Chapter 162: Solving Transplantation Through Cloning
The flock of crows scattered across the night sky, dark wings beating against the stars. Then, as suddenly as they had dispersed, they converged—a whirlwind of black feathers and chakra that spiraled downward and resolved into the figure of Itachi Uchiha, standing exactly where he had been moments before.
Law stared. "Itachi-ya. Is that another one of your abilities?"
Itachi didn't answer immediately. His face betrayed no particular emotion—no disappointment, no grief. Just a quiet exhale, the release of a hope that had flickered for a moment and then guttered out.
"It's nothing. Even if Shisui's eyes had followed me here, the transplantation couldn't be completed." He settled back into a cross-legged position on the cold earth. The brief surge of excitement had faded. In its place was the familiar, steady patience of a man who had learned long ago not to chase impossible things.
"Itachi-ya. Explain. What were you talking about? And who is Shisui?"
"The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan." Itachi's voice was calm. Clinical. "As far as I know, there is only one path to achieving it. The Mangekyō of a close blood relative must be transplanted into the user. When the two sets of eyes merge, there is a possibility—not a certainty—of awakening the Eternal form."
"A close blood relative's eyes?!" Law's earlier enthusiasm curdled into something closer to horror. "That's... incredibly cruel."
"No. The cruelty of shinobi exceeds your imagination."
A pause. "Do you have close relatives? Among your clan?"
"Of course." A strange, sad smile crossed Itachi's lips. "Everyone is dead. Except my younger brother. I killed them all with my own hands."
Law went very still.
"Itachi-ya. Are you serious?"
"Entirely serious. I'm not joking with you. They died by my hand. All of them."
The words hit Law like a physical blow. A roaring filled his ears. His vision blurred at the edges. He had seen death. He had caused death. He had watched Cora-san die in front of him while he could do nothing but scream. But this—the calm, quiet admission of genocide, spoken without self-pity or deflection—
Law sat down heavily beside Itachi. For a long moment, he said nothing. Then he placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder and pressed down firmly.
"There must have been a reason. A choice you didn't want to make."
Itachi blinked.
In his experience, when people learned the truth of the Uchiha Massacre, their reactions followed a predictable pattern. Horror. Revulsion. The immediate judgment that he was a monster, a devil, a creature beyond redemption. He had accepted this long ago. He had made peace with being hated.
No one had ever responded like this.
"Whether I did it or not... the outcome would have been death regardless. The clan would have been destroyed. No one would have survived." Itachi's voice was quieter now. Less clinical. "But if I did it myself... I could spare my younger brother. I could let him live. So I chose to be the one who held the blade."
"I see." Law's hand remained on his shoulder. He understood—not Itachi's position, but the position of the one who had been protected. Cora-san had made a similar choice. Had smiled through the pain and carried a broken child across a burning world. Had died so that Law could be free.
"Does the Straw Hat crew know?"
"I haven't told them yet."
"Don't worry, Itachi-ya." Law's voice was firm. "I've always believed you're a gentle person. Even if one day you have to kill me for some unavoidable reason... I wouldn't hold it against you."
"Law. Don't say things like that."
"I mean it." Law leaned back on his hands, tilting his face toward the night sky. "To be honest, I never thought that idiot Straw Hat would actually make it. Become the Pirate King? Him? It seemed absurd."
His voice softened.
"But it's different now. The ones who will reach the end... are the Straw Hats. I'm certain of it. As for me..." He shrugged. "I just want to learn the secret of the D. That's enough."
Warmth bloomed in Itachi's chest. A thousand possible responses flickered through his mind—explanations, deflections, the habitual walls he had built over years of isolation. But what emerged was simpler.
"Thank you."
Law waved it off. "Anyway. About your eyes." He leaned forward, his earlier excitement rekindling. "What if we extracted your genetic material and cloned a pair of identical Mangekyō Sharingan? The cloned eyes would be genetically identical to yours—effectively the eyes of a 'close relative.' Could that work?"
"You're suggesting using cloned Mangekyō to merge into the Eternal form?"
"Exactly." Law nodded rapidly. "During my two years on Punk Hazard, I picked up some of Caesar's techniques. I can't clone a full living person—that's beyond my current capability—but cloning a pair of eyes? That should be relatively straightforward. The eyes are isolated organs. The process would be—"
"Law. I don't think that will work." Itachi shook his head slowly. "I've never heard of anyone in the Uchiha clan achieving the Eternal Mangekyō through such means."
"Whether it works or not, we won't know until we try." Law's eyes were gleaming now—the intense, focused gleam of a surgeon presented with an unprecedented challenge. "Itachi-ya. I'm very interested in this."
Dawn — The Edge of Zou Island
The first light of morning crept across the elephant's vast back, painting the ancient forest in shades of gold and amber. At the island's edge, where the drainage channels expelled the last remnants of the Fire-Rain into the open sea, two figures hauled themselves over the final ledge.
Kin'emon collapsed onto solid ground, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Beside him, Kanjuro was in a similar state, his ink-stained fingers trembling from the effort of their all-night climb.
"DAWN! It's finally dawn!" Kanjuro gazed at the gates of Zou with tears in his eyes.
"We made it!" Kin'emon roared. "AFTER AN ENTIRE NIGHT OF CLIMBING!"
His shout startled a small monkey who had apparently made the same journey. The creature chittered nervously, its wide eyes darting between the two samurai.
"Thank you for your hard work, Torasaburo." Kanjuro patted the creature that had carried them up the elephant's leg. It was... theoretically a tiger. In practice, it looked more like a very confused cat.
"Is THAT supposed to be a tiger?" Kin'emon squinted. "It looks more feline than anything."
He turned to the little monkey. "You've been silent this whole journey, little one. We're simply looking for a samurai named Raizo. Do you know—"
"I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" The monkey scrambled backward, its fur standing on end.
Before Kin'emon could ask another question, the monkey bolted through the gates.
"WAIT! We can't find Raizo on our own!"
Kin'emon and Kanjuro sprinted after the fleeing primate. What neither of them noticed—what neither of them could possibly have noticed in their desperate chase—was that Torasaburo's hindquarters had come to rest on three sleeping figures.
Robin. Brook. Franky.
The "adult" trio, who had waited all night at the watchtower and finally succumbed to exhaustion, were now being used as a tiger's pillow. They slept on, oblivious.
"Little monkey! WAIT!"
"Just tell us where Raizo is!"
But the monkey was faster than either samurai. It tore through the jungle with the desperate speed of a creature carrying a message that could not wait. Tears streamed from its eyes as it ran.
"A SAMURAI! A SAMURAI HAS COME LOOKING FOR RAIZO!"
"I HAVE TO WARN EVERYONE!"
The monkey launched itself at the forest's alarm bell—a massive bronze construct hung between two ancient trees. It seized the rope and rang with all its strength.
"SAMURAI! THE SAMURAI ARE HERE!"
The sound echoed across the Whale Forest, across the strongholds, across every corner of Zou where minks still slept. One by one, lights flickered on. Doors opened. Warriors reached for weapons.
In the ruined town, Itachi and Law heard the bell. Moments later, they saw the movement—residents streaming toward the central square from every direction, their faces grim, their eyes hard.
"Is it another attack?" Law's hand moved to Kikoku's hilt.
Itachi's Sharingan swept the crowd. "No. This is something else."
(End of Chapter)
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