"Katakuri?!"
Law felt that wave of Conqueror's Haki rushing straight at him and instinctively drew his blade.
Because of the severe mismatch in information, his first assumption was that Katakuri had come to finish off the dying Bege.
On top of that, Law still had Charlotte Brûlée tied to his back, so of course the other man would be furious.
The instant Law raised his hand, he activated his ability.
A pale-blue hemispherical barrier spread out with a roar, covering the entire open space.
"ROOM."
But just before his ability fully activated, Katakuri's sharp eyes were already glowing crimson.
His top-tier Observation Haki had already reflected the next few seconds of movement into his mind with perfect accuracy.
At that moment, Brûlée, tied to Law's back, suddenly shouted.
"KATAKURI-NII-SAN! HURRY AND CATCH THEM! THEY'RE HERE TO CAPTURE CAIN AND UTA! JINBE IS WITH THEM TOO! NO MATTER WHAT, DON'T LET THEM TAKE OUR LITTLE BROTHER AND SISTER-IN-LAW AWAY!"
Those words were like the final fuse, completely igniting the rage in Katakuri's chest.
He tightened his grip around his trident, Mogura, and Armament Haki instantly wrapped around its shaft.
Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped straight into Law's ROOM.
The instant Law heard Brûlée's accusation, he was visibly stunned.
There was clearly some hidden situation here that he did not understand.
But right now, he had no chance to say what he wanted, because Katakuri had already charged at him.
Law hurriedly activated Shambles, only for Katakuri to dodge easily by predicting the future.
Seeing Katakuri rushing straight toward him, Law immediately used his ability again, swapping places with a nearby stone.
In the next second, he appeared at the edge of the barrier, trying to pull open a safe distance.
But the very instant he reappeared, the cold tip of the trident had already torn through the air, stabbing straight toward his heart.
"What?!"
A storm rose in Law's heart.
His spatial transfer had never failed inside ROOM, but Katakuri had not only predicted where he would land, he had even calculated the exact timing of his transfer.
Fortunately, Law's ability activated extremely fast. Pale-blue light flashed past, and he swapped positions again.
Seeing Katakuri about to rush in once more, he quickly transferred Brûlée in front of himself.
The icy trident tip stopped abruptly, less than half an inch from Brûlée's forehead.
Katakuri's movement came to a hard stop.
The Armament Haki wrapped around Mogura instantly dispersed, and that unstoppable attack was completely withdrawn an instant before it touched his sister.
"You dare to use her as a shield?!"
Katakuri's voice was as cold as polar ice, and the killing intent in his eyes almost overflowed.
Mochi began surging wildly around him. Countless thick mochi arms rose from the ground, instantly sealing off every one of Law's escape routes.
"Let her go. I can give you a quick death."
"HAH! STOP FIRST AND LISTEN TO ME PROPERLY! I THINK THERE'S DEFINITELY SOME MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN US THAT NEEDS TO BE EXPLAINED!"
Law quickly shouted for him to stop.
The hand gripping his sword hilt froze as Brûlée's accusation kept looping through his mind, making the corner of his mouth twitch uncontrollably.
What did she mean, they were here to capture people?
She made them sound like villains, when they had clearly come to save people. There had to be some kind of misunderstanding here.
And more importantly, Bege needed treatment right now.
Although Law had already handled the emergency, he still needed to reduce the chances of another fight breaking out as much as possible.
…
At the port on the other side of Whole Cake Island.
The Red Force had just steadily slipped into its berth, and the gangplank had not even been fully lowered.
The Red Hair Pirates on board were already unable to hold themselves back.
One by one, they rubbed their fists and crowded near the railing, ready to jump down.
Seeing this, Shanks quickly took a step forward and stood at the most eye-catching spot at the bow.
He cleared his throat and spoke, "Everyone, quiet down! Listen to me. For this operation, we'll avoid direct conflict as much as possible. Once we find Uta and Cain, we leave immediately… Is that clear—pffft!"
Before he could finish speaking, Garp, who had been waiting impatiently nearby, had absolutely no interest in listening to all that nonsense.
He had already leapt high into the air and planted one foot squarely on Shanks' face!
With a dull thud, Shanks was stomped so hard that his face flattened against the deck, and the Emperor-level dignity he had just set up shattered without leaving even a scrap behind.
Garp paid no attention whatsoever to the fact that his foot had landed on someone's face.
Using the rebound force, he leapt off and jumped straight down from the ship.
While still in midair, he roared with a voice loud enough to spread across half the port.
"AT A TIME LIKE THIS, YOU'RE STILL STANDING AROUND GIVING USELESS SPEECHES! THIS OLD MAN HAS SOMETHING INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT TO DISCUSS WITH THAT YOUNG COUPLE!"
"MORE IMPORTANTLY, I'M WAITING TO HEAR THAT LITTLE GIRL OBEDIENTLY CALL ME GRANDPA! BWAHAHAHA! I'M OFF!"
Before his words had even fully landed, Garp had already vanished in a puff of dust.
With him taking the lead like that, everyone on the ship instantly exploded into action.
Who cared about operational guidelines now? They swarmed off the ship in a flood, shouting noisily the whole way down!
"HEY! YOU CRAZY OLD MAN, STOP RIGHT THERE! WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?!"
"BASTARD! STOP HIM! THAT OLD MAN DEFINITELY HAS SOME SCHEME! DON'T FORGET, CAIN IS HIS GRANDSON!"
"CHARGE! I KNEW HE DIDN'T HAVE GOOD INTENTIONS WHEN HE GOT ON BOARD! SO HE'S HERE TO HELP CAIN STEAL AWAY OUR TREASURE!"
"HURRY UP AND CHASE HIM! IF WE'RE LATE, UTA MIGHT REALLY END UP WITH A SURNAMED MONKEY!"
"BUT CAIN'S SURNAME ISN'T MONKEY, IS IT? SHOULDN'T IT BE CHAD?"
"THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO CARE ABOUT THAT!"
In the blink of an eye, the people who had just been crowded at the railing surged away like floodwater through an opened gate.
The most miserable one was Shanks, lying face-down on the deck.
Those heartless bastards rushed past by stepping over his back, his arms, and even the back of his head.
Every stomp made Shanks let out a muffled groan of humiliation.
The shoe print just stamped onto his face had not even faded before three or four more layers were added. His entire body was covered in dusty footprints.
Once the noise faded, only Benn Beckman remained leaning against the mast, along with Shanks still sprawled on the floor.
Beckman slowly exhaled a ring of smoke, walked over, and gently poked the back of Shanks' exposed head.
His voice was full of barely restrained mockery.
"Your Majesty the Emperor, your operational guidelines just got stomped into the deck along with your face. Still breathing?"
"Cough, cough…"
Only then did Shanks crawl up from the floor, patting the dust from his body.
The large shoe print on his face was especially obvious.
Unfortunately, it had no pattern. Otherwise, it would have looked exactly like the tattoo on Dragon's face.
Shanks waved at Beckman, forcibly trying to save face.
He pushed out a casual smile as if nothing had happened.
"It's fine, it's fine. It's rare to see everyone so motivated…"