Gion: Ortolan Had Gone Mad Again!

The following afternoon, the Marines on the shore began packing up their belongings and moving the remaining supplies from the previous night onto the ships.

Inside the cliff, Dragon, observing through a ventilation cave, wore a 'I knew it' expression and patted Ivankov on the shoulder, saying, 'See? I told you so! The Marines was just staying here for a short while; they couldn't possibly stay for long. Now they're leaving.'

Ivankov said happily, "It seems you really understand the Marines. No wonder you're an elite former Marine Headquarters."

About half an hour later, the warship slowly started up and began to leave the island's coast.

But Dragon was dumbfounded, scratching his head in confusion and saying, "This isn't right, is it? Hasn't that Rear Admiral named Bane Ortolan boarded the ship yet?"

Yes, the Marines ships were beginning to leave the island, but Ortolan remained seated on the rocks by the sea, fishing rod in hand, as steady as an old dog, without moving an inch.

It was as if he had absolutely nothing to do with that warship.

This made Dragon wonder if the Marines had forgotten about this Rear Admiral?

He wanted to go out and shout, "Wait a minute, he hasn't boarded the ship yet!"

"What's going on?" Ivankov looked at Dragon with a puzzled expression. "I know that among pirates, there is a punishment called exile, which is used to punish traitors on the ship. They send them to a deserted island, have a banquet, and then leave them there to die the next day... Is the Marines using this method of exile now?"

Dragon said, somewhat bewildered, "No? At least during my time in the Marines, there was no such thing. Even if a Marines admiral committed a crime, it was always an internal trial, followed by imprisonment at Impel Down. I've never heard of anyone being exiled to a desert island..."

He was really confused, but he couldn't go out and ask what the Marines was doing.

They could only wait and keep observing outwards. After a while, Dragon and Ivankov discovered that the warship that had originally sailed away had stopped at the horizon and was no longer moving away.

It was as if someone on that warship was observing the island from a great distance. Combined with the strange situation in Ortolan, Dragon had a bad feeling.

But this premonition is hard to pinpoint; it's that feeling where you know something's wrong, but you don't know where the problem lies.

"Perhaps he... just wants to rest on the island for another day? Did he have a falling out with Gion?" Dragon looked at Ivankov hesitantly.

Ivankov scratched his head and said, "Speaking of which, isn't tonight a full moon night? Maybe they want to watch the moon on the island?"

"Hahahaha..." Dragon laughed awkwardly, then said, "It's alright, we still have plenty of supplies. Even if he tries to hold out for half a day, we can afford it. Let's wait another day and see."

At this moment, Ortolan, sitting on the reef, frowned from time to time, and a fierce look flashed in his eyes occasionally. The fishing rod in his hand was trembling, and the fishing line was taut, clearly indicating that a fish had taken the bait.

But he had no intention of catching anything, and his attention was not even on fishing.

As the full moon approached, Ortolan could feel his spirits growing increasingly volatile, but he could also tell that he was much better off now than before he left Tyrean Island.

"Focused thinking might be able to suppress this gradual mental rage..." Ortolan murmured softly, his mind racing as he considered what he might have overlooked or what a more perfect solution might be in the things he had been trying to do recently.

"Roger married Rouge and had children on the Baterilla in the South Blue. But with his surrender, he caused great damage to the sea. In order to eradicate his bloodline, the World Government carried out a large-scale hunt for pregnant women and newborn babies in the South Blue..." Ortolan suddenly remembered this.

Previously, they were so focused on how to squeeze money out of Roger that they almost forgot about this.

"As expected, I'm not exactly a guy with a strong sense of justice..." Ortolan thought to himself with a self-deprecating laugh.

Even now, he has already thought about this issue. In fact, he is not much wavering in his heart, but since he has already thought about it, he might as well help if he can. This is a meritorious deed, and who knows, it might accumulate some good fortune for him.

So, how do we solve this problem?

First of all, the World Government doesn't mean that wherever Roger is, they have to hunt down and kill all pregnant women and babies. Otherwise, given the Roger Pirates' previous exploits around the world, the World Government would have to go all over the world to kill them.

The main reason for doing this in the South Blue is that the World Government has realized that Roger has been living peacefully in the South Blue for almost half a year!

That's why he had the possibility of marrying and having children here, which is why the World Government did such a cruel and inhumane thing.

Therefore, to solve this problem from the beginning, the World Government need to receive the wrong information, making them unaware that Roger has been living here for a long time. However, this method is prone to errors, so it is best to find an individual or organization to take the blame.

For example, Roger wasn't in the South Blue to leisurely spend the last part of his life, nor to get married, have children, or fall in love; he was there to make a big move and to carry out a conspiracy!

For example, his appearance in the South Blue was to reach some kind of ulterior motive with the Freedom Army. I, Bane Ortolan, was investigating the scholars while simultaneously conducting some investigation into the Freedom Army who might have had contact with them.

In the process of investigating this matter, I inadvertently discovered that Roger seemed to be engaging in some kind of dangerous cooperation with the Freedom Army.

After this thorough investigation, I finally found Roger's whereabouts and arrested Roger somewhere.

In this way, there would be no evidence that Roger had been hiding in the South Blue and living a peaceful life for nearly a year. Roger would appear to be very busy. After receiving this answer, the government of the world would not necessarily want to kill all the pregnant women and babies in the South Blue, right?

This doesn't make sense.

Although the government of the underworld is filthy and dark, they try to do as little of this disgusting thing as possible; they still have some sense of shame.

"As for the Freedom Army and Dragon... it doesn't matter. They can just be used as scapegoats. Given their current situation, the World Government should be willing to believe this explanation. Moreover, Dragon can't prove his innocence either; he's a perfect scapegoat!" Ortolan thought to himself.

At that time, this idea seemed particularly rudimentary. His mental state was unstable, and there were undoubtedly many shortcomings he hadn't considered. This was merely a way for him to concentrate and combat his mental turmoil.

The specific follow-up actions require careful consideration. Furthermore, this is not a situation that a Rear Admiral can handle alone; it requires the endorsement of a powerful figure. Can a Rear Admiral really just casually capture Roger? Do you have that kind of capability?

Garp would be perfect for the role!

Besides, he's Dragon's father, so his words about personally shifting the blame to Dragon are even more believable.

The question is whether Garp would be willing to get involved in this situation. But Ortolan felt that if he spoke frankly with Garp, given Garp's personality and character, he should be willing to cooperate.

His thoughts became increasingly chaotic. Ortolan tried hard to think of more questions: How should the scholars solve the Ohara incident?

Without Saulo's capture, can Nico Orbia actually catch him on her own?

If we can't catch them, where should we start to solve this mission's problem?

As Ortolan sat motionless on the reef like a statue, trying to concentrate on these questions, the sky gradually darkened.

The sea breeze occasionally stirred up waves on the surface of the sea, and half of the sun had already sunk into the sea.

The sunset glow obscured the clouds, growing thinner and thinner, with the moonlight, hidden above the clouds, occasionally spilling down.

Inside the cliff, Dragon held a teacup in his hand, sitting in front of the ventilation shaft, looking out at the scenery and the strange Ortolan through the small hole.

For hours, Ortolan sat there motionless, to the point that Dragon wondered if the guy was dead.

But considering the situation of the warship at sea level, he didn't dare to make any probing moves. He just waited. He didn't believe that the warship could sit here forever.

Instead of focusing on Ortolan, Dragon took a small sip of hot tea and looked up at the sky. A thick cloud was spreading out, and scattered moonlight, as the sun gradually sank into the sea, slowly spread across the land.

"A full moon, what a beautiful sight. Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I've had the leisure to stop and admire the moonlight like this..." Dragon murmured softly.

Then, he saw a ray of moonlight fall on Ortolan.

Immediately afterwards, a roar that sounded like that of a savage beast came from Ortolan.

In the blink of an eye, Dragon saw that Ortolan, who had been sitting motionless, suddenly changed from having short brown hair to having long, silver-white hair.

"What is this!?" The Dragon people were all dumbfounded.

The next second, the world changed color. The island, which was originally calm and the night was suddenly shrouded in dark clouds. The raging power of thunder, like silver snakes dancing wildly, occasionally ripped through the sky!

At the horizon, Gion watched the changing weather above the island and whispered, "Looks like Ortolan is starting to go mad..."