Chapter 1000: Trafalgar Law vs. Hakuba | Have You Walked Straight into a Trap?

Chapter 1000: Chapter 1000: Trafalgar Law vs. Hakuba | Have You Walked Straight into a Trap?

"Hehehehe...!"

"Found one! Trafalgar Law!"

His golden hair whipped wildly without the presence of a wind, and his contorted visage was warped with absolute malice. The figure radiated a suffocating, dense bloodlust, causing the ambient temperature in the room to plummet.

In that instant, Law felt a sickening stench of iron rush toward him. His vision swam with a flash of crimson, as though he were suddenly staring down a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. The freezing waves of murderous intent blasted him like an icy gale, raising goosebumps across his exposed skin.

"C-Cavendish-sama...!"

"N-No way... has he gone mad again?!"

"..."

The guards inside the room stared at Cavendish in sheer terror, their teeth chattering uncontrollably from the sheer pressure. They were merely ordinary sentries who hadn’t even been injected with the SS Serum; they stood absolutely no chance against such a terrifying, concentrated aura of slaughter. Their legs had long since turned to jelly, leaving them on the verge of collapsing to the floor.

"Don’t mention that coward!"

Cavendish, or rather, Hakuba, stared coldly at the dozen or so guards, his voice cutting through the air like shard of ice as he barked his reprimand.

"Ah! It’s Hakuba-sama!"

"We are deeply sorry, Hakuba-sama!"

"Hakuba-sama! Spare our lives!"

"..."

The guards shrieked in horror, their expressions utterly ghastly, their eyes filled with unadulterated dread.

Better to cross Enel than to cross Hakuba. This saying circulated widely among the low-and-middle-ranking members of the Chris Pirates. Within the crew, everyone knew that Enel had a vicious temper, and was cold-blooded and tyrannical, often killing people on a whim just to vent his rage.

Yet, there were times when people would rather work under Enel than stay anywhere near Cavendish. The moment his second personality, Hakuba, took over, he became a raving lunatic who recognized neither friend nor foe. He would butcher anyone in his path, even his own allies, taking absolute, sadistic pleasure in the act of slaughter alone.

Before another thought could form, a freakish gust of wind howled, and Hakuba vanished from where he stood.

"ROOM!"

Almost simultaneously, Law thrust his hand outward. A spherical, translucent membrane rapidly expanded, enveloping the entire surveillance room and several adjacent offices.

Having clashed before on Punk Hazard, Law knew all too well that his opponent was a speed-focused swordsman. Against such high-speed movement, a single lapse in concentration would mean being cleaved apart on the spot.

"Hehehehe! I couldn’t find Roronoa Zoro, but slaughtering you instead works just fine!"

A gruesome, mocking cackle echoed through the air, vibrating within the confines of the room. Deep, crisscrossing fissures began to tear open across the floor and walls at irregular intervals.

Clang!

Abruptly, Hakuba materialized before Law like a phantom, bringing his sword down in a ferocious arc. Law’s reflexes were razor-sharp; he brought his blade up in a reverse grip just in time to parry Hakuba’s assault.

As the blades clashed, the immense force generated violent shockwaves that billowed outward, causing the floor beneath them to fracture inch by inch.

"Die!"

Law gave a low shout, forcefully parrying Hakuba’s sword away before executing a direct forward slash.

Shhhf!

Transforming into a freak gale, Hakuba vanished on the spot to evade the strike. Law’s flying slash tore through the air, ripping open the wall of the surveillance room and carving a massive, gaping fissure several meters long.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

In the blink of an eye, Hakuba flickered in and out of existence around Law, unleashing a frenzied barrage of chaotic slashes. The deafening din of clashing steel was relentless, sending sparks flying through the air. The fierce wind generated by the sword strikes was sharp enough to slice through iron like butter, effortlessly leaving clean, deep gouges all across the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Under the violent clash of the two men, the entire surveillance room was reduced to a shambles. The display screens lining the walls, which had been monitoring various sectors, were completely shattered by the stray, razor-sharp gale. The dozen or so guards ran around like headless chickens, trying to shield their heads. Nearly half of them were caught in the crossfire of the flying slashes, leaving them with severed limbs or worse, their bodies cleaved cleanly apart.

"It’s useless! It’s completely useless! Hehehehe...!"

Hakuba let out bursts of maniacal laughter, his body moving at blinding speeds as he occasionally lunged inward to deliver another lethal strike.

"ROOM: Takt!"

Chunks of debris and broken bricks falling from the walls and ceiling suddenly levitated into the air before raining down violently toward a specific coordinate, erupting into a succession of resounding crashes.

Swoosh—

In that split second, a brilliant flash of sword light streaked through the air, instantly cleaving a solid office desk clean in two.

A moment later, Hakuba revealed his physical form. Staring at the severed hardwood desk before him, his cold eyes flared with mounting irritation. "A pesky little insect that does nothing but scurry about!"

In the office right next to the surveillance room, Law sat on the floor in a corner, panting slightly. A shallow wound traced across his chest, and the seeping blood had already stained his clothes a deep crimson.

The man’s speed had completely defied his expectations. This was his first time facing such a high-level, blindingly fast assault style in a direct confrontation. Back on Punk Hazard, it had been Zoro who fought Hakuba, meaning Law had never actually traded blows with Cavendish’s second personality until now.

However, if not for this brief exchange, he wouldn’t have believed that a human could achieve such a terrifying, monstrous level of speed purely through physical prowess alone, without relying on the power of a Devil Fruit. He truly was a monster, the title ’The Kamaitachi of Rommel’ was well-deserved; it really was a freakish gale that butchered men.

If he hadn’t evaded just in time, his internal organs would have likely been ripped open.

The Chris Pirates truly lived up to their reputation as a terrifying force capable of rivaling the Yonko, a literal gathering ground for monsters.

Fortunately, the surveillance room had been thoroughly wrecked during the chaotic struggle. His objective was complete; it was no longer wise to linger here.

Suddenly, just as Law stood up to make his escape, a nearly imperceptible flash of sword light flickered through the wall.

Boom—!

Instantly, over half of the wall shattered into pieces, and several massive fragments slammed heavily onto the floor, kicking up a dense cloud of dust.

"Hehehe~ Found you!"

Before the figure even emerged, that signature, malice-filled laugh echoed outward.

Hakuba tilted his head, his face contorted into a twisted, maniacal expression of pure frenzy. Gripping Durandal in his hand, he stepped into the room one stride at a time.

"I don’t have time to play games with you. Let’s do this next time! ROOM!"

Law locked eyes with Hakuba and flung his hand out. The spherical membrane expanded exponentially, instantly swelling to engulf a radius of several hundred meters.

"You bastard!"

Hakuba roared in a furious frenzy, immediately transforming into a terrifying gale as he lunged forward.

Shhhf—

The sharp, biting wind of the sword erupted, instantly ripping the floor apart. The strike tore through several offices consecutively as if they were made of tofu; desks, cabinets, steel racks... nothing could withstand it as it violently breached nearly ten walls in a row.

Yet, Law had already vanished from the spot, leaving behind nothing but a catastrophic gouge carved by Hakuba’s blade.

"Ahhh—! Trafalgar Law! I will tear your body into a thousand pieces!"

Driven into a blind rage, Hakuba morphed into a devastating, localized hurricane, tearing through the room in a mad frenzy. Sword light flashed relentlessly, and everything within the room bore the brunt of his wrath, reduced entirely to kindling and shards.

Simultaneously, Law materialized out of thin air inside a workshop within the adjacent VIP Customization Area.

The vacant workshop contained nothing but a few metal worktables bolted to the walls, cluttered with an unorganized mess of tools and various half-finished firearms, ranging from rifles to pistols.

However, he was not alone in this workshop; several other figures stood within the space.

"Oh~ You’re looking quite pathetic, Law."

One of the figures turned around, scanning Law from head to toe before letting out a soft chuckle. "But tell me... does this count as walking straight into a trap?"

Gulp.

In that exact instant, Law’s entire body went rigid. He stared fixedly at the man standing before him, swallowing hard with great difficulty. He found himself utterly paralyzed, unable to utter a single word, or even a single syllable.