Survive

"Someone, seize her!!"

Saint Childers laughed triumphantly, barking the order at his two CP guards.

"No, please don't..."

The little girl's eyes were already swollen from crying. Watching the two men in suits step toward her, she struggled backward in terror.

The two CP members stepped forward with expressionless faces, grabbing the little girl by her arms and shoulders. Their movements were exceptionally rough; ignoring her gasping sobs, they quickly left bloody welts across her skin.

The other civilians kneeling on the ground turned their heads away, unable to bear the sight of such a cruel scene.

Gion and the other Marines stood there with ashen faces, the fury within them burning so intensely it felt as though their bodies might ignite, yet their hands and feet felt as heavy as if they had been cast in concrete, rendering them unable to move.

Darren took a deep breath.

"Saint Childers..."

"What is it, Governor Darren? Do you have some objection to my decision?" Saint Childers interrupted, his expression mocking as he stared at him with a smirk.

Darren's eyes narrowed, but suddenly, a smile even warmer than before appeared on his face.

"Of course not. For Saint Childers to take notice of her is her good fortune, and the glory of the people of the North Blue."

"It is just that I fear your two subordinates might harm your future wife, so I wish to lend you a hand."

As he finished speaking, Darren's figure vanished from the spot like a ghost.

A second later, he appeared in front of the little girl.

Without anyone seeing him make a move, the two CP members felt an invisible force shove them aside.

Darren waved his hand casually, and the long sword at one CP member's waist flew out, twisting into liquid metal in mid-air. Most of it rapidly solidified into shackles, binding the little girl's hands and feet.

The remaining metal condensed into a gag, sealing the little girl's mouth and cutting her cries off abruptly.

Only a pair of terrified, tear-filled eyes remained exposed.

Darren stepped forward, crouched down to meet the little girl's hateful gaze, and said expressionlessly:

"To be able to serve the great Saint Childers is your honor."

He pulled the little girl up, leading the despairing, catatonic child before Saint Childers.

"Saint Childers, this way, your journey will at least be a bit quieter."

Saint Childers glanced at Darren and suddenly burst into loud laughter again:

"Hahahaha!! Interesting!! Interesting!! You Marines are truly too interesting!!"

His gaze toward Darren was filled with nothing but appreciation and amusement.

"You are quite good, Darren... I shall put in a good word for you with those old men in the government."

Amidst the resentful and hateful glares of countless civilians, Darren bowed slightly and smiled:

"Thank you, my lord."

"Hahahaha..." Saint Childers laughed again, "Then, let us depart and return."

As his words fell, one CP member moved with agility, dropping to all fours on the ground like a tamed, loyal hound.

Saint Childers climbed directly onto his back and headed toward the port with an arrogant air.

The other CP member dragged the soul-shattered little girl, who seemed to have lost her mind from the terror, and followed behind.

"No... don't..."

At that moment, a hoarse voice suddenly rang out.

The crowd froze.

They saw the little girl's father trembling as he struggled to crawl up from the blood-stained ground, reaching his hand out toward the direction the Celestial Dragons were departing, his heart utterly broken.

It was as if he were trying to grasp at something.

But in the end, he could grasp nothing at all.

Gion's face was filled with sorrow as she walked over, intending to help him up.

"I'm sorry..."

She whispered.

She dared not look into the man's heartbroken eyes.

Watching the procession escorting the Celestial Dragons board their magnificent official ship, which then hoisted its sails and quickly vanished into the horizon.

A stiff smile suddenly pulled at the man's blood-stained face.

That smile, hiding such sorrow, despair, and absurdity... was too painful to look at.

"Lia might live a rather good life..."

Gion said, offering a word of comfort that even she herself did not believe.

"You must live on as well—"

Suddenly, the man slammed his head into the wall of the building.

"Thud!"

Fresh blood splattered across Gion's face.

She felt her vision blur, as if everything were being consumed by a blinding red; the world before her eyes seemed to invert, turning into a living hell.

In a daze, she watched the man's blood stream down the wall, which the city government had painted snow-white in preparation for the arrival of the Celestial Dragons.

Crimson and snow-white intertwined into a twisted palette within her world.

That dull, heavy impact echoed repeatedly in her mind... buzzing incessantly.

Panicked screams, cries for a doctor, angry shouts, and the sound of footsteps... shattered the deathly silence of the street.

"Save him, quickly!"

"He's still alive!!"

"He can still be saved!!"

"..."

Gion knelt there blankly, her body devoid of strength.

In her hand, she clutched a vibrant, blooming rose with a death grip.

The thorns of the rose pierced the flesh of her palm, drawing blood.

Yet, she remained completely unaware.

"Live on"...

She suddenly realized how absurd her words of comfort had been.

The little girl's mother had already passed away from illness, and the man had loved her above all else.

And now, she had been forcibly snatched away by the Celestial Dragons.

From this moment on, this man, whose hands were stained with the soil of his labor, was left entirely alone.

What reason or courage did he have left to go on living?

In a trance, The words she had spoken to the little girl echoed in her mind once more.

"Don't worry, big sister is a Marine; I'm here to protect you..."

"Of course, it is the duty of the Marines."

Gion suddenly began to tremble all over.

She lifted her head, her eyes staring blankly at the sky.

The sky was overcast and dim, as if the light had been smothered by something.

Boom—!!

A peal of thunder cracked and roared from the dark clouds.

Flakes of snow, soft as goose feathers, drifted gently down.

"It's snowing... even though it's the height of summer..."

She murmured in a daze.

Sea Circle Calendar 1492, on the tropical island of Batia in the North Blue, the first snow in decades began to fall.

The snow, which carried no chill, settled upon Gion.

She turned her head stiffly to look at the silent back of the North Blue Admiral not far away, her brain feeling frozen, stripped of all capacity for thought.

In a daze, She suddenly understood.

She finally grasped the meaning behind the words of Admiral Sengoku.

"This sea... is too vast; the light of the Justice Seagull Flag cannot reach every dark, filthy, and sinister corner."