Wails Beneath the Deep Sea

The cool night breeze stirred the clear moonlight, causing the blades of grass at Dane's feet to flutter and swirl, illuminating his eyes filled with complex emotions as the Fish-Man gazed painfully at the sea surface shimmering with silver light.

In the end, he chose to let Barnes and his three companions go, watching them jump into the sea and disappear without a trace.

Faced with Soto kneeling and begging for mercy, he opened his mouth several times but couldn't utter a single word. Soto wanted to go back to reunite with his mother whom he hadn't seen for many years; what could he say?

At this moment, Dane felt a little regretful, regretting that he hadn't gone to sleep earlier. That way, at most he would have just cursed the four of them in front of Vidal tomorrow and naturally moved on from the matter.

Now he's in trouble. He doesn't know what to do tomorrow—no, it's already past midnight—he probably doesn't know how to explain things later.

At this moment, caught between his compatriots and his benefactor, Dane's heart was being torn apart, causing him to slump to the ground and stare blankly at the waves in silence.

Beneath the sea, four tall, dark figures swam at an astonishing speed, far exceeding that of ordinary fish, their backs to the faint silver moonlight above, heading towards the even darker depths.

"Hahaha, I didn't expect you to have this trick up your sleeve, Soto! Well done!" Barnes laughed triumphantly, the seawater in front of his mouth and nose not affecting his speech or the propagation of his voice at all.

"Indeed, I thought I was going to have a fight with Dane; my heart was pounding."

"If it really came down to a fight, I don't think we would necessarily win. The moment his eyes changed, I felt a strong sense of unease, like being stared at by some terrifying sea monster!"

Ramsey and Aguirre praised him repeatedly, but Soto, the hero, remained expressionless and his eyes were unwavering. He only wanted to return to Fish-Man Island and cut off all ties with these guys.

Gradually, they descended deeper and deeper, getting further and further away from the Sabaody Archipelago. When they reached a depth of 200 meters, they could barely see any light. Fortunately, they only needed to keep their heads down and keep going. Once they saw the faintly red underwater volcanoes, they had reached the entrance to Fish-Man Island.

However, just as they reached a depth of about two thousand meters underwater, a strange sensation arose within their bodies, as if something small was trembling!

This caused Barnes, Soto, and the other three to stop their descent almost simultaneously. They instinctively looked around, but it was pitch black, so dark that they couldn't see their own hands in front of their faces, and they couldn't see anything at all.

"Ramsey! Soto! Are you there?" Barnes shouted.

"Exist!"

"Barnes, you don't feel something moving inside you either, do you?"

Aguirre's tense voice came through.

His words sent a chill down the spines of the other three, a sense of foreboding creeping into their hearts.

Why is this happening?

"That thing is still moving below my chest! It's a little itchy and a little painful."

"What the hell is this?!"

In an instant, the atmosphere in the dark sea became even more eerie and terrifying, and everyone had a feeling that disaster was about to strike.

"I don't know, maybe it's some kind of illness? But whatever the case, we only have one option now: keep sinking, get back to Fish-Man Island, and then find a doctor!" Barnes clutched his chest, gritted his teeth, and shouted, before diving down again.

"Yes, yes, yes, let's go back, back to Fish-Man Island!" Soto nodded repeatedly and immediately set off to follow. The other two had no objections and could only continue in silence.

To the four Fish-Man's horror, they were shocked to discover that the thing inside their bodies trembled even more violently as they descended, and at the same time, an unbearable pain arose.

"Ahh!"

"My heart is pounding! It hurts so much!!"

"What's going on! Why? Why?!"

As Barnes, Soto, Aguirre, and Ramsey struggled and howled in agony, a green seed was growing beneath their chests, clinging to their hearts. It was constantly absorbing the heart's blood to grow stronger, and at a visible speed, it was taking root and sprouting, gradually enveloping the entire heart.

This process wasn't short; the four Fish-Man howled for nearly half an hour before gradually falling silent, but their expressions were increasingly distorted and terrifying.

However, the extremely dark underwater environment perfectly concealed all of this.

"Mother Mother"

[Bang! Bang!]

Suddenly, four muffled thuds sounded. If someone had darkvision at this moment, they would have seen the Fish-Man, who had just died, secreting bright red bubbles from his body, which then slowly floated to the surface with the remains inside.

At six o'clock in the morning, Vidal woke up on time according to the established plan. After washing up in his private bathroom, he enjoyed breakfast brought to him by his servants.

A glass of apple juice, plus a sandwich.

Although he doesn't need to eat anything, as a human being, he feels he should still have certain lifestyle habits; otherwise, over time, he might truly drift further and further away from humanity.

At seven o'clock, he began processing the documents and reports sent by Lieutenant Isoka. This was also the time for the sailors at the base to have breakfast, so the aroma of food was always pushed in by the sunlight through the open window behind him.

"Has the Three-Three System Tactics been fully implemented within the base? Rogers and the others are doing a good job." Vidal chuckled as he looked at the report before him, his mood brightening considerably.

The Three-Three System Tactics and the Konoha Style Body Technique have now become standard training programs for the Marine Headquarters and various G-system branches, thanks in large part to the efforts of Assistant Colonel Ogden in promoting and training them.

As this phenomenon occurred on a large scale, the pirates on the Grand Line suffered greatly, especially the low-ranking pirates with bounties of around one million to ten million. They were captured by marines led by lieutenant-level officers and imprisoned in Impel Down.

The marine environment has been greatly purified, which has led to a significant increase in the number of merchant ships, as evidenced by the recent monthly increase in the number of people and ships entering and leaving the Sabaody Archipelago.

In summary, while the Three-Three System Tactics and Konoha Style Body Techniques did not have much impact on the middle and high-ranking officers of the Marine Headquarters, they greatly enhanced the overall strength of the lower-ranking Marines and significantly reduced the number of casualties, indirectly leading to a decrease in the frequency of recruitment for the Marines.

All of this led to Vidal's rising prestige within the navy, and the name "Ryokugyu" Vidal became known to everyone.

At eight o'clock, Dane, looking guilty, knocked on the door and entered the office on time.

"Lord Vidal, I..."

"You don't need to say anything, I already know. Come, I'll take you to see them." Vidal smiled slightly, stood up, casually draped the Justice Coat hanging on the chair over his shoulders, and then walked out of the room without saying a word.

"Them?!"

Dane was stunned. What did this mean?