New World, uncharted waters.
"Vice Admiral Dorte, what did the Fleet Admiral say?"
Aboard a warship disguised as a merchant vessel, Koby eagerly pushed open the door and entered Dorte's office.
Dorte smiled and looked up.
"Don't worry. The Admiral has been confirmed safe and is currently carrying out another classified mission."
Phew...!
Koby let out a long sigh of relief and sprawled across the sofa. "That's great, as long as he's all right! I was really worried the enemy had done something to him."
Dorte did not answer. Instead, he picked up his cup and took a sip, his expression caught somewhere between speechless and impressed.
As expected of the "Marine God of Thunder," Admiral Azure Dragon!
That hopeless situation, a certain death trap that Dorte had considered utterly inescapable, had somehow been turned around with a single sliver of opportunity.
Looking backward from the outcome to the cause, the implications were terrifying when he thought them through.
"But we can't just go back like this. A new mission has come down."
Dorte suddenly spoke.
"Hm?"
Koby looked over in confusion. "Aren't we going to rendezvous with Master? His weapon is still on our ship."
Ron's Thunder Dragon Halberd had flown from his grasp during the final clash with Lone Red. Ryokugyu, who had even lost the key on the spot, naturally did not dare bring Ron's familiar weapon aboard. It was later recovered by the Marines and assigned to Koby along with this mission.
It was no minor matter, yet Dorte looked at him even more strangely and asked, "Are you sure... you want to find him right now?"
Koby: "..."
Remembering what he had said earlier in the Fleet Admiral's Office, Koby shuddered.
"No, no, this is good!"
If Ron found out that Koby had confessed everything