chapter 103

"Looks can be deceiving, my friend," I remarked with a smile, causing Wilson to shrug his shoulders carelessly again.

"You people are from west blue?" Law asked, still frowning, but there was more curiosity than suspicion in his tone as he asked. "That's right, and we came all the way here just to recruit you," I replied as I turned to look at Law.

"Doesn't that make you feel special?" I asked jokingly with a smile on my face, earning a snort from the surgeon as Wolf chuckled lightly.

"At any rate, how did you knock out so many pirates without touching them?" Wolf asked after a second of silence with an impressed expression on his face.

"That's something called Conquerors Haki," I replied, unleashing it again on a smaller scale and letting it wash over Law and wolf, which caused the inventor to sweat while the surgeon merely frowned.

"Law here should know a thing or two about it since he used to work for someone who was capable of doing the same thing," I added while gesturing towards the surgeon.

"It's basically overpowering others' wills with your own, but only a handful of people can use it, and it doesn't work on those with a strong will," Law explained in a grave voice. "Or so someone told me," he concluded.

"That's the gest of it," I assured with a smile. "By the way, what was that mirror-like gadget you used to deflect the liquefying beams?" I asked about the tool Wolf used during the fight as I suddenly remembered it.

"Oh, this?" Wolf said with a smug smile. "It's something I came up with after this ingrate destroyed the town the first to counter his powers," he explained.

"It works by changing this mirror's frequency to the same as the liquifying beam, which enables it to deflect the beam since a normal mirror can't do the same," he concluded with a proud expression. (Author's note: This is just pure nonsense on my part, so take with a grain of salt.)

"I don't really get it, but it sounds impressive," I remarked while nodding my head, earning a satisfied look for the inventor.

We spent the next couple of minutes in comfortable silence until Penguin and Shachi arrived with a red wooden box, which they handed to Wolf, who promptly opened it.

"I only have tiny shards because I haven't figured out how to process them, as you can see," the inventor explained as he opened the box, revealing a bunch of small sea stones with many different irregular shapes.

"all of those shards have little effect on devil fruit users as well since I got them from shallow waters," Wolf added. "So, what do you plan to do with them?" he asked in a curious tone.

"That's even better, since I only need them to stop him from using his devil fruit powers," I replied with a smile. "You see, I ate a devil fruit that allows me to manipulate the density of my body and any object I touch," I explained, picking up a rock and lowering its density as I dropped it to the ground, causing it to phase through it.

"So you intend to insert one of those sea stones into Bacca's body?" Wolf asked, realization dawning on his face. "Yes, but not exactly," I replied with a smile.

"I'm going to lower the density of Bacca's body so you can insert one of the sea stones inside his body since I can't touch those things myself," I explained as I picked up the unconscious pirate captain, promptly altering his density.

"Whenever you're ready," I instructed, passing my hand through the pirate captain's torso to demonstrate, causing Law and wolf to open their eyes wide in surprise.

"So be it, this method should stop my foolish son from using his devil fruit powers ever again while physically weakening him enough to not be a threat to anyone," Wolf said with a sigh as he picked up one of the sea stones and put it inside his son's chest.

I merely smiled as I changed his density back to normal after seeing the inventor nod in my direction. "Now then, how about we go somewhere private and discuss what I want from you, law?" I suggested as I turned to look at the surgeon, throwing the pirate captain to the side and ignoring his existence.

"Very well, I'll listen to what you have to say at the very least," Law said in a thoughtful voice. "Follow me," he added, turning around and walking away, causing me to follow him with a smile.

We reached a clearing in the forest after several minutes of walking, and Law suddenly stopped. "This place should be private enough," Law remarked. "Now tell me what do you want from me," he added with a calm tone.

"As I said, I came all way for west blue here to ask you to join my crew," I replied with a smile. "I refuse, now leave," Law replied firmly, without even thinking about it.

"And I refuse your refusal," I stated, shamelessly taking copying Luffy without a shred of hesitance. "That's not how refusal works," Law said with twitching eyes while glaring at me.

"It does now," I replied, still shamelessly smiling. "Besides, do you intend to rot in north blue for the rest of your life?" I asked.

"Doflamingo is already the king of a nation, and you're merely wasting your time here," I stated in a grave tone, my smile vanishing. "You'll never have a chance to defeat him if you keep going like this," I added, causing him to frown.

"Is that alright with you?" I asked, crossing my arms in front of my chest. "How the hell do you know so much?" Law asked after a second of silence.

"I know a lot of things, like the fact that Doflamingo wanted to use you to obtain eternal life through your devil fruit," I replied, raising one finger. "I also know that Rosinante sacrificed his life so you can get away, only to be murdered by his brother," I added.

"But you already know all of that, don't you?" I asked, and Law did not answer, merely glaring at the ground while gritting his teeth. "Then let me tell you something you don't know," I remarked, causing Law to raise his head and look me in the eye.

"Doflamingo is a celestial dragon, all be it a former one," I explained, raising a third finger, causing Law's eyes to widen in shock. "And he knows about some national treasure in Mariejois, which means that he has other celestial dragons by the balls," I added.

"You have absolutely no chance of defeating him on your own," I concluded, lowering my fingers.

"Even if I can't defeat Doflamingo, that doesn't mean I should join your crew," Law said while shaking his head. "Or are you saying that you can defeat him yourself?" he asked in a mocking tone, causing Kozue to frown while Wolf and Wilson didn't show any reaction.

"Not right now, no," I said while shaking my head. "But I intend to take down Kaido, the strongest creature in the world," I added with a grin.

"Taking down, a mere warlord of the sea is nothing compared to that," I concluded, still smiling confidently. "Words are cheap," Law replied firmly, seemingly unconvinced.

"Take a look at this," I said, taking out my wanted poster and throwing it at the surgeon. "This is my first bounty. Do you know I got it?" I asked, causing him to shake his head with a frown.

"My crew and I all gained our bounties a couple of days before leaving west blue," I explained. "And we gained them by attacking a defeating a marine ship that had a rear and a vice admiral," I added.

"If I can defeat a vice-admiral now as I am right now, then I'll leave to you to imagine what I'll be able to defeat in a couple of years," I concluded with, smiling as I finally noticed some hesitation on Law's face.

"I need some time to think and make sure that what you said is true," Law said after hesitating for a minute with a complicated expression.

"We'll only be staying here for another week, have a reply by then," I stated, turning around and leaving with Wilson and Kozue following me.