"Saulo, do you know what you are doing?" Kuzan asked the good friend blocking his path.
"Kuzan, do you also think those scholars are guilty?" Saulo countered.
Kuzan sighed and said nothing.
"Kuzan, perhaps in your eyes, those scholars touched things that must not be touched, but in their eyes they were only researching history. Since when is researching history also a crime?
"The Marines are acting like they've gone mad right now, wiping out an entire group of scholars just because they studied history.
"The strong swing their blades at the stronger, while the weak swing theirs at the weaker. At a time like this, the Marines should show the magnanimity of the strong to protect Ohara, instead of swinging blades at the weaker and helping the World Government destroy this island.
"Did you know, Kuzan? I am so disappointed in the justice of the Marines. In the past, I felt that everything I did was upholding Marine justice.
"But now I no longer know what it is I have been clinging to all this time.
"Are we guarding justice itself? Or the order established by the lofty Celestial Dragons and the World Government?
"Kuzan, tell me, what do you think justice is? Is it the order created by the Celestial Dragons and the World Government?"
Hearing Saulo's words, Kuzan fell silent.
At that moment, the roar of artillery fire echoed endlessly across Ohara, yet Kuzan acted as if he could not hear it at all, his mind filled entirely with Saulo's words.
Just as Kuzan sank into deep thought, the Den Den Mushi in his breast pocket rang. Kuzan picked it up, and the Marine inside told him that the civilians of Ohara had all been placed on the evacuation ship, which had already set sail from the port.
Hearing this, Kuzan immediately turned his head to look in the direction of the port.
Yet the next second, the ship that had not even sailed very far was sunk by a fist wrapped in magma.
Witnessing this scene, Kuzan's gaze filled with confusion, and he couldn't help recalling what that young man beside Dragon had said: That ship is just for show and will definitely be sunk in the end. Perhaps the ones doing it will even be your own Marines.
At the time, Kuzan had only felt those words were somewhat ridiculous and a rather clumsy attempt at sowing discord, but when that scene truly happened before his very eyes, Kuzan felt only a chill through all four limbs.
Kuzan knew very well that as an Ice-Ice Fruit user, he would not feel cold; it was his heart that had truly gone cold.
Saulo also witnessed this scene, and at that moment he solidified a resolve: he absolutely must not let everyone on Ohara die here.
Thus Saulo charged forward, using his own body to hold back the Marine warships and create a window of opportunity for Robin to escape.
Returning the line of sight to Dragon and Mosen, Mosen was sent by Dragon to the northwest corner of the Tree of Knowledge and began searching for books related to the Poneglyph.
Fortunately, the books here were not numerous, consisting of only a single bookshelf, and Mosen quickly found three books related to the Poneglyph.
Aside from that, Mosen had an unexpected harvest, discovering two very interesting books.
One was about how to develop human brain potential and increase human thinking and reaction speed.
The other was on Lineage Factor theory, which mentioned the related characteristics of Lineage Factors.
Mosen ran back to Dragon's side carrying these five books. At this moment, Dragon had already manipulated airflow to sweep up hundreds and thousands of books, sending them hundreds of meters high into the sky, where they hid behind the clouds for protection.
The pity was that the books Dragon protected were still far too few, accounting for at most a few fractions of a percent compared to all the books in the Tree of Knowledge.
When the scholars saw that Dragon had the ability to take books away, they rushed over to beg Dragon for help, asking him to protect more of the collection.
Hearing this, Dragon sighed. If possible, he too wanted to protect more books, but with his current ability, protecting these books was already the limit.
"Mr. Dragon, I've found the books." Mosen handed the three books recording the Poneglyph to Dragon.
Dragon took the books, casually sending them up into the sky as well, then turned his gaze to the two books in Mosen's arms.
"Mr. Dragon, I think these two books are quite useful too, so I just grabbed them along the way."
"Good grab. When we see Kuzan later, it can also serve as indirect proof that we really just came to get books."
"See Kuzan? Is Mr. Dragon going to find him?"
Dragon nodded and flew off, carrying Mosen.
Dragon brought Mosen rushing out of the sea of flames, flying near the coastline, and then saw the frozen Saulo.
"Mr. Dragon, that giant..."
"His name is Saulo, and he is a good friend of Kuzan's. It looks like he defied Marine orders and wanted to rescue Ohara, which is why he was frozen by Kuzan," Dragon surmised.
"So in the eyes of that Vice Admiral Kuzan, compared to friendship and beliefs, beliefs are still more important?"
"It has nothing to do with beliefs; this is Kuzan's duty."
"Huh? Mr. Dragon, there seems to be a little girl over there!" Mosen purposely guided Dragon's gaze toward Robin.
"Hah, is this Marine justice? Not even sparing a little girl," Mosen said, putting on an appearance of righteous indignation.
Hearing this, Dragon shook his head. "You misunderstood, Mosen. Although this man Kuzan ate the Ice-Ice Fruit, he is not such a cold and ruthless person, nor is the justice he upholds all that absolute.
"Against unarmed civilians, Kuzan will never make a move, let alone against a little girl."
The facts were just as Dragon said: Kuzan made the same choice as in the original work and let Nico Robin go.
"Let's go, Mosen. We'll go chat with Kuzan." With that, Dragon manipulated the airflow and carried Mosen flying right in front of Kuzan.
"It really is you! I already sensed your life aura just now." Kuzan glanced briefly at Dragon before speaking.
Dragon's brow furrowed. What was going on with Kuzan's listless appearance?
"Kuzan, are you alright?" Dragon probed tentatively.
"Just now, Sakazuki blasted the evacuation ship to pieces with a single punch, and the civilians inside all died."
Hearing Kuzan's words, Dragon couldn't help turning his head to glance at Mosen. He remembered Mosen saying earlier that the Marines would not let a single soul leave Ohara alive; thinking about it now, those words had truly come true like a prophecy, which explained why Kuzan wore such a deeply shaken expression.
Kuzan also followed suit by looking at Mosen, and then spotted the two books in Mosen's arms.
"You guys really did come for books! Brain development and Lineage Factors? Dragon, did you change careers to become a scientist? To actually take books like these."
Dragon smiled and offered no explanation.
"Mr. Kuzan, why did you just let that little girl go? Haven't the Marines already made their choice? Won't doing something like this be rather inappropriate?" Mosen, standing off to the side, picked up the thread of the conversation and asked.
"That little girl is just an ordinary person, not some scholar. Letting her go is no big deal, and besides, I didn't expect Sakazuki to go to such lengths." While helping Nico Robin cover her tracks, Kuzan purposely steered the topic toward Sakazuki.
"Kuzan, do you think Sakazuki was wrong?" Dragon asked.
"He wasn't wrong. He was upholding the reputation of the Marines and the justice he believes in; it's just that my own justice has wavered, that's all," Kuzan said with a complex expression.
"Then, Mr. Kuzan, if one day the tragedy of Ohara were to happen again, what would you do?"
A confirmed case was reported at the nearby high school today, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.
Before you continue