Chapter 193: On the Verge
Clouds and mist, like flowing water, passed by everyone, completely obscuring the vision of those atop the Island Cloud, making it almost impossible to see their own hands in front of them.
In the crowd, Yelena slowly stood up, fastened her gas mask to her face, then stepped into the clouds and mist, disappearing directly from Artemis's sight.
Within the mist, Yelena followed the guidance of her intuition, walking straight to the edge of the Island Cloud and stopping. She raised a hand, kicking up a hurricane that dispersed the oncoming clouds and mist.
The next moment, the world in Yelena's eyes gradually became clear. She saw that the Island Cloud had, at some point, arrived above a huge island. As far as the eye could see, on the island, which was several times larger than Dressrosa, a series of mountain ranges rose, their tops covered with dense, lush vegetation. In the distant land, a brown stone forest stretched for dozens of miles. Looking over, it was covered in miasma and scattered bones, devoid of any signs of life.
Gradually, the clouds and mist completely flowed past everyone on the Island Cloud, and the colorful world returned to their eyes. Soon, the others also discovered the island below and, one after another, focused their gazes on the most knowledgeable person in the group—Road.
Seeing this, Road quickly came back to his senses, opened the sea chart in his hand, and compared the island marked as their destination with the huge island below. Soon, the navigator Road came to a conclusion and gave himself an affirmative answer. "That's right, this island is our destination! If that Daz guy's intel is correct, Whitebeard will definitely pass through these waters on his way to Dressrosa, and then resupply on this deserted island!"
Hearing this, the group once again focused their gazes on the figure clad in heavy armor and carrying a heavy war hammer, awaiting her decision. Everyone knew that Yelena was the highest-ranking commander in the Archangel Pirates, second only to Louis. With Louis absent, everyone had to follow Yelena's arrangements first.
To this, Yelena did not delay. She directly took out Louis's Vivre Card and indirectly commanded the Island Cloud to descend.
A few minutes later, the burly figure, having moved to the rear guard position, slowly folded his broad wings and gently landed on the branch of a giant tree. Amit raised his muscular arm, rested it on the tree, and gazed at the distant stone forest and mountains.
On the other side of the island, a giant pirate ship was burning with raging flames. The entire ship, looking as if it had been violently torn apart, was lying on its side on the beach, being consumed by fire.
Around the flame-wreathed ship, charred pirates lay silently on the golden sand. In the center of the dense mass of pirates, a wooden cross stood. Blood flowed down the one-armed man who was fixed to the cross by chains and swords, staining the cross and the sand beneath it red.
The woman with black wings, a slender and tall figure, but a grim face, landed directly on the beach. She slowly folded her wings and walked straight to the cross. Asmodai looked at the man nailed to the cross, a puzzled look in her eyes, as if she didn't understand. But soon, she realized what had happened, and her brow furrowed slightly. Then, she took out a camera from behind her and took pictures of everything, preparing to hand them over to professionals for analysis.
After Asmodai had finished photographing all the details, a sound came from behind her. Immediately after, a pack of giant dogs, following the scent of blood, arrived at the beach. Asmodai turned to look at the giant dogs, which were walking toward her, wagging their tails, and raised an eyebrow. "You're here too."
A little while later, Yelena, riding on the back of a giant dog, also arrived at the edge of the beach. Yelena stepped onto the blood-stained sand and walked straight to Asmodai's side, expressionlessly looking at the man nailed to the cross.
"Great Whirl Spider - Squard."
"So he didn't stay with Whitebeard, but rushed to Dressrosa first?" Seeing this, Yelena for a moment didn't know whether to call Squard brave or stupid. After being beaten up, he hadn't called for help, but had instead gone alone to rescue his friend.
Nearby, Asmodai saw her and explained casually, "He was already like this when I got here." Asmodai explained that the tragic scene here was not her doing, and stated that if it had been her, they would not have died so cleanly, nor so... completely.
"A frame job?" Yelena nodded after hearing this, indicating she understood. Yelena wasn't particularly concerned about this unknown person's frame job. Whether they were framed or not, the Archangel Pirates were going to fight Whitebeard anyway. The final result was the same. The framing could be investigated after the war.
In the end, Yelena pushed these complicated thoughts aside, crossed her arms, and quietly gazed at the distant sea.
Just then, Asmodai at her side seemed to have taken an interest in Yelena. She then shed her grim appearance and asked her directly, "You are Yelena? Artus's right-hand woman?"
To this, Yelena did not refute, but said pointedly, "We're used to calling him Louis."
Asmodai heard this and waved her hand. "No need to be picky. Both names are the same." Then, she leaned in on her own accord and asked with great interest, "Can you tell me about that Siren—Uta? We're more interested in her."
Yelena heard this, turned her head, and met the eyes that held a hint of reminiscence and longing, a trace of confusion rising in her heart. She seems to have a special opinion of Uta?
However, she felt that now was not the time to talk about these things, so she said pointedly, "The war is about to begin. Is it really a good time to talk about this?"
To this, Asmodai still maintained a casual appearance, saying nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter. Artus is invincible. A mere Whitebeard is nothing to worry about!"
Yelena shook her head. Although she also believed that Louis would win, she couldn't bring herself to have such a casual attitude toward this war, unlike Asmodai. The feeling Asmodai gave Yelena was not that she was here to participate in a war, but more like she was here to travel and watch the show.
Just as Yelena was about to say something, on the distant horizon, one after another, sailing ships flying skull flags slowly appeared.
Seeing this, Yelena slowly exhaled a turbid breath. "Go back and inform them. The Whitebeard Pirates' fleet has arrived," Yelena said, reaching out and patting the head of the giant dog lying quietly beside her, instructing it softly.
After hearing her, the giant dog immediately got up, glanced at the sesame-seed-sized ships in the distance, then turned and entered the forest, disappearing from the beach.
Seeing the ships arrive, Asmodai silently stretched and let out a relaxed yawn. The next second, her peaceful disguise instantly vanished, revealing a chilling viciousness.
Yelena saw this, a strange light in her eyes. "Let's go. Let's go back to the forest." Yelena gave one last deep look in the direction of the horizon, then turned and left.
Asmodai heard her and, after casually glancing at the man nailed to the cross, followed in Yelena's footsteps and disappeared from the beach.
On the distant sea.
One after another, pirate ships stopped at a certain distance, each using binoculars to observe the location on the island from which smoke was rising.
Suddenly, from the crow's nest of one of the pirate ships, a grunt holding a monocular telescope began to tremble, cold sweat dripping from his forehead. Then, he frantically leaned over and shouted to the twin brothers on the deck, who were wearing cat's-paw gloves, "Captains! I saw Captain Squard's flag on the burning pirate ship!"
"What?!"
"That's Squard's ship?" The twin brothers, wearing captain's hats, exclaimed subconsciously. Then, their expressions stiffened. They subconsciously looked toward the island, their eyes full of disbelief.
At the same time, similar scenes were happening on the twenty-odd pirate ships that had arrived here. One after another, the pirate captains under the Whitebeard Pirates' flag had ashen faces.
Soon, another cry of surprise rang out from one of the pirate ships, instantly setting off an explosion throughout the entire fleet. "There are many bodies on the beach!!"
"And C-Captain Squard... he's been nailed to a cross!!"
This news quickly spread throughout the pirate ships that had arrived first, causing the faces of every pirate grunt to change drastically, and they were filled with rage. And the pirate captains who heard it, their already ashen faces, became even stiffer and grimmer.
Although they had not received a summons from their Pops Whitebeard, after hearing the news, they had still rushed over from all directions to avenge Squard with the Whitebeard Pirates. But they never expected that in such a short time, they would hear of Squard's death. This made the anger in their hearts grow even stronger.
"We even arrived at this resupply point faster than Pops... but even so, we still couldn't make it in time?" On one of the pirate ships, a woman with long blue hair gritted her teeth and whispered.
Then, one after another, the pirates took out their Den Den Mushis and dialed the Moby Dick to report everything to the various division commanders. However, what came from the Den Den Mushis were responses that were suppressing anger. "We already know."
The group heard this, taken aback, feeling somewhat confused. However, the next moment, a giant shadow covered their ships, instantly attracting the attention of many of the grunts.
Turning their heads, they found the giant, whale-headed ship, the Moby Dick, slowly passing through the fleet, sailing directly toward the island. On the deck of the Moby Dick, all sixteen division commanders were gathered. Behind them, one after another, pirate grunts had furious expressions, their weapons creaking in their grips.
THUD... THUD...
With a series of heavy footsteps, the crowd parted, making way for the burly figure holding a bisento to come to the bow of the Moby Dick.
Whitebeard stood calmly, holding his weapon, his gaze falling on the distant beach, taking in everything there. After a long while, he spoke in a seemingly calm tone.
"Marco, go bring Squard back."
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