"To think they did this to all three of you..."
"That Jun Lin... they're terrifying!"
Aboard the prison ship, the trio of Vice Admirals—Onigumo (Ghost Spider), Doberman, and Strawberry—had dark expressions on their faces.
Ever since Admiral Kizaru had arrived, all he'd been doing was looking around, poking at things, and muttering in that annoying tone of his, "So scary... how terrible..."
And he just kept repeating how miserable the three of them looked, like rubbing salt into their wounds.
What was worse was that he used that obnoxiously smug tone.
If he weren't an admiral, they'd have punched him in the face by now.
…Well, maybe not. Onigumo wasn't about to throw his life away picking a fight with a Navy Admiral.
"Admiral Kizaru, all the prisoners have been accounted for. Two are missing!"
Just then, several Rear Admirals who had been knocked out by the earlier burst of Conqueror's Haki ran out from the lower decks and reported to Kizaru.
"Two missing?" Kizaru asked lazily, still trimming his nails without even looking up. "Didn't Onigumo say earlier that only one woman was taken?"
The trio froze.
They'd chased Jun Lin all the way here—they saw it clearly with their own eyes.
It was only one person, and definitely a woman.
"Impossible. We only saw Jun Lin take one woman!"
"Vice Admiral, of the two missing, one is indeed a woman."
"Who?"
"Princess Viola of Dressrosa!"
Her...
Onigumo immediately remembered.
There had been a lot of debate about whether or not they should arrest Viola.
The opinions were split fifty-fifty.
After all, she was forced into piracy, and she'd secretly been working to restore her kingdom the entire time. She wasn't really a pirate or an assassin—more like an undercover agent.
And truth be told, the mess in Dressrosa was largely the Navy's fault for letting Doflamingo run rampant all those years. Arresting Viola now felt... wrong.
But in the end, Akainu had made the final call: Arrest her.
His reasoning was simple—no matter the cause, if you'd once been a pirate, you were guilty.
The fact that they didn't execute her on the spot was already being lenient.
So yes, Onigumo remembered her well.
But he couldn't understand—why would Jun Lin go out of his way to rescue her?
This woman had nothing to do with him. They were total strangers.
"A heroic rescue of a beautiful damsel... Jun Lin really is terrifying!"
Kizaru's annoyingly gleeful voice cut through Onigumo's thoughts again.
He clenched his fists but said nothing.
No point getting mad at someone you couldn't beat.
He turned instead to the Rear Admirals.
"And the other missing person?"
"Caesar Clown."
Him?
Kizaru's hand froze mid-snipping.
As the Navy's top science officer, there was no way he didn't know Caesar.
Once a peer of Vegapunk in the World Government's science division, Caesar was second only to him in ranking.
Unfortunately, due to a recent failed weapon experiment that caused significant damage, Caesar had been arrested.
A shame, really.
If he had escaped...
Kizaru's mind rapidly ran through the possibilities, but on the surface, he still looked nonchalant.
"Did he escape while we were chasing Jun Lin?"
"That seems likely. We don't know how, but Jun Lin definitely didn't take him."
"In that case, he couldn't have gotten far. We should pursue immediately!"
The trio exchanged looks and nodded.
Then, they all turned to Kizaru.
"Why are you looking at me? I was only here for support. Now that it's done, I'm going back to bed."
"Tsk… Not even a single extra credit or overtime pay. That Fleet Admiral is so scary…"
With that, Kizaru vanished in a flash of light, streaking across the sky.
The three Vice Admirals left behind a few Rear Admirals to wait for the Buster Call fleet, then took off using Moonwalk, each heading in a different direction.
Little did they know—
Just ten nautical miles away, a small wooden raft was bobbing quietly on the surface of the sea.
And not far from it, a sailing ship topped with a massive bubble was steadily diving deeper...
Deeper and deeper beneath the waves.
---
Grand Line — 3,000 meters below sea level.
The Danaan didn't go through the Calm Belt directly.
Instead, it sailed into the Grand Line's established routes—going against the current.
After all, diving 3,000 meters deep through the Calm Belt was extremely risky. One encounter with a Sea King, and it would be game over.
They didn't have enough seastone to line the entire hull and mask their presence.
Besides, they needed to stop by Alabasta to pick up the second wave of troops.
So, they figured—why not detour there first, then cross into the Calm Belt?
It would also help them avoid Navy patrols.
---
Meanwhile, at Marineford…
Inside the conference room, every officer from Rear Admiral and up had gathered.
"So it was Jun Lin who acted, and the target was Princess Viola of Dressrosa?"
"That's right. These people are terrifying—even Vice Admirals Onigumo, Doberman, and Strawberry were injured!"
Kizaru put on his usual fake-fright expression. "So scary..." he said in that irritating tone.
No one paid him any mind. They were long used to it and just filtered it out.
"Casualties?"
"Other than the three Vice Admirals who were wounded, no one else was hurt."
"Tsuru, what do you think Jun Lin's goal was in taking Viola?"
Fleet Admiral Sengoku spoke after a moment of thought, directing the question to the Chief of Staff.
"It's likely related to her Devil Fruit ability," Tsuru replied. "Although our intelligence confirms she is a Devil Fruit user, we still don't know what her ability actually is."
"Even King Riku and the royal family claim not to know, based on Sakazuki's interrogation records."
"Of course, they could be lying. Sakazuki couldn't exactly apply force to a king of a member nation."
"But if Jun Lin's group went through the trouble of rescuing her..."
"Then her ability must be either extremely powerful—or more likely, some kind of special support-type ability that could expose secrets about Jun Lin and his group."
"I'm leaning toward the latter."
Tsuru's reasoning was sound.
Tsuru already strongly suspected Jun Lin's organization was connected to Luo Lan.
But she also believed Luo Lan wasn't malicious—he wouldn't attack the Navy without cause.
The fact that no one died in this encounter, and only three Vice Admirals were injured, spoke volumes.
So if Luo Lan went through the trouble of rescuing Viola, then it could only mean…
Her ability posed a threat of exposing something crucial about them.
That was enough of a reason.
Brilliant deduction—only someone like Tsuru could piece it together so quickly.
"Regardless," Sengoku said, slamming his palm on the table, "Jun Lin's group attacked the Navy. That alone is unacceptable. I'm raising Jun Lin's bounty to 1.5 billion berries!"
"The other two will each get a 100 million increase!"
"Also—based on Onigumo's report, Jun Lin's group had two new individuals."
"One of them held his own against Doberman, and the other drove off all three Vice Admirals in one strike, giving Jun Lin the chance to escape."
"Both of them are to be given bounties as well!"
Sengoku's voice echoed through the chamber.
He had once hoped to just put on a show of issuing bounties per the Celestial Dragons' orders, while taking no real action.
But not anymore.
This time, Jun Lin had truly attacked the Navy—
There was no room for leniency now.
---
Currently at chapter 405 on Ko-Fi
https:// ko-fi.com/sami27