Night fell over the West Blue—
Two ships crossed paths in the darkness, slowly drawing closer.
Inside the White Shell's cabin.
"Nine hundred ninety-seven, nine hundred ninety-eight, nine hundred ninety-nine... one thousand!"
Moria's arms trembled as he finished the last set of push-ups, then collapsed onto the wooden floor.
He turned his head toward Lin Nuo, who sat cross-legged nearby with his eyes closed.
"Hey, Lin Nuo, I want to learn Haki."
Lin Nuo opened his eyes.
Hearing Moria's question, he gave a bitter smile inwardly.
Haki... I want to learn it too.
Before coming here, he had known it was standard equipment for the world's top fighters in One Piece.
He had originally planned to find a good teacher after leaving God Valley, but now there was no teacher to teach him.
That was one of the reasons he had sought out Rocks.
Of course, with his health bar as thick as it was now, perhaps he would grow even faster if he could find the gold-medal teacher Kaido to knock him around a bit.
"Actually, I don't know Haki yet," Lin Nuo answered honestly.
"What?"
"A strong guy like you doesn't know Haki? Are you kidding me?!"
Moria pushed himself upright, his eyes wide.
"So you only brought me along to train because you wanted me to build up my stamina?!"
"So what?" Lin Nuo stood up and rolled his wrists.
"If you don't build a solid foundation, how will you break through in battle?"
"As I see it, Haki is something squeezed out through repeated brushes with death. Stamina, willpower, focus—none of them can be lacking."
Moria opened his mouth, but could not find anything to refute him with.
He gave up on himself and lay back down.
Just then, the cabin door was gently pushed open a crack.
Teach poked his head in. "Uncle Lin Nuo, my mom's calling for you. She says a ship is approaching us."
Lin Nuo's expression turned serious.
He pushed open the cabin door and stepped onto the deck.
Alice stood beside the helm, her gaze fixed on starboard.
A cargo ship nearly twice the size of the White Shell was approaching from ahead at an angle.
As the distance between the ships shrank to several dozen meters, Lin Nuo used the White Shell's lights to make out the scene on its deck.
There were twenty or thirty little girls aboard, dressed in all kinds of brand-new outfits.
Little dresses, overalls, sailor uniforms...
They gathered in twos and threes, chatting, laughing, and playing. They looked like a group of wealthy little princesses attending an ocean carnival.
The words Happy Angel were printed on the sail. It looked like nothing more than a vessel owned by a private merchant.
Lin Nuo raised a hand, signaling Alice to maintain course and not meddle.
The wind and waves were rough, and the two ships soon passed each other.
Two minutes later, the Happy Angel slipped past the White Shell's starboard side and gradually disappeared into the distance.
"Uncle Lin Nuo! Look!"
At that moment, Teach suddenly shouted beside him.
Lin Nuo turned his head and saw a glimmer of golden light emerge from the distant horizon beneath the night sky, like a tiny sun rising.
Then came a second point, a third... more and more lights emerged, revealing terrain and towers.
Before long, a brightly lit island came into view.
They had arrived at Tenpan City.
Lin Nuo leaped down from the lookout platform and landed lightly at the bow.
Alice had already spread out a nautical chart and pointed at the tip of the peninsula.
"That's Capone Peninsula ahead. Tenpan City is at its tip."
"According to the mayor's notes, the harbor has inner and outer sections. The outer harbor is open to ordinary merchant ships, while the inner harbor requires special permission."
Lin Nuo carefully studied the markings on the chart.
The mayor's notes described the city this way: prosperous on the surface, divided among various gangs underneath, with even the shadow of Marine officers behind it. Unless necessary, do not stay long.
"I was thinking..."
Lin Nuo straightened. "Should someone stay behind to guard the White Shell once we arrive?"
"Guard it? Then leave this woman and the kid behind." Moria had somehow also come onto the deck, speaking with his arms folded.
Alice frowned. "Lin Nuo, I..."
"Looking after the ship is also a difficult task." Lin Nuo looked at Moria.
"This place is like our Base. Do you know what it means when a Base is breached during a war?"
Moria choked on his words.
"Right, but can these two even hold the Base?" he asked, following Lin Nuo's line of thought.
Lin Nuo rubbed his chin in thought. Then his eyes suddenly lit up. "Docking is dangerous, so we just won't dock."
"Not dock?"
"We'll keep the ship at a distance from the peninsula and cruise offshore. I'll use my ability to fly you directly into Tenpan City."
"That way, we can infiltrate the place while ensuring the safety of the White Shell and Alice's group. What do you think?"
Alice's eyes brightened. "That really is a good idea. Tenpan City is a vertical city. Infiltrating from the air will be more discreet than sneaking in through the harbor."
Moria thought about it and did not object.
No time to waste.
Lin Nuo took out the three Transponder Snails he had found in the storeroom and handed them to Alice and Moria.
These small communication snails, a specialty of the West Blue, had an effective range of roughly five kilometers—enough to keep in touch offshore.
"Call me immediately if anything happens," Lin Nuo said seriously. "Don't try to tough it out."
Alice accepted the Transponder Snail and nodded firmly.
"Then, the operation begins!"
The two walked to the bow. The lights of Tenpan City drew ever closer, and they could already make out the dense forest of masts and warehouses.
Lin Nuo suddenly stopped, closed his eyes, and cast his awareness toward the city of lights like a net.
The voices of all kinds of things—waves, reefs, and more—flowed past his ears.
Voice of All Things
After the previous incidents, he had gradually become more familiar with this ability.
Before, it had always activated passively. Now, he was beginning to use it on his own initiative.
However, compared with when it activated passively, the voices he received were especially chaotic.
"Hey, what are you spacing out for?"
Moria's impatient voice rang out.
"Stop wasting time."
Lin Nuo opened his eyes and turned to look at him.
"Kid, have you ever seen me fly at full speed?"
"Isn't that already the speed you usually fly at? How could you possibly go any—" Before Moria could finish, Lin Nuo had already grabbed him by the back of the collar.
In the next instant, Moria felt the whole world blur with a hum.
The scenery around him stretched into bands of color, while the sounds were flung behind them.
His eyes widened as he watched the White Shell's lights shrink into a tiny point. Alice and Teach vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
"...Slower... I'm dizzy!" Moria tried to shout, but opening his mouth only filled it with wind.
"Haha, I haven't even floored it yet!" Lin Nuo's voice carried laughter through the wind.
Boom—
Their speed surged again!
"Y-you, just how fast can you fly—?!"
Moria's drawn-out scream shot toward the lantern-like city.
Tenpan City, seventh level.
Ballroom City Entertainment Hall.
The city had earned its name from its terrain. Its districts spiraled around the mountain in ten levels, each with its own designated function.
The first level was for storage, the second was the market, the third housed common residents... By the seventh level, Ballroom City had become the district for respectable people.
This was Tenpan City's pleasure quarter, combining casinos, dance halls, bars, and underground boxing matches. It was noisy day and night, never closing.
At that moment, two men in black dragged a drunkard out of Ballroom City's entrance and threw him outside.
The man struggled to crawl to his feet, slurring, "Bring Mary out to keep me company! I've got money!"
A tall, thin man in black stepped forward with a professional smile on his face.
"Sir, you've had enough fun for tonight. Why not go back and rest first, then return tomorrow?"
"Bullshit!" The drunkard threw a punch. "Do you know who I am? My brother-in-law is on the eighth level... the eighth..."
"Of course I know." The man caught the punch with his right hand, his smile unchanged. "That's exactly why I'm advising you to leave yourself some dignity."
"Dignity? I want women! Now! Otherwise, I'll smash this place..."
The next second, the black-clad man's free left hand suddenly shot out, punching the drunkard in the head.
Bang.
After a dull impact, his head burst apart like a watermelon.
The corpse collapsed, blood flooding the ground, but the guests entering and leaving Ballroom City turned a blind eye.
Only a small figure wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a server's uniform paused at the entrance.
A lock of pink hair peeked out from beneath the brim.
Through the crowd, Ginny saw the dead man's gruesome state clearly, and her heart clenched hard.
She forced herself to look away, only to meet the gaze of the tall, thin man at the entrance.
Ginny quickly lowered her head and hurried into Ballroom City.
At least I managed to save a group of them... Now I have to hurry... Otherwise, Ivankov and Kuma will also...
Thinking of what had just happened, a deeper chill spread through her heart as she tightened her grip on the tray in her hands.
No, I have companions behind me. I'm not fighting alone. I definitely, definitely can save them!
Before you continue