Night gradually deepened.
The crescent moon hid behind the clouds like a thief, only appearing from time to time.
People were lying in wait in shadowy spots around the hotel halfway up the mountain.
A few groups could no longer hold back.
"Gild Tesoro is inside the hotel. Move!"
"Yes!"
Just as the group sprang into action, inside one of the hotel rooms—
Crocodile sat by the window, smoking a cigar and blowing smoke rings. His Observation Haki covered the area around the hotel, allowing him to see nearly everyone, both in the open and in hiding, except for a few particularly powerful figures.
"The time has come to test you."
"Don't disappoint me."
Crocodile turned his gaze to Archino, whose thoughts were still in disarray. His manner had grown surprisingly gentle.
Archino's reaction had already begun to meet his expectations.
A promising student!
All that time spent lecturing him hadn't gone to waste.
"Ah! Oh!"
Archino came back to himself, though he seemed even more dazed than before.
He still hadn't fully digested the team's values Crocodile had laid out for him. A voice in his mind kept telling him not to believe it, but the more he thought about it, the more convincing it seemed.
Everything Crocodile said appealed to him.
But—
Archino was torn, as if he were of two minds.
He hadn't been completely brainwashed; he was just unsettled.
Should he run away?
This was the perfect chance.
Archino took a deep breath, forced his chaotic thoughts down, threw open the window, and jumped out.
Crocodile held his cigar between two fingers, looking as though victory were already his.
He wasn't foolish enough to think Archino would accept the team's values after just one lesson. But this time, he wasn't impatient. Instead, he felt as if