Infiltration

For a moment, Sirius's heart and lungs nearly stopped.

That had scared the life out of him!

Sirius turned around and saw Yamato staring at him curiously. Stunned, he asked, "Why are you here?"

"You never came back, so I came out to look for you."

Yamato said it with a grin.

You really were good at finding people.

Sirius was speechless.

"Actually, I know!" Yamato suddenly moved closer to Sirius, leaning her little head toward his ear as she whispered, "Sirius, you want to sneak onto the ship, don't you?"

This time, Sirius was genuinely surprised. He asked in astonishment, "How did you know?"

"Hehe! I'm really smart!"

Yamato proudly put her hands on her hips. "When you heard Uncle Queen say the war was about to begin, your eyes lit up! And when we came in just now, you kept looking this way!"

She looked like an idiot, but she was unexpectedly perceptive.

Sirius sighed inwardly. She really was a little like the Straw Hat Kid. No wonder she had hit it off with Fire Fist and Straw Hat Kid right away.

"I want to go too!"

Yamato crouched beside Sirius and whispered, "Take me with you, okay, Sirius? I already had Maria cover for us!"

"No!"

Sirius decisively shook his head. "This isn't a joke. The battlefield is dangerous, Yamato."

It was fine for him to take risks himself, but there was no reason to drag someone else into danger with him, right?

"Then why are you going, Sirius?" Yamato asked indignantly.

"I have a reason I must go!"

Sirius smiled. "I want to take a good look at this world, and at the people in it."

If he did not go this time, he would miss Kaido's battle with Kozuki Oden.

Who knew how long he would have to wait before seeing top-tier monsters clash again?

Sirius did not want to miss it.

"Then it's the same for me!"

Yamato said seriously, "Didn't we make a promise? You said you'd take me with you. We're partners!"

Sirius froze for a moment.

"Besides, if even you aren't afraid, then of course I'm not afraid either!"

Yamato clenched her little fists. "I might even be stronger than you!"

"You really dare to say that."

Sirius chuckled softly. It seemed he would not be able to shake her off. "All right, I can take you with me, but on one condition—"

"Yay! Sirius, you're the best!"

Before Sirius could finish, Yamato pounced on him and wrapped him in a fierce hug. Her strength was absurdly great; her ribs pressed painfully into Sirius's face, nearly flattening his nose.

After struggling free from Yamato's embrace, Sirius whispered, "Idiot! Keep it down! Someone will hear us."

"Hehe."

Yamato scratched the back of her head and gave a foolish grin.

"All right, listen, Yamato. My condition is that you stay with me the whole way. No running off, and you follow my commands," Sirius said seriously.

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm."

Yamato nodded repeatedly. "I understand!"

Then she eagerly asked, "So are we getting ready to infiltrate now?"

She stuck her head out to look at the gate ahead, where pirates constantly came and went. "Sirius, want me to knock these guys out?"

"Would that still count as infiltration?" Sirius said helplessly.

He thought for a moment, then asked, "Where's the back wall of the storage room?"

"The back wall?" Yamato blinked, not understanding.

"Just take me there."

Although Yamato did not understand what Sirius meant, she carefully led him away. They jogged around to the rear of the storage room, stopping before a thick stone wall.

"This is it!"

Yamato patted the wall, then her eyes suddenly lit up. "I get it! We're going to punch a hole through the wall and go in, right?"

She immediately pulled out the Spiked Club she had been carrying on her back and said confidently, "Leave it to me!"

Sirius hurriedly grabbed her. "Idiot, that would make too much noise. Do you want to be discovered?"

Yamato looked troubled. "Then what do we do?"

"Watch me."

Sirius's head instantly swelled up and transformed into an enormous wolf's head. He opened his mouth wide and bit into the wall before him, tearing off a huge chunk of solid stone.

"Huh?"

Yamato stepped back half a pace, then said sympathetically, "Sirius, are you really that hungry?"

"Stop talking!"

Sirius's teeth were truly sharp, and his digestive ability was indeed incredible. Even such a sturdy stone wall was easily chewed into a large hole.

As he continued deeper, the wall grew thinner and thinner.

Finally, Sirius saw a faint glimmer of light through the cracks in the stone before him. He knew it was almost done.

His head returned to normal. A layer of black fur covered his palm, and sharp claws extended from it. He jabbed them into the stone ahead, punching out a small hole.

Sirius pressed his eye to it and carefully observed the situation inside.

They were lucky. This was a corner of the storage room, and there were no pirates nearby.

Sirius opened his mouth again and swallowed the last chunk of stone.

Then he backed out, returned outside the wall, and jumped down beside the anxiously waiting Yamato. "It's done. Come in."

Yamato immediately crawled in with a delighted expression.

Sirius did not hurry in. Instead, he moved a crate over to block the hole, then climbed through himself. Without some camouflage, it would be easy to spot.

When Sirius crawled through the hole into the storage room, Yamato was waiting for him. The little girl asked excitedly, "Sirius, what do we do next?"

"Follow me."

Sirius first dragged another crate over to block the hole, then hunched over and carefully moved forward through the mountains of supplies piled up in the storage room.

The various equipment and supplies they needed to take had already been prepared and were piled near the storage room's entrance. Luckily, the pirates were moving things from the outside first!

Sirius casually found a crate nearby, dumped out everything inside, and said to Yamato, "Hide in there."

Yamato obediently climbed inside.

Then Sirius slowly pushed the crate behind the pile of supplies near the entrance, carefully mixed it in with them, opened the lid, and climbed in himself.

In the darkness, Sirius and Yamato stared wide-eyed at each other.

"This is amazing, Sirius! We'll be able to board the ship smoothly now, right?" Yamato could barely contain her excitement.

"Quiet, Yamato."

Sirius whispered, "It's not time to celebrate yet."

Yamato quickly raised both hands to cover her mouth, signaling that she would not say another word.

After an unknown amount of time, Sirius suddenly felt the crate jolt, then begin to sway.

He exchanged a glance with Yamato. It had finally begun.

"Be gentler, you bastards! Do you want the bombs to explode?"

"Put it in the hold! This is the last crate, right?"

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Get ready to set sail! Boss Kaido can't wait anymore!"

All sorts of voices drifted in from outside the crate.

Only after the crate finally hit the ground with a thud did all the commotion slowly fade away.

After it had been quiet outside for a long time, Sirius cautiously bored a hole in the crate and looked out.

It was pitch-black outside. It seemed they were already inside the ship's hold.

The crate suddenly began to sway slightly. The ship had probably set sail.

"We did it!"

Only then did Sirius finally smile.

"This is amazing, Sirius! You're a genius!"

Yamato excitedly threw her arms around Sirius again.

"My nose! My nose!!"