Chapter 240: Fire
“Well done, Bondi Wald.”
“Cough~”
A CP agent with a large hole in his chest floated on the sea surface, lying on his back looking up at the clouds that had been dispersed in the sky.
Sunlight shone on that ordinary face, without a mask, and this long-lost warmth made him, already on the verge of death, even more dazed.
Using all his strength to reach into the pocket of his coat, he slowly pulled out a small single-line dedicated Den Den Mushi, and tremblingly pressed the dial button.
“Purupuru~”
“Hello! This is Sengoku.”
Antique round-framed glasses appeared on the Den Den Mushi’s small eyes, but the CP agent whose pupils had lost their light could no longer see.
“Action, the action can… begin.”
Click~
The Den Den Mushi hung up.
『Mission complete.』
The hand wearing a black glove fell limply, splashing a small splash of water.
And as if this was some kind of signal, the seagulls that had been circling in the sky suddenly folded their wings and descended, landing on the agent’s corpse, with white feathers flying everywhere for a moment.
……
“Hello?! Hello?!”
“Damn it, can’t these CP guys say a few more words?”
Sengoku, who had been hung up on after just one sentence, was very annoyed. He wanted to call back to ask about the specific battle situation but found that the other party had used a disposable single-line Den Den Mushi.
“Tch!”
Annoyedly clicking his tongue, Sengoku quickly composed himself and began commanding the fleet to set off.
“Send flag signals! Full fleet at full speed to the target sea area!”
“Yes! Admiral Sengoku!”
……
“Hey~ Brother Skipgate! The Navy has moved again!”
The lookout munching on a pineapple while sitting high on the observation tower reported.
“Huh?”
Skipgate, who was already lying on the deck starting to leisurely sunbathe, lifted his flashy sunglasses upon hearing this and asked somewhat sleepily:
“Haa~~~ Did you see clearly? Which direction are they heading?”
“Are they turning back?”
“No, they’re clearly heading straight toward Governor-General Kaido, and at very high speed!”
“Hm?”
Hearing this, Skipgate’s sleepiness was finally suppressed. He sat up and took out a Den Den Mushi from his bosom to contact Brother Burufaruto and the others.
“Purupuru~ Purupuru~”
“……”
“Purupuru~ Purupuru~”
“Eh? Strange, why isn’t anyone picking up? Are they in the toilet?”
A few minutes later, realizing the Den Den Mushi was still unanswered, Skipgate scratched his sun-warmed explosive hair. After ordering the fleet to follow the Navy from a distance, he turned to contact Ember.
……
“Ember! Boss Kaido is…”
Finally, Burufaruto woke up when Ember was already somewhat desperate.
“Burufaruto! Quick, quick, contact La! Have her come immediately!”
Feeling his shoulder about to be crushed, looking at Ember who was uncharacteristically hysterical, Burufaruto swallowed the question ‘why didn’t you contact her yourself earlier’ and decisively pulled out a Den Den Mushi.
But…
“Hm? Why did it faint?”
As a soft-bodied creature, the Den Den Mushi wasn’t directly killed by the earlier aftermath, but it still fainted.
“Even yours…”
No need to think, the Den Den Mushi on the other ships were probably the same.
“Burufaruto, stay here and watch Mr. Kaido. I’ll fly back immediately to find La!”
As if he himself had the scythe of the Grim Reaper at his neck, Ember gave a few quick instructions at the fastest speed, then directly transformed into the faster pterodactyl form, shattered the ship’s railing, and flew toward Fenrir Island.
Burufaruto was slightly stunned for a moment before loudly reminding:
“Wait, Ember! Go straight to Skipgate’s side, he’s closer, use his Den Den Mushi!”
Hearing Burufaruto’s loud reminder, Ember did not respond but directly turned direction.
……
At this time on Fenrir Island—
“Hachi, the second hand on the left has a deformed motion.”
“Y-yes!”
“Arlong, don’t slack off, speed up the rhythm a bit.”
“Tch~ Got it.”
“Jinbe, the motion is very standard, keep it up, but don’t think about unrelated things in your mind.”
“Understood!”
Sitting on a smooth stone by the training ground, La was correcting these fish-man children’s practice motions while knitting yarn without lifting her head.
But at a certain moment, the motion of her hands suddenly stopped.
“What’s wrong, Sister La?”
Seeing this, the children also stopped their motions and asked curiously.
“Nothing, you continue practicing, I’ll step out for a bit.”
“Hmm~ Brother Burufaruto went out, Miss Aoxi went out, now Miss La is going out too?”
“Did something happen with the pirate crew?”
The precocious Jinbe vaguely guessed something.
“Yeah, but it’s not a big deal.”
“We’ll probably be back before dinner.”
Putting the nearly finished ‘Winged Dragon Sphere’ bag back into the Millennium Puzzle, La patted her skirt and stood up.
Hearing that Sister Aoxi and the others were coming back, the children were all excited.
“Yay!”*n
“When Sister Aoxi comes back, I want her to continue telling stories!”
“And the toys she promised us!”
“……”
“Don’t slack off, I’ll check when I get back. Anyone who doesn’t train to the required time by standard will have to make it up double under my supervision.”
“Ehh—”
Ignoring the children’s wails, La’s body ignited with golden flames, and in the next instant, she was already beyond everyone’s vision in the sky.
And at this time in the sky near Fenrir, besides La who had just set off and Ember racing against time toward Skipgate’s position… there was a third force also moving rapidly.
……
Five minutes later, La arrived at the target location.
She gently landed on the deck of the Beasts Pirates’ main ship. Due to her too-fast speed and too-light motion, no one, including Burufaruto, reacted in the first moment.
It wasn’t until La placed her hand on that heart already on the verge of stopping that her presence was noticed.
However, no one present dared to make any sound at this time; even their breathing was lengthened as much as possible to minimize disturbance to the air.
Pale golden divine flames brought vitality back to the nearly desiccated body. The flesh damaged by external force also underwent a miracle under the flames’ touch, reconstructing according to the blueprint of life as if time were flowing backward.
Thirty seconds later—
Thump!
A strong and powerful heartbeat resounded again in this unconscious body, followed by the second, the third.
Thump!
Thump!
……
The gears of life began turning again, and only then did everyone dare to exhale, starting to pant a bit heavily.
“La, is Boss Kaido okay now?”
Burufaruto couldn’t hold back and immediately asked, looking at La half-squatting on the deck maintaining the flames, concerned.
La did not shift her gaze; her slender palm still gently pressed against Kaido’s chest, maintaining the healing while answering:
“This time Captain Kaido is quite seriously injured. His arm, chest cavity, and even heart have all suffered varying degrees of damage. Full recovery will take at least thirty minutes.”
“Th-thirty… thirty minutes?!”
“Yes, that’s half an hour.”
“No, I know how long thirty minutes is, but it’s that fast?!”
Burufaruto was somewhat surprised. That so-called ‘full recovery’ meant what he was thinking, right?
“Fast?”
“Sorry, since there’s no other group for comparison, I can’t judge the standard of fast or slow either.”
“Alright, alright, fine.”
Burufaruto raised both hands in a retreating gesture. Now that La had arrived, having regained a sense of security, he began to free up his mind to think about other issues.
After all, there was a group of menacing mixed fleet not far away. They might have heard the commotion and set off already, and Ember going to find Skipgate might very well run into them.
Now that La and Boss Kaido couldn’t move, how to act to avoid danger and ensure everyone’s safety required careful consideration.
