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Gion did not give chase.
Perhaps it was out of respect for Jessica's choice. Perhaps she simply knew it was a losing fight.
A person is born free. No one can force them to be something they are not. Only a sense of duty, developed over a lifetime, can truly bind a soul.
The Navy's duty was to maintain order—the foundation of their claim to justice.
Gion understood that. Yet to watch the girl she had mentored for seven years throw it all away... the bitterness was hard to swallow.
The next time they met, they would be enemies.
That was the price. And Jessica, in making her choice, had already accepted it.
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It was noon. The sun warmed the deck, a gentle breeze stirred the air, and scattered white clouds drifted across the sky.
With Marineford in chaos, its forces preoccupied with a rampaging Kaido, the path to Impel Down lay wide open.
This would be his third trip to the place that struck terror into the hearts of pirates across the world.
Yet Arthur felt no fear.
Instead, a strange, almost nostalgic fondness washed over him. It was like coming home. The prison was a treasure trove of talent, a collection of the world's most interesting monsters.
He loved it here.
His Grand Fleet was already a colossal power. He may not have commanded the sheer numbers of Whitebeard or Big Mom, yet his commanders were elite. All he lacked was a First Mate.
And there was only one man for the job—a man whose strength could command the respect of all the others.
Red the Aloof, Patrick Redfield.
Three years in a cage, locked in a space so small he could not even move. Redfield would have had plenty of time to think about the offer Arthur had made him.
Die in Impel Down, or accept the invitation. There was no third option.
The future that might have been—the one where Blackbeard would one day break in and release all the prisoners—was no longer a certainty. Who knew if Teach would even leave Whitebeard's crew now?
After three high-profile breakouts, Impel Down's security would have been ramped up to an insane degree. The only reason it was vulnerable now was because its strongest guardians had been called back to Marineford.
Once the chaos subsided, they would return.
This was Redfield's one and only chance.
It all depended on whether three years in a cage had been enough to break his pride, enough to make him face reality. Would the man who so feared the decay of old age still cling to his aloofness when his body began to fail him?
Then there was the final, crucial piece of leverage.
The Mythical Zoan: Bat-Bat Fruit, Model Vampire.
According to Doflamingo's underworld sources, they were close to finding it.
With a bargaining chip like that in hand, Arthur was confident he could bring Redfield to heel. And if he still refused...
A cold glint appeared in Arthur's eyes as he lay on the deck, enjoying Jessica's massage.
'I have made my offer. I have shown my respect. If he is still too stubborn to see the truth... then the legends of old can stay buried in the past.'
A true powerhouse does not bend to a few simple words. Arthur knew that. Yet he had been courting Redfield for nearly six years. He was not going to wait forever.
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"Purupurupuru... Purupuru..."
A Den Den Mushi wearing a top hat that looked suspiciously like Morgans's began to ring. Shiryu answered it.
"Shiryu? I need to speak with Captain Arthur," the newsman's grating voice squawked.
"Wait."
Shiryu brought the receiver to Arthur.
No one from the Thunder God Pirates would dare disturb their captain without a damn good reason.
Arthur gently stopped Jessica's hands, which were massaging his temples, and took the call.
"Morgans. What is it?"
"Captain. The three Devil Fruits you ordered us to find. We have a confirmed location on one of them."
"What? Which one?" Arthur shot up from his lounge chair.
He had told his crew the future location of the Op-Op Fruit in the North Blue. He had his men on the border of Whitebeard's territory keeping an eye out for the Dark-Dark Fruit. And the Vampire Fruit... he had no idea where it would appear, only that they should listen for any rumors.
He had been prepared to wait for years. He had never imagined they would get a hit so soon.
"The Mythical Zoan: Bat-Bat Fruit, Model Vampire," Morgans confirmed.
'The Vampire Fruit?'
It was not the Op-Op or the Dark-Dark Fruit, and a flicker of disappointment passed through him. Yet to get this news on the way to recruit Redfield... it could not be more perfect.
"In the city of Spring Queen, there is a noble by the name of Vladimir. He is a normal human, but it is said that he is nearly a hundred years old and still has the appearance of a middle-aged man."
"Doflamingo's spies have gathered intelligence. Every year, Vladimir holds a banquet in his family's ancient castle. After every banquet, a young woman goes missing. Some have claimed to have seen him with fangs and bat wings, drinking the blood of these women to restore his youth."
"Restoring his youth by drinking blood?" Arthur mused aloud.
It had to be the Vampire Fruit. As for why he only drank the blood of women... the nobleman probably just had some peculiar tastes.
"I understand. Good work. Intensify the search for the other two."
He gave a mental nod of approval for Doflamingo's competence and hung up.
So the previous owner of the fruit Redfield coveted was still alive. Surprising.
Yet it did not matter. He would simply go there, kill the man, and use Vegapunk's method to reincarnate the fruit.
"Jessica," he said, his decision made. "You and Shiryu are to return to the New World immediately. Wait for me on Raijin Island."
Hearing this, Jessica's expression fell. "Be careful," she said after a moment of silence.
She did not say anything foolish, did not tell him not to be reckless. She knew that a man who retreated in the face of danger, a man who lacked the courage to press forward, could never become an emperor of the sea.
Even if he were to face the same terrifying ambush he had endured at Sabaody seven years ago, Arthur would still face it head-on, without hesitation.
It was never about life or death.
He was always chasing something. Jessica understood that.
"Do not worry," he said, his voice offering quiet reassurance. "There may be many dangers in this world I cannot resist. But there is no one left whom I cannot fight."
He turned to his swordsman.
"Take her back to Raijin Island. If anyone gives her any trouble, kill them."
"Understood," Shiryu nodded, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "And where is the Captain going?"
"Impel Down," Arthur said, his voice dropping to a low growl. "To break a man out of prison."
The moment the words left his mouth, he was gone—a streak of pure lightning shooting toward the Calm Belt.
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