"You really left me one hell of a mess, Sabo."
Ace let out a long sigh, helplessness written all over his face.
Smoker didn't waste time arguing. He twisted the throttle, changed course, and headed toward another stretch of sea.
"We're going north. There are Marine forces stationed all around the outer waters of Totto Land, but after thinking it over, the easiest thing to do is dump this problem on the old man."
The "old man" he meant was, naturally, Garp.
After all, Smoker's orders had come directly from the World Government, and he had already built up more than enough resentment toward those bastards and the things they did. Rather than obediently hand Thor over to them, he would much rather lead the Ancient Giant straight to Garp and let the old man deal with it.
Besides, just as Ace had said, the reason Thor was chasing them across the sea in the first place could ultimately be traced back to Sabo.
…
Half an hour earlier—
After spending the entire night making adjustments, Caesar had finally completed the preparations required for Thor's awakening.
Because he intended to use the Ancient Giant to help him escape Totto Land, Caesar had secretly implanted one absolute command into Thor's subconscious:
Always protect the first person you see after waking.
Once that was done, Pudding began the memory implantation process.
Caesar then positioned himself directly in front of Thor's cultivation chamber and waited eagerly for him to open his eyes.
And then—
Thor went berserk.
The instant one enormous hand came crashing toward Caesar and Pudding, two figures who had been hiding nearby finally moved.
Reiju, still concealed by Stealth Black's invisibility, reacted immediately when she saw Pudding in danger. After watching how warmly the girl interacted with Sanji, there was no way she could simply stand by and let her be killed.
Sabo naturally had even less reason to remain passive.
He wasn't the kind of person who could watch innocent people die in front of him, and Cain had already mentioned that Pudding had helped Uta before.
Besides—
Caesar was also someone Sabo needed alive.
Lightning erupted in the next instant.
Sabo fired a bolt directly into the machinery attached to Thor's back, setting off a violent explosion and forcibly drawing the Ancient Giant's attention away from Caesar and Pudding.
The resulting impact and electrical surge destroyed the surrounding equipment in an instant, even shocking the nearby Den Den Mushi unconscious.
"W-What the hell?! Why is he—?!"
Caesar's mind completely short-circuited.
He couldn't understand why Thor had suddenly lost control.
Then he noticed Sabo.
'Wait a second—isn't that guy from the Revolutionary Army?!'
Caesar barely had time to process that new horror before something slammed into the back of his head.
His vision went black.
He collapsed unconscious.
Sabo had knocked him out.
But the moment Sabo caught Caesar, he noticed something else.
At some point, countless nearly invisible strings had wrapped themselves around Caesar's body.
They immediately tried to spread toward Sabo.
He reacted without hesitation, transforming into lightning and slipping through them effortlessly.
When he turned toward Pudding, he found the same thing happening there.
Strings were rapidly winding around her—
and they had even managed to catch the invisible Reiju.
Although Reiju reacted quickly, one arm was still snagged, leaving her bound to Pudding by the same strand.
The instant everyone saw those strings, the same name came to mind.
Doflamingo.
Sabo swept the area with Observation Haki and finally discovered several threads too fine for the naked eye to see.
They had already been attached to Thor.
Then another figure entered the laboratory.
Charlotte Snack.
Or rather—
Snack's unconscious body.
Doflamingo had turned him into a puppet with Parasite and was using him to release Conqueror's Haki, knocking out the surrounding Homies before strolling into the laboratory as though he owned the place.
Doflamingo had actually arrived before Sabo.
On the very night he rescued Monet, he had already planted these strings throughout the area. That was why Sabo, despite infiltrating the facility later, had failed to notice them beforehand.
The moment Doflamingo stepped inside, his gaze naturally shifted toward Pudding.
"Fuffuffuffuffu! I only tossed a few strings into the dark, and somehow I caught myself a little rat."
Reiju had originally intended to maintain her invisibility, but at that exact moment her prototype Raid Suit suddenly contracted and reverted into its canister form.
Using an unfinished combat suit that wasn't even designed for her had consequences after all.
She silently cursed and glanced at the string connecting her arm to Pudding.
It was far too durable to break quickly.
So Reiju stopped trying.
She immediately switched into her own Poison Pink Raid Suit.
And just like that, three separate sides found themselves confronting one another.
The laboratory erupted into chaos.
During the fighting, Thor finally woke completely.
With the raw strength of an Ancient Giant, he violently tore himself free of Doflamingo's control—
and immediately lunged toward Reiju.
Reiju cursed inwardly.
She had no choice but to move, dragging Pudding along by the arm because the two were still tied together.
The pair leapt back and forth between consoles and machinery, dodging Thor's attacks while deliberately guiding his enormous body through the laboratory.
Every time he swung or crashed into something, another section of the facility was destroyed.
Research records vanished beneath his fists.
Equipment belonging to the Vinsmoke family was smashed apart.
By the time Reiju was finished, most of the remaining evidence and technology Germa wanted gone had been reduced to wreckage.
She didn't stop moving.
Using the confusion, she suddenly darted toward Sabo and reached for Caesar.
Sabo reacted immediately and prevented her from taking him.
But stealing Caesar had never been Reiju's only objective.
A dose of poison had already been injected into his body.
Once that was done, Reiju disengaged without hesitation and escaped with Pudding.
Her departure removed most of the pressure from Doflamingo's side.
With the distractions gone, he immediately concentrated his attacks on Sabo.
Sabo, however, had absolutely no intention of getting dragged into a prolonged fight.
The moment he saw Thor chasing after Reiju, he realized the situation could spiral completely out of control if the giant reached a populated area.
So he unleashed a surge of lightning through the laboratory, incinerating every remaining paper document he could find.
Then he hoisted Caesar over one shoulder and flew away.
Doflamingo frowned deeply but made no attempt to pursue him.
At that moment, snow drifted through the ruined laboratory.
Monet quietly appeared beside him.
"Young Master, there's no need to chase them."
She held up what they had recovered.
"The production process for the SMILE Fruits and all the data for manufacturing SAD are here."
That was right.
Doflamingo's objective had never truly been Caesar.
He knew better than anyone how unreliable that idiot scientist was.
Which was exactly why he had long ago instructed Monet to secretly copy and steal the raw-material data and manufacturing methods for SMILE.
If Katakuri hadn't insisted on moving everything from Caesar's laboratory in the name of preserving the integrity of the experiments—and accidentally taken Monet along with the rest—Doflamingo never would have needed to personally come to Totto Land in the first place.
Now that he had what he wanted, Caesar could live or die for all he cared.
…
When Sabo saw Thor continuing to chase Reiju, alarm immediately rose in his chest.
He rushed after the giant at full speed.
Under no circumstances could Thor be allowed to reach somewhere crowded.
And that was when Sabo happened to run straight into Ace and Smoker, who had just emerged in disguise to begin drawing attention away from the civilians.
Sabo immediately dumped the problem onto them.
Not that he really needed to explain anything.
The moment Thor saw Ace and Smoker—
he charged straight at them.
Sabo barely had time to feel relieved before a new problem emerged.
The poison inside Caesar suddenly activated.
Pain jolted the scientist awake, and his entire body began convulsing violently.
Sabo's expression changed.
He had no idea whether Caesar would actually survive the poison, but he couldn't simply let the man die.
With no better option, Sabo followed Caesar's frantic instructions and carried him back toward the laboratory so they could prepare an antidote.
As for Pudding, who had been taken away by Reiju, Sabo could only contact Koala and have her track them down.
By then, Big Mom had also realized something was wrong.
When she finally reached the laboratory, Doflamingo was already gone, and Sabo had likewise escaped with Caesar.
Then came the report that Thor had gone out to sea.
Big Mom immediately sent Katakuri after him.
At roughly the same time, information deliberately leaked by Koala pointed them toward the western harbor, where they were told they could find Pudding and Caesar.
…
During all of this, Reiju had already explained enough to Pudding to convince her that she meant no harm.
She even promised that she wouldn't hurt her.
More importantly, Reiju kept Pudding's relationship with Sanji secret from Ichiji, Niji, Yonji—
and even from Judge.
Still, if Reiju wanted to ensure Germa could leave Totto Land safely, she needed to make it look as though Pudding was her hostage.
Naturally, that sent Big Mom into a rage.
Pudding's Three-Eye Tribe blood was far too important to risk losing.
Something else, however, was strange.
Caesar was nowhere to be seen.
Reiju made no attempt to hide her explanation.
She simply announced that Caesar had already died from her poison, then openly argued that Totto Land would be better off cooperating with Germa than relying on a thief like him anyway.
That did very little to improve Big Mom's mood.
Then someone delivered evidence recovered from the laboratory.
On the damaged equipment, clearly visible in the footage, was the Vinsmoke crest Caesar had once tried and failed to remove.
At almost the same time, Vinsmoke Judge contacted Big Mom directly.
The first thing he did was viciously belittle Caesar, dismissing him as nothing more than a thief.
Then he changed direction and began confidently explaining Germa's overwhelming superiority in cloning technology.
"You may have lost Caesar," Judge said bluntly, "but you still have me."
"Germa can become your primary partner for the entire cloning project."
The Vinsmoke family's accomplishments were already famous across the world, and unlike Caesar, they possessed the resources of an actual kingdom.
The difference in weight between the two potential partners was obvious.
For the first time, Big Mom genuinely began considering the idea.
Combined with everything Judge had just told her…
perhaps an alliance with Germa wouldn't be such a bad arrangement after all.
With that thought in mind, Big Mom directly assigned Smoothie to escort the Vinsmokes safely away.
Their ship left the harbor.
Only after the distant waters had finally grown calm did something slowly slip free from Reiju's clothing.
Pudding instinctively picked it up.
It was a strip of memory film.
She unfolded it—
and froze.
It contained the combat memories.
Pudding stared at it in disbelief.
If the combat memories were here…
then what exactly had she implanted into Thor?
She immediately demanded an explanation.
Reiju calmly admitted that she had secretly switched the memory reels beforehand.
What Thor had actually received were memories of Cain—
memories of him in all the strange roles he occupied within the Charlotte family: sometimes their younger brother, sometimes their younger sister, sometimes their older brother or older sister, all those overlapping identities woven together into one set of precious family memories.
And when those memories combined with Caesar's subconscious command—
Protect the first person you see after waking—
Cain had effectively become the person Thor believed he needed to protect.
That was why, immediately after waking, Thor had lunged toward Reiju.
He had been trying to confirm whether the person in front of him was Cain.
And that was also why Thor was now so relentlessly pursuing Smoker and Ace.
Because the two of them—
were currently disguised as Cain and Uta.