Falling into Kuro's hands meant certain death.
Running to Law at least offered a sliver of hope.
But now, it seemed that no matter where he went, it was a dead end.
The Skeleton swallowed his pride and begged desperately.
No amount of machismo was worth more than staying alive.
Yet, the hand of evil that could destroy him finally descended.
Despair appeared in the Skeleton's eyes.
Today was his day of death.
In utter despair, the Skeleton extinguished his red light.
"Hmm?"
Moments later, the expected pain did not come.
The Skeleton opened his red light in confusion and saw Law had already withdrawn his hand. At the same time...
He suddenly looked down at the silver-haired woman beneath him. Sensing briefly, he could perceive her life force rapidly fading.
It turned out Law's target was the silver-haired woman, not him.
Although he had dodged a bullet, the Skeleton didn't relax. He knew that to survive, he ultimately had to get past Law.
"Law..."
The Skeleton cautiously said Law's name, while intently watching Law's mouth, afraid of missing any detail.
Law looked at the Skeleton. After a moment, he pointed at the silver-haired woman's corpse and said calmly, "It's yours. It should be enough to restore you to your original state."
With that, Law walked towards Chucu without sparing the Skeleton another glance.
He had thought it over. Ultimately, he felt that loyalty was far more important than combat strength, even though he was quite fond of the Skeleton's abilities...
Having come to that conclusion, he decided not to keep the Skeleton.
Given the help the Skeleton had provided, Law certainly wouldn't harm him.
If necessary, he would even specifically hunt creatures to help the now pitiable Skeleton replenish his calcium.
However, given the silver-haired woman's constitution, it should be enough for the Skeleton's needs.
Watching Law's back, the Skeleton stood frozen.
He had been intently watching Law's mouth. Compared to Kuro's, it was easier to read, so he understood Law's words.
After being stunned for less than three seconds, the Skeleton instinctively pushed aside the chaotic emotions in his head, leaving only one thought: replenish calcium well and strive to return to his original state.
He didn't hold back, nor did he care to ponder the reason. He immediately began absorbing the silver-haired woman's corpse.
"Such high quality, truly the king of calcium, the elite calcium!"
The high-density energy within the bones made the Skeleton feel like he was floating on air.
He was set.
Just from the first touch, he knew returning to his original state was no longer a problem. In fact, the strength and quality of his bones might even surpass his original level.
Law walked towards Chucu.
Seeing this, not far away, Ging followed, occasionally looking back at the Skeleton replenishing his calcium.
Ging came to Law's side, walking shoulder to shoulder with him.
"Letting him go?"
Ging could guess Law's thoughts.
"Yes. Even if I forced him into the team, he'd still be an unstable factor in the end." Law nodded. You can't force a relationship... it won't be sweet.
"I feel the same way. It's a pity, but there's no helping it. Not even 'genocide-level hatred' was enough to make him fight alongside us." Ging looked back at the Skeleton.
The stronger the team, the higher the survival rate.
Remember, this wasn't the Six Continents. Lost combat power was very hard to replenish, and adding new combat power was even harder.
As a potential combat power stock, it would have been best if the Skeleton could become a part of the team.
However, some things just can't be forced. Seeing Law let go now was probably for the best.
After all, they had already rescued one of their key combatants. So, with or without the Skeleton, the team's overall combat strength likely wouldn't change significantly.
Law and Ging arrived in front of Chucu.
Chucu looked at the terrifying figures before her, her expression extremely grave.
Law looked Chucu up and down.
A fragment of Chucu's memory remained in the White Smoke Font space. Because the timing wasn't right, Law hadn't opened it yet.
Now that the Mender was dead and Stargie had returned, the necessity of opening that memory fragment had greatly diminished. At least for now, Law had no motivation to do so.
He shifted his gaze from Chucu to the Mender's desiccated corpse.
'There was quite a bit of information to verify one by one.'
Law thought to himself, then suddenly reached out.
Although he was looking at the Mender's corpse, his target was Chucu.
Caught off guard, Chucu was seized by Law.
Just being touched by this human's hand triggered an instinctive, intense sense of crisis.
Having experienced it before, Chucu naturally knew the reason.
She was so scared she couldn't even speak.
Law looked at Chucu and said with surprise, "I thought you'd ask 'why' again. Turns out you're this quiet."
Chucu trembled violently.
After speaking, Law simply let go of Chucu, who collapsed limply to the ground in fright.
He had suddenly grabbed Chucu just to see if the White Smoke Font would offer the option to absorb her.
It still showed the absorption prompt.
However, Law had no intention of absorbing Chucu this time.
After releasing Chucu, Law crouched down and pressed his hand onto the Mender's corpse.
Suddenly, the White Smoke Font within his consciousness space went into a frenzy, prompting like a virus-infected computer, popping up countless windows that couldn't be closed.
Having had the White Smoke Font for so long, Law had never seen it act so wildly. This showed the importance of the Mender's corpse.
Law wasn't in a hurry to absorb the Mender's corpse. First, he checked the remaining black Nen in the energy gauge. Originally around 50%, he had used about 30% in the fight with the Mender, leaving only 20%.
Without this black Nen, Law's chances of defeating the Mender would have been pitifully low.
Moreover, he still couldn't figure out the reason for the Mender's self-destruction or the origin of those Aura Masses that had escaped from the book's pages.
Using Stargie's case as a reference, those Aura Masses were likely pure energy, or perhaps souls, that the Mender had gathered.
Law's speculation was correct.
Those Aura Masses could essentially be understood as souls.
And one of the purposes of the book's existence was recording.
Incidentally, sealing was equivalent to recording.
The Mender's origin was the book itself. Over countless unknown years of evolution, it had both a heavenly duty and an inherent nature.
So, to fulfill its heavenly duty, it had to eliminate what it considered unreasonable existences. However, its recording nature drove it to seal those unreasonable things within the book's pages.
The two seem contradictory, but from the Mender's perspective, there was essentially no difference.
Because sealing within the pages was both elimination and recording.
Law had limited information, but by absorbing the Mender's corpse, he might be able to glimpse important memory fragments.
His mind stirred. Law agreed to the absorption.
Instantly, the energy gauge surged wildly.