Chapter 331
The Polar Tang moved close to one of Zunesha’s colossal legs while Issho began reducing the submarine’s effective weight.
The change was gradual rather than theatrical.
The vessel did not suddenly float free of the sea.
Instead, the pressure it exerted against the water diminished until the hull rode noticeably higher, and even the natural rocking caused by Zunesha’s movement became lighter.
Law drew Kikoku.
“ROOM.”
A translucent blue sphere expanded around the submarine.
Not ten kilometers.
Not half of Zunesha.
Only a range Law could actually maintain without collapsing.
His plan was simple enough in theory: move the Polar Tang upward in stages, anchoring each relocation to visible sections of Zunesha’s body and repeating the process before gravity could drag them back down.
Issho’s support made the impossible merely exhausting.
Law breathed out.
“First jump.”
The submarine vanished.
A heartbeat later, it reappeared several hundred meters higher beside Zunesha’s leg.
Bepo grabbed the railing.
Zaraki remained standing near the bow.
Issho adjusted the gravitational field around the vessel.
Law expanded ROOM again.
“Shambles.”
Another displacement.
Then another.
They climbed gradually along Zunesha’s mountain-sized body, appearing and disappearing through layers of mist while the sea below shrank farther away with each relocation.
It was not effortless.
By the fifth jump, sweat had begun gathering along Law’s forehead.
By the eighth, his breathing had become noticeably deeper.
But he was nowhere near the catastrophic condition the original impossible ten-kilometer teleport would have required.
Issho noticed the strain.
“We may rest if needed.”
Law shook his head.
“We’re close.”
Zaraki glanced at him.
“You sure?”
Law gave him an irritated look.
“I’m still capable of deciding my own limits, Zaraki-ya.”
“Good.”
That answer seemed to satisfy him.
Another ROOM opened.
The Polar Tang jumped again.
Clouds engulfed them.
For several seconds, nothing could be seen beyond white vapor racing across the deck.
Then the submarine emerged above the cloud layer.
Sunlight flooded across them.
The world opened.
A vast green landscape stretched across Zunesha’s back—ancient trees, winding rivers, enormous roots, distant structures, and a forest so old that it looked almost untouched by the passage of time.
Bepo forgot his fear.
His mouth fell open.
“Home…”
They had reached Zou.
Law allowed ROOM to collapse and leaned one hand against Kikoku while catching his breath.
Issho released most of the gravitational support.
Rather than leave the Polar Tang floating absurdly over the forest, they maneuvered toward an open stretch near the outer edge of the island, away from visible settlements.
The submarine touched down heavily but safely.
The arrival was hardly subtle.
Trees shook.
Birds burst from the canopy.
Several distant voices immediately began shouting.
Bepo winced.
“That could have been quieter.”
Zaraki stepped down from the upper deck.
“I thought that was quiet.”
“For you, maybe.”
Zaraki looked across the surrounding forest.
He did not throw Observation Haki across the entirety of Zou.
He did not scan towns, rivers, hidden people, or the distant rulers.
He did not need to.
The Polar Tang had just materialized near one of the most heavily protected regions on the island.
Anyone nearby would already know they had arrived.
A few moments later, his Observation Haki picked up several fast-moving presences approaching through the forest.
Close enough now to matter.
Three.
Zaraki smiled.
“Company.”
Law straightened.
Bepo’s ears shot upright.
“Wait!”
He sniffed the air.
Then his eyes widened.
“I know them.”
The branches ahead shifted.
Something moved through the canopy.
Fast.
Law’s hand settled on Kikoku.
Zaraki merely slid both hands into his pockets and waited.
…
Three figures emerged from the Whale Forest almost simultaneously, moving through the trees with the practiced coordination of fighters accustomed to defending the same ground together.
They did not immediately attack.
Instead, they landed across the open area between the Polar Tang and the deeper forest, arranging themselves in a loose formation that prevented the newcomers from advancing toward the protected territory behind them.
At the center stood a tall leopard mink with long blond hair and a scar crossing his left eye.
Pedro.
His hand rested against the hilt of his sword.
To one side, the muscular gorilla mink Blackback lowered an enormous club while faint sparks of Electro crawled across his fur. On the other, Roddy pawed at the ground, static snapping along his horns and shoulders.
Their attention settled first on the unfamiliar humans.
Then on Bepo.
Pedro’s eyes narrowed.
“Bepo.”
Relief crossed the polar bear mink’s face.
“Pedro!”
He hurried forward and waved both paws.
“It’s me!”
Pedro’s expression softened only slightly.
“You have returned.”
Then his gaze moved toward Law.
Bepo immediately gestured toward him.
“This is Captain Law. You remember—I told everyone about the Heart Pirates before I left.”
Law raised one hand in greeting.
Pedro gave a small nod.
Then his eyes returned to Zaraki and Issho.
“And them?”
Bepo swallowed.
“This is Zaraki.”
Pedro’s eyes sharpened.
There was little chance anyone on the Grand Line had missed the name recently.
Bepo hurried onward before that recognition could become another problem.
“We’re traveling together for now. We didn’t come here to attack anyone.”
Pedro looked past them toward the Polar Tang, then toward the disturbed forest caused by the submarine’s arrival.
“You entered Zou without warning and placed an armed vessel beside the Whale Forest.”
His voice remained controlled.
“That alone is enough to make the Guardians cautious.”
There was no invented law forbidding humans from entering Zou.
No claim that bringing human visitors meant death.
The Minks did not hate humans.
But the Whale Forest was different.
Pedro and the Guardians protected it for a reason.
“What do you want?”
Bepo glanced nervously toward Zaraki.
Zaraki answered himself.
“I want to meet Inuarashi and Nekomamushi.”
Pedro’s expression changed immediately.
Law sighed under his breath.
He had warned Zaraki to be diplomatic.
That effort had lasted approximately ten seconds.
Pedro’s hand tightened on his sword.
“For what purpose?”
“I’ve got a banquet on Onigashima in three days.”
Blackback blinked.
Roddy stopped pawing at the earth.
Zaraki continued as though this were perfectly normal.
“Kaido and Big Mom are waiting for me.”
Pedro’s eyes became far more serious.
“I’m looking for people strong enough to come along.”
Bepo’s mouth opened.
“Wait, you want Duke Inuarashi and Boss Nekomamushi to go to Onigashima with us?”
“Yeah.”
Zaraki glanced toward him.
“I never said I was trying to permanently steal both rulers away from Zou.”
Law rubbed his forehead.
“That clarification would have been useful earlier.”
Zaraki ignored him.
“I want to talk to them, see whether they’re interested, and find out if they’re as strong as you keep implying.”
Pedro remained silent.
The mention of Kaido had changed something subtle in his expression, though Zaraki did not know enough about Pedro’s history to understand why.
At last, the leopard mink said, “Duke Inuarashi and Master Nekomamushi do not simply leave Zou because a stranger appears and asks.”
“Then I’ll ask them myself.”
“You will wait here while I report your arrival.”
Pedro’s tone made it clear that this was not a suggestion.
Zaraki grinned.
“I’m not great at waiting.”
Blackback’s Electro crackled louder.
Roddy lowered his head.
Pedro’s eyes hardened.
“Then learn.”
For a moment, neither side moved.
Bepo stepped between them.
“Please don’t fight!”
Law looked at him.
“Bepo.”
“Yes?”
“You know that saying that only makes them more likely to fight.”
Bepo’s face collapsed.
“Sorry!”
Zaraki finally gave Pedro a more careful look.
“You’re not bad.”
Pedro said nothing.
“But if Inuarashi and Nekomamushi are the strongest people here, I’m more interested in seeing them.”
Blackback immediately bristled.
“Watch your mouth, human!”
Roddy scraped one hoof across the earth.
Electro crackled through both Guardians.
Pedro’s hand shifted on his sword.
Zaraki’s grin widened.
“See? Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“Zaraki-ya.”
Law’s voice carried a warning.
Zaraki ignored him.
Pedro drew his blade several inches.
“You arrived unannounced beside the Whale Forest, refuse to follow the Guardians’ instructions, and now openly insult those we serve.”
His voice became colder.
“Do not mistake our restraint for weakness.”
“I don’t.”
Zaraki’s golden eyes sharpened.
“That’s why I’m still standing here instead of walking straight past you.”
That was apparently the last bit of provocation Blackback needed.
“BASTARD!”
The gorilla mink launched forward.
Electro exploded across his fur and ran down the enormous club in his hands.
Roddy charged at nearly the same instant, lightning-like sparks crawling over his horns as his massive body accelerated hard enough to tear chunks of earth from the ground.
Pedro moved last.
Which meant he arrived first.
The leopard mink drew his sword cleanly and drove toward Zaraki’s centerline while Roddy and Blackback closed the remaining angles, forcing him to deal with three attacks coordinated from different directions.
Bepo turned pale.
“CAP—”
He caught himself.
“ZARAKI!”
Law’s hand moved toward Kikoku.
Issho remained still.
He had already noticed the same thing Zaraki had.
There was an opening.
Tiny.
Deliberate or accidental, it existed between the timing of Pedro’s thrust and the convergence of Roddy and Blackback.
Zaraki tapped one foot against the ground and shifted backward at exactly the right moment.
He did not vanish.
He did not slip through some impossible spatial angle.
He simply read the attack correctly and moved before the closing formation could seal around him.
Pedro’s sword passed just short of his chest.
Blackback’s Electro-coated club smashed into the ground where Zaraki had been standing, blasting earth and stone outward.
Roddy’s charge tore through the dust a heartbeat later and stopped several meters beyond.
Zaraki landed lightly.
Not even his coat had been touched.
Pedro immediately turned.
Blackback stared.
Roddy’s ears flattened.
Their first exchange had told them enough.
Zaraki had not narrowly escaped.
He had seen the shape of their coordination and stepped away from it before it finished forming.
“Quit wasting my time.”
The humor gradually disappeared from Zaraki’s expression.
“I came here to speak with Inuarashi and Nekomamushi.”
His hand did not move toward Nozarashi.
He did not need it yet.
Instead, a controlled measure of pressure leaked from him.
Dark-gold Reiatsu rolled quietly beneath his skin, accompanied by the oppressive weight of his will. It did not explode across Zou or search through distant settlements.
It remained centered on the clearing, heavy enough that everyone standing there understood exactly what kind of person had arrived.
Blackback’s grip tightened.
Roddy’s muscles tensed.
Pedro’s expression became completely serious.
Even Bepo stopped moving.
Zaraki looked directly at the three Guardians.
“I’m not here to conquer your country.”
His golden eyes gleamed.
“But if you want to test whether I’m worth bringing before your rulers…”
The corner of his mouth rose.
“Go ahead.”
Pedro lifted his sword again.
This time, the Guardians no longer looked at Zaraki as an arrogant human intruder they could drive away with one quick exchange.
They looked at him as what he actually was.
A monster standing at the gates of the Whale Forest.
And deeper within Zou, word of the newcomers had already begun traveling toward the rulers of the Mokomo Dukedom.