The Truth of God Valley, a New Journey

Boom—

The explosion of flames sent countless gang members flying.

Lin Nuo lowered his fist, breathing slightly hard.

Not a single intact stone slab remained in the arena beneath his feet.

Twenty meters away.

Sarez knelt on one knee, his tachi embedded in the ground to keep himself from falling.

The sunlight quietly shifted.

Lin Nuo raised his head and narrowed his eyes at the sky.

Noon had passed. The sun was beginning to slope westward, casting shadows along the arena walls.

It was about time, he thought.

According to the plan, if Moria and the others failed to find anyone at the underground base, they would retreat to the docks first.

Then... it was time to wrap this up.

Lin Nuo took a deep breath. The fire wings behind him fully unfurled, their azure flames illuminating the surroundings.

Sarez saw this.

Thinking Lin Nuo was about to launch another fierce assault, he immediately gritted his teeth and drew his blade.

"I'm done fighting."

Lin Nuo's calm voice rang out.

Sarez froze.

Then he saw Lin Nuo shoot straight toward the platform, landing in front of the cages in the blink of an eye.

Three flashes of cold light streaked past.

The three iron cages holding Ivankov, Kuma, and Ginny were effortlessly torn apart.

"Lin Nuo!"

Ivankov was the first to rush out through the opening, spreading his arms as he came toward him.

"We got out!" Ginny followed right behind, her eyes shining.

And Kuma—

When he looked at Lin Nuo, gratitude and relief mingled in his dull eyes.

Lin Nuo stepped forward, his right hand coated in Lunarian Flame, and struck down several times with the edge of his hand.

The handcuffs and shackles snapped apart and fell to the ground.

"Long time no see, everyone."

He patted Kuma on the shoulder, then rubbed Ginny's head.

Finally, he raised a brow at Ivankov. "Since when did you start wearing eye makeup? Weren't you locked up?"

"Hee-haw! It's called taste! Do you understand taste?!" Ivankov retorted through tears.

Lin Nuo smiled and shook his head, then turned to Kuma, his expression growing serious.

"Kuma, I have a lot of questions for you—really, a lot."

"But we can talk on the way."

"We need to get out of here first."

The moment he finished speaking, Sarez suddenly leaped onto the platform!

He raised his tachi overhead, Armament Haki coating the blade as he lunged forward.

The blade came down upon them.

"I was only playing with you before."

Lin Nuo lightly raised his right hand, fingers spread, palm facing forward.

Lunarian Flame and Flame of Regeneration surged out together, forming a red-and-blue barrier before him.

The instant the tachi touched the barrier, it was violently deflected.

The immense recoil made Sarez's scalp tingle.

"When did you get the illusion that you could break my defense?"

Then Lin Nuo's right leg lashed out like a whip.

There were no flames around it, only a pure, swift strike that landed squarely in Sarez's abdomen.

Sarez's eyes bulged as he flew backward, crashing heavily onto the stone steps below.

The entire arena fell silent.

Samuel, the third-in-command, stood frozen in place, his face utterly blank.

Lin Nuo withdrew his leg.

"Though it's probably not appropriate for me to say this." He looked down from above.

"Your Haki is honestly at the absolute bottom among the people I know."

He paused, then grinned.

"I won't compete anymore. The referee can decide the champion."

"Well then—"

"Goodbye."

With that, Lin Nuo swept Ivankov under his left arm and slung Kuma over his right shoulder.

Finally, he tilted his head at Ginny.

"Get on."

Ginny's eyes lit up. She quickly jumped up, wrapped her arms around Lin Nuo's neck, and clung to his back.

"Let's go—!!!"

Lin Nuo kicked off the ground and shot into the sky.

"Wait..." Samuel came back to his senses, but it was already too late.

Only then did the tens of thousands of spectators in the stands erupt into an uproar!

"Where's the champion? What about the match? What about my bet?"

"Did you get that on camera? That scene just now?"

Shutters clicked and flashes went off in rapid succession.

The front pages of every newspaper in the West Blue tomorrow had already been decided.

"B-Boss..." Samuel's voice trembled. "What do we do...?"

"What else can we do?" Sarez coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"We can't fly... so we can only accept it."

But beneath his anger, a trace of doubt surfaced.

Why had Lin Nuo suddenly left?

Did I guess wrong? He didn't have accomplices attacking the base at all. He just came to rescue them and left once he did?

"Boss," Samuel said quietly.

"Why don't... we go check the base anyway?"

"With the competition thrown into such chaos, there's no way it can continue..."

Sarez fell silent for several seconds before slowly nodding.

High in the sky.

The wind howled.

"Woohoo! We're finally out!!"

Ivankov waved his arms and legs excitedly.

Lin Nuo smiled and turned his head. "Kuma, how are you feeling?"

From his shoulder, Kuma's voice was much steadier. "Without Seastone, I feel much better."

"Thank you."

"That's good." Lin Nuo's tone then became urgent. "But Kuma, I've been holding these questions in for a long time."

"...Ask."

"Why, at the end of God Valley, didn't you send us back to your hometown—the Sorbet Kingdom?"

The air fell quiet for a moment.

Kuma remained silent for so long that Lin Nuo thought he would not answer.

"The Sorbet Kingdom... is my hometown. My parents and I originally lived there peacefully."

"But later, we discovered... that the country had agents of the World Government hidden within it."

His voice began to tremble slightly.

"Because of those agents, my parents and I were targeted and captured, taken to the holy land of Mary Geoise..."

"And that was why we experienced what happened... at God Valley."

"Later, at God Valley, when you protected us from the Celestial Dragons and let us escape first, I kept thinking."

"If we returned to the Sorbet Kingdom, would those agents find us again? Would we drag you down? Would everyone's escape plan fail because of us?"

Kuma closed his eyes.

"And the small islands around here were places we passed when we took a Marine warship to God Valley."

"I remembered that this place seemed remote, with no Marine bases and no government outposts."

"So I changed my mind at the last minute and sent you here."

"To a place that looked... relatively peaceful."

Lin Nuo said nothing for a long time after hearing that.

"So that's how it was..." he finally said softly. "It's okay, Kuma."

"If those Celestial Dragons hadn't spent so much to hunt you down like madmen, all of you could have reunited safely."

"But now, I'm here."

"From now on, whether it's your hometown or any other country—you can go wherever you want."

"I promise."

The wind roared past their ears.

Ivankov vigorously wiped his eyes, muttering, "The wind's so strong, sand got in my eyes."

Kuma and Ginny exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with anticipation for the future.

After quite a while, Lin Nuo remembered another important question.

"Right, Kuma, there's something else."

"I can understand Roger and the others asking you to send them back to their own ships."

"But why were Rocks and I sent to places so far apart?"

He turned his head and looked at Kuma's profile.

"While I was unconscious, what exactly happened at the end of God Valley?"

At that, Kuma lowered his head, his gaze sinking into memory.

"At the time, you were unconscious, but you suddenly turned into a giant blue bird and fought that demon."

"During the battle, you also helped us recover our strength."

"In the end, you trapped that demon with flames, and I prepared to send you away."

Kuma spoke slowly. "But at that time... I was still being suppressed by the demon's Conqueror's Haki and couldn't use my ability."

"After those men understood the situation, they joined forces and attacked the demon."

"I used that opening to send you flying."

"But the aftermath of their battle still struck my Devil Fruit ability."

"That was probably why the bubble wore off early."

He looked at Lin Nuo, deep lingering fear in his eyes.

"Luckily, you didn't fall into the sea. I kept praying at the time."

"Then, following those men's requests, I sent them to different places—the shore and islands a little farther from here."

Lin Nuo was stunned.

So that was it.

It was not that Kuma had failed to control his ability, nor had anything gone wrong on Rocks's side. The aftershock of that Conqueror's Haki melee at God Valley had interfered with the Devil Fruit ability.

That meant—

"Rocks, Kaido, Linlin, Whitebeard..." Lin Nuo's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"They can't have gone very far! They might still be in the West Blue, or have only just entered the first half of the Grand Line!"

He drew in a breath, and the brightest, most delighted smile he had worn in days blossomed across his face.

"I found them! I finally found news of them!!"

"All these days of running around weren't for nothing!!!"

In his elation, Lin Nuo suddenly beat his wings!

His flying speed surged dramatically!

Azure flames trailed through the sky in a long, brilliant streak!

Lin Nuo even performed several difficult rolls and spins in the air.

Like a bird truly freed from its cage, he soared freely through the blue sky!

"Waaahhh—!! So high! So amazing! But... I'm so dizzy!!"

Ginny was spun senseless, her little face pale as she could only close her eyes.

"Hee-haw! Faster! Higher!!" Ivankov shouted excitedly instead.

Kuma gripped Lin Nuo's shoulder tightly, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.

They went wild for a while.

Only then did Lin Nuo steady his flight again.

"Oh, right," Ivankov suddenly remembered something, his expression turning serious.

"Lin Nuo, besides us, there are still many children being held in the underground base."

"It's fine." Lin Nuo's smile did not fade. "My companions should have already rescued them."

"According to the original plan, you were supposed to be rescued by them too."

"I just didn't expect the gang to bring you straight to the arena, so I ended up rescuing you instead."

He adjusted his direction and sped toward the abandoned dock.

"Now, let's hurry to the dock and meet up with them."

Ivankov's eyes lit up. "Hee-haw! Then speed up even more!!"

"Wait, wait, wait—"

Ginny protested weakly.

"Let me... let me get down and throw up first!"