Two Fireworks and an Imminent Ambush!

Inside Ballroom City, the roar of the crowd nearly blew the roof off.

Ginny moved through gaps in the crowd like an agile little cat.

Her gaze swept rapidly around before finally settling on the largest gambling table in the back.

More than a dozen people surrounded it, with a man in his thirties seated at the center.

Samuel, the third boss. That was him...

Ginny first stopped beside an empty table nearby, collecting the guests' empty glasses onto her tray. Then she picked up an unfinished bottle and poured its contents into a glass.

Then, carrying the tray, she headed toward Samuel's table.

"Sir, your drink." Her voice was kept low.

Samuel was focused entirely on his cards. Hearing her, he casually waved a hand.

Ginny set the glass beside him and bent over as if to wipe away spilled liquor.

Her left hand held the rag, while her right hand used the tray as cover. Two fingers slipped out and hooked the drawstring of the leather pouch at Samuel's waist.

With a flick of her fingertips and a turn of her wrist, the pouch slid free.

At the same time, a pouch she had prepared in advance, filled with small objects, slipped from her sleeve and landed precisely in its place.

The entire process took less than two seconds.

The gambling table was too noisy for anyone to notice.

Ginny straightened up, lowered her head, and hurried toward the exit.

She could feel the weight of the leather pouch.

There were keys inside, passes, perhaps even the timetable for the transport ships.

As long as she got those, she could find where the children were being held, along with Ivankov and Kuma. She might even figure out the transport route...

She kept her eyes fixed ahead, weaving around the packed crowd. She was just about to reach the door.

Ginny's hand settled on the handle.

I did it!

She pushed the door open and stepped outside—

Several ropes flew through the air, instantly wrapping around Ginny's calves, waist, and neck.

"Urgh..."

Ginny could not breathe, and the leather pouch flew from her hand.

A hand caught the pouch in midair.

The man who had punched out the drunk had somehow appeared in front of her. His entire arm had transformed into branching ropes.

The ropes tightened further and further. Ginny's face turned purple as she tried to tear the rope from her neck, but it was useless.

"Hey, don't go breaking the toy Saint Rosward wants."

Samuel's lazy voice rang out.

"Yes!"

The tall, skinny man lowered his head in panic and handed the pouch back to Samuel, who had just walked out.

Then he hurriedly canceled his Devil Fruit ability and withdrew the rope around Ginny's neck.

Ginny gasped desperately for air, tears spilling uncontrollably from the suffocating sensation.

It's not over... They're all waiting for me... They're all waiting for me!

She raised her head and saw Samuel pinching the leather pouch between his fingers, a teasing smile on his face.

"My second brother probably never expected this, huh? Hahaha."

Samuel walked over to Ginny and crouched down. "The person he went to every length to find delivered herself right to me."

He lifted Ginny's chin with his index finger and carefully examined her little face, smudged with dust.

"I don't see anything special about you either..."

Samuel tilted his head. "That Celestial Dragon's tastes are really strange. He likes playing with little girls who haven't even grown up?"

"But," he released her chin, stood, spread his arms, and laughed at the dazzling lights of Ballroom City.

"Now everyone's here!"

"If I send them all over together, that island will be mine! Guhahaha—!"

Just then, a streak of blue light cut across the night sky.

Samuel happened to have his head tilted back.

A fireball shot past before his eyes, its trajectory aimed directly at the highest point of Tenpan City.

"What the hell..."

Before he could finish, the fireball had reached the edge of the Plate Crown District.

The next moment, sky-blue flames exploded in midair, spreading outward like fireworks and turning into countless specks of glowing light.

Ten seconds later, the sparks faded, and the night sky returned to darkness.

"Where did that firecracker come from?!"

The first level of Tenpan City.

The abandoned dock district.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Moria grabbed Lin Nuo by the pant leg.

Just a minute earlier, Lin Nuo had grabbed him and dived down at what felt like suicidal speed.

At the same time, he had hurled a compressed ball of blue flames into the night sky.

The fireball soared hundreds of meters into the air before exploding across the top level in a shower of light.

"Kuma saw my ability at God Valley." Lin Nuo pulled Moria's hand away.

"If he sees it from some corner, he might recognize it. This could save us a lot of time searching for people."

"But didn't you say we were supposed to act discreetly?!"

"This looks like a declaration of war! What's discreet about that?!"

"Relax, relax." Lin Nuo saw that Moria was genuinely angry and put on an innocent expression.

"It was just a little firework. I saw people setting them off nearby earlier, so I merely took advantage of the confusion and set one off too."

"Besides, I just came to a new place. It's not like my level dropped back to zero."

"What are you so scared of?"

Lin Nuo said that with complete confidence.

Tenpan City might have been a den of tigers and dragons in these waters, but in the grand scheme of the world, its military strength was nothing impressive.

Unless little Imu suddenly came charging over from Mary Geoise, or a Logia user showed up, very few people here could threaten him.

Moria glared at him for several seconds before finally releasing him and turning his face away in annoyance.

"So confident," he muttered under his breath.

"You only rely on your Devil Fruit ability. You don't even have Haki. If you get yourself killed by some cheap trick, don't expect me to care."

"It's fine." Lin Nuo suddenly said in a casual tone, "If we run into someone we can't beat, you should escape first."

Moria froze and turned to look at him.

Lin Nuo took out the little Transponder Snail from his clothes and weighed it in his hand.

"That's what the Transponder Snail I gave you is for. If there's an emergency, contact Alice and have her bring the ship over to get you out."

"I had the White Shell remain mobile all this time for that reason too."

Moonlight barely outlined Lin Nuo's profile.

That familiar, slightly casual smile still hung on his lips.

But his eyes made it clear that he was not joking. He was serious.

Moria opened his mouth, but in the end, he only clicked his tongue and turned away.

What an arrogant bastard...

He stopped pressing the issue and began observing their surroundings.

The abandoned docks were piled high with barrels and torn fishing nets. Shadows crisscrossed everywhere, and visibility was terrible.

Just then.

Moria noticed that the outline of a shadow cast on the ground beside a half-toppled barrel to his left was not quite right.

The moonlight came from behind at an angle, so the barrel's shadow should have been an oval mass.

Yet there was a small protrusion at the edge of that oval.

It looked like the silhouette of someone's shoulder and head while they sat crouched against the barrel.

Someone was there!

"Who's there?! Come out!"

Moria instinctively let out a low roar and pulled a specially made large harpoon from behind his back.

That figure had already moved before Moria spoke.

A bloated figure, weighing at least two hundred pounds by the look of him, suddenly rose from the shadows.

He raised his hand with astonishing speed, and the object clenched in his right hand flashed coldly beneath the moonlight.

"Ah! He's got a gun!"

Bang!

At the exact moment the other man fired.

Lunarian Flame blazed behind Lin Nuo's black wings as he stepped sideways and moved in front of Moria.