Escaping Windmill Village Under the Marines' Noses

The moment before the clock tower doors were smashed open, Su Hang had already slipped into the gear level.

Thorne's voice came from below.

"Seal off the streets!"

"Check every window and every floorboard. The target can stretch his body, so don't overlook the vents or drainage pipes either!"

The Marines split into four teams and charged up the stairs.

Su Hang did not flee upward.

He crouched between two sets of bronze gears, passed his right arm through a maintenance hole behind the wall, and stretched it outward along the crane's transmission rod.

The harbor crane was suspending three crates of Seastone restraints.

His fingertips touched the brake pin and flicked it upward.

Click!

The heavy chains suddenly dropped.

The crane arm swept across the dock, overturning a cart loaded with Seastone nets. More than a dozen bundles of black nets rolled toward the berths.

One Marine was brushed by the edge of a net, lost his balance on the spot, and fell into the water with his rifle.

"Get out of the way!"

Thorne rushed out of the clock tower.

"Secure the Seastone first! Don't let it sink into the harbor!"

Seastone was worth far more than ordinary weapons, so several Marines could only turn back and rush toward the cart.

As the footsteps on the stairs grew fainter, Su Hang flattened his shoulders and slipped through the gear maintenance hatch into a storage room on the first floor.

A gray work jacket belonging to a dockhand hung on the wall.

He put it on, tucked his injured right arm into the loose sleeve, then grabbed two sacks of grain and hoisted them onto his shoulders. Keeping his head down, he blended into the crowd heading for the dock.

Thorne held his rifle across the path, blocking all the dockhands.

"Stop!"

"Which warehouse did you come from?"

The person at the front of the line answered softly.

"The eastern granary."

After answering, he was held by the shoulder and searched by the Marines.

Su Hang swept his gaze around.

The sea lay to his left, the sealed streets to his right, and the clock tower behind him was already packed with gunmen.

If he forced his way through anywhere, Seastone bullets would punch through his legs first.

"Next group, state your names!"

The line began moving forward.

A merchant in a narrow-brimmed hat suddenly jumped down from a grain ship and raised a hand to pat a cargo crate.

"What are you all standing around for? This grain is headed to Frostleaf Town for disaster relief. If we miss the tide, who's going to let the children aboard go hungry?"

Thorne looked at him.

"Who are you?"

"Lorne, manager of the Morning Bell Caravan in the East Blue. This ship's clearance pass was submitted to the harbor office three days ago."

"The Navy has taken control now."

"Then inspect it. Don't point guns at the people carrying grain for you."

After speaking, Lorne swept his gaze over the dockhands one by one, pausing on Su Hang for half a breath.

Blood was slowly seeping through the right sleeve of the gray jacket.

The arm beneath the cloth was a section longer than normal, then slowly shrank back.

Lorne said nothing and merely stuffed the cargo manifest into Thorne's hand.

"There are eighty-two barrels of fresh water, four hundred sacks of grain, and twenty crates of medicine aboard. If even one item goes missing, I'll make sure the trade guilds along the route know who held them back."

Thorne pushed the paper back.

"Open every cargo hold."

The Marines boarded the ship to search it.

As Lorne passed Su Hang, he lowered his voice.

"Third row in the aft hold. The blue-banded water barrels."

"Why help me?"

"Last night, when the gunpowder exploded, I saw you drag Lia out of the street."

"Saving a child isn't worth betting your whole ship on."

"That's why I'm only giving you a place to hide. Whether you get out alive depends on you."

Lorne raised his voice.

"Take those two sacks of grain into the aft hold! Don't block the gangplank!"

Su Hang followed the dockhands aboard and set down the grain sacks.

Six blue-banded wooden barrels stood in the third row of the aft hold, each one a full circle wider than an ordinary water barrel.

Lorne lifted the lid off one of them.

The barrel was filled with fresh water, but there was a thin wooden compartment around its center. A dry cavity connected to the bottom, originally meant for storing medicinal herbs that could not get damp.

"Can you dislocate your bones?"

"No, but I can squeeze in."

"The inner layer is only half a person's width."

"That's enough."

Su Hang stepped onto the barrel rim, folded his legs upward, forcibly narrowed his waist and abdomen, and slipped into the compartment.

The wound on his shoulder scraped against the wood, leaving behind a patch of bloody skin flakes.

Lorne pressed down the lid.

"The outer water will block their probing, but if they pierce the compartment, you'll come into direct contact with the water."

"Don't let them pierce it."

"What else can you do?"

A stretched-out index finger slipped through the crack in the lid and hooked the latch on the cargo rack above.

"If they inspect this barrel, I'll topple the whole row of grain sacks."

Lorne fastened the iron hoop tight.

"You really make life hard for yourself."

"Once I can punch through a warship with one fist, things will be much simpler."

Footsteps entered the aft hold.

Thorne personally carried a Seastone probing rod and inspected the water barrels one by one.

The tip plunged into the water and moved along the barrel wall. Any Devil Fruit user who touched the outer fresh water would immediately lose their strength.

"Why are these barrels so thick?"

Lorne answered from the side.

"The compartments insulate them. They used to carry medicine."

"Open them."

The first barrel lid was lifted, and the probing rod went all the way to the bottom.

The second.

The third.

Thorne arrived before the barrel hiding Su Hang and pressed his palm against the lid.

Inside the barrel, Su Hang's fingertips clenched around the cargo rack latch.

The moment the wooden lid was raised, he would immediately topple three layers of grain sacks and escape through the drainage outlet beneath the ship.

The cost would be coming into contact with seawater again.

Cannon fire suddenly rang out outside.

"Major!"

A small boat flying Red-Hair's flag broke through the blockade beyond the harbor, dragging half a black coat behind its stern.

Two Navy warships immediately turned to pursue it, convinced that Red-Hair had rescued the Devil Fruit user who had fallen into the water.

Shanks stood at the bow of the distant flagship, his long sword in his right hand pointing east.

The cannonball struck the sea, throwing up a vast curtain of water.

The harbor horn immediately sounded.

"Suspected target spotted, fleeing east!"

Thorne did not leave. Instead, he stared at the blue-banded water barrels.

"Especially at a time like this, we can't stop searching."

The Seastone probing rod pierced the outer water chamber.

The hollow inside the barrel suddenly sank.

With only a thin layer of wood between them, Su Hang's strength briefly faltered throughout his body.

He bit down on his collar and kept his body from touching the barrel wall.

Thorne twisted the probing rod.

The tip caught on the compartment.

"It's hollow inside."

Lorne's expression remained calm.

"The compartment was never meant to hold water."

"Then take it apart."

Thorne raised his rifle butt and was about to smash down the barrel lid when a tremendous collision sounded outside the harbor.

A burning boat crashed into the side of a pursuing warship, flames racing up the deck beside the cannon ports.

The adjutant's anxious voice carried over.

"Major, the western channel is blocked!"

"If the grain ships don't leave now, every ship will be trapped in the fire!"

Lorne snatched back the clearance pass.

"If you want to dismantle the barrel, go ahead. But first have the warships clear a channel for me. If four hundred sacks of relief grain burn, the people of Frostleaf Town will know what the Navy did."

Thorne stared at him for two breaths, then withdrew the probing rod.

"All grain ships are to leave harbor immediately. The eastern sea entrance will undergo a second inspection."

The mooring lines were cast off.

The grain ship sailed out of its berth on the ebb tide, followed closely by several small boats loaded with cargo.

Shanks drew the pursuing warships northward, forcing the eastern patrol boats to fill the gap.

Only after the grain ship broke through the blockade did Lorne lift the barrel lid.

Su Hang slid out of the compartment and sprawled on the deck, gasping for air.

Lorne looked at him.

"How are you paying the fare?"

"Until we reach the next island, I'll protect your ship."

"You can barely stand right now."

"Ordinary pirates might not dare try a second time after seeing this arm of mine."

"Get off the ship as soon as we reach the island."

"Fine."

Inside the harbor, Thorne inspected the blue-banded water barrels again.

There was no one in the compartment, only a curved scrape mark left by a shoulder forcing its way through.

Using tweezers, he picked up a bloody skin flake from the edge of the barrel lid.

The flake had been stretched paper-thin, yet after leaving the wood, it slowly began to shrink.

The adjutant asked quietly.

"Should we still pursue the grain ship?"

"Too late."

Thorne sealed the skin flake in a glass tube and looked up at the sails gradually receding into the distance.

"He can fake his death, use a crane, and dare to hide in a water barrel. Having no name or portrait doesn't mean he can't be found."

Thorne raised his hand, and the harbor's signal flags immediately rose.

"Send word to every East Blue base. Issue a wanted order for an unnamed rubber-powered man."