Science's Struggle: Simple and Difficult

"Franky Laser—!"

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh~~~"

On the other side of Punk Hazard, in the icy wilderness, a fierce battle is raging between 'scientists'. Amidst the flying lasers, booming explosions, and the distinctive laughter of Caesar Curaçao, the battle is intensified.

"You just picked up some of Vegapunk's research records and all you managed to create was this 'Pacifista'?"

"But you should thank this steel body, otherwise you would have been defeated by my 'Void World' long ago, whoosh~~"

After the 'Punk Hazard' incident, Franky implanted an emergency oxygen storage device in his body to ensure he could fight in the ocean, in toxic gas, or even in oxygen-free environments.

At first, I just thought it was better to be prepared, but I never expected it to come in handy so quickly. And it was even used to deal with my former 'imaginary enemy,' the Gas-Gas Devil Fruit user 'Caesar Clown.'

"This is incredibly frustrating,"

Because the battle was unexpected, Franky is currently only in his physical form, not 'General Franky'. While his fighting strength isn't bad, he'd still struggle greatly against Caesar alone, after all:

"I've looked into your 'Pacifista' stats before. Watch me easily turn you into scrap metal!"

Caesar, who was flying through the air, tossed his castanets to Franky:

"Gas-Stamp!"

Boom!!

The violent explosion instantly engulfed Franky. Although Franky tried his best to dodge, his tragically slowest speed in the Straw Hat crew simply couldn't support him in performing such a difficult maneuver as a quick dodge.

"Whoosh, whoosh, he actually transformed his entire body into a 'Pacifista,' what a pervert."

"Shut up, you scum who plays with poison gas and lies!"

Emerging from the smoke of the explosion, he unleashed a barrage of bullets at Caesar in mid-air! Franky, his body covered in burns, wore a serious expression.

"It's only you who made me feel uneasy by calling me a 'pervert'!"

No, no, no, 'pervert' isn't a compliment, is it?

"You scum who experiment on children and even control them with poison are a disgrace to the scientific community!"

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~ A mere cyborg, how could you possibly understand my greatness?" Caesar, flying through the air, let the bullets pierce his body. As Logia user, how could he possibly fear mere physical attacks? So spending a little time 'teaching' this fellow user a lesson was no big deal:

"The 'Life Factor' I'm studying are the most exquisite piano in the world,"

"That instrument, which was once only played by 'gods,' is now placed before me!"

Caesar, looking like a mad scientist, spread his arms wide, his face full of selfishness!

"Your barbarian companions have no idea how great I am! If I continue my research and decipher more of the Life Factor of 'Devil Fruit,' I can even grant anyone the power of Devil Fruit! By simply adjusting the transcription of 'Life Factor,' giants, dwarves, Fish-Man..."

"I can create any kind of creature, I can even create entirely new life! I—"

"He is the 'god' of the new era!"

·······

"Wow, God?"

Franky looked up, adjusted his sunglasses, and glanced at Caesar in the air with pity.

"However, in reality you are nothing but a 'fake,' the real 'Caesar' has already been killed by Roman. Because he knew that keeping a madman like you in the world would bring who knows what kind of disaster!"

Widespread poison gas attacks aimed at destruction, the unnatural phenomenon of 'human gigantification'... even research conducted with the ideal of 'benefiting humanity' requires utmost caution. Let alone a proud, arrogant, and selfish man like Caesar! Ordinary people? He wouldn't shed a single tear even if they all died.

"Hmph, there's an old saying that goes: 'I think, therefore I am.'"

Floating in mid-air, Caesar's face twitched as he forced himself to defend himself with philosophical language that he himself didn't understand.

"Since I can still 'think,' then I exist, and without a doubt, I am Caesar Courland!"

"On the contrary, you: a body of steel, a cold heart, can you still call yourself a 'human being'?"

"My cold heart is much warmer than your beating one!!"

Talking is pointless; when neither side can convince the other, the final showdown is physical. Even scientists often need to roll up their sleeves and take matters into their own hands, attempting to 'physically persuade' their opponents.

"Strong Right!"

"Whoosh, useless—?!"

Caesar effortlessly evaded the 'flying hand's' trajectory, and in the instant they passed each Caesar, Franky suddenly pulled the chain! His right hand abruptly turned and grabbed Caesar's neck! Caesar, who had been dominating Franky, suddenly changed Caesar expression drastically.

"How is this possible? Could it be...?"

"Get down here!"

Boom!

With a powerful swing of the chain, Franky slammed Caesar, whom he was holding in his right hand, to the ground! At the same time, Franky charged forward, leaping into the air...

"Franky Centaur Form!"

Click,

His legs suddenly split open from the sides, stretched forward, and slammed down like four iron clamps, firmly fixing Caesar to the ground.

"Damn it, you actually implanted Seastone in your arm?!"

Franky grinned at the terrified Caesar.

"That's right. I met an old man a while ago. When our captain destroyed his Seastone arm, I picked up some materials along the way."

Zephyr: No wonder the 'shredder' couldn't be put back in...

Fortunately, it was able to return to Marine Headquarters for repairs.

"Farewell, conceited, hypocritical, arrogant 'scientists'."

Riding on Caesar's back, the Seastone weapon in his right hand held him in place to prevent him from Elementalization, while his left palm rotated to reveal a dark cannon muzzle that was pressed against Caesar's forehead.

"Wait... wait a minute!! My knowledge is a treasure for all mankind—"

Boom!!

Then, without giving Caesar a chance to say anything, Franky exploded at point-blank range, engulfing the two of them! As the smoke cleared, Franky stood up and dusted off his swim trunks.

"Don't overestimate yourself,"

"Human beings are not so fragile that they cannot develop without anyone."

"Hehehe, found one!"

"Franky!"

With his Tanuki Pajon, Luffy finally found the battlefield in the snowy wilderness. Just as Luffy said: the Straw Hat crew will not hold us back, and they are reliable no matter who they are when facing a strong enemy.

"Luffy!"

"Where are the others?"

In response to Franky's question, a white dove landed on Luffy's shoulder.

"I have found Nami and Zoro. You two continue on your way to find the other companions. We will meet up ahead."

"Tsk, why aren't you a 'clone', Roman?"

"Do you still want Roman to be a clone!?"

Seeing Zoro's disappointed expression, Nami clenched her fists and covered them with Armament Haki.

"What time is it now, and you're still thinking about fighting?"

"I heard you all encountered some formidable opponents, so why am I the only one who didn't get any enjoyment?"

As the three walked through the vast jungle, a Tyrannosaurus Rex with its eyes wide open in death clearly indicated their location:

Little Garden,

Zoro's opponents are quite obvious: the two captains of the former Giant race Giant Soldier Pirates: "Blue Ogre" Dorry and "Red Ogre" Brogy.

Actually, these two Giant race warriors are quite strong, but Zoro is no longer someone who can be defeated simply by being big. —In fact, it could be said that Zoro's Flying Slash are best suited for dealing with giant creatures, therefore:

"Those two giant uncles refused to fight me together, they only wanted to fight one-on-one. Otherwise, I would really like to see their 'Overlord' move."

Looking at Zoro's face full of fighting spirit, Roman thought of the Combination Technique of Kaido and Big Mom in the future. It was not only similar to the attack that Blue Ogre and Red Ogre used to instantly kill the Island-Eating Goldfish, but also exactly the same!

As for Zoro... he almost got crippled after blocking for just 0.1 seconds; it's really hard to say whether he can withstand the Combination Technique of two giants...

?!

"I'll go first, you all follow White Dove!"

"Nami, keep an eye on Zoro so he doesn't get lost—"

Roman's expression suddenly turned serious as he soared into the sky, rushing towards the next battlefield! Because:

Usopp is in danger; his opponent is:

Donquixote Doflamingo!

"Hehehe~~ What's wrong? Is this all a man worth two hundred million is capable of? He's really overrated—"

In the ruins of the Dressrosa Royal Palace

With an arrogant, pigeon-toed gait, wearing a pink feather coat and red sunglasses, the former Shichibukai slowly approached Usopp was hiding behind the kingdom's walls.

"Oh no, oh no... Wasn't this guy supposed to be imprisoned in Impel Down? How did he escape again..."

"Impel Down... What a lousy prison! It even claims to be an 'Iron Wall'."

Usopp hadn't experienced the Impel Down incident, and Luffy and Roman dislike boastful people; coming from them, it sounded like they just went for a quick look and came out, incidentally rescuing a bunch of people...

This led Usopp to believe that Impel Down was a place where escape was easy, a misnomer. However:

"How did I get back to Dressrosa?!"

I'm going to die, I'm going to die...

Usopp's strength was already far inferior to Doflamingo's, and Doflamingo was not one of those villains who liked to hold back; he immediately launched a powerful attack with his Shadow Knight and a sneak attack with his Parasite String!

Fortunately, Usopp's Observation Haki was quite good, allowing him to dodge the Parasite String and avoid being turned into a puppet in the first encounter.

"Huff... huff..."

Even so, Usopp was covered in crisscrossing wounds! Even without Haki, Doflamingo's Thread-Thread Fruit was still beyond Usopp's ability to handle.

Tap tap tap,

Amidst the ever-approaching footsteps, there were also Doflamingo's piercing words.

"Fufufu, you're such a lucky guy."

"Even if he manages to infiltrate the Straw Hat Kid's crew, he'll soon be exposed for who he really is, right? -- What a pitiful guy, he must be living in constant fear of being abandoned by his so-called crew."

Tread!

Haha, you've already lost your composure so quickly?

Doflamingo's lips curled into a cold smile as he watched Usopp emerge from behind the cover. "Once I've subdued this guy, I'll use him as a shield..."

"Take back what you just said,"

"All my companions know my strength perfectly well!"

Despite facing the infamous 'Shichibukai', Usopp showed no fear whatsoever.

"Don't get me wrong, we didn't come together because of 'strength'! We set sail for dreams and friendship!! -- You simply don't understand!"

At the same time, Usopp suddenly pulled open the Black Kabuto in his hand and launched the plant seeds.

"Ultimate Kill - New Cactus Star!"

Faced with the expanding, rotating, and densely packed cactus needles shooting towards him like bullets, Doflamingo simply waved his hand, and a massive amount of lines wove a shield in front of him.

"Spider Shield!"

Ta-da!

"Sigh, a pointless struggle—"

"No,"

Amidst the calm voice behind him, a longsword, imbued with Armament Haki and compressed, swung lightly and instantly sliced through Doflamingo's neck! After all, without Armament Haki, trying to defend against Roman's serious sneak attack with just his physical body was simply a pipe dream.

"Usopp is trying to get your attention so he can create an opportunity for me to defeat you instantly."

As Doflamingo lunged forward, his head separating from his body, he fell, revealing Roman behind him.

"Well done, Usopp."

"Hey, hey, hey?"

After a moment of stunned silence, Usopp, covered in wounds, immediately gave himself a triumphant thumbs-up.

"No... that's right, it's all part of my plan!"

"I'll draw this guy's attention, Roman will find an opportunity to decapitate him with a single sword strike. That's teamwork between partners!"

Am I overthinking this?

"Never mind, let's go find Chopper first."

Everyone else was alright, but Usopp was covered in injuries...

Well, it's already a success that he wasn't killed by Doflamingo.