"Five minutes..."
Roy crouched across from the tavern, counting on his fingers one by one, his face growing darker and darker.
"He's been in there for a full five minutes already!"
"What the hell is that dead white-haired bastard doing in there?!"
All sorts of images sprang into Roy's mind.
Lin Nuo lounging with women on both sides, a pile of chips before him; or worse, getting drunk and spilling all their information before being tied up and dragged into a basement...
Roy vigorously shook his head, driving those terrifying imaginings away.
Come to think of it, how had he let that guy talk him into bringing him here with just a few words?
Roy didn't know.
He only knew that he was out of options.
"Count to ten more." He gritted his teeth and told himself, "If he's still not out after ten, then I'll—"
Before he could finish.
A huge crash came from inside the tavern.
Then came a second, a third, followed by a wave of chaotic noise pouring out through the tavern's doors and windows.
"They're fighting!"
Roy's heart clenched, and he was about to rush over.
But at that moment, the tavern's wooden doors exploded outward.
More than a dozen people stumbled and crawled out, shouting incoherently:
"Monster! There's a monster inside—!"
"Run! He twisted the boss's arm into a pretzel!"
Roy halted, frozen in place.
Before he could process that information, a figure flew backward out the door, crossed more than ten meters, and smashed violently into the brick wall opposite.
Roy recognized that face. It belonged to one of the gang's ranked captains.
Then more figures came flying out in absurd poses.
Some spun through the air like tops.
Others were swung out with their companions' bodies used as weapons, the two of them tangled together as they rolled far away.
Even the tavern doors had not survived.
The uproar stopped, and Lin Nuo walked out.
He was dragging a burly man by the ankle.
The man's eyes had rolled back, and he muttered, "I'm going home to farm. I'll never be a gangster 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 practically popped out, and his jaw dropped to the ground.
Huh—?!
You could gather intelligence like this?!
Lin Nuo gave him no time to remain shocked. In two quick strides, he rushed over and grabbed Roy's arm.
"Let's go first. I'll explain on the way."
"W-Wait! Where are we going?"
"Breaking out of prison!"
Lin Nuo grabbed Roy's arm, kicked off the ground, and shot into the sky.
The two quickly vanished into the night.
Leaving behind a wrecked tavern and thugs strewn all over the ground.
High in the sky.
Thanks to his strong physique, Roy quickly adapted to the weightlessness of high-speed flight and remembered his earlier question.
"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 someone might come to rescue her, so he set 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 alone.
Given the gang's usual methods, things were probably looking grim.
"Don't worry." Lin Nuo seemed to see through his thoughts. "I got it out of them. She's fine for now."
"Samuel wants to use her, along with Ivankov and Kuma, as prizes for some kind of competition."
"A competition?"
"Yeah. It seems there's some internal conflict among them. They said they were holding a 'deathmatch,' with Ginny and the others as the stakes."
As Lin Nuo spoke, he adjusted their direction and swept toward a higher part of Tenpan City.
"The match should be tomorrow at noon."
"We just need to snatch them away before it starts. Simple and straightforward."
Roy was stunned for several seconds as he processed the information.
"I'm saying, compared to asking questions, what you did just now was more like torture, wasn't it?"
"Is there a difference?" Lin Nuo said matter-of-factly. "As long as we get the information, the process doesn't matter."
"...You're way more violent than I imagined," Roy muttered.
"But you beat up those scumbags, so I like it. Good job."
He showed a somewhat fierce smile. "So? Once we rescue 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 some nerve saying that."
"Huh?"
"You stole and ate my precious Mythical Zoan: Hellhound Fruit, and I haven't even asked you for compensation yet. Now you want to recruit me?"
"What do you mean, yours?!" Roy immediately retorted. "Ivankov gave it to me! It's mine!"
"We stole that from God Valley together!"
Lin Nuo argued reasonably. "Strictly speaking, that fruit should be the shared property of Kuma, Ivankov, and me."
"I demand that it be returned!"
Roy was completely baffled. "R-Returned?"
"How do you get back a Devil Fruit after it's been eaten? Unless the user dies, then the fruit reincarnates somewhere else.
Wait, that's not right!
A terrifying thought shot into Roy's mind.
"Hey..." His voice trembled slightly. "Y-You're not planning to recycle me, are you..."
"Just kidding."
"That's not funny at all!!"
"All right." 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 particularly conspicuous.
High walls surrounded the building, with faint silhouettes of patrolling people visible 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'LL—KILL—YOU—YOU—STINKING—"
Roy's furious curse stretched out through the air.
His limbs flailed wildly. At the last moment, just before hitting the building, he barely managed a partial transformation and protected his head and face.
A huge hole was smashed straight through the white building's roof.
Roy rolled in through the hole, crashed onto the floor, bounced up again, and rolled several more times before stopping.
"You... violent stinking bird... I'll definitely... never forgive you..."
After taking a few breaths, Roy struggled to his feet and shook his starry-eyed head.
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. Forgetting to curse Lin Nuo, he immediately began looking around.
This was a large room, with windows covering the upper halves of all four walls.
In the center of the room, the cell doors all stood open.
It was empty.
There was no one here.
Roy froze in place, the smile vanishing from his face.
He quickly walked 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 to Roy's side and swept his gaze over the empty cells and open cell doors.
"Hmm... Were we still one step too late?"
Before you continue