Fight Poison with Poison!

By the time Ron arrived at the Holy Land, old Vic, Imu's loyal servant, had been waiting for him. He came forward with a grave expression and said quickly, "Azure Dragon Admiral, this way, please."

"I'm not an admiral yet... Forget it."

Ron had meant to correct him, but this was no time to quibble over titles. He nodded and followed at a brisk pace.

"Mr. Vic, what exactly happened?"

As they walked through an underground passage beneath the Holy Land, Ron put on a look of confusion. "Was the Holy Land attacked?"

"No, but this is worse than an attack! Compared to this, Fisher Tiger storming the Holy Land and wreaking havoc over twenty years ago was nothing!"

Vic had Imu's permission to speak, so he held nothing back.

"It started with Jason's execution a few months ago... Do you remember the chaos at the Ark Restaurant?"

"I do, but Zero, the former head of CP0, didn't tell me anything at the time... Was it connected to that?"

"Exactly!"

They stopped before a metal door. Vic took a key from where he kept it against his chest and inserted it into the lock, giving Ron a strained smile.

"The Celestial Dragons have been poisoned. And we've confirmed... there's no cure!"

Click...!

With a rumble, the metal door slowly rose, revealing a vast space beyond.

The familiar silver-white corridors and glass partitions gave Ron the uncanny feeling that he was back in the underground Science Unit facility at Marine Headquarters. But this place was more than twice its size.

Standing at the entrance, he could barely see the far end.

"Something like that happened?!"

Ron feigned shock, his pupils contracting. Then he seemed to snap to his senses and asked, "So the Five Elders summoned me to the Holy Land