Fake News

The prison held nothing but women.

They were cleanly dressed and in good health. The oldest looked to be in her early twenties, while the youngest were only in their teens.

What caught Kane's attention even more was that each of them was more striking than the last, with the most beautiful among them nearly matching Cuckoo's looks.

They all stared at Kane and Cuckoo, who had barged into the hidden chamber. Fear and panic filled their faces as they huddled in the corners of their cells, as if terrified Kane would drag them out.

Kane could not help frowning. He glanced at himself and Cuckoo. They were clearly wearing Marine uniforms, yet these women feared them?

They feared the Marines!

A ridiculous feeling rose within Kane, yet his heart sank.

After looking around, Kane walked toward a woman who was clearly more mature and composed than the others and asked as gently as he could, "We're Marines who wiped out the Black Duck Pirates. Who are you people?"

The woman looked at Kane uncertainly, her eyes filled with distrust.

Yet under Kane's calm, ocean-deep gaze, she slowly spoke with a complicated expression.

"My name is Lisanna. I'm a slave of the Celestial Dragons."

Celestial Dragons...

Why would a pirate ship have slaves belonging to the Celestial Dragons?

Kane frowned, the absurdity in his heart growing heavier.

Then he thought of something. The sword at his waist silently slid from its sheath, its gleam slipping through the bars and brushing across Lisanna's back.

A thin tear immediately split open in Lisanna's clothes, revealing her smooth, fair back—and an ugly black dragon claw brand.

Lisanna let out a startled scream. Like a frightened rabbit, she shrank into the corner of her bed, away from Kane. Her composure vanished completely, replaced by hatred and despair in her eyes.

"You're not a slave of the Celestial Dragons. Who taught you to say that?"

With just one glance, Kane saw severe inflammation around the Celestial Dragon's Hoof brand on Lisanna's back. It had clearly been branded less than a week ago.

Yet the signs of their life in these cells clearly dated back more than a week. That meant they had been branded as Celestial Dragon slaves aboard the Black Crow Pirates' ship.

Human trafficking?

Then why were they afraid of the Marines?

Could Marines be involved?

One guess after another flashed through Kane's mind, but Lisanna had no intention of answering. Her hate-filled, furious eyes remained locked on Kane, as though she wished she could tear him apart.

[Lisanna, Favorability: -53]

The sudden appearance of negative favorability made Kane frown. The last time he had seen it was seven years ago in the Pleasure District, and it had caused him no end of trouble.

He looked around. Every imprisoned woman had negative favorability toward him. Kane did not know whether to laugh or cry. His suspicion that Marines were involved in human trafficking seemed to have been confirmed.

Too lazy to raise their favorability one by one, he strode out of the hidden chamber. When he returned, he was dragging someone behind him—the captain of the Black Duck Pirates, Dorla.

Kane dragged him into the center of the chamber like a dead dog, making sure all the women could see him, then slapped Dorla across the face.

Slap!

The loud crack echoed through the hidden chamber. All the women in the cells flinched, and Cuckoo even saw two teeth fly from Dorla's mouth.

However, as a Zoan user, Dorla was clearly tougher than an ordinary person. The slap merely woke him from unconsciousness.

He looked around in confusion. Once he realized where he was, his face changed drastically, and he stared at Kane in panic.

"Y-you-you..."

"Did I say you could speak?" Kane glared at him, raising his huge palm high.

Slap!

Molars and bloody spit sprayed from Dorla's mouth and landed inside Lisanna's cell. A few drops of blood splashed onto her hand.

Lisanna screamed in fright, then quickly covered her mouth, terrified Kane would rush in and slap her head clean off.

[Lisanna, Favorability: -50]

Kane glanced at her. She was obviously terrified, yet her favorability had increased?

Two slaps for three points of favorability. Another seventeen slaps would turn it positive, and forty-seven slaps would earn him three chances to copy abilities.

But that was ultimately just Kane's wishful thinking. People were not machines; repeating the same action could not repeatedly raise favorability. Kane had tried before, and it had ended in complete chaos.

Besides, in Kane's experience, ordinary women's abilities were tedious and useless. Raising their favorability was simply a waste of time.

His goal was merely to confirm his suspicions. He only needed to slap the truth out of Dorla.

With that thought, Kane slapped Dorla a few more times. Seeing that any more would affect the clarity of his confession, Kane finally stopped.

"I ask, you answer. If you answer too slowly or lie, I'll cut off your ears first, then dig out your eyes. Understand?"

"Understood, understood! Please ask!"

"Who are they?"

"Slaves of the Celestial Dragons."

Kane frowned and changed his question. "Who is their master?"

"I-I don't know."

"Who branded them with the slave mark?"

Dorla hesitated. Without another word, Kane drew his sword. A cold flash passed by, and Dorla's left ear fell to the floor with a soft plop.

A second later, Dorla finally felt the pain. He let out a terrified scream and dropped to his knees in panic, not knowing whether to cover his wound or pick up his ear.

Then he saw Kane's hand grip the hilt again. Terror completely overwhelmed him, and he cried out.

"It was the Marines! Marine Lieutenant Colonel Kudo of North Blue Branch 73!"

Kane's expression hardened. He exchanged a look with the gloomy-faced Cuckoo, then looked down at Dorla and said coldly, "If you want to live, tell me everything you know."

Dorla was terrified beyond measure. He immediately spilled everything like beans from a bamboo tube.

"So, I sent you to take down pirates, and you dug up a scandal involving Marines in human trafficking?"

Inside the warship's command room, Tsuru gently lifted her teacup. The fragrance of tea rose with the steam, blurring her gaze as she studied Kane.

Kane lounged in his chair nearby, one leg crossed over the other as he leaned back and stared calmly at the ceiling.

"You sent me to wipe out the Black Crow Pirates because you wanted me to uncover the secret they were hiding, didn't you?"

"I never said that."

Tsuru took a light sip of tea, her lowered face unreadable.

"I discovered the secret. Does it matter whether you said it or not?"

Kane tilted his head toward Tsuru and said helplessly, "I knew something was off when you gave the order. So you were afraid Hina's bombardment would hurt them.

"By the way, has your Observation Haki become this ridiculous? Weren't you afraid I'd go in and wreck the place, sinking the ship?"

"You wouldn't."

Tsuru smiled, her expression satisfied and gentle.

"You're a gentle person at heart."

As soon as Tsuru finished speaking, Cuckoo, who was seated beside Kane, seemed to think of something. A faint blush suddenly spread across her fair cheeks. Beneath the table, her hand quietly pinched Kane's waist.

As she pulled her hand back, her fingers casually brushed across Kane's abs.

Kane shot her a sidelong glance, only to find Cuckoo giving him a provocative look.

Commander Tsuru misjudged him...

I said it!

If you don't like it, fight me!

Kane glared back without the slightest politeness. Every time they fought, she was the one who begged for mercy in the end. Yet after the fight, she was always the one still talking tough.

A classic case of someone who had suppressed herself for too long suddenly finding an outlet—terrible at it, yet unable to stop playing.

Cuckoo glared back stubbornly, secretly delighted, convinced no one had noticed her little exchange with Kane.

But Swift, seated across from her, wore sunglasses and curled her lips slightly. She had clearly noticed their little antics.

Kane caught Swift's quiet laugh and could not help looking at her twice. Swift, who never wore sunglasses, now had on a large pair that covered nearly half her face.

Yet when she smiled, her brows twitched slightly, as though laughing hurt.

It suddenly clicked for Kane. Cuckoo had lost her mind and fought Swift last night, leaving herself in a mess. There was no way Swift had gotten away unscathed. The area behind those sunglasses was probably bruised black and blue.

Thinking of that, Kane nearly laughed. He covered his face with one hand to keep from making a sound.

He coughed lightly and turned to Tsuru. "Can you tell me exactly what information you released?

"You were supposedly escorting Doflamingo's group, so why did it draw trash like the Black Crow Pirates instead?

"They were clearly transporting these trafficked women. Could they really have been lured over by that?"

As Kane voiced his questions, the atmosphere in the command room turned solemn. Everyone looked toward Tsuru and waited quietly for her answer.

Kane was stunned. He looked around in surprise. "You even kept it from your most trusted subordinates?!"

"How about that? I'm impressive, aren't I?"

Tsuru smiled gently. Her old yet bright eyes curved as she lightly set her teacup down on the table and said as if it were nothing, "Sengoku released the information. I merely made a suggestion to him.

"Thanks to you, Doflamingo's entire group was captured last night. And since both they and we were operating in secret, the outside world knows nothing about it.

"So last night, Sengoku used his channels to release a piece of information. The people on these three ships are no longer Doflamingo's group."

"Then who are they?"

A bad feeling rose within Kane. He felt as though he had become entangled in something far bigger than he had expected.

Tsuru's expression turned serious. Looking at Kane, Cuckoo, and the others, she slowly said, "The person we're escorting is the one Doflamingo trusted most, and his only living relative...

"A senior officer who accidentally fell into Marine hands and knows every secret and black-market operation of the Donquixote Family...

"After he was captured, Doflamingo offered one billion Beli in the black market to rescue him. And his name is...

"Donquixote Rosinante."