Chapter 578: Carmel Has Arrived!
After Rosinante finished speaking, Doflamingo lifted a hand.
In the next instant, another Doflamingo appeared beside them, identical down to the smile.
"I'll send my clone."
"How could I stay out of something this fun?"
"Fufufufu"
Doflamingo's laughter echoed as the scene shifted.
…
At the Naval Headquarters.
"Captain, we've located Vegapunk's position."
Rem stood straight, then read out the report she had compiled.
"Captain Kirito, Captain Doflamingo, and Captain Ulrich are all heading toward Devil's Island."
"Traveling with them are former members of the Five Elders: Peter, Mars, Figarland, Ethanbaron, Erwin, and Tashigi…"
"Should we leave it to them to handle?"
Ryuunosuke listened quietly, then nodded.
"Alright. Let them handle it."
"And good work, Rem."
"It's fine. It's what I should do."
Rem gave a small nod, then left Ryuunosuke's cabin.
Akame stepped forward, still frowning.
"Ryuunosuke… is that really enough?"
"The opponent is Vegapunk."
If Vegapunk were just a famous scientist, that lineup would already be frightening.
But now his identity had been confirmed as one of the original leaders of the Guardians.
Under those circumstances, their current combat power felt thin.
"I know," Ryuunosuke said calmly.
"They know it too."
"Those guys were born to fight."
"And Mr. Erwin is there. There shouldn't be any major problems."
He smiled as he spoke, but his eyes carried interest.
Ryuunosuke was still curious about Erwin.
Based on the information Shinon had sent back earlier, Erwin's strength was no joke.
And Loguetown apparently had quite a few old gentlemen like him.
In Erwin's words, they were remnants of the old era, people with no interest in taking part in the struggles of this new era.
Yet if Erwin was willing to go this time, then he must have his own confidence.
Ryuunosuke was genuinely looking forward to seeing what the old man would do next.
For now, what they needed was simple.
Wait for Carmel to arrive.
If Vegapunk's side dared to move this openly, then they had to be relying on something.
…
"Captain."
A familiar presence stepped into the cabin.
"It has been detected."
Gaino stood in front of Ryuunosuke, eyes bright.
"It took longer than expected."
Ryuunosuke's tone stayed steady.
"So, what's the result?"
"Trace amounts of divine essence," Gaino answered immediately.
"And the purity is higher than before."
"If we extract all of it, it should be more than ten percent."
Then Gaino's excitement slipped through, almost eager.
"Captain, shouldn't we go kill all these Aragami?"
"I'm looking forward to it."
The last fusion had given Gaino a huge boost.
An elevation at the very root of life itself.
That kind of improvement fascinated him, like an addiction he could justify with logic.
Ryuunosuke nodded, then asked the question that had been bothering him.
"I expected that answer."
"But if we already had a direction, why did the test take so long?"
After all, it was not just Gaino anymore.
Ryuunosuke and the others had also gained the ability to detect the source of God.
With that, it should not have dragged out.
Gaino looked a little helpless.
"Because Vegapunk used bloodline factor technology to hide the origin of God."
"And those hidden divine essences were fused with a special substance."
"At first we thought the quantity was too small, and it was mixed with other things, so we didn't notice it."
"After Dr. Acier, Judge, and Heracles researched it and extracted those special substances, I finally detected the divine origin."
Ryuunosuke's eyes narrowed slightly.
That explained the earlier contradiction.
In his view, these Aragami had to carry divine origin, otherwise a transformation like this would be impossible.
Yet he had not sensed divine essence inside the Aragami before.
That was why he had insisted Gaino run the tests anyway.
To prove the conjecture, even if the answer felt obvious.
"Vegapunk should have fully mastered both bloodline factors and the origin of God," Ryuunosuke said slowly.
"That means something big is coming."
"This Carmel might be here to conduct one last experiment."
…
"Captain!"
A lookout's voice cut in urgently from outside.
"Another Aragami has appeared!"
Ryuunosuke stood up at once.
"Let's go see what Vegapunk is trying to do."
He stepped out of the cabin, and the message was also passed through the Naval Headquarters.
"The Aragami are here!"
"Damn it, I'm going to kill those things!"
"Wait for me, I'm coming too!"
"Let's go, brothers! Fight together and wipe out this trash!"
For a moment, every Marine, regardless of rank, looked fired up.
The momentum was completely different from before.
Seeing that, Zephyr's expression softened with relief.
Have these brats finally grown up?
He turned his head, smugness already climbing into his face.
"Garp, did you see that?"
"The training methods of the Dragon Hunter Pirates are effective!"
"Just a few days ago, these guys were so scared by the Aragami their legs went weak!"
"Now they're volunteering to fight!"
Garp stared at him, unimpressed.
"Yeah, yeah."
"And what do you think their reason is for wanting to fight?"
"Do you even have any self awareness?"
"It's better to throw them at the Aragami than to put them through your so called high intensity training."
"At this point, I'd say you're scarier than the Aragami."
Zephyr's face stiffened.
…
Even so, the Navy gathered quickly.
"There aren't many, only three," Genio said, tapping the screen in front of him.
"Carmel's location has also been confirmed. He's right behind those Aragami."
"But these Aragami are different from what we faced before."
"Not only are they stronger, it feels like something fundamental has changed."
As he spoke, the footage on the screens updated one after another.
There were four views total.
The first showed where Ryuunosuke and his group currently were.
The second showed the conditions on the seabed.
The third showed the Aragami themselves.
The last showed Carmel's current appearance.
"Besides Carmel, we have another guest," Genio continued, eyes sharpening.
"Miss Bakkin."
Ryuunosuke's expression turned strange.
"That old woman actually got involved with Carmel?"
He recognized her immediately.
The one who used to claim she was Whitebeard's woman, dragging around that big, dull brute named Weevil while swaggering across the seas.
Even though she no longer looked like an old woman now, Ryuunosuke still knew it was her.
Genio zoomed in again.
"Under Miss Bakkin's ship, there's also a colossal abomination."
"And it looks like Carmel is holding something."
The image sharpened.
In Carmel's hand was a small bottle, no, more accurately, a test tube.
From the way Carmel stared at it, it was clearly something he valued deeply.
Ryuunosuke's smile carried a sharp edge.
"So that's his last bit of confidence."
"Fine."
"Let's wait and see."
"Maybe we're about to meet a new kind of Aragami."
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