Several hours later.
Ross walked slowly out of the palace, refreshed, neatly dressed, and utterly composed.
As for Scarlet and her sister...
At that moment, they were naturally piled on top of each other on the throne, long since drained of the strength to get up.
Outside the doors, Shirahoshi had been waiting for quite some time.
Her eyes lit up when she saw Ross emerge, and she hurried over to greet him.
"You did very well." Ross offered a rare word of praise, a satisfied smile touching his lips. "I'm looking forward to your next performance."
"Hee-hee, it's only what a daughter should do."
Shirahoshi smiled until her eyes curved into crescents. As she spoke, she rose onto her toes and tenderly, carefully straightened his slightly disheveled collar.
"Just sit back and watch, Daddy. I promise I won't disappoint you."
Only in front of Ross would this mermaid queen, who ruled a nation and wielded influence across the world, show such sweet, girlish affection.
Ross gently patted her head, then vanished in a flash.
Shirahoshi gazed in the direction he had gone, a flicker of adoration passing through her eyes.
Hope Island, the NEW Marines.
Hope Island was a base the NEW Marines had established on an island in the New World.
This island carried Sengoku's hope of truly realizing his own justice after leaving the Marines under the World Government all those years ago.
Yet with the World Government having set such a high standard, they were still regarded as rebels, even though they had never wronged ordinary civilians.
In the eyes of the people of the Four Blues, they were practically no different from pirates.
Among those born and raised in the New World, on the one hand, the pirates hated them.
On the other, their