Chapter 93: Escape
“Bang!”
Broken bricks rolled down from the rubble pile, breaking the chilling silence.
The sun hanging at the top of the sky was passionately releasing its benevolence, bringing light and warmth to the life on the planet, but such high temperature was not liked by everyone, especially the Marines wearing thick, airtight one-piece protective suits, who were so hot right now that they just wanted to curse.
“General Borsalino, no target found in Area C, there are signs of digging on the ruins.”
“······No target found in Area B, there are signs of digging.”
“······The prison is in a sealed state, no entry or exit records.”
“······No target found in the warehouse area, no signs of intrusion found.”
The Marines walking on the ruins reported the investigation results in real time to Borsalino, who stayed on the warship to oversee the operation, through small Den Den Mushi wearing the same protective gear. Pieces of intelligence kept pouring into his ears, and after about another two and a half hours of searching, the Marines who landed on the island had almost thoroughly searched the entire research institute turned into ruins.
No target person ‘M·Caesar·Clown’ was found.
“So strange!!”
Borsalino tilted his head. He already knew that Caesar was not on the island before the warship even docked; otherwise, he wouldn’t have only sent the Marines to search the island. Caesar was not a professional combatant, but his Logia ability combined with various dangerous inventions made him an extremely dangerous target for the Marines.
What puzzled him was not the fact that Caesar had escaped, but how exactly Caesar had escaped?
All the ships at the port had been taken away by him last night, not even a single yacht was left. Even if Caesar, with his Logia ability, had mastered flying techniques, flying from Punk Hazard to surrounding other islands was not a matter of looking down on him—it was simply that Caesar really didn’t have that capability.
The long distance was the first obstacle, and don’t forget the New World’s weather, which was over ten times more changeable and harsh than in Paradise. If he ran into a storm, he might die without anyone knowing.
“Did someone pass by? Quite lucky!!”
Borsalino looked around, expanding his Observation Haki to its maximum range. On the vast sea, he detected no human life signs. It seemed Caesar had already fled far away before he arrived… Caesar… really had great luck!
He picked up the Den Den Mushi and reported the situation here to Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
“Escaped?”
Sengoku, stationed in Marineford, tugged at his beard, feeling a bit depressed.
How could it be such a coincidence?
Did that Caesar plan it in advance? Or was it really just a coincidence? He pondered in his mind. This matter wasn’t a big trouble, but as a senior researcher in the Navy Science Unit, even if Caesar was not as good as Vegapunk, he was still a first-class talent compared to others.
More importantly, it was the intelligence Caesar possessed. Although Doctor Vegapunk’s core research was always top-level secret, among the Three Admirals, only Borsalino, responsible for protecting Doctor Vegapunk, knew some things, so there was no need to worry about the most core secrets leaking.
But if possible, the second-level intelligence information that Caesar possessed should also not be leaked.
“Borsalino, search as much as possible in the surrounding areas of Punk Hazard. With such a short interval, he might not have escaped far······” Sengoku spoke very slowly, almost word by word. It wasn’t that he was indecisive, but this matter with Caesar was just that delicate.
Letting it go unchecked was definitely not an option, but making a big fuss to search for someone in the New World was obviously not worth it.
He thought for a moment, sighed, and continued:
“Of course, if you really can’t find him, then forget it. Kuzan is temporarily protecting Doctor Vegapunk, Sakazuki is still on expedition, and headquarters lacks an Admiral to sit in command.”
It couldn’t be that just because of one Caesar, they hold back Admiral-level combat power.
Too wasteful!
“How to handle Punk Hazard?” Borsalino gazed at the island shrouded in poison gas and asked.
“Didn’t you say the island has already been dug through once? And the leaked poison gas, according to Doctor Vegapunk, if not artificially intervened, probably won’t dissipate for ten or eight years······ No need to bother, let it be, go look for that Caesar. Whether you find him or not, come back as soon as possible.”
Sengoku didn’t take Punk Hazard to heart.
In his view, this island was completely ruined, having lost its original secrecy, and it was impossible to continue using it as a secret research base. Plus, the island was filled with a large amount of deadly poison gas. Rather than wasting a lot of energy and resources to deal with the poison gas on the island, it was better to let nature take its course and let time resolve the pervasive poison gas.
The call ended.
Borsalino put away the Den Den Mushi, touched his stubbly chin, with a bitter expression, “Trouble! Searching for someone on the sea······ This is really a tough job, sigh!” His tone sounded completely unmotivated, but when it came to actual action, he wasn’t sloppy at all.
He directly terminated the search operation on the island, withdrawing all personnel back to the ships, without bothering with the criminals still locked in the prison. Anyway, they were all guys sentenced to death; leaving them here to fend for themselves was already lucky.
The brought fleet dispersed, centering on Punk Hazard, heading towards the two nearest islands from Punk Hazard and the direction to the Red Line, beginning a needle-in-a-haystack search operation on the sea.
————
Elus and Caesar were quite lucky.
They left very timely, not blocked on the island by Borsalino, and not even leaving any traces. This was largely thanks to Elus’s fast flying speed. If relying on Caesar’s floating movement speed, they probably couldn’t escape the pursuit of Admiral Kizaru.
Caesar elementalized his body into a cloud-like shape, placed the numerous briefcases containing precious information on his body, then Elus used a rope coated with Armament Haki to lift Caesar up, carrying him quickly in flight.
And it must be said,
The speed was really fast.
Caesar’s transformed body didn’t create much resistance, or rather, that little resistance was nothing to Elus. Back then, he and BIG·MOM fought in the sky for three days and two nights without feeling tired. This was just a piece of cake.
Under Elus’s full-speed flight, it took about two and a half hours, guided by Fran’s Life Card, to find the fleet sailing at full speed on the sea.
However, after Neuro-Scan detected Fran’s presence, Elus didn’t rush to show up. He didn’t want people to know that Caesar had fallen into his hands, so······ he unabashedly released the spiritual pressure he had been suppressing.
“Boom——！！！”
The overwhelming intimidation from the soul level swept over like an invisible tsunami, directly knocking out all the Marines and officers in the fleet.
Including Watatsumi, the bald sea monster, who rolled his eyes and floated on the sea surface.
In such a large fleet, only Fran, Isca, and a few maids and attendants with decent strength remained conscious. Without a doubt, these were all loyal followers carefully cultivated by Elus. It wasn’t that they would go to their deaths without blinking an eye, but as long as their lives were ensured, they would never hesitate to advance.
Confirming no outsiders would see Caesar, Elus then flew over and landed on the flagship’s deck.
“Fran, take these things down, keep them safe.”
Elus pointed to a pile of briefcases on the deck. Fran immediately directed her subordinate maids and attendants to carry the briefcases back to the cabin.
“Also, did you bring Seastone Handcuffs this time?”
“Seastone Handcuffs?”
Fran shook her head.
Seastone itself was expensive, and due to its extremely high processing difficulty, only the World Government currently mastered the technique for processing it, leading to Seastone on the market always being in short supply. Even money couldn’t easily buy it, and the Navy itself didn’t have enough!
The Eckmond Kingdom also had limited reserves.
Of course, no matter how limited, they still had a pair of Seastone Handcuffs, but this time they took a Navy convenience ship, and many things weren’t brought. Seastone Handcuffs weren’t used often anyway. Devil Fruit ability users seemed numerous on this sea, but on this vast planet, as long as you didn’t provoke major forces like the Navy, Revolutionary Army, Four Emperors, or Seven Warlords under the king, ability users were actually quite rare.
“For Seastone Handcuffs, I have some here.”
Isca lifted her outer garment, revealing a pair of handcuffs hanging from her waist.
This was something she specially bought from internal channels at her own expense during her Navy days because she failed multiple times chasing Fire Fist. It wasn’t that she was rich; it was just that applying for and waiting for official issuance was too slow, so she had to squeeze her own wallet.
“Perfect, cuff this guy up.”
Elus kicked Caesar, who was floating by his feet.
“Eh? Your Highness, I’m sincerely surrendering! You can’t treat me like this! I’m still useful, I know a lot of World Government intelligence, I-I-I······” The frightened Caesar immediately hugged Elus’s calf, wailing with snot and tears.
He exerted all his effort, racking his brains, listing his strengths and merits to prove his value to Elus.
Besides that,
He had no will to resist at all.
Like fish meat on the chopping board, at the mercy of Elus to shape at will.
This wasn’t Caesar being spineless. As a scientist, his rational thinking led him to conclude that violently resisting Elus was the stupidest choice. Not to mention the Black Prince’s renowned prestige, just that ‘Conqueror’s Haki’ earlier almost scared him to pee.
If it weren’t for the fact that Doctor Caesar had seen many big shots while working for the World Government, and Elus had deliberately controlled the range of the spiritual pressure’s intimidation, in short, Caesar knew very well that martial resistance was the absolute last resort, only when there was no way out.
Moreover,
Scientists disdain using violence to solve problems. Um, this was definitely not an excuse, nor was it him being spineless. Using wisdom to solve problems was the proper choice for a scientist.
“Shut up.”
Elus glared irritably at Caesar, who was clinging to his left calf, “I didn’t say I was going to kill you, why are you howling? I’ll give you three seconds. If you don’t let go, I’ll personally send you to the underworld.” The countdown of three, two, one hadn’t even started, and Caesar wisely let go. The wailing stopped abruptly, and his face gradually broke into a fawning smile full of flattery.
“Isca, cuff this guy first.”
Isca stepped forward, grabbed the still somewhat reluctant Caesar, and directly cuffed him. At once, Caesar’s originally light, misty coat returned to the original state of a white lab coat. His body, unable to elementalize, reverted to normal, and his feet in black leather shoes stood steady on the deck.
“Endure it for a while like this for now. It’ll be unlocked for you when we return home.” Elus casually reassured this new subordinate. It wasn’t that he didn’t value Caesar as a rare research talent; it was just that this guy was too spineless.
To have any hope in Caesar’s loyalty would be Elus having water in his head.
Caesar muttered softly a couple of times, knowing there was no room for negotiation, and drooped his head in resignation. This situation was still much better than being sent to Impel Down.
“Fran, arrange people to watch Caesar. Don’t let others on the ship notice his presence.”
Seeing Caesar behaving, Elus continued talking to Fran.
Orders were issued one by one.
The maids and attendants moved nimbly.
Caesar was hidden inside the cabin, living with a group of male attendants, under 24-hour close surveillance. All his eating, drinking, and excreting were handled inside the room. Only after Caesar and the scavenged information were all properly arranged did they begin orderly using stimulus therapy to wake the Marines who had been scared unconscious by Elus’s spiritual pressure intimidation.
Watatsumi woke up. When he saw Elus standing on the deck, he trembled in fright, creating large waves on the sea surface. Isca went to the ship’s side and verbally soothed the terrified bald sea monster.
Fran continued the waking work with the maids, while also explaining to the awakened Navy officers. The explanation was simple: they encountered a very powerful pirate, but the pirate had been taken out by Elus. As for anyone asking about the pirate’s identity,
The answer was that Elus struck too hard, completely shattering both the man and the ship, making identification impossible.
Such a reason was naturally absurd.
However,
This was the New World.
This seemingly absurd explanation, upon careful thought, turned out to be the most reasonable, especially for colonels who knew about Haki. They accepted the explanation of being knocked unconscious from afar by a pirate who wielded Conqueror’s Haki. Otherwise, there was no way to explain how so many of them passed out instantly.
Just like that,
The fleet that had stopped set sail again, led by the Eternal Pose, proceeding at full speed towards the capital of the Eckmond Kingdom without any further hindrance.
