【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 513 I'm Here

"Since you're going to cut me, then just kill me! Trafalgar!!"

"The weak don't even have a choice in how they die!"

Luo coldly stared at the female navy woman he had cleaved in two. Even as she lay motionless on the ground, she continued to yell at him, "If you want, I can cut you into even smaller pieces."

"Damn it, don't you dare insult our Colonel's sister!!" the Marines shouted angrily, rushing over to carry Tashigi's body out of the blue circle.

Seeing Law's outrage among the Marines for bullying a female Marine, Lucci mocked, "Be gentle with girls. Your lack of understanding of romance has angered everyone."

"Shut up." Luo glared at Lucci, who had been leisurely watching the show from the beginning. "Now that you're here, do something useful and end this as soon as possible."

"What, you're asking for help?" Lucci said sarcastically, crossing his arms. "I didn't know the Seven Warlords of the Sea were so worthless these days."

“Play a role.” Luo was not provoked by Lucci’s provocation, but looked at him calmly.

"Tsk." Lucci lowered his hand impatiently and turned to look at the noisy, thug-like marines. "Isn't it enough to just deal with these marines?"

Law nodded casually, then was somewhat shocked by the Conqueror's Haki that erupted from the man. Looking at the Marines falling one after another, Law quickly suppressed his shock and calmly commented, "Very convenient."

"You handle the rest." Lucci said, turning to leave and heading into the research institute. He figured he might run into Nami and the others who were looking for the back door. But before he could go in, an attack stopped him in his tracks. Lucci dodged the attack and looked at the angry Smoker with a puzzled expression. "What are you doing?"

"Why did you help him?" Smoker angrily attacked Lucci.

“Your opponent should be that guy Law,” Lucci said, frowning as he watched Smoker continue his attack.

"You pirates are all my enemies!" Smoker transformed into a wisp of smoke and flashed behind Lucci, raising his weapon, which was inlaid with seastone, and thrusting it at him.

“I have to admire your courage,” Lucci retorted, then with a flick of his wrist, he drew his sword and used the flat of the blade to block the tip of Smoker’s weapon. “I know what’s on the tip of your weapon.”

"It's specially designed to deal with Devil Fruit user pirates like you." Smoker, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, attacked Lucci from another direction.

It was really annoying. Lucci was getting impatient. He instantly switched the back of his blade to deflect the attack, then quickly chased after him, swinging his blade at him repeatedly. The blade, imbued with Armament Haki, clashed with the cross-shaped iron rod in mid-air, sparks flying everywhere.

Smoker gritted his teeth and struggled to withstand the increasingly rapid attacks of the blade, the force of which caused him to lose his grip on the jitte.

Lucci's expression hardened, and the afterimage of his blade leaped past the Marines, tracing a perfect arc. This strike was clean and swift, sending Smoker flying with a heavy blow.

"That's enough." Lucci looked expressionlessly at Smoker, who was lying on the ground clutching his chest. His attack just now wouldn't kill him; he knew how much force he used, especially since it was only the back of the blade. But it would indeed temporarily incapacitate him.

"What exactly are you planning to do on this island!" Smoker gritted his teeth and glared angrily at Lucci.

"No comment." Law stepped forward and replied coldly, glancing casually at the wounds on the Marine's body. Just as he had expected, he simply stretched out his hand and said, "ROOM - Scalpel."

Lucci frowned as he watched Law remove Smoker's heart, but said nothing.

Holding the heart in his hand, Law ignored Smoker, who had collapsed unconscious on the ground, and turned to walk towards the institute's gate. As he passed Lucci, he calmly said, "I'm leaving. It's over."

Lucci sheathed his sword, turned and left without glancing at the fallen navy man again.

"Why did you take his heart?" Lucci frowned as he looked at the heart in Law's hand.

“You went easy on me,” Luo replied calmly.

“It’s like you don’t have any,” Lucci retorted.

"You've made it too obvious," Luo said calmly, ignoring Lucci's tone.

Lucci frowned as he watched Law's departing figure, but said nothing. Just as Lucci was following behind Law, pondering how to retrieve the heart, a warm body suddenly bumped into him from behind. Without any warning, he was forced to collide with Law, who was walking in front of him, and both of them were instantly sent flying.

"What are you doing!?" Law roared in disbelief in a low voice. Feeling the heavy pressure on his back, Law's eyes twitched uncontrollably. He used his Devil Fruit ability to quickly escape the situation.

Luo glared impatiently in Lucci's direction, only to meet a face that was clearly suffocating. Luo blinked, puzzled, looking at Lucci, who was being tightly embraced by two people on the ground, his eyes filled with a desperate plea for help. Although he didn't understand, he still helped, preventing his recently treated patient from suffocating. "ROOM!"

“Almost…almost…” Lucci gasped for breath, patting Law’s arm. “Th…thank you.”

On the other side, the two brothers, stunned by the sudden disappearance of the person in their arms, stared blankly at each other. After a moment, Ace reacted and immediately jumped up from the ground angrily, "Lucci, why are you running?!"

Lucci's eye twitched as he looked at the furious Ace and the stunned Luffy. "Don't you know how strong you are? I almost died at your hands. And Luffy, I told you, don't crash like that again..."

Before Lucci could finish speaking, Luffy pounced on him and hugged him. Luckily, he knew Luffy well enough not to be knocked over by the cannonball-like force again. Lucci sighed helplessly and gently patted his back to comfort him, "Luffy, I'm here."

Luffy hugged Lucci tightly, closed his eyes, buried his face in Lucci's neck, and held back his tears, but his voice was still choked with sobs, "You're okay."

"That was just an accident." Lucci reached out and rubbed the head buried in his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Luffy, for making you worry."

"What kind of accident could possibly have caused you to fall into the sea?!" Ace cursed, trying to hide his relief.

"Okay, my bad." Lucci smiled and pulled Ace over. "I'm sorry to have worried you, but I'll be fine."

"You're the best." Ace hugged Lucci and Luffy tightly, took a deep breath with trembling hands, and the fear and worry in his heart completely dissipated.

"Straw hat is the head of the household," Luo called out to the boy wearing a straw hat.

"Oh, right, let me introduce you." Lucci patted Ace's arm, then turned to Law and said, "This is Trafalgar Law, the one who saved me."

Luffy jumped off Lucci, but still didn't let go of Lucci's hand, looking at Law's white spotted hat with a puzzled expression. "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."