Chapter 431 - 431: With the Mangekyō Sharingan, a Single Glance Is Enough!

"These children..."

Looking at the children sleeping obediently, Nami said with a complicated expression, "So they really were abducted and brought here..."

No wonder they had acted that way earlier—they truly had been abducted and brought here.

Hearing this, Perona also looked at the children with a complex gaze and said, "If they hadn't met us, they might never have escaped that evil scientist's control in their lifetime."

"Yeah."

Nami sighed deeply.

If not for their Straw Hat Pirates, these children might have had to stay in this place for the rest of their lives...

No!

Perhaps they would have been killed by poison before long!

"Luffy."

"What is it?"

"These children have been unknowingly poisoned..." Chopper clenched his fist and said, "They're just too pitiful!"

"Let's save them!"

"Luffy."

Nami also looked up at Luffy and said, "I want to save them too."

"And me," Perona chimed in.

At that moment, they desperately hoped these children could be saved and safely reunited with their parents.

Taking in his crewmates' expressions, Luffy fell silent for a moment, then grinned and said, "In that case... let's send them all home!"

It's just a detour, after all—simple!

"Idiot, don't make it sound so easy!" Franky frowned. "There are still plenty of problems!"

Leaving aside whether they could figure out the poison, even if they did, they might not be able to find the children's hometowns.

After all... they didn't have a Log Pose!

"Franky is right."

Nico Robin glanced sideways at Franky and said, "Sending them back safely won't be an easy task."

"At the very least, we need to find the mastermind behind all this first."

And that was the most crucial step!

After all... the other party might have the ability to remove the poison from these children!

As for what if the other party refused...

They had Meiser!

With the Mangekyō Sharingan, what scientist couldn't be controlled?

As long as the opponent wasn't an exceptionally powerful individual, a single glance would be enough!

"The mastermind behind it all, huh." Luffy tilted his head. "Is it that guy called 'Master'?"

"It's Caesar," Usopp spoke up. "You forgot Brownbeard mentioned that guy's name."

Hearing this, Brownbeard twitched his mouth. Why did it sound like he was leaking information?

Whatever, these guys probably wouldn't leave here alive anyway, so it didn't matter if they knew.

"Caesar, huh. Got it."

Luffy nodded, then continued, "But Zoro and the others went to find the Samurai, so we..."

"Ah, never mind."

"Let's head to the research facility from earlier first, the few of us. Let's go meet that guy called Caesar."

There's absolutely no danger on Zoro's side, and with him here on this side... we can go check it out first!

The others thought for a moment after hearing this, then nodded in agreement with Luffy's idea.

"Then let's all go together!" Merry waved her little fist as she spoke.

She was already itching to give that despicable Caesar a good beating!

"No, I'm staying behind."

"Huh?"

Merry was taken aback for a second, then looked at Chopper in confusion and asked, "Why?"

Shouldn't the top priority be to find that bastard named Caesar first?

"Because of them."

Chopper turned to look at the children and said, "I really want to beat the crap out of that scumbag named Caesar too, but I'm very worried about these kids, so I have to stay here and keep an eye on the situation."

If these children have any adverse reactions again, he'll be able to provide timely assistance.

"Chopper is right!"

Nami cleared her throat and said, "Someone really does need to keep watch here, so I'll stay behind too."

Usopp: ??

Looking at Nami crouching in the corner, Usopp remarked, "Nami, you're just plain scared, aren't you?"

"If you can tell, then don't say it out loud, you jerk!"

Usopp: ...

This guy is really too much!

"Oh right, Perona, you stay behind too!" Nami suddenly looked up and said.

"Huh?"

Perona, who had been thinking about going with Luffy and the others to cause trouble for that Caesar, was stunned for a moment, then said discontentedly, "Why do I have to stay behind too?"

"We need to leave some people here," Nami said. "Besides, you can't really fight effectively using my body anyway."

Perona: ...

That's true, but do you have to put it so harshly?

At the very least, she could use Elemental Transformation to brawl with someone, right?

Thinking this, Perona was about to say something, but when she saw Nami making a "please" face, she sighed and said, "Fine..."

What else could she say?

"Actually, Nami isn't wrong," Franky said. "You really can't fight effectively right now."

"And you have the nerve to say that?" Perona gave Franky an exasperated look and said, "As if you can fight effectively using Chopper's body."

"Of course I can!"

"Super!"

Seeing Franky strike his signature pose again, Nico Robin's eyelid twitched involuntarily.

"Franky, stop striking that pose with Chopper's body!"

"Never again!"

It just feels so weird, you jerk!

Franky felt a bit annoyed upon hearing this. He was a super cyborg, after all—what was the problem with striking his signature pose?

But when he saw the somewhat dangerous look in Nico Robin's eyes, he calmly averted his gaze.

This scheming woman isn't someone to mess with...

Ahem, better not argue with her!

"What about these kids?" Merry looked up at the children and said, "If they go berserk like they did earlier, it'll be hard to handle."

The few people staying behind aren't using their own bodies, so they can't fight very effectively either.

"That is indeed a problem."

Nami watched the children with a headache. If these kids really went berserk again, given their current strength, they might not be able to subdue them.

"Then let's tie up the bigger kids first," Luffy said.

As for the smaller ones, Nami should be able to handle them.

"Leave it to me," Merry said.

With that, Merry pulled out several massive chains from her pocket and approached the children. Using the power of the wind, she lifted them up.

Afterward, she used the huge chains to bind them to the enormous pillars behind them.

Once she finished, Merry wiped the nonexistent sweat from her forehead and said, "All done~"

With these restraints, even if they woke up, they wouldn't be able to move.

"Isn't this a bit too rough?" Nami said sympathetically.

Using such huge chains to tie up children... wasn't it too cruel to them?

"There's no other choice," Franky said. "When they go berserk, they're on a monster level, so it's better to tie them up."

He had just witnessed how terrifying their strength was—it was practically on par with the Giant Race!

So, restricting their movements was absolutely necessary.

This time, Nami just nodded without saying anything more.

"Usopp, when will these kids wake up?" Perona asked.

"I don't know."

Usopp shook his head. "I've never used Sleep Bombs on people like this before, so I'm not sure how long they'll sleep."

They might sleep for a whole day, or they might wake up in an hour or two. There was no telling.

"No idea about the timing..."

Nico Robin thought for a moment and said, "Then we'll have to finish this quickly."

It would be best to capture that guy named Caesar before these children woke up.

"Then let's hurry," Nami said.

"What about the body-swapping issue?"

Franky jumped down from a large rock and said, "Based on my deduction, we probably need all five of us to meet Trafalgar Law together to return to normal."

"That is a problem," Perona frowned.

If they couldn't all go see that guy together, they wouldn't be able to return to their original bodies.

"There's no point worrying about that now," Usopp said. "After all, Sanji, who's currently in Franky's body, isn't here."

At these words, the people who had swapped bodies fell into silence.

Right, Sanji wasn't here...

So there was no point dwelling on it now.

"Then let's go find that guy named Caesar first," Franky said. "Of course, if we can find Trafalgar Law, we should try to bring him back."

By then, Meiser should have returned with the Samurai's body, and at that point... even if this Royal Seven Warlord of the Sea didn't want to, he'd have to obediently swap their bodies back!

"That's the only way," Nami nodded.

"Isn't this pretty fun~" Luffy grinned, showing his teeth.

Even though his friends weren't in their own bodies, it made things more interesting, didn't it~

"Good your head!" Nami roared, opening her Shark Mouth: "Can you be serious for once?!"

"Thump!"

"S-sorry..."

After being beaten up, Luffy immediately settled down, promising he would definitely get Trafalgar Law back.

"It's just that I don't know if that guy named Caesar will honestly explain the situation with these kids," Chopper worried.

"If persuasion doesn't work, use violence!" Franky sneered: "Stick a finger up his nose and make him chatter his teeth until he talks!"

Of course, if even that method doesn't work, then they'd just have to wait for Meiser to arrive and let Meiser handle it!

Nico Robin: ...

"Franky, you really should just stop talking," Nico Robin said expressionlessly.

Chopper's image in her mind had completely changed, damn it!

"Indeed."

Perona also showed an agreeing expression this time. What the hell was Franky doing with Chopper's body?!

Franky was speechless upon hearing this—he was trying to come up with a solution for everyone!

And wasn't this expression of his cool?!

What two unappreciative women!

"Alright, let's set off!" Luffy declared, waving his hand: "Let's try to catch those two guys as soon as possible!"

"Yeah!"

The others nodded upon hearing this and then followed Luffy out of the cave.

"Have a safe journey, you guys!" Nami called out.

"Don't worry."

Luffy waved back at the few at the cave entrance without turning his head, gradually disappearing from the sight of Nami and the others.

Afterward, Perona said, "I hope we don't get any pursuers here."

"Don't say such scary things, Perona..."

Nami felt utterly drained.

Pursuers... please no!

"Probably not," Chopper shrugged his nose and said: "After all, I don't smell anything strange."

"You're using Sanji's body right now, what can you possibly smell?"

"Huh?"

"!!"

Realizing this, Chopper was dumbfounded. Yeah, he was using Sanji's body, so his sense of smell wasn't as sharp as before.

What should they do now...

"Alright, stop overthinking it," Perona said after scanning the surroundings and finding nothing suspicious: "Just wait patiently for Luffy and the others to come back."

"I guess that's all we can do..."

Nami nodded resignedly, then looked puzzledly at the already sleeping Brownbeard and said: "By the way, why did this guy fall asleep too?"

"Did Usopp use something to make him sleep before leaving?"

"No."

Chopper shook his head: "Usopp didn't do that."

"This guy fell asleep on his own."

Upon hearing this, Nami was rendered speechless.

Fell asleep on his own?

Seriously, how carefree is this guy...

Looking at the already sleeping Brownbeard, Nami didn't know what to say.

"You two, stop standing at the entrance," Perona, who had already entered the cave, said: "Or you might give away our position."

"Oh, we're coming!"

Nami and Chopper nodded, then quickly ran into the cave.

What they didn't notice was that two eyes were now fixed intently on this place.

"Target spotted, Brother." Scotch stared intently at the distant cave and said, "The woman our master wants is right there."

"As for Straw Hat Boy... he's already left with his people."

"Is that so."

Brother Rocks glanced up at the distant cave, grinning as he said, "Looks like we'll be able to complete our mission easily this time."

With that, Rocks stood up, intending to take his brother to that cave to capture the target.

Then, as if remembering something, he turned to look at his brother and said, "Scotch, did you bring the Seastone Chains?"

"Brought them."

Scotch nodded and said, "The opponent is a Logia-type Ability User—how could I not bring Seastone Chains?"

To capture a Logia type alive, you need Seastone Chains, so having them is essential.

"Good."

Rocks nodded, then grinned and said, "Let's go, and show them the power of us Yeti Brothers!"

"Yes, Brother Rocks!"

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