(Bonus update for sect leader ~Mo Mo Mo~ /5)
A few days later, at Kuriswia Port.
"Aren't you afraid I'll run away halfway? Or tip off the Dragon People?" Jones stared in amazement at the Pirate Ship loaded with supplies.
After several days of rest, his injuries no longer hindered him. Loa was letting him leave without even assigning someone to watch him. How trusting could a man be?
"You're asking for trouble, you know that? You can't live without someone watching you?" Loa rolled his eyes and handed Jones a sea chart.
"As for running away..."
Crack!
Loa seized Jones's outstretched hand and squeezed hard. The force was so immense that Jones thought the bones in his hand had cracked.
"You can try!"
"Awoo!"
The huge Black Panther Gangying looked up at his master, then shifted position and lay back down.
Several days was no short time, but his injuries had been far worse than Jones's. His other wounds had healed, yet he could barely eat anything but meat boiled to mush, let alone protect his master.
At Loa's faint, unreadable smile, cold sweat ran down Jones's forehead. He did not dare move.
Loa soon released him and held out the sea chart again.
"Remember, I don't care how you do it. I only want results."
"I... I understand."
Jones gently rubbed his right hand, his spirits low.
As he boarded the Pirate Ship, Loa suddenly called out, "Don't worry about Minnie. Keep your Den Den Mushi safe. She'll contact you."
Minnie...
On the deck, Jones murmured her name, and the image of a young girl appeared in his mind.
Though he could contact her every year, it had been far too long since he had seen Minnie.
His memories of her were still from their childhood, when they