Chapter 38: The Secret of Flevance
Hearing footsteps coming from the street, Law warily turned his gaze towards the broken window.
After carefully placing the doll back where he had found it, he cautiously looked outside.
Standing in front of the ruined house were six people wearing yellow protective suits that completely covered their bodies. Each of them was carrying a weapon.
Seeing them, Law frowned.
He hadn't expected to encounter armed people here. Until now, he had been under the impression that the island was completely abandoned.
Law carefully listened to their conversation.
"Are you sure there was an outsider here?" one of the armed men asked.
"Yes, we're certain someone came here and entered this house. Just look at the footprints," another man replied, pointing towards the ground, where several footprints could be seen among the dust. He then pointed towards the ruined house.
Hearing that, Law nearly slapped himself in the face because of his own carelessness.
On his way here, he hadn't paid any attention to the footprints he had left behind.
Now these people knew that someone had appeared on the island.
At that moment, a third man spoke up.
"Could it be one of those pathetic slaves who escaped from the mines?"
Those words greatly surprised Law. He began listening even more carefully to their conversation.
However, that very decision became his next mistake.
One of the armed men raised his head, looked towards the second floor, and spotted Law's face.
"Hey! There's someone up there on the second floor! I can see a person!"
Everyone immediately turned in the direction he was pointing.
Realizing that he had been discovered, Law quickly hid himself.
"Are you sure you actually saw someone up there?" one of the men asked the person who had spotted Law.
The man confidently nodded.
"All right. Then let's capture that slave. You two stay here. Another two of you go around the back of the house. The two of us will go inside."
After giving those orders, the armed men began moving into action.
Realizing that it was time to leave, Law took one last look at the wardrobe.
Perhaps this would be the last time he ever saw this place.
"Goodbye..."
After saying that, he headed into the neighboring room, where there was a large broken window. Another house stood on the other side.
Looking in that direction, Law raised his hand.
"ROOM: Chambles!"
Law quickly switched places with a nearby stone. He repeated the process several times, putting as much distance as possible between himself and the house.
When he finally stopped, he looked around.
After making sure that nobody was nearby, he quickly disappeared into an alley.
Meanwhile, the armed men searched the house for Law, but they couldn't find anything. Eventually, they gathered together again.
"Are you sure you really saw someone?" the fifth man asked.
"Yes! I'm telling you, I saw someone! I definitely noticed a silhouette up there!" the man who had spotted Law replied.
"Maybe you just saw a ghost," another man joked.
"Enough! We've already searched this entire place. There's nobody here. Let's move on and continue our work."
After that, the men left.
Meanwhile, Law was thinking about something else entirely.
'What the hell is going on here? What were those people talking about when they mentioned "slaves" and "mines"?
All right, Law. Calm down. Think about what those people could have meant when they mentioned the mines.
If I remember correctly, according to the memories of the original Law, there really were mines in Flevance where a certain lead-amber alloy was extracted. It was exposure to this alloy that caused the disease among the inhabitants. Eventually, the kingdom was destroyed and sealed off from the outside world.'
As Law continued thinking about it, he suddenly realized something.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
'Those bastards from the World Government! Don't tell me they officially sealed off the country, claiming that a deadly disease was spreading here, while secretly using slaves to extract the lead-amber alloy!
After all, this alloy is used in many different things, and it's especially valuable among wealthy people. And Flevance has enormous quantities of it!
Now I understand why there are so many ships guarding this island. They don't want anyone to discover what's happening here. And Doflamingo himself said that the World Government knew how to cure the disease...'
Law clenched his hand so tightly out of rage that his fingers turned pale.
At least now he partially understood what was really happening here.
"Hey! We found an escaped slave!"
Hearing someone's voice, Law became alert once again.
He cautiously looked in the direction of the sound and spotted two people wearing protective suits and carrying weapons. They were surrounding a small, skinny old man who was lying on the ground in dirty clothes.
"You damn slave! Haven't you learned what happens when you try to escape from work?! Take this!"
After saying that, one of the armed men kicked the old man.
Law had been watching the entire scene.
Finally, he decided that running away was enough. It was time to find out what was really happening here.
He picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it at one of the armed men.
Then, quickly raising his sword, Kikoku, he spoke.
"ROOM: Chambles!"
As soon as both men entered the sphere, Law instantly switched places with the stone he had thrown.
Appearing behind one of the armed men, he thrust his sword straight into the man's heart, killing him instantly.
The second man didn't even have time to understand what had happened to his companion before he was struck by a powerful electric shock.
"Counter Shock!"
Law channeled electricity into his free hand and struck his opponent directly in the stomach, causing him to lose consciousness.
Everything happened so quickly that the entire fight lasted less than a minute.
When both armed men collapsed to the ground, the old man realized that something unusual had happened.
He cautiously raised his head and saw Law standing in front of him.
"Are you all right? Do you need help?" Law asked calmly, looking at the old man.
The man was so incredibly thin that his bones could practically be seen through his skin.
On top of that, his entire body had been affected by the Amber Lead Disease.
It was obvious that he had barely been given anything to eat.
"Ha... ha... ha... Thank you for helping me. But this place is extremely dangerous. You need to get out of here before the other armed men arrive," the old man said hoarsely.
"I want to know what's happening here. Please, tell me everything you know."
The old man took a deep breath before beginning to tell his story.
"Things used to be completely different here. This place was once so beautiful... I used to live here in Flevance with my family. I had a wonderful wife and a little son. I worked as a merchant, selling fruits and other goods.
"Before this disease appeared, I went to another island to purchase supplies. But when I returned, a terrible massacre had already taken place here.
"I learned that every inhabitant of the city had died, except for the members of the royal family of Flevance. And I had lost my own family.
"I wanted justice. I wanted the king and his family to be punished for failing to help their own people.
"But instead, I was arrested and sold into slavery. After that, I was sent here along with the other slaves, to work in the mines.
"I've spent all this time working down here. Eventually, I also contracted the Amber Lead Disease... The very same disease that took my family away from me..."
After finishing his story, the old man began to cry.
"All this time, I've been waiting for the day I finally die... So that I can see my family again."