Upon hearing this, William turned his head and glanced at Kale, who was still kneeling. "Where are they?"
"They're all alive, Your Highness."
Only then did Kale dare to look up, respectfully answering, "They're all in Cold Storage Unit Two, not yet dealt with. The Marine battleship is also mostly intact."
"Then let's go," William instructed flatly. "Take these Marines over there and release everyone."
"Take them over?"
Kale's eyes widened in surprise. "But then, wouldn't the location of the cold storage…"
"The base on Hot Nest Peninsula is already exposed."
William didn't seem to care that the Marines were right there. He smiled. "Once this is over, this place will be abandoned. Alabasta's territory is vast; there's nothing to regret. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Kale glanced at Kizaru and nodded.
Kizaru and Gumiiru exchanged a look before silently following.
They entered a deep valley behind the cliff, following Kale until she stopped before a massive boulder—about seven meters tall and indistinguishable from the surrounding rock.
Suddenly, a metal tube appeared atop the rock. A muffled voice echoed: "Password?"
"Password my foot, it's me!" Kale snorted coldly. "His Highness William is here too! Open up!"
"Oh."
The voice in the pipe immediately became more subdued. The speaking tube retracted, and a moment later, the giant rock suddenly split down the middle, revealing a tall iron gate inside.
A brawny man, easily four meters tall, stood at the entrance. He had a simple, honest face. Upon seeing William, he scratched his head and chuckled foolishly: "I thought Kale was just messing with me. I didn't expect you, Your Highness William, to actually come! You haven't visited Bub for a long time."
"I've been quite busy lately, truly no time."
To this subordinate, who seemed a bit slow-witted, William displayed his charming, spring-like smile again, saying gently:
"Open the gate, Bub. Take me to see those Marines who were locked up last night."
"Oh, okay."
The brawny man named Bub nodded artlessly. Then he turned around, rolled up his sleeves, and with a sudden roar, pulled open the two massive iron gates with sheer arm strength.
His raw power was truly astonishing. Nao looked at him in surprise, only then noticing that the man's arms were unusually thick and muscular, far beyond what a four-meter-tall person should possess—they even rivaled those of a Giant like Rear Admiral Buma.
Was he modified? Or a Devil Fruit user?
He frowned slightly, wondering.
With the iron gates fully open, they followed Bub through a narrow corridor into a massive chamber—over 1,000 square meters—chillingly lined with metal walls and ice-cold air hovering around freezing point.
Rows of snow-sculpted Marines stood against the walls—Rear Admiral Buma's team. Having been frozen overnight, their life still lingered beneath the ice. Some officers even blinked open their eyes in surprise.
"They're all here."
Kale glanced at Kizaru, stating coldly, "I casually froze them at the time and had my subordinates carry them here to the ice storage. Not a single one was injured."
"Only your subordinate named Buma had some strength and wasn't completely frozen by me. She took the opportunity to resist and ambush during transport, so I had to subdue her. Her injuries are a bit severe, but you can't blame me for that."
Kizaru didn't bother looking at her, his gaze sweeping back and forth across the ice sculptures. Only after confirming that no one had died from being frozen did he look at William, smiling. "Have this Miss Snowman defrost them. Since there were indeed no casualties, I'll let bygones be bygones and proceed entirely as Your Highness wishes."
"Excellent. I prefer dealing with intelligent people."
William smiled faintly and snapped his fingers. Kale immediately understood, turned, walked to a section of the iron wall, lifted a glass cover, and revealed a control panel.
After a few light taps and simple operations, she returned to William's side. At that moment, everyone distinctly felt the room's temperature rapidly rising.
It had been below zero just moments ago, but within minutes, it reached just over twenty degrees Celsius.
The accumulated snow melted, water flowed everywhere, and the frozen Marines gradually regained control of their bodies, moving their limbs.
"Let's go."
After waiting a moment, seeing everyone freed, Kizaru subtly glanced towards a certain direction deep within the room, but ultimately turned around. He gave William a deep look. "Until we meet again, Your Highness."
"Until we meet again, Vice Admiral Borsalino."
William smiled as he put his top hat back on. "Kale, see our guests out for me."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Kale bowed respectfully.
She was about to follow Kizaru and the others out when she suddenly noticed the black-haired young man who had spoken disrespectfully to her master earlier. He was now standing in front of the control panel, stroking his chin as he looked at the buttons above, deep in thought.
"What are you doing, kid?" she frowned. "Your superior is about to leave; aren't you going to follow?"
"Nothing, just a bit curious about this device that can freely control the room's temperature…"
Nao half-heartedly answered, but his gaze was fixed on the innermost iron wall of the room. His voice was low as he said, "And I don't know if it's my imagination, but even though the room temperature has gone up, I can still faintly feel a chill drifting over from there…"
As he spoke, his hand was already resting on a button at the top of the control panel.
"Stop!"
Kale's face instantly contorted with anger, and the simple-minded brute named Bub also roared, charging like a wild ox and directly knocking Nao away.
But he was ultimately a step too late; the button had already been pressed.
As Nao was knocked back several meters, a rumbling sound suddenly echoed. Then, to the astonished gazes of the marines, that inner iron wall, which had been indistinguishable from the other walls, slowly began to split open from the middle.
Whoosh!
An icy blast swept forward, making everyone involuntarily shiver.
As the Marines curiously took a few steps closer and peered inside, they discovered that behind the iron wall was an even larger and emptier secret chamber than the room they were currently in!
"My… my goodness…"
A young Lieutenant Junior Grade suddenly noticed something, his pupils contracting, his face changing drastically. He extended a trembling finger. "Wh-what are those!"
The others looked in the direction he pointed, and the next moment, their faces also dramatically changed, revealing expressions of incredulous shock.
Ice coffins.
Thousands of ice coffins, arranged like a honeycomb, were densely packed and suspended on the frost-covered iron walls, a truly spine-chilling sight.
And through the mist-shrouded glass surfaces of the coffins, one could faintly see that every single one contained half-grown boys and girls, lying inside with their eyes closed, their life or death unknown.