Just then, Professor Clover walked over with his cane, supported by several professors.
He gave Aiden a deep bow.
"Thank you for saving our lives," he said sincerely. "But... the World Government has ordered a Buster Call on us. In this entire sea... there is no longer any place for us to stay. You saved us, but where can we actually go?"
Despair still hung over everyone.
"No."
Aiden shook his head. "I know a place. It is completely safe, and it is perfect for you to continue your research in peace."
He lifted his head. His gaze seemed to pierce through the thick smoke and flames as he looked toward the sky.
"Once Olvia's injuries are treated, we'll leave."
For the first time, a small light of hope truly appeared in the professors' hearts.
Aiden turned around. He did not want to waste any more time and began giving orders to Smoker and Rosinante.
"The plan is simple. Smoker, you are in charge of creating a large cloud of smoke to cover all of us. Rosinante, you are in charge of silencing all sound. We have to break through to the port without being discovered."
He paused and added, "I will deal with any minor trouble we run into along the way."
When Rosinante heard this, he felt that his ability was finally going to be useful! He nodded hard, eager to prove himself. He activated his ability immediately!
"Silent Field!"
An invisible circular field expanded instantly!
In a split second, the sound of the wind, the fire, the cannons, the professors talking, and the crying... everything was muted!
The professors, who had been in the middle of an intense discussion, suddenly found that they could not make any sound at all! They opened their mouths wide in fear, but could only see each other's lips moving silently.
A new wave of panic began to spread!
Aiden opened his mouth as well, only to find that no sound came out.
He was so furious that the veins on his forehead bulged.
Thud!
He drove a heavy punch into the back of Rosinante's head.
"Pffft!" Rosinante's eyes rolled back from the hit.
Aiden silently mouthed a roar at Rosinante: "You—idiot!! At—least—wait—until—I—finish—explaining—to—them—before—turning—it—on!!"
"Ah! Sorry!" Rosinante finally realized his mistake and quickly turned off the ability.
The sharp sounds rushed back in an instant.
The professors were stunned at first. Then an even louder commotion broke out. They looked at Aiden and Rosinante in fear and instinctively stepped back.
"What... what just happened?"
"Why couldn't we speak all of a sudden?"
"Is... is that a Devil Fruit power?"
The fear of that unknown Devil Fruit power only lasted for a few seconds before it was overwhelmed by an even stronger emotion.
"Ah!!"
An older professor suddenly turned toward the burning giant tree. Tears streamed down his wrinkled face. He paid no attention to anything else as he rushed forward and grabbed the corner of Aiden's clothes, begging in despair:
"The Tree of Knowledge is still burning! Please help us! All our knowledge is in there."
"Yes! I have to go back! Those manuscripts haven't been copied yet!"
"Yes! Let us go back!"
"Death isn't scary! But that knowledge must survive!"
His words were like a spark dropped into a powder keg. The other professors also became agitated. Some even tried to run back despite the danger. Looking at that giant tree was even more painful to them than looking at their own deaths.
"Stay the hell where you are!"
Aiden's voice was even louder than the nearby cannon fire.
"Books?! You're thinking about books at a time like this?!"
"Books are only tools used to preserve knowledge! They are dead! You are the ones who are alive!"
"As long as you are alive, that knowledge lives on! If you die, then even if those books survive, they are nothing more than scraps of paper for future generations to look at!"
He pointed at the burning giant tree. His voice was full of undeniable authority.
"Human wisdom and inheritance rely on your minds, not on those pages! If you survive, you can create ten times, even a hundred times more knowledge than what is in there!"
"Now, follow my orders!!"
The professors were shouted into silence. Though they were still full of grief, the madness in their eyes finally faded. In its place was the will to survive.
Aiden quickly explained the plan to all the professors, telling them how they would break through under the cover of smoke and silence. He strictly warned them not to fall behind no matter what happened.
With death looming over them and the hope of a new life ahead, the professors showed an astonishing ability to follow orders.
"Smoker!"
"White Out!" Smoker turned both of his arms into smoke. He created a massive cloud of thick fog, like a moving white wall, covering all the professors.
"Rosinante!"
"Silent Field!" Rosinante activated his ability again. This time, he had learned his lesson and carefully kept the range limited to the smoke.
"Let's move!"
Aiden waved his hand and walked at the very front. The group began moving silently through the smoke toward the port.
"Speaking of which..." Aiden's Observation Haki sensed the chaos spreading all around them. "Where is that giant Vice Admiral Saul? Why hasn't he rushed over like in the story? Forget it, it doesn't matter... anyway, I remember that in the story, even though he was frozen by Kuzan at the end, he didn't actually die..."
The combination of smoke and silence worked incredibly well.
The island was in complete chaos. The Marines were busy with the bombardment and the encirclement. A cloud of "silent thick fog" moving through the confusion did not look strange at all. Instead, it looked like a huge cloud of dust kicked up by the cannon fire.
Ten minutes later, the port was finally in sight.
Just as everyone began to feel a bit of joy...
Aiden suddenly stopped walking.
Smoker and Rosinante stopped as well. Confusion filled their eyes as they looked at him.
Aiden did not answer. He only lifted his head and looked toward the back of the group.
The temperature... seemed to be dropping?
Aiden's powerful Observation Haki spread out like a radar net, covering the entire island.
Not far behind them, from the other side of the island, a powerful and freezing presence was approaching at incredible speed along the coastline!
That presence was cold and powerful... there was no mistaking it...
"Kuzan."
Aiden felt a sudden wave of pressure.
"I knew it wouldn't be this easy!"
"This aura... he's clearly coming straight for us. It's like he knew we were here from the very beginning!" Aiden's Haki sensed Kuzan's icy presence charging directly toward their cloud of smoke at high speed without deviating in the slightest.
"Where's Saul?!" Aiden screamed inwardly. "Come out and help! You're supposed to show up and stop him!"
Since he could not count on anyone else, Aiden's mind began racing through calculations.
"If I don't stop him, then at his speed, everyone will be caught in less than a minute."
"What should I do..."
Aiden struggled for less than a second.
"Damn it!" He made a firm decision and glanced at his status.
"So what if it's Kuzan? Right now, he's only a Vice Admiral! My blade is sharp too! If he pushes me too far, I'll make him lose a leg twenty years early!"
He grabbed Rosinante beside him and signaled for him to stop the ability.
Rosinante did not understand why, but he obeyed immediately.
The moment sound rushed back, Aiden spoke as fast as he could:
"You guys go first! There's someone on our tail, and I'm going to deal with him! Take everyone to the port, find the biggest ship you can, and try to leave Ohara. I'll catch up with you. Trust me."
"Aiden?! You..." Smoker was shocked.
But Aiden gave them no chance to ask anything else.
The moment he finished speaking, he did not look back. His figure flashed, and he rushed out of the smoke alone, heading straight against the flow of people.