Vulture's words immediately lifted everyone's spirits.
With everyone staring at him, Vulture, a CP7 agent who had just suggested that pirates steal a warship, said awkwardly,
"Uh, I want to stay alive too. We're out of time. There are only fifty minutes left!"
Yemu snapped out of it at once and started issuing orders.
"Enel, Erik, Kuroli. The three of you head to the east coast right now and seize that warship for me! Once you've taken it, be ready to set sail at any time. Understood?"
"No problem. Leave it to us."
As soon as the words fell, the three of them each used their own abilities and sped off.
"Tiger, Erza, head to the shore and bring the ship around to the east coast. Once you get there, Tiger, Erza, help them take the warship."
"No problem!"
"Good. Then move out."
Once Tiger and the others quickly left, Yemu turned to the woman before him, Dana.
"You're leading the way. Everyone else, follow me. There's no time, so move fast!"
"Okay!"
Dana nodded excitedly and immediately led Yemu and the others toward the central building, leaving the Whitebeard pirate crew staring at one another in confusion.
In the end, Marco was the one who made the call.
"Let's follow them and take a look. If we can help, all the better."
"Yeah."
So the group followed after them.
...
Warship Island, east coast.
As time passed, the cargo had already been fully loaded, and the warship looked ready to depart at any moment.
Hidden in the forest, the Silver Axe Pirates were starting to get anxious.
"Boss John, are we still waiting?"
John remained completely at ease, sipping his drink as he looked at the warship in the distance.
"Don't rush. The people on that ship are World Government CP intelligence agents, not ordinary Marines. With just the few of us here, charging in would be no different from throwing our lives away. We wait until the others get here. Besides, we're pirates. Even if they set sail, so what?"
But just then, as if sensing something, John suddenly looked up at the sky.
In the pitch-black world above them, lightning began to flash.
John wasn't the only one who noticed. The three CP9 agents aboard the warship saw it too.
But what good did noticing do?
"Mamaragan!"
In an instant, countless bolts of lightning came crashing down from the sky, striking everyone on the deck.
The whole world was lit up by the blinding flash.
When the lightning faded, darkness fell again. Only the three CP9 agents were still standing on the deck of the warship.
But judging by their expressions, they looked awful.
"That's the power of the Goro Goro no Mi... When did the Sky Pirates get to Warship Island?"
As if answering that question, three figures dropped from the sky and landed on the deck.
Enel, Erik, and Kuroli.
Enel swept the three of them with a disdainful glance and said,
"Let's finish this quickly. I'll take the strongest one."
"Then I'll take that guy," Erik said as he drew the twin blades at his waist.
"In that case, bosses, I'll take the lady."
In an instant, the three CP9 agents' faces turned deathly pale.
Then Erik suddenly noticed the box in the lead CP9 agent's hand.
"Hey, Enel, look at that box that CP guy's holding. Do you think that could be..."
Enel's eyes lit up at once.
"Looks like our luck's pretty damn good..."
...
While the battle broke out on the east coast, Dana led the others toward the central building at the center of the island.
About five minutes later, the central building came into view.
Yemu wasted no time and said straight away,
"At the speed we ran, it took us five minutes to get here from there, right? That means for ordinary people, getting from here to the shore would take at least twenty minutes, and that's not even counting the elderly, the weak, and the injured. Add in the time needed for the warship to depart, and that means we don't have much time left. Fifteen minutes at most. Now tell me, where are your people being held?"
Sensing Yemu's urgency, Dana pointed at the building in the distance.
"They're on the second underground level. There's a huge underground factory down there."
"I see. Kuromu, come with me. We'll check it out first!"
The moment he finished speaking, Yemu grabbed Kuromu and, almost in a single flash, arrived in front of the enormous gray building that looked like a small mountain. At the same time, he fully unleashed his Observation Haki and instantly sensed the countless weak lives underground.
"No time to waste. Then..."
After roughly judging the distance, Yemu drew Shishimaru from his waist, leaped into the air, and slashed down with all his strength.
In an instant, a dazzling blue slash appeared before everyone's eyes, splitting the entire building in two. The structure cracked apart, exposing the enormous underground space below.
"Follow me down."
As the two of them jumped into the pitch-black darkness, flames flared across Yemu's body, lighting up the vast underground world and the countless humans imprisoned in cages, their faces full of despair.
Only then did Yemu turn to Kuromu and say,
"Kuromu, quickly open a path from here to the east coast."
"No problem, boss."
Kuromu immediately got to work, opening a huge Air Door and diving into the alternate space.
Looking at the humans locked inside the cages, Yemu didn't waste time explaining. He spoke crisply and directly.
"I was hired by your Princess Dana to save you. Don't ask questions right now. This island is going to explode in less than forty-five minutes. Once I open your cages, the young carry the children and the elderly on their backs, then get into the passage immediately and run. Don't stop. Understood?"
When they heard that the man before them, wreathed in firelight, had come to save them, the Lohart Tribe, who had already fallen into complete despair and been waiting for death, instantly felt hope flare back to life in their eyes.
At that moment, Flare and Dana came down from above with the others as well.
The moment they saw their princess, they believed Yemu's words completely.
"Princess Dana!!!"
"It really is Princess Dana!!!"
"You two take care of everyone. Once I open the iron cages, get everyone organized and evacuate them. Most importantly, don't let anyone get trampled!"
"Understood!"
At that moment, everyone was incredibly tense. Time was running out.
As Shishimaru swung through Yemu's hand, his figure shot swiftly through the underground prison, which stretched like one long corridor.
Yemu was already moving fast enough, but the underground world was simply too enormous. It still took him over a minute to cut open every cage. Once the prisoners got out, none of them hesitated. Under Dana's direction, they began carrying the elderly and children toward the space passage.
Just then, the Whitebeard pirate crew jumped down from above as well, staring in disbelief at the vast underground world before them.
"This is ridiculous! They practically hollowed out the entire island underground!"
And as they watched the humans desperately fleeing with the help of the Sky Pirates, they all felt the same strange sense of irony.
The righteous World Government had treated these people as slaves, and after using them up, planned to wipe them out. Yet the evil pirates were the ones saving them.
Just then, Yemu's voice rang out beside the Whitebeard pirate crew.
"Since the Whitebeard Pirates are here too, don't just stand around. There are still plenty of elderly people and children here. Help carry them out..."
Marco didn't ask why. He answered with action.
"I'll carry you, old man!"
With a grin, he hoisted a slow-moving old man onto his back, scooped up two children, and ran into the space passage.
Seeing that, the rest of the Whitebeard pirate crew quickly got to work as well...