Starting as a Roger Pirates Apprentice-Chapter 448: The Follow-Up of Haki

"Oh my, you changed back already?"

That sensation of fullness to the point of bursting surged into his head. Orin clenched his fist, confirming he had switched back to his own body, and couldn’t help but let out a sigh. He hadn’t had enough fun yet.

...

On the other side, there was some movement in a distant snowdrift. The room space had been brutally shattered by Haki, and Law—who had dodged that terrifying slash at the very last moment before it broke—was now panting heavily as he crawled out of the snowbank, his face drenched in cold sweat.

What kind of slash was that?!!!

It had almost made even his room space unable to exist under that kind of power.

"Is this... Haki?"

"And it even automatically reverted the body."

Looking at the bewildered Kuina, Law quickly made his judgment, then locked his gaze onto Orin in the distance.

"Yeah. Didn’t expect I’d use a bit too much Haki and end up ruining this little bit of fun~"

Residual Haki coiled around Orin’s hand, black-and-red arcs of electricity crackling faintly in midair. In truth, even without using an excessive amount of Conqueror’s Haki, he could have returned to his own body anyway.

Did you really think Orin would put himself in danger?

From the very instant he appeared in the laboratory, he had already seen the future—a complete picture. He had stored a massive amount of Haki inside his body in advance. His perspective shifted to Kuina, and once the Haki was released, the Devil Fruit ability was successfully undone. Orin trusted his Observation Haki, which was why he dared to gamble his life on a bit of fun.

In other words, even if Orin had done absolutely nothing, once the time came, the Haki stored deep within his body would be released in an instant—enough to shake the entire sea area until it shattered. At that point, the body would naturally return to its original state.

Seeing that Orin remained utterly unhurried, Law fell silent for a moment before finally letting out a sigh.

"A calmness that never disappears... means nothing ever escapes your control..."

He looked at Orin’s smiling face, and it slowly overlapped with the calm figure from his childhood memories.

"Should I say that’s terrifying Observation Haki... or terrifying strength?"

"So what exactly is someone like you doing here at Punk Hazard?"

Law was deeply puzzled as to why Orin would appear here.

"Well~ just here to relax a bit."

Orin said with a smile.

In reality, he was just bored—coming over to look for the artificial dragon Devil Fruit, and stopping by to see Doflamingo and Kuzan while he was at it. Retirement life for an old man really was that plain and unadorned~

"Let’s go."

Orin waved his hand, preparing to leave, and Kuina hurried to follow.

In the distance, Smoker was still clutching his wound, kneeling on one knee, while Tashigi was wrapping him up with bandages.

"What are you doing?!"

Smoker yelled in anger as he looked at his chest wrapped up like a flower. The sudden shout startled Tashigi, who had been spacing out.

She hurriedly apologized, but her mind was still elsewhere.

That woman who looked exactly like me just now... such terrifying swordsmanship...

Can a female swordsman really be that frightening?!

"It seems things won’t be that simple..."

Unlike Tashigi, Smoker’s expression had turned grim.

"Judging by the trajectory of the past several decades, Black Gun would never appear somewhere for no reason. I’m afraid Punk Hazard is far more troublesome than we imagined."

...

Elsewhere, through a live broadcast Den Den Mushi, Monet and the others also received news of Orin’s arrival.

"Na-na-na... what?!"

Caesar’s tongue and eyeballs stretched out absurdly far, and his already gaseous body instantly ballooned much larger.

"Why would Orin show up here?!"

It had already been a year or two since the [Dark Sun God] experiment concluded. Caesar had long since been sent back and continued working for Doflamingo. His presence at Punk Hazard now was to carry on his poison gas experiments.

This project had been launched long ago. Although he had spent years assisting Vegapunk with experiments, whenever he had free time he could never forget his own "weapons of death." He had even contacted numerous big shots and brokers in the underworld, inviting them to watch a live broadcast of his weapon’s effects.

"It’s over, it’s over, it’s over!!!"

Caesar was already panicking, while Monet remained relatively calm.

"Orin is here—why are you so scared?"

"That’s because..."

Caesar was just about to say something, when he suddenly froze.

Right—what was he panicking for?

Whether it was himself or the joker behind him, they were all on the same side.

Long-standing fear of Orin had turned the despicable Caesar into a skittish bird, but once he realized this, he burst into laughter.

"Shurororororo!!!"

"That’s right, Orin must be here to witness my great achievement as well, shurororororo!!!"

"But we should still go and greet him properly~"

As the surveillance Den Den Mushi rapidly scanned the area, it soon located Orin inside the research facility. Caesar turned into gas and flew over, with Monet close behind.

"Oh my, isn’t this Orin-sama~"

Caesar’s old face split into a chrysanthemum-like grin as he sidled up toward Orin’s direction. Monet flew over as well and greeted him respectfully.

Before they even appeared, Orin had already noticed them.

"Caesar, let me ask you something."

"Please do."

Caesar said with a rubbing-his-hands smile.

"Never mind."

A red light flashed in Orin’s eyes. Having already learned what Caesar was about to say, he took Kuina and headed toward another part of the laboratory.

"Eh...?"

Caesar was momentarily dumbfounded, not understanding what Orin was up to. Then he saw a bird fly over and hover in midair, staring at him coldly.

"Could it be..."

Beside him, Monet’s eyes flashed with surprise when she saw the seagull. She had once paid attention to intelligence from the Summit War.

"Could this be that one—the Sea Gull King that always stayed by Orin’s side?"

"The Sea Gull King?"

Years of isolated experimentation had left Caesar poorly informed about the outside world.

"Yes. It’s said to have once fought the first division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates—the right-hand man of a Yonko—and neither side won."

Hearing this, Caesar’s goat-like face instantly split into a wide grin.

"Shurororororo!!!"

"Orin sending it must mean it’s here to help us, right?!"

"The experiment is definitely going to be a huge success!!!"

"No, I have to report this great news to joker right away!!!"

...

On the other end of the call, Doflamingo was also wearing a bewildered expression.

"Orin???"

That man he had known for decades—

Since when had he become so kind-hearted?