Chapter 204: Exposed
"Are you saying the mastermind behind this will come knocking?"
"That's hard to say," Axel replied with a smile.
Although he said that, Axel already had a different answer in mind.
They would definitely send someone.
But the mastermind himself would not appear so easily.
If Axel were the one with that kind of wealth, would he casually reveal himself in a place like this? Of course not. He would send subordinates to probe the situation first, then make a decision based on the results.
It was like warfare in ancient times.
When a general could not tell whether the enemy had made preparations, he would send a small raiding force first. If the surprise attack succeeded, then there was no need to say anything else. Victory was already within reach, and the main force only needed to sweep the battlefield.
If it failed, then the raiding force had still served its purpose.
At least it proved the enemy was prepared.
Axel believed that if the mastermind was truly Tesoro, he would definitely use his subordinates' lives to test the situation.
"What do you mean, hard to say?" Ain asked, both curious and annoyed by Axel's cryptic behavior. "Explain it clearly."
"Figure it out yourself."
That nearly made Ain explode with anger.
If I could figure it out, would I need to ask you?
Axel skillfully ignored Ain's questioning gaze and turned to Brad.
"Please clean this place up."
Although Axel could use his ability to clean it himself, he glanced at the stunned shipwrights around the dock and felt it would be better not to do anything even more shocking.
After all, he was someone who preferred peace and quiet.
If this matter had not concerned the fate of Zephyr, Ain, and the others, he would not have wanted to get involved at all.
According to the original course of history, Zephyr would act without enough intelligence, encounter Edward Weevil, lose an arm, and watch all his students die except Ain and Binz.
But because Axel had changed Ain and Binz's path by making them enter training a year earlier, he no longer knew what variables might appear.
So all he could do now was prevent that event from happening.
"Alright," Brad replied in a heavy voice.
Even if Axel had not said it, he would have had someone clean up the mess.
The scene had already made the shipwrights behind him forget about their work. And now that the people sent by the financier were dead, this business deal would probably fall through anyway.
"Is there any good food on this island?" Axel asked casually.
Asking that in a place that had just been littered with corpses?
How thick-skinned, or how detached, did a person have to be to ask such a thing so naturally in this situation?
Or perhaps this child had already grown used to it.
Brad had heard that old battlefield veterans could calmly eat amid corpses and blood because they had grown accustomed to the line between life and death.
Was the child before him really that kind of person?
Brad could not help wondering.
"I'll take you once this is over."
Axel looked a little disappointed. He took a piece of dried meat from his coat and began chewing.
The shipwrights, who had been working busily before, were briefly frozen by the eerie scene.
Then Brad shouted, "You brats, aren't you going to work? A few of you, come clean this up, unless you want them showing up on your dinner tables!"
At those words, several younger shipwrights imagined something unpleasant. Their faces twisted, and they nearly vomited.
A short period of quiet followed.
But after only about an hour, someone walked through the entrance.
They had arrived.
Axel was not surprised.
What did surprise him was the speed.
From the time the information had been sent out to the time these people arrived, the response had been a little too fast. He had thought he would have to wait half a day, but only an hour had passed.
It seemed Tesoro also had Den Den Mushi.
Berries really were useful.
Axel mused inwardly.
Although Den Den Mushi were rare creatures controlled to some extent by the World Government, as long as someone had enough money, obtaining or even breeding them was not difficult.
"Where is Nikler?"
The group that walked in asked immediately.
Compared with the previous group of ragged thugs, these people were clearly more organized.
They wore formal black suits and trousers, looking every bit like members of a proper organization.
Axel originally wanted to tell them that the man they were looking for was already dead.
But after thinking about it, he gave up the idea.
Too troublesome.
And besides, wouldn't this be more interesting?
Brad looked toward Axel, wanting to see his opinion.
But when he saw the boy turn his head away with the expression of someone watching a show, Brad immediately understood what he was planning.
He could not help complaining inwardly.
Is this the only part of him that's actually like a child?
Complain as he might, Brad did not dare say it aloud.
Axel's ruthless display earlier had already intimidated him.
Brad had no choice but to step forward and speak to the man leading the group.
"How should I address you, sir?"
"Osborne."
"Mr. Osborne, Nikler left just a moment ago. You've likely come to the wrong place."
Osborne did not get angry.
He only replied calmly, "According to our informants, he came here and never left. Also, it seems a group of Marines arrived at your place."
"They must have miscounted," Brad said. "Mr. Nikler left after extorting a sum of money from me."
He gestured toward Axel's group.
"Besides, do any of them look like Marines? We have old people, children, one tall and thin man, and a chubby Fishman. How could they compare to Mr. Nikler? Even if they wanted to fight, they couldn't win."
The old person referred to Theodore.
The children were Axel and the others.
The tall and thin man was Binz.
The Fishman was Tom.
Osborne followed Brad's words and observed the people around him.
Indeed, from appearance alone, these people did not seem capable of dealing with the brutal Nikler.
However, he did not fully believe Brad either.
After all, humanity's greatest talent was deception.
Osborne scanned the surroundings. His gaze landed on the shipwrights working on the deck.
Seeing them either acting naturally or looking over as if watching a show, his brows furrowed slightly.
The reason the workers on deck could remain natural was thanks to Axel's earlier deduction.
Brad had hidden those with weak mental fortitude below the partitions in advance, preventing them from giving anything away.
As for the bodies, they had already been thrown into the sea currents connected to the dock, destroying the evidence.
"My apologies," Osborne said. "It seems we were mistaken."
Brad quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
But Osborne's tone changed in the next instant, becoming sharp.
"Did you think I would say that?"
Brad's heart tightened.
"Where are the young shipwrights?" Osborne asked. "I remember there were several of them when I came last time. Have they all been fired?"
"Aren't they responsible for the inner partitions?" Brad replied. "Should I call them out for you to see?"
He spread his hands.
"Besides, while my place is large, it's very open. There's nowhere to hide people."
"There is indeed nowhere to hide people here," Osborne said calmly. "But what about below?"
Brad's expression stiffened.
Osborne looked toward the dock.
"The sea connects directly to the shipyard. If there is any place suitable for hiding things, there is no better place than the ocean."
Osborne spoke those words in a calm voice.
But to Brad, they were enough to make his heart turn cold.
.....
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