The Proper Way to Gather Intelligence

"Five minutes..."

Roy squatted across from the tavern, counting on his fingers one by one as his expression grew darker and darker.

"He's been in there for a full five minutes!"

"What the hell is that dead white-haired freak doing in there?!"

All sorts of images sprang into Roy's mind.

Lin Nuo lounging with women on both sides, piles of chips before him; or worse, getting drunk and spilling all their information before being tied up and dragged into the basement...

He vigorously shook his head, driving those terrifying thoughts away.

Come to think of it, how had he let himself get talked into bringing Lin Nuo here after just a few words?

Roy didn't know.

He only knew that he was out of options.

"Count to ten more," he gritted out to himself. "If he still isn't out by the time I finish, I'll..."

Before he could finish speaking—

A thunderous crash came from inside the tavern.

Then came a second, a third, followed by a wave of uproar spilling from the tavern's doors and windows.

"They're fighting!"

Roy's heart clenched, and he immediately moved to rush over.

But at that moment, the tavern's wooden doors exploded outward.

More than a dozen people scrambled out in a panic, shouting incoherently:

"Monster! There's a monster inside—!"

"Run! He twisted the boss's arm into a pretzel!"

Roy stopped short, frozen where he stood.

Before he could process that information, a figure flew out through the doorway, sailed more than ten meters, and smashed into the brick wall across the street.

Roy recognized that face. It belonged to one of the gang's ranking captains.

Then more figures came flying out in absurd poses.

Some spun through the air like tops.

Others were swung out using their companions' bodies as weapons, two people tangled together and rolling a long way down the street.

Even the tavern door had not survived.

The clamor stopped, and Lin Nuo stepped outside.

He was dragging a burly man by the ankle.

The man's eyes had rolled back in his head as he muttered, "I'm going home to farm... I'll never join the underworld again..."

Lin Nuo walked to the middle of the street and casually tossed the burly man onto the ground.

"Intelligence-gathering mission successfully completed."

Roy's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and his jaw hit the floor.

Huh—?!

You could gather intelligence like this?!

Lin Nuo gave him no time to keep being shocked. He rushed over in a few strides and grabbed Roy by the arm.

"Let's go first. I'll explain on the way."

"W-Wait! Where are we going?"

"A prison break!"

Lin Nuo grabbed Roy's arm, kicked off the ground, and shot into the sky.

The two of them swiftly vanished into the night.

All that remained was the wrecked tavern and the thugs sprawled everywhere.

High in the sky.

Thanks to his strong physique, Roy quickly adapted to the weightlessness of high-speed flight and remembered what he had wanted to ask.

"Hey! What the hell did you ask in there?!" he shouted into the wind.

"Simply put, Ginny was captured."

"What?!"

"It was Samuel, that third-in-command you mentioned before," Lin Nuo continued. "And that guy's pretty crafty."

"After capturing Ginny, he guessed that someone might come to rescue her, so he set up an ambush in the tavern."

"Not long after I went in, they surrounded me."

Roy's heart sank. "Ginny... was captured?!"

More than half a day had passed since Ginny infiltrated the place alone.

Given how gangs operated, things probably did not look good for her.

"Don't worry." Lin Nuo seemed to see through his thoughts. "I made it clear. She's fine for the moment."

"Samuel plans to use her, along with Ivankov and Kuma, as prizes for some kind of competition."

"A competition?"

"Yeah. There seems to be some internal conflict among them. They said they were holding a 'fight to the death,' with Ginny and the others as the stakes."

As Lin Nuo spoke, he adjusted his direction and flew toward the higher reaches of Tenpan City.

"The competition should be at noon tomorrow."

"We just need to break them out before it starts. Simple and direct."

Roy was stunned for several seconds as he processed the information.

"I'm saying, compared to asking questions, what you did just now looked more like torture, didn't it?"

"What's the difference?" Lin Nuo said matter-of-factly. "As long as you get the information, the process doesn't matter."

"...You're a lot more violent than I imagined," Roy muttered.

"But you beat up those scumbags, so I like it. Good job."

He flashed a somewhat ferocious grin. "So? Once we've rescued everyone, do you want to consider joining my Resistance Group?"

"We're short on people who can fight like you."

Lin Nuo nearly stumbled and fell out of the sky.

"You've got that backward."

"Huh?"

"You stole and ate my precious Mythical Zoan Hellhound Fruit, and I haven't even demanded compensation from you yet. You're actually trying to recruit me?"

"What do you mean, yours?!" Roy immediately retorted. "Ivankov gave it to me! It's mine!"

"We stole it from God Valley together!"

Lin Nuo argued his case. "Strictly speaking, ownership of that fruit should be shared property between Kuma, Ivankov, and me."

"I demand that it be returned!"

Roy was dumbfounded. "R-Returned?"

"How do you get back a Devil Fruit after it's been eaten? Unless the ability user dies, the fruit will only reincarnate somewhere else.

Wait, that's not right!

A terrifying thought shot into Roy's mind.

"Hey..." His voice trembled slightly. "Y-You wouldn't be planning to reclaim me, would you...?"

"Just kidding."

"That's not funny at all!!"

"Alright." Lin Nuo slowed down, folded his wings, and began descending. "We're here."

Before them stood a cluster of buildings built atop a mountain platform.

A box-shaped building in the center was especially conspicuous.

The building was surrounded by tall walls, and faint silhouettes of patrolling guards could be seen atop them.

"Your turn to scout ahead." Lin Nuo released Roy's arm.

"Don't waste such a good Devil Fruit ability."

"Wait, I'm scouting?"

Before he could finish—

Lin Nuo swung his arm and hurled Roy toward the building like a shot put.

"I—will—kill—you—you—stinking—"

Roy's curse stretched out through the air.

His limbs flailed wildly, and just before crashing into the building, he barely managed a partial transformation to protect his head and face.

A huge hole was smashed straight through the white building's roof.

Roy rolled in through the opening, slammed into the floor, bounced up, and rolled several more times before finally stopping.

"You... violent... stinking bird... I absolutely... won't forgive you..."

After taking a few breaths, Roy struggled to his feet and shook his head, which was spinning with stars.

His nose twitched a few times.

Then his eyes lit up.

Ivankov's scent was here!

Not just Ivankov's—Kuma's and Ginny's too!

"Found them!" Roy perked up. He no longer had the time to curse Lin Nuo and immediately began looking around.

It was a huge room, with windows covering the upper halves of all four walls.

In the middle of the room, the cell doors stood wide open.

Empty.

There was no one inside.

Roy froze, the grin gone from his face.

He quickly walked over to the cells, crouched down, and inspected the floor.

There were messy footprints.

"The scents are still fresh. They probably left not long ago."

Behind him, Lin Nuo jumped down from the roof.

He walked over to Roy's side and swept his gaze over the empty cells and open cell doors.

"Hmm... Were we still one step too late?"