Thunder God Island, mountain valley interior lands.
"Hey, Caesar… didn't you say this was an uninhabited island?"
"What's that then?!"
Looking at the building standing at the base of a steep cliff in front of him, as if embedded within the rocky fault line, Sanji raised one of his tightly curled eyebrows.
Caesar also stared ahead in complete shock, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
"Impossible!"
"If there were people living here, they would've been discovered long ago when Akainu and Aokiji fought for the Fleet Admiral position! This is Thunder God Island, after all— before it turned into what it is now, it was still a desolate, uninhabited land!"
"Unless…"
Suddenly, Caesar thought of a possibility.
"Unless this is a building deliberately constructed here after the Marine withdrew their forces, to hide some unspeakable purpose!"
"I've got a bad feeling we've stumbled into big trouble. What do we do, Captain?" Zoro propped his left elbow on the sword at his waist and pointed at the bloodstains on the ground.
"Should we go inside?"
"The blood is still fresh. Could it be from that escaped Information personnel? But who injured him?"
Robin crouched down, reached out to rub the traces with her fingers, and looked around.
"The valley's terrain cleverly forms a safe zone here, surrounded by flames, frost, and lightning. If it was caused by a Natural Disaster, why didn't we see anything like this on the way here? Yet it's only present in this spot?"
"I see, I see…"
Luffy lifted his chin, putting on an "I Understood" expression.
"Anyway, let's go inside and check it out! We've still got three days to spend here, after all!"
Everyone: "…"
'No, I'd bet this guy didn't understand a thing!!!'
The building looked uninhabited, with the doorknob covered in dust.
Pushing open the creaking door, what came into view was a spacious hall.
"It looks like the owner of this place must be pretty wealthy. What is this, a vacation villa?"
The three-story building, unremarkable from the outside, held a hidden world within.
A spacious hall, smooth marble floors, and intricately carved lampposts— every detail spoke of its owner's extravagance, making it hard to connect it to the Hell-like scene outside.
It should belong in a scenic vacation resort, not on Thunder God Island, where ice, fire, and lightning relentlessly alternate.
At that moment, Robin noticed something and called out.
"Everyone, the bloodstains seem to have spilled down from upstairs."
At her feet, the ground bore a scratch mark caused by the door's opening and closing, however, there were no bloodstains around the scratch itself.
"So, does that mean someone was attacked on the second floor, and their blood splattered outside…?"
Zoro looked up at the spiral staircase; the second-floor balcony was indeed connected to the outside.
"Let's go upstairs and find out, hee hee hee!" Luffy swung his arms and shouted loudly: "Hey, anyone there? We're passing pirate!"
"Passing? What the heck? Quiet down, Luffy! Who breaks into someone's house and announces they're pirate?!!"
"Oh, sorry… uh, I was just kidding earlier!"
"…Shut up, asshole!!"
Amid the commotion, the entire group stepped onto the stairs, heading toward the second floor.
"Hmm?"
Robin seemed to sense something and turned to look at the shadowy corner at the edge of the hall; however, under the light, though it was dark, there was nothing there.
"Maybe I'm overthinking it?" Robin dismissed her suspicions and followed her companions toward the second floor.
But after she turned away, a sound of teeth grinding came from that shadowy spot.
"Nico·Robin… this woman, this traitor!!!"
A series of roars filled the air, as ferocious as a wild beast.
…
New World, unknown sea.
"Orrick Sama, look! Someone's finally found them!"
Sugar held an Image Den Den Mushi in her palms, excitedly reporting to Orrick.
If you ignored the fact that she was perched on Orrick's head, this scene would seem perfectly normal.
"This little brat!"
Orrick's eye twitched, his fist clenching and then relaxing.
But a tool he'd chosen himself, he'd have to use it even if it killed him…
Taking a deep breath, Orrick suppressed his anger, pulled Sugar off, set her aside, and said.
"It's not surprising. Some ambitious fools always think their hideouts are flawless. It's inevitable that guys like this get exposed… Idiots will always be idiots, never amounting to anything."
"As expected of Orrick Sama, with your foresight, you had us move our base ahead of time."
In a dimly lit room, a middle-aged man lounged on a sofa, grinning widely.
"That Information personnel from earlier has already sent word to Soryu (Azure Dragon). It won't be long before he reaches that island, and when he does… heh, it's going to be very interesting!"
"I was hoping he could use the intel we left behind to cause some trouble for Marine, but it seems he's nothing special after all."
Lirisk glanced at the screen and silently shook his head: "Among all the known ambitious figures right now, this guy doesn't even rank."
"Hā hā hā, don't say that, Young Master Lirisk. He's still a man who's crossed paths with Kaido, after all."
To this, Lirisk let out a cold scoff.
"'Assassination King' Jino fought Red Hair and Sengoku and still got away unscathed!"
"Alright, enough chit-chat."
Orrick shook his head and turned around, drawing everyone's attention.
"Caesar's situation is enough to distract Soryu (Azure Dragon) for now. We should focus on something else."
"According to my Information, not long ago, the Celestial Dragons were confirmed to have been wiped out…"
Bang!
Like a stone stirring up a thousand waves, the room's breathing halted in unison at the news.
But these people were different from Marine; after a brief moment of shock, they quickly regained their composure.
Orrick didn't dwell on it and continued.
"Ryokugyu, how's the investigation going on the matter I asked you to look into?"
When it came to serious business, the carefree middle-aged man's expression finally turned solemn, and he nodded in response.
"Yes, I've got results."
"Though it was well-hidden, and someone went to great lengths to erase all traces of existence, that very effort exposed him."
"In this entire Sea, only a handful of people could pull something like this off."
"So I followed the trail, used the process of elimination, and found that there's a seven parts chance this man is a loyal follower of 'Gold Emperor' Gild Tesoro."
"Gold Emperor?"
Orrick repeated the nickname in surprise, then the corners of his mouth curled up, killing aura radiating from him.
"As expected…Soryu (Azure Dragon)!!!"
Lirisk Understood— Orrick's killing intent toward Rowen at this moment wasn't because Soryu (Azure Dragon) might have secretly orchestrated the Celestial Dragons' annihilation but stemmed from Orrick's own hatred for the Celestial Dragons.
They had prepared plenty of things to make the Celestial Dragons pay a price.
However, because of the other party's plans, his original means of revenge had gone up in smoke.
This pain of losing his target for vengeance was the true source of his killing intent.
"This guy really is a pain…"
But with the arrow already nocked, he had no choice but to fire. Orrick forced himself to calm down and said, "The Celestial Dragons are just a vessel. Our real target is the World Government they represent!"
"To that end, spare no cost!"
After a pause, Orrick continued: "Leak this Information secretly to Marine… He cut off one of my moves, so I'll sever one of his arms!"
So…
What's the inevitable connection between retaliating against Soryu (Azure Dragon) and taking down the World Government?
Lirisk silently pondered nearby.
Hmm, there is a connection.
If Soryu (Azure Dragon) went to war with Marine to protect himself, the losses on Marine's side would benefit them more than harm them.
It's definitely not about being petty or striking back out of spite… absolutely not!
My father definitely has that big-picture vision!
(End of Chapter)
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