Chapter 93: John: Unease
On the north shore of Greed Island, a pirate ship quietly anchored in a hidden bay, after which dozens of figures successively climbed over the scarred ship’s railing and jumped directly off the ship.
Each of these people carried weapons, and some were also carrying wooden barrels and cloth bags, presumably to go to the island to resupply with fresh water, fruit, food, and other necessary supplies.
Greed Island itself is actually an uninhabited island.
Because its geographical location is too close to the Calm Belt, and there are many poisonous insects and fierce beasts on the island, no humans have settled here.
However, occasionally passing ships will stop on the island for a brief rest, though such cases are quite rare.
All in all, this is a small island forgotten by people in the New World.
It is precisely because of Greed Island’s extremely low presence that John chose it as the final resupply station before leaving the New World.
After all, where there are many people, there are many eyes, which always leads to unnecessary trouble, and John didn’t want to stay cooped up in the cabin the whole time; on this uninhabited island, he could relax and come out for a walk.
Of course, there was actually another, more important reason: this location was quite close to the Red Line.
Before, he had kept saying that his goal for this trip was to return to “Paradise,” but that was actually just to mislead others.
In a situation where he already suspected someone was leaking information, even he wouldn’t be so foolish as to blurt out his true intentions so openly.
Anchoring the ship at this remote small island, then having the others on the ship go to the island to search for supplies, giving them an opportunity to act alone…
Everything John arranged was for the purpose of letting them seize this last chance to leak their “intentions” and “location.”
With the location he chose near the Red Line, plus the “leak” from the personnel on the ship, those behind the scenes would undoubtedly believe without a doubt that his next stop was the first half of the Grand Line.
Once the false information was passed on, these people would be useless.
John had never intended to let anyone on the ship go from the very beginning, nor did he plan to return to any “Paradise.”
He would kill everyone on this island, then directly cross the Calm Belt to the Four Seas.
……
And that day when John suddenly killed Foll, saying it was because he leaked information and that he had never trusted him…
These were all just excuses; after all, he had never trusted anyone from beginning to end.
The reason John decisively eliminated him was purely because at that time, the strength of Foll and Babu had already exceeded his control.
The injuries he sustained were far from as simple as they appeared on the surface.
Although he had always acted calm and composed, in reality, Shiki’s slash combined with the violent impact from the explosive rock explosion had left him unable to even mobilize Haki for a period afterward.
Although he had recovered somewhat later, he could only barely handle one of Babu or Foll; once the two joined forces, he would no longer be able to control the situation.
Putting himself in others’ shoes, no one likes handing their fate over to others, let alone a great pirate like him who had seen plenty of betrayal and falling out.
Now everything was going according to John’s plan; soon he could slip away like a fish into the sea, soar into the sky like a bird… it should have been like that.
“Damn it, what’s going on!”
The great pirate who had manipulated everything was not showing any sign of being in full control or confident at this moment.
On the contrary, the sense of pleasure and security was leaving him.
John now appeared somewhat inexplicably irritable. Even the wine bottle he usually kept with him had been tossed aside.
Seeing Foll’s subordinates obediently follow his orders to get off the ship and collect fresh water and food, with Babu also leaving the cabin and entering the thick fog…
But John, left alone on the ship, was becoming increasingly restless.
This was a sense of unease without any warning or clues, accompanied by a faint, chilling strangeness as if being watched by something.
It had suddenly appeared the moment the ship anchored at the island.
This feeling of being watched was very faint, almost the same as the casual glances that fell on him unintentionally; normally, it would be impossible to notice.
But the unease in his heart made John’s nerves exceptionally sensitive, allowing him to barely catch this vague line of sight.
Yet, John sensed no killing intent in this line of sight—not even malice. It was a gaze devoid of any emotions!
Just like, just like sunlight shining on the body.
Right! This feeling was like the sun in the sky suddenly opening its eyes to look at you!
Unease, fear, terror… all sorts of emotions tightened around John like pythons coiling around his body.
John tried using Observation Haki to carefully scan everything around him, but such aimless probing naturally yielded nothing.
“Damn! Damn! What the hell is it!”
The uneasy man began pacing back and forth in the cabin, his right hand unconsciously gripping the hilt of the saber at his waist.
Finally, unable to endure the torment, John left the cabin and came to the island.
The entire island was now enveloped in thick fog, with such low visibility that John could barely see the dense forest right in front of him.
The sea surface behind him was the same; thick fog surrounded him on all sides.
This abnormal weather made John, who had originally planned to get off the ship to look at the scenery and ease his inner panic, even more uneasy.
Breathing the misty air on the island, John forced himself to calm down, but the hand on the hilt of the saber at his waist gripped it even tighter.
“Could it be Foll’s subordinates couldn’t wait to kill me, so they set something up on the island?”
“Or is it that guy Babu…”
He had always known Foll’s subordinates harbored killing intent toward him, but he didn’t care.
He, who had been a sea overlord not long ago, wouldn’t care about assassinations from such small fry, just like the sea emperors of later generations wouldn’t care about assassinations from those small fry pirates.
As for Babu, he was somewhat troublesome.
The opponent’s Devil Fruit ability was too tricky; if he failed to hit with one strike and let the other escape, catching him again would be too difficult.
He didn’t have that much time to play hide-and-seek with the other.
But there was no choice; who let the other know his whereabouts?
And he even dared to covet his treasure—that was his treasure! Captain John’s treasure! He must die!!
『Should he use a sneak attack like before, or poison? Or wait until the ship is at sea to make a move…』
Just as John was pondering what method to use, he suddenly felt that line of sight disappear.
Immediately after, his heart relaxed, and all the panic and unease vanished, even the fog seeming to thin a bit.
“Phew~”
John let out a long breath and slightly loosened his grip on the hilt; at this moment, his palm was already covered in sweat.
……
Quack! As the author, my power should be infinite, right?! Why do I still need to subscribe to read my own book?! No way!
Damn it! I’ll remember this grudge!
