Every minute and second that would normally have slipped away unnoticed now felt unbearably long to Koby and Bell-mère.
Only after Sakazuki had disappeared did the two of them slump weakly into a corner, trembling with unease.
"So that's an admiral... That kind of intimidation is terrifying. Let's get out of here while we can, Koby..."
"If we stay on this battlefield any longer, even this place will be swept into the flames of war!"
Bell-mère urged him in a low voice, but Koby beside her kept shaking his head.
"Wait, Bell-mère. Why did we join the Navy? Wasn't it because we wanted to change our cowardly, helpless selves that we chose to devote ourselves to justice?"
"Are you an idiot? Justice doesn't mean throwing your life away! Look at this battlefield full of monsters. If we step into it, we won't even know how we died!"
Watching the man who had trained alongside her in the Navy and apprenticed under Garp with her remain so stubbornly dense, Bell-mère shook her head again and again.
"We're not monsters. We're just ordinary people who trained hard. We can't keep ourselves alive on this battlefield. Don't you want to become a Navy officer? If you die, your dream is over!"
"Enough! I do want to become a Navy officer—an admiral, even a fleet admiral! But... but that's exactly why, if we run away here..."
"Everything we've worked for all this time will disappear, Bell-mère!"
War raged in the distance, cannon fire still thundered, and countless cries of battle echoed in their ears. The scenes of slaughter unfolding around them were vivid before their eyes.
At that moment, both of them breathed heavily. Bell-mère clenched her teeth and nodded firmly.
"Rather than being treated as deserters by a Navy admiral and disgracing Teacher