Wano Country Escapees! (13)

Vegapunk left, taking the Heart of the Ocean with him. He left cleanly and decisively.

He truly understood Ron's intentions.

Just as he was incomparably confident and proud of his experimental results, that man was equally confident and proud of his fists.

Because they shared the same pride, Vegapunk had chosen to speak the truth and prove himself despite knowing there could be unpredictable consequences. And because they shared the same pride, Ron remained unmoved by his research. If anything went wrong, Ron would destroy it with a single punch, without another word.

The dominance hidden within that calmness was what made Vegapunk's heart tremble the most!

Compared to the Five Elders, who liked to hide everything away and spent all day suspicious of everything like thieves, Vegapunk declared that Ron was more like a true ruler, holding supreme authority in his hands.

After Oric appeared in the Holy Land and both sides reached a compromise, the world was suddenly astonished to discover that the destruction of Fish-Man Island had simply vanished without a follow-up.

The government and the Marines did not launch a grand search for the culprits. Instead, they acted as though nothing had happened, busying themselves with their own affairs.

Nor did Fish-Man Island deploy a massive garrison. It merely summoned workers at an unhurried pace to clear away the ruins.

Under normal circumstances, all this would have seemed perfectly ordinary. When an Affiliated Nation encountered trouble, the Marines cleaned up the mess. But with Fish-Man Island having just been wiped out, many people caught the scent of something amiss.

They deeply suspected that it was not that the government did not know who the culprits were. Rather, it was precisely because they knew that they dared not act rashly!

But...

Who could make even the current