Vice Admiral Dewitt's Challenge!

Yes and Darnell had been knocked unconscious by Rogers and were Dark Holy Guards in a prison inside the warship, wearing Seastone Handcuffs. As the two lost consciousness, the green rings and mind control on their bodies also dissipated.

Having gained both physical and mental freedom, they knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly. These days, they had truly experienced what it meant to be worse than dead.

But precisely because of this, the pirates' resistance became even more intense when faced with the navy's attempt to arrest them, because they knew very well the value of freedom and never wanted to be locked up in Impel Down again.

But Vidal was getting impatient. He was in a bad mood and felt like someone was warning him from the shadows.

Without a word, he clapped his hands together and used the Nativity of a World of Trees technique to bind all the thousands of pirates present to the trees. Then he urged Rogers and the others to return to the warship as quickly as possible and set sail again.

"Commodore, why are you in such a hurry? What about the pirates up there?" Major Rogers asked, looking at Vidal's retreating figure as soon as he returned.

Vidal didn't turn around, remaining atop the Oxhead, gazing at the receding sea forest, and replied without turning back, "There are still over 1,500 pirates up there. This one warship can't take them all. Notify the nearest G-6 Branch and have them send a fleet to take them over."

Major Rogers nodded in agreement with the first part of the statement, but hesitated upon hearing that the G-6 Branch was to be involved. "Commodore, Colonel Sakazuki is there, this..."

Given his personality, if he heard that there were nearly two thousand pirates waiting for him here, he would definitely rush over immediately and turn that forest into a sea of fire.

"That's not something we need to consider," Vidal replied indifferently.

That's just his attitude towards pirates: if they're useful, keep them; if they're useless, deal with them officially. The closest one to here is the G-6 Branch, so those pirates were just unlucky. If they were lucky, Sakazuki might be too busy to bring his team over.

"Yes." Major Rogers only said it casually. It was impossible for him to continue pleading for a group of pirates, but he always felt that his superior seemed to be in a hurry for something.

They had spent some time together, Vidal usually did things at a leisurely pace, so this time was indeed a bit strange.

What Rogers didn't know was that Vidal was also feeling confused. Now that the battle was over, why did this ominous premonition still linger in his heart?

As mentioned before, those who Haki, especially those who Awakening Observation Haki, will not easily ignore this sixth sense-like feeling, because in this world, spirit, will, feeling, and aura all possess real power.

Therefore, Vidal firmly believed that something must have happened, or was about to happen, to make him so uneasy.

It has now been proven that this unease did not originate from the Shepherd Pirates; this feeling of the unknown is indeed unsettling.

"Head to G-8 Branch as soon as possible!"

"Yes!"

Three hours later, a small boat with a red sail, but no patterns on the sail, slowly drifted to the front of the 'Nine Pillar Forest'.

On the deck of the small boat, a tall, thin, white-haired man wearing a blood-red cloak swirled a goblet filled with scarlet wine in his right hand, looking up and down at the strange forest growing on a wooden plank.

"This should be the right place."

The man downed his glass of red wine in one gulp, gently placed the glass back on the round table in front of him, and then casually picked up a slender purple umbrella from the table.

[Whoosh!]

The next second, he vanished from the deck and reappeared on a flat wooden plank, walking step by step into the dark and terrifying jungle.

What makes it terrifying is that cries of agony and wailing can be heard from time to time in the forest, and the despair in these sounds sends chills down your spine.

A short while later, the elegant man came across two pirates tied to a tree trunk, weeping bitterly. As soon as they saw someone approaching, they seemed to see a glimmer of hope and began their pointless struggles again.

"My lord! My lord!"

"Save us, please save us!"

"If you're willing to take us away from here, we'll become your subordinates. You can tell us who to kill and we'll kill them!"

But Redfield heard a different thought in their minds.

"Help me! Help me!"

"Once you untie me, I'll kill this skinny little guy, then steal the boat and run!"

"Quick, put me down!"

But he seemed to have long been accustomed to the ugliness and darkness of human form, his expression remaining unchanged. Instead, he enhanced his Observation Haki, delving into their memories to find all the information he wanted to know.

Throughout the entire process, he did not conduct any interrogation or questioning.

He possessed an incredibly powerful Observation Haki from a young age, also known as Innate Observation Haki. His basic ability was to see into people's minds, and after targeted training, he further developed the terrifying ability to read other people's memories.

"It really is that Forrest Vidal. He's been gone for three hours already," Redfield thought to himself, then turned and left, completely ignoring the sounds behind him that went from pleading to cursing.

Killing them would only dirty my hands; I'd rather have the Navy throw them into Impel Down.

For me now, the most important thing is to catch up with Vidal, kill him, and retrieve what was stolen.

Even if doing so would anger the Marine Headquarters and result in being pursued and intercepted by the world's largest military organization!

On Vidal's side, the Oxhead Battleship had arrived at the Navarone Fortress of the G-8 Branch, and he had once again returned to the place where he had lived for decades since childhood.

"Welcome, welcome! I didn't expect you to have accomplished such a great thing since we last met. I truly admire you!" Vice Admiral Dewitt exchanged pleasantries for a moment, then looked at the young man before him and exclaimed sincerely.

"I'm also fighting to reclaim my father's shadow, whether I want to or not." Vidal knew he was referring to Moria.

To be honest, if Gecko Moria hadn't gotten involved with Cornell, he might not have necessarily wanted to keep him around.

The two walked side by side toward the commander's office. Along the way, naval officers of all ranks greeted Vidal warmly. Seeing them made Vidal feel much better, and more importantly, he found that his unease had lessened considerably.

But it still exists!

"Vice Admiral, how's your training going?" Vidal walked into the office, plopped down on the sofa, and asked with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Dewitt's face lit up with joy. "This ability is incredibly strong, extremely strong. Ordinary blades can't even touch me now; anything that gets within a meter will melt into molten iron!"

"To reach this level in such a short time is already very impressive."

Vidal casually remarked that he had previously given Dewitt a Devil Fruit, which, judging from its ability, was likely the Paramecia Scald-Scald Fruit.

Note that this is not the Heat-Heat Fruit of the future Oven. The Heat-Heat Fruit can not only heat the user but also conduct heat outwards, even melting guns and weapons in other people's hands from a distance.

The Scald-Scald Fruit can only heat the user's own body, so it can be considered a lower-level fruit than the Heat-Heat Fruit. Even so, the ability to generate high temperatures is still a significant boost to combat.

Just as the two had been chatting in the office for a few minutes, Vidal was about to get up and leave to visit his botanical garden, Vice Admiral Dewitt suddenly called out to him.

"That... Vidal!"

"Hmm?" Vidal turned his head in confusion.

Vice Admiral Dewitt stood up solemnly and said, "If you have time, how about we have a match? I want to see just how strong you really are."

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