Back at Skull Castle.
Rocks made his way down toward the depths of the castle. No one besides him was allowed to enter or leave this place, and quite a few pirates stood guard outside.
Under such tight security, not even a fly could hope to get inside.
The passage was dimly lit as he followed the stairs downward.
Soon, he arrived before a massive iron door. On either side of it was an image-transmitting Den Den Mushi, their eyes wide as they swept left and right, relaying the scene in front of the door to the monitoring room.
A moment later.
The iron door slowly opened, and Rocks walked inside.
There were quite a few rooms within. He soon arrived outside one of them, pushed open the door, and entered.
As Rocks entered the room, someone immediately greeted him. "Captain!"
"Why have you come?!"
The speaker was a woman dressed in a kimono.
"Higurashi, I came to see whether anything happened to the Celestial Dragons," Rocks said.
Charcoal Higurashi smiled broadly. "Rest assured, Captain. With Semi-maru's Barrier-Barrier Fruit, no one can rescue the Celestial Dragons."
"This barrier is absolute defense. No one can destroy it!"
As she spoke, she rapped her knuckles against the barrier before her, which resembled blue glass.
It gave off a crisp, tinkling sound.
Inside the barrier, a man dressed in a kimono sat cross-legged with a biwa in his arms. The strangest thing about him was his left hand, which remained in a peculiar pose.
Besides him, the Celestial Dragon Egbert and his family were also inside the barrier. Their hands and feet were shackled with Seastone cuffs, and even their mouths had been gagged.
"As long as nothing has gone wrong, that's good. Hold on for a few more days. Once we execute