A few minutes later.
A violent explosion erupted inside the Barrels Pirates' hideout. Yet strangely, though flames shot into the sky, it seemed to be shrouded by an invisible soundproof barrier, not a single sound escaping. In the silent snowy night, it was especially chilling.
Rosinante staggered into the hideout, doing his best to keep his movements quiet. Looking at the wreckage strewn across the ground and the unconscious pirates, his heart sank.
"Am I too late?!"
Suppressing his ominous premonition, he anxiously searched the room, leaving no corner unchecked. He even searched the bodies of the unconscious pirates one by one. Yet he found nothing. The Op-Op Fruit, which should have been here, had vanished without a trace.
In the end, he leaned weakly against a shattered wall, his face filled with despair and desolation.
He had failed. Luo's hope...
He drew a breath of icy air. Not daring to linger, he silently left the deathly still ruins with a heavy heart.
Within Hyperspace, Adams leisurely played with the box containing the Op-Op Fruit. Through the Air Door's special perspective, he coldly watched everything Rosinante did.
A few minutes later, outside Flevance.
The freezing wind was like a blade, carrying goose-feather snow as it savagely sliced through the silent night.
Rosinante's face was filled with exhaustion and even deeper dejection. Looking at the tiny, trembling figure beside him, his expression was incomparably complicated.
The face that usually wore a comical smile was now filled with struggle and unutterable pain. He opened his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbing, only to find that he could not utter a single meaningful sound.
"Mr. Corazon..."
The voice came amid ragged breaths.
"That's great... You're safe."
The speaker was Trafalgar Law, a boy already reduced to skin and bones by Amber Lead Syndrome,