring the Seastone Iron Chains.

After landing on the half-crocodile man, Qi looked at Zoro and Brook sitting on him with a puzzled expression. He remembered that the three of them had run away long ago. "What are you doing here too?"

"Running is too much trouble," Zoro said seriously, arms crossed. "I don't want to run anymore."

"You can't all come up here!" Tea Beard shouted angrily as he ran. "The kids who can't run are fine, but all of you who aren't injured, get down and run!"

The Straw Hat crew completely ignored Teabeard's complaints and began to take off their coats, which they already found too hot inside the research institute.

"Anyway, our goals are different. Once we get to the soldiers' encampment, you all have to get off here. I have important business to attend to," Tea Beard said to the group of straw-hatted men on his back.

"We need to leave this research institute as soon as possible. I don't know who cut it, but that crack in the roof will allow the poison gas to spread throughout the entire institute very quickly," Qi said, looking up at the small crack in the ceiling.

"I never expected that they would go so far as to destroy the research institute to release poison gas," Robin said, looking at the poison gas blocked by the gate of GB Building behind him.

"Caesar really doesn't care about the means to get things done," Brooke remarked.

Sanji, seeing the G5 Marines following behind them with the giant child, urged, "You bastards, hurry up! All of you, keep up with me!"

……

"Bulu Bulu!"

"Clown, can you hear me? This is Monet."

"Monet, is he still alive? Vergo has been killed."

"Ronald and Monkey D. Lucci have obtained their hearts."

"I've already arranged for BABY5 and Buffalo to pick up Caesar."

“Caesar can’t last that long.” Monet sat on the ground and touched the bandages on his wound.

"It was my oversight... I'm so sorry."

"However, just in case, I want to wipe out those brats all at once..."

"Another weapon lies dormant in the Third Research Institute, the one that destroyed the First and Second Research Institutes and the entire island four years ago. If the detonation device is activated, the only survivor on that island will be Caesar, who can withstand the highly toxic gas. That button is..."

“You don’t need to say anything more, Joker.” Monet’s lips curled into a smile. “This was my plan from the beginning. I’m right in front of that detonator right now… The explosion will affect the tanker, and you’ll lose one. Is that alright?”

"...I'm sorry, but you'll have to take them with you to your grave!"

"Understood, young master," Monet said softly, looking at the button before her with a smile. "Farewell, young master, you are the man who will become the Pirate King!!"

"Ugh!" Monet pulled up her clothes, staring incredulously at the hole in her chest, before finally collapsing in despair. "I'm sorry, young master..."

"Monet! What happened? Answer me now!!"

Hearing the sound of Monet falling and the long-absent explosion, Doflamingo's anger intensified. He crushed the microphone in his hand. Monet had failed. "Roh!!"

......

Building B of the Research Institute

"What is that dragon?!" The G5 navy members stared in shock at the green dragon that was spewing fire haphazardly in the sky.

"Zoro, that dragon seems to be one you brought in, right?" Qi asked, raising an eyebrow as he sat on the back of the tea-bearded man and looked at the green dragon flying haphazardly in the air.

“We want to take it into the research institute,” Zoro explained.

"Is this the time to talk about this?" Usopp exclaimed incredulously, staring at the dragon spewing flames in the air. "Isn't the important thing right now to take care of this fire-breathing dragon?!"

"If so many oil tanks were ignited, this research institute might be blown to smithereens immediately," Qi speculated, looking at the oil tank-like structures on either side of the stairs.

"Don't just calmly make such a terrifying guess!!" Usopp and Chopper yelled at Qi.

"We absolutely cannot let it hurt the children behind!" Nami immediately shouted, "Zoro!"

"Don't order me around," Zoro said, looking annoyed.

"Wait a moment, everyone. Since it is a dragon, I cannot stand idly by! I have an irreconcilable hatred for dragons. Please let me take care of it!" Kin'emon rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, his eyes glaring sharply at the dragon.