Watching this scene unfold, Monet looked at Ryuuto in terror. Feeling his immense power, she couldn't help but think that in the hands of a truly strong person, she was nothing more than a character who could be killed in an instant.
But Ryuuto only ever killed for a reason.
Momonosuke had sealed his own fate!
"Alright, let's keep moving. I hope you can find the correct path this time," Ryuuto said lightly, his scrutinizing gaze falling upon Monet.
The look sent a shiver down her spine. The once-blurry route through the facility suddenly became crystal clear in her mind.
"Yes... Follow me!" Monet replied, doing her best to control the tremor in her voice.
After entrusting the children from the gigantification experiments to Vivi and Jean Bart, the rest of the group continued to follow Monet toward the freezer.
Meanwhile, Caesar finally got a full view of Ryuuto and his crew through some of the surveillance Transponder Snails.
"A Yonko? Ryuuto!"
Caesar's eyes narrowed, his entire being plunged into shock.
"What do I do, what do I do? Why would a Yonko come to this godforsaken place? Don't tell me he's here for revenge!" Caesar paced back and forth anxiously, muttering to himself. The arrival of Ryuuto's group was far beyond his expectations.
"That's it! I'll escape before they find me!"
"No, no, I, Caesar, can't just admit defeat so easily!"
"Shurorororo! If that's how it is, then you have only yourselves to blame. Once I've packed up all my research data, you can all serve as a funeral offering for this laboratory!"
After a series of internal debates, Caesar finally seemed to make up his mind. He now intended to use his most powerful biochemical weapon—the Land of the Dead—to destroy the entire research facility.
What Caesar didn't know, however, was that his every fantasy was playing out under Ryuuto's watchful eye.
The faint glimmers of golden lightning sparkling in the air were Ryuuto's eyes and ears. Every corner of the facility was under his control.
Therefore, even without Monet's guidance, Ryuuto could have found the freezer on his own. The delay earlier was simply because he saw a perfect opportunity to run into Momonosuke and deliberately chose not to intervene.
Everything had fallen into place perfectly.
Within the group, only Little Hancock seemed to understand his true intentions.
Another ten minutes passed. After Little Hancock casually disposed of Smiley, Ryuuto's group encountered no further obstacles. They proceeded smoothly until they reached a colossal iron door nearly a hundred meters tall.
This was the freezer.
"This is it!" Monet said softly to Ryuuto, her eyes pleading. She assumed her usefulness had ended and that Ryuuto would now eliminate her.
"Hmm. You can go," Ryuuto said with a nod.
"Huh...?"
For a moment, Monet couldn't believe her ears. She looked at him uncertainly, trying to gauge if he was telling the truth.
Baby-5 watched with a hint of disdain, unable to understand why Monet was so afraid of Captain Ryuuto. Besides, the captain always kept his word; he would never go back on a promise.
After hesitating for two seconds, Monet finally decided to leave.
Boom!
With a powerful flap of her wings, she generated a blizzard that blew out of the facility. A moment later, her figure vanished.
"Hah... I... I actually made it out alive?" Standing in the icy wasteland, Monet spoke in disbelief, as if everything she had just experienced was a dream.
She had actually escaped from a Yonko with her life.
The thought echoed in Monet's mind.
Back with Ryuuto, he had already pushed open the iron doors of the freezer.
As the lights, which had been off for who knows how long, flickered on, this ancient sanctuary where time seemed to have stood still was finally reopened.
Under the orange glow of the lamps, lifelike ice sculptures glittered brilliantly.
"Wow!" Nami gasped.
Before them stood the very people they had been searching for: the Giant Hammer Pirates. They were over twenty meters tall, each holding various tools, seemingly frozen in the middle of repairing a ship.
"So this is the Giant Hammer Pirates?" Little Hancock murmured, looking up at them.
"Alright, everyone step back," Ryuuto said, waving his hand as he walked slowly toward the ice sculptures. "Let's see if they're still alive."
"Heart Starter!"
With a sharp cry, the lightning in his hands condensed into a ball of golden light, crackling with thunder. It then shot instantly into the chests of the giants.
Bang!
In a flash of brilliant light, the interwoven arcs of electricity unleashed an ultra-high voltage, acting like a massive defibrillator. It struck the giant in the lead first.
As the lightning flared, a dramatic change occurred within the giant's body. Stimulated by the electricity, his heart began to beat slowly. Spurred on by the heart, the blood in his veins started to circulate once more.
Crack!
A presence was awakening.
Ryuuto sensed it and knew his method was effective. The giants had been preserved in the ice, their life force still incredibly strong. It was as if they were waiting for a specific mission, waiting for the day they would reawaken.
"He's waking up!" Little Hancock announced.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ryuuto repeated the process, activating the other dozen or so giants. Now, all they had to do was wait. Their awakening was only a matter of time.
"It's your turn. Shatter the ice on their bodies," Ryuuto said to the eager Little Hancock beside him.
"You got it! Leave it to me!"
Little Hancock stretched her hands forward, and waves of white energy surged from her palms, causing the air to vibrate faintly. Her figure then blurred, becoming a series of afterimages as she leaped rapidly between the ice sculptures.
Crack!
The sound of shattering ice echoed through the chamber.
"Alright, mission accomplished perfectly!" Little Hancock said, wiping non-existent sweat from her brow as she looked at Ryuuto.
"Hahahaha, well done!" Ryuuto praised her right on cue.
After all, children at this stage craved recognition. They often did strange or outrageous things just to get the attention and approval of others.
"Hehe..." Little Hancock smiled, a little bashfully.
Receiving Ryuuto's approval brought her genuine joy.
Hancock watched the interaction between Ryuuto and Little Hancock with a gentle curve to her lips, her face radiant with happiness.
Boom!
Massive chunks of ice crashed to the ground, kicking up a spray of icy shards. The members of the Giant Hammer Pirates were finally revealed. Each was heavily bearded, holding various tools in their hands.
Vwoom!
A powerful ripple of energy surged forth as the lead giant's eyes snapped open, his gaze locking directly onto Ryuuto.
"Welcome back to the world of the living," Ryuuto said with a light smile.
"Where... where is this?" the lead giant asked, clutching his iron hammer. His mind, frozen for who knows how long, felt rusted and struggled to turn.
Then began Ryuuto's explanation.
After some difficult communication, the giant shipwrights finally understood the gist of the situation. Ryuuto, in turn, learned their history. They were a pirate crew active several hundred years ago who had set sail in search of a legendary ship: the Noah, built from the wood of the colossal Sunlight Tree, Adam.
They wanted to witness that advanced, ancient shipbuilding technology.
The giants' home, Elbaf, had its own world tree piercing the island's core, but the techniques to build such a ship had been lost. As a pirate crew composed entirely of shipwrights, their lifelong goal was to construct a vessel just like the Noah.
"Since you saved us, we'll help you with one thing," Reto, the captain, said, looking at Ryuuto with sincere eyes.
"It seems we're truly bound by fate," Ryuuto said slowly.
"That's right! You might not believe this, but the Noah you've been searching for is currently sitting quietly somewhere in the Calm Belt. And the favor we need is for you to repair that very ship," Nami quickly explained to Reto.
"What? The Noah?"
Reto's eyes widened, his inner joy impossible to conceal.
"Today is truly our lucky day! Not only were we freed from the ice, but you've also brought us such monumental news!" Reto dropped to one knee, his voice thick with emotion.
The other giants beside him reacted with equal fervor.
"It's truly fate!"
"This was all destined to be!" Van Augur remarked, a strange light glinting off his lenses.
Meanwhile, in a corner of the research facility, Caesar was looking at the reformed Smiley. It turned out the poisonous gas monster had eaten the Sala-Sala Fruit, Model: Axolotl. Even after being blown in half, it could quickly regenerate.
"Go on, eat it!" Caesar ordered, pointing at a massive candy in a container.
This was the key to his "Land of the Dead" attack.
By having Smiley consume the giant poison candy, it would explode and instantly flood the entire facility with toxic gas.
Gurgle...
Smiley followed Caesar's command without question. As the lid of the massive container was opened, it slithered over and, under Caesar's satisfied gaze, slowly swallowed the candy.
"Well done! Hold on, Smiley! I'm getting out of here!" Caesar said to the rapidly expanding creature. He then grabbed a large pile of items and quickly flew toward a side door. Passing through it would lead him directly out of the facility.
Vwoom!
Smiley swelled larger and larger, looking like it was about to burst.
Caesar had already made it outside. He hovered in mid-air, a smug look on his face as he stared back at the laboratory. According to his plan, a massive explosion would rock the building in just a few seconds.
As a user of the Gas-Gas Fruit, Caesar was completely immune to poison gas.
This was one of the main reasons he had chosen this location for his research.
"Shurorororo! Now, blow!" Caesar's face twisted with madness as the countdown ended. He flicked his finger and let out a fierce shout.
But he had clearly overestimated himself.
Ryuuto had long since detected this and had already prepared a countermeasure as Smiley began to expand.
Crackle!
Countless golden sparks erupted as an immense amount of lightning appeared in the air. It rapidly condensed and compressed until it reached a liquid state. This golden plasma then formed a massive net that shot toward the deep purple Smiley.
Rumble!
The thunder roared as the golden lightning formed a completely sealed, impenetrable cage.
It trapped all the poison gas within it.
Not a single wisp could escape.
Thus, when Caesar's countdown finished, nothing happened in the laboratory.
"What... What's going on?" Caesar's face filled with disbelief. He transformed into a cloud of gas and shot back into the facility.
Thwack!
A spear of lightning shot out, pinning him to the wall.
It all happened so fast that Caesar had no time to react. When he finally registered the sharp pain in his chest, he saw Smiley, wrapped up like a dumpling in the lightning net.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Several more golden spears of lightning erupted.
In an instant, blood burst from Caesar's chest, staining the cold iron wall red.
As more lightning spears pierced his body, his presence grew weaker and weaker. Only now did he finally understand the immense, insurmountable gap in power between himself and a Yonko—between himself and Ryuuto.
"If I had known, I would have just run!"
In the final moments of his life, Caesar finally came to his senses.
He was right.
If he had simply fled, Ryuuto might not have bothered to chase him. But since he had come back, Ryuuto had no qualms about sending him on his way. Caesar was hardly a good person anyway; this could be considered a service to the world.
"What just happened?" Little Hancock asked Ryuuto, seeming to have sensed something.
"Just a clown putting on a show," Ryuuto replied, shaking his head.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go! I can't wait any longer! I want to see the Noah right now!"
"Noah!"
"Noah!"
Reto and the other giants began to chant, their spirits high and their voices booming with excitement.
They brandished the tools in their hands, ready for their life's calling.