Lynn toyed with the Seastone dagger.
Seastone was a mysterious stone imbued with the power of the sea. It could make any devil fruit user who came into contact with it lose all ability to resist, as though they had sunk into the ocean. It was usually made into handcuffs to restrain devil fruit users.
However, this stone was exceedingly precious and especially difficult to process. Only massive organizations like the World Government and the Navy could work with it, much less forge it into weapons.
Yet now, this precious weapon made of Seastone had appeared in the hands of an unknown nobody.
"Looks like Kuro got in touch with some seriously powerful force!"
Lynn pondered silently.
"Probably the World Government. It might even be the Celestial Dragons."
There could not possibly be only one such Seastone weapon. Otherwise, Kuro would not have sent some unknown lackey to attack him.
The only reasonable explanation was that members of the Black Cat Pirates and the Krieg Pirates had already infiltrated Loguetown. Nearly every one of them had weapons laced with Seastone and was lurking in the shadows, eyeing him like prey.
"Are they trying to assassinate me?"
Lynn glanced around. At first glance, everyone nearby looked like ordinary Loguetown residents. Even the young man before him was dressed like a civilian.
In such a complicated environment, all Lynn could do was passively endure Kuro's assassination attempts—
Unless he beat up every single person in Loguetown.
But that was clearly impossible.
"Hey, buddy."
Lynn slung an arm around the young man's shoulders and smiled. "Where's your headquarters?"
The young man's brows rose as he stubbornly replied, "You think I'll tell you?!"
Then he watched with his own eyes as Lynn used brute force to press the Seastone dagger into the ground, until even the handle had vanished!
Lynn smiled kindly. "Want to be planted in the ground too?"
"..." The young man fell silent for a moment before answering, "Number Five Backstreet. The captain said he'll be waiting for you there."
"Thanks for cooperating."
Lynn still had his arm around the young man when he suddenly drove a fist into his stomach.
The young man let out a muffled groan, rolled his eyes back, and was forcibly knocked unconscious by the pain.
Like he was supporting a drunken friend, Lynn placed the young man on a nearby bench before quickly leaving.
There were simply too many civilians in Loguetown. Lynn did not want to cause a bigger disturbance in the town. He only wanted to deal with the culprit behind this entire affair as quickly as possible—
Kuro.
And now, Commodore Krieg had to be added to that list.
Most pirates in the East Blue were nothing but petty rats with little courage. As long as those two were dealt with, the remaining rabble would collapse without a fight!
With that thought, Lynn quickened his pace and headed for Number Five Backstreet on the other side of Loguetown.
Lynn had seen that place on the Navy's map. It was a very remote district.
Loguetown's port was on the far west side, while the backstreets were on the far east side. They were in completely opposite directions.
If Kuro had truly established his headquarters there, then his scheme had practically been laid bare, turning into an open plot—
To get from the port to the backstreets, Lynn had to cross dozens of complicated streets.
Kuro clearly intended to use Loguetown's civilians as cover along this stretch of road and take Lynn's head!
And after Lynn crossed one street, the two people who appeared behind him further confirmed his guess.
"You two have been following me for a while, haven't you?"
Lynn turned around and saw two familiar faces.
They were the Cat-type brothers: Buchy and Siamese Cat Sham!
"How did you discover us?"
"Instinct," Lynn answered.
He could hardly tell these two frogs at the bottom of a well that his ability to sense presences was already comparable to Observation Haki!
On the other side, though the Cat-type brothers were surprised beneath their civilian disguises, they still put on their Seastone Cat Claws and prepared to fight.
Siamese Cat Sham even giggled. "You really took good care of me before! That grab of yours gave me a headache for three whole days!"
To avoid any surprises, Lynn asked again, "Kuro said he's waiting for me at Number Five Backstreet?"
Sham nodded, then licked his Cat Claws and sneered. "I know a devil fruit user's weakness now. These weapons are mixed with Seastone. As long as I stab one into your body, a lone man like you won't be able to resist at all!"
According to the plan Buchy and Sham had learned, they were supposed to exploit the restraint Seastone weapons had over Devil Fruit Users to eliminate Lynn!
But...
All of a sudden, Sham's skin began to itch.
"So cold?"
He instinctively looked up, only to see frost covering the ground. Lynn had already vanished without a trace.
"Sh... Sham..."
Buchy's voice rang out. Sham had just started to turn around when a familiar hand grabbed his head once again.
At some point, Lynn had appeared between the Cat-type brothers!
White frost breath spilled from Lynn's mouth, followed by his low voice.
"I don't have time to play with cats!"
Hero Skill: Skull Crusher.
Bang!
Sham and Buchy's heads slammed together in an instant. The tremendous impact made both their eyes roll back as blood spurted from their mouths. They collapsed to the ground on opposite sides, their fate unknown.
Then Lynn exhaled one final breath of frost, and the Icebound Domain was dispelled. The entire exchange had taken less than three seconds!
Of course, the sudden scene had been witnessed by the nearby Loguetown residents. But before their cries of alarm could rise, Lynn had already left the scene at top speed.
Throughout it all, Lynn's vigilance had not relaxed for even a moment.
Because he could clearly sense that, aside from the two trash fish from the Cat-type brothers, another presence had locked onto him.
And that presence gave Lynn only one feeling—
Extreme danger!
"Who is it?"
The only people Lynn could think of were those backing Kuro and the others—
Even in the New World, there were only a handful of forces capable of producing large quantities of Seastone weapons.
The most likely candidates were naturally the World Government or the Celestial Dragons behind them.
If they had also sent someone to Loguetown, that would be the greatest threat to Lynn!
"I wonder where Smoker is by now."
Lynn remained alert to his surroundings as he continued toward Number Five Backstreet.
Along the way, a few cannon fodder holding Seastone weapons tried to stop Lynn, but he dealt with them one punch at a time.
Even with such precious weapons in hand, without sufficient strength, they could not threaten a true powerhouse!
Yet that presence, dangerous enough that even Lynn found it terrifying, continued to follow him like a shadow, tightly locked onto him.
Lynn discreetly observed his surroundings, but found nothing.
About halfway through the journey, Lynn arrived at an abandoned street with no one around.
At that moment, a figure dressed in a brown robe suddenly blocked his path.
Lynn grinned. "Done hiding?"
Before his words had even faded, Lynn was about to defeat the other party with all his strength and speed. But one sentence from the stranger made him halt his attack.
"Wait, Mr. Linley. I come on behalf of the Revolutionary Army!"
The Revolutionary Army?!
Lynn's first thought was not why the Revolutionary Army had sought him out, but whether the dangerous presence had come from the Revolutionary Army member before him.
The answer was no, because the Revolutionary Army member before him showed not the slightest hostility toward Lynn.
Then who was it?
At the corner of the alley.
Vergo had concealed his presence with great skill.
Watching the scene on the street, he found the whole affair increasingly interesting.
The Revolutionary Army was actually trying to contact Lynn Barek!
Before you continue