“W-what?!”
“You can’t beat them all on your own. You can’t save the town single-handedly. That should be obvious. You can’t do it all on your own, which is why we’re here.”
“Hrrm…”
“We’re not going to send you in there to be hurt,” I went on. “We’re going in there together to beat up Bacca and his minions and protect the town. It’s that simple. We’re not kids anymore, Junker. We’re not hiding under your wing, needing protection. It’s our turn now. We’re gonna protect you and the place you care about. That’s what friends do, right?”
Wolf snorted again. A thin smile traveled across his lips.
“You snot-nosed punks think you can talk a big game just because you got a bit taller. But…I’m listening to my gut, and I trust you boys. I’m willing to put my faith in you guys—my friends,” he said, raising his hands in surrender.
We all smiled. The dynamic felt right again.
“Anyway, old man, if we’re going to fight, we’ve got to get a few things straight. First of all, what’s this Melt-Melt Fruit that Bacca ate?” I asked. Whatever strategy we settled on for defeating the pirates, there wouldn’t be any peace in town unless we took Bacca down. So the most important thing we needed to know was how his powers worked.
“It gives anyone who eats it the ability to dissolve,” the old man replied. “That’s the power of the Melt-Melt Fruit. Bacca can freely transform his body into a liquid. That’s why normal attacks won’t do any damage to him.”
“That would explain why my blows passed right through him,” I said.
“One other thing. Bacca can project beams from his eyes to control other people,” said Wolf.
“Beams?” I asked. “Like some kind of hypnosis?”
“Well, it’s a beam that can melt things. You said the townsfolk started attacking you—did Bacca shoot a beam just before that?”
“He did. We managed to dodge out of the way, but all the other people in the vicinity got hit.”
“That’s Melting Wave… When Bacca’s beam hits you, it melts your spirit and turns you into one of his unthinking puppets. Under his control, people would go so far as to grab a knife and stick it in their own chest if he told them to,” Wolf explained.
“Sounds like the ideal power for a sick bastard,” I said bitterly.
“I assume Bacca’s used his beam on the townsfolk and has them all as his dutiful puppets. Which is why we have to act quickly.”
“Before he escapes town, you mean?”
“No. They need rest and time to prepare for the Grand Line, so they’ll be staying here for a while. I’m talking about the people. Anyone who’s been hit by Bacca’s Melting Wave will die after twenty-four hours.”
“What?!”
“The power of the Melt-Melt Fruit can melt your heart—not just the organ, but the metaphysical heart that exists within each of us. If you’re under its control for twenty-four hours, your heart will completely melt away. Once that’s happened, there’s no saving you.”
A gloomy silence settled over the room once again as we thought about all those people in town who had been so good to us. Absolutely not. Not a single one of them is dying on my watch.
“How can you undo the Melt-Melt Fruit’s powers?” Shachi asked.
“They’ll disengage if Bacca gets knocked unconscious. But that may be easier said than done. We should probably fight him expecting to kill him,” Wolf said, his eyes hard. As horrible a man as he was, Bacca was still Wolf’s own son. Trying to kill your son wasn’t the sort of situation any father wanted to be in.
“Twenty-four hours…” Bepo mused.
“It’s been about four hours since the scuffle in town. So we’ve got twenty hours left,” Shachi said.
“And in that time, we have to go back there, deal with the townspeople trying to attack us, and defeat Bacca… That’s a lot…” Penguin murmured.
Bepo and Penguin and Shachi seemed daunted by the challenge before us, and I couldn’t blame them. It was no exaggeration to say that the lives of the townsfolk were in our hands at that moment. And it’s not like I was as cool as a cucumber. My hands had been shaking for most of the day. A whole town coming under attack by outsiders was a nasty reminder of my own trauma: Burning buildings, countless screams; my parents, Lammy, and so many other dead bodies in my hometown, Flevance…
“Let’s go up on the roof. Come with me,” Wolf said abruptly. We followed him up without a word. Outside, we could see that rain clouds were closing in. They seemed to be reflecting our dark state of mind at the moment, and it made me mad.
“We’re going to check on the town now,” Wolf said.
“What?”
“With my high-precision spyglass, the Seefer Miles, it’ll be no problem to see what’s going on in town. I’ve got two of them. Take a look with me, Law.”
I was skeptical, but I did what he said and put the invention, which had as stupid a name as any of them, to my eye.
I nearly gasped. I really could see the town in crystal-clear detail.
How does Wolf make these things?
“Looks like the folks really are under his control,” Wolf said.
“That’s right,” I said. People we knew well were wandering around the town with vacant expressions, holding unfamiliar weapons.
“Where’s Bacca, old man?” I asked.
“He’s in the temple. You’ve been there before, right? The pirates are gathered in the center of town, in the temple that honors the god of the sea.”
“Ah, yes, that’s about the biggest building in town,” I murmured, checking on the location before removing the eyeglass.
It was a tough situation. With the pirates occupying the temple in the center of town, there was no way we could avoid a confrontation with some of the townsfolk. I didn’t want to hurt them, but it was going to be difficult to break through without launching some kind of attack. Moreover, we wouldn’t stand a chance of winning if we were already all beaten-up and tired by the time we actually got to Bacca. Beyond that, none of those efforts would mean anything if we didn’t have a way to take him down when we got there.
We’re out of options.
“You guys got any ideas?” I asked the others on a prayer.
“Sorry, I can’t think of anything,” said Bepo, upset. “I wish I were a lot smarter. You guys don’t need a stupid polar bear weighing you down…”
“Stop getting depressed, Bepo! I asked because I don’t have any ideas, either.”
We all sighed in unison. With the exception of Wolf, who wore a confident little grin.
“I’ve got one,” he mumbled.
“Got what?” I asked.
“That’s it, of course! It’ll work! I’ve got it, boys! We need to prepare at once. Off to my lab!” the old man roared. “Bacca’s not gonna know what hit him!”