Amber Lead Syndrome? Incurable Disease!

"How could this be..."

Aeneas could not believe it.

"There has to be a way to treat it, right?" Aeneas wore a bitter expression. "What on earth is wrong with Rami?"

"Amber Lead Syndrome!"

Just at that moment, another man's voice rang out, and Aeneas only then realized his own rudeness, having completely failed to notice that there was another person nearby.

"It's fine." The speaker sensed Aeneas's embarrassment. "I suppose you could say I'm the manager of Tinos Core Area Zone Two. My name is Scusen, and I always hear my brother-in-law mention you."

Scusen looked to be only about thirty years old, making him relatively young for this place.

"Amber Lead Syndrome!" Aeneas felt as though the heavens and earth were collapsing, his entire body collapsing to the ground in helplessness.

"No way, this Amber Lead Syndrome couldn't be the Amber Lead Syndrome of Flevance, the 'White Town', could it?" Aeneas looked at Scusen, speaking word by word, his voice unknowingly beginning to tremble.

Aeneas knew. It might be difficult for him to specifically remember the name of the island Flevance, but if someone brought up Trafalgar Law, a very important character in the original work, then he could connect it to Flevance.

Amber Lead Syndrome was a toxic disease brought on by "Amber Lead", a mineral exclusive to Flevance. Because generations of people mined Amber Lead, the people of Flevance also came to possess trace amounts of Amber Lead elements in their bodies—yet these elements were intensely toxic to the human body!

After generations of accumulation, rising levels of Amber Lead would trigger Amber Lead Syndrome, whose primary symptom was a drastic shortening of lifespan.

Law was a native-born resident of Flevance.

If Law had not later obtained the Op-Op Fruit, there would have been no character named Law—he would have died directly in his childhood from "Amber Lead Syndrome"!

Beyond that, what was interesting was that the World Government, in order to continue mining this mineral, concealed the true facts of Amber Lead Syndrome and even declared it contagious, directly causing a war to erupt in Flevance, which then vanished into the long river of history.

Another historical tragedy!

"Yes." Scusen, despite his difficult expression, still did not want to deceive Aeneas, and could only speak the truth.

"In other words..." Aeneas finally understood why Obi-Wan had been so despairing. "Is Rami someone from Flevance?"

Aeneas did not know when Amber Lead Syndrome had actually broken out, nor did he know whether Flevance had already been destroyed by now.

Yet since Amber Lead Syndrome was already a reality, Rami could only be of that identity—an orphan left behind by Flevance.

"That's right, Uncle met Rami three years ago during a shipwreck." Aeneas suddenly remembered. "What caused Rami to lose her memory was war, and what was causing Rami's days to be numbered was 'Amber Lead Syndrome'!"

Aeneas did not know what to do either, because there was truly not a single thing that could be done about Amber Lead Syndrome.

"Law should have already joined the Donquixote Family by now. Even though I know he breaks away later, how am I supposed to find him?" Aeneas thought that if the Op-Op Fruit could save Law, then Law could also use his ability to save Rami.

Of course, the prerequisite was that he had to find Law.

And moreover, a Law who had obtained the Op-Op Fruit and left the Donquixote Family.

Yet no matter how he looked at it, that was an impossible task, because Rami's life had already reached the most critical juncture where every day was one day less.

"Damn it!" Aeneas slammed a heavy punch directly into the ground, and the steel floor actually indented deeply from the strike.

Both Scusen and Obi-Wan were utterly astonished.

"This kid, what kind of monster is he?"

Aeneas's hyper-accelerated growth in strength left even Obi-Wan, who served as his master, filled with awe.

"Lord Aeneas, do not worry, Rami still has a glimmer of survival." Obi-Wan comforted him. "Stephanie, the physician who treated Rami before, has set out to sea once more to find a way."

"Didn't you say she left the North Blue and headed for the Grand Line?" Aeneas cried out in agonizing despair.

By now he already believed Rami was beyond saving, because no one present understood the terror of "Amber Lead Syndrome" better than he did!

"Believe in her. After all, she is a herbal human of the Herbal Fruit." Obi-Wan also sighed. "We have no other choice, but our top priority right now is to rescue Rami first!"

Hearing this, Aeneas regained his spirit. Although Rami might be facing an incurable disease with her life and death uncertain, at the very least, Rami was still alive right now!

And since she had been seized, they had to rescue Rami!

"We've already made a plan to rescue Rami as soon as possible, before my sister Stephanie returns." Scusen looked at the two people who had gathered their spirits slightly and spoke. "Starting tomorrow, which is during the Round Street Slaughter."

Round Street Slaughter?

Aeneas heard the phrase "Round Street Slaughter" yet again.

"I don't care when the operation starts. I just want to know who captured Rami, and what I need to do!" Aeneas's gaze was resolute, and his tone was ironclad and unquestionable.

A faint, palpable aura of pit grit overflowed from him, startling Obi-Wan, Scusen, and Emondi outside the door so much that they all gasped in amazement.

"Don't be rash; the people who captured Rami are extraordinary." Scusen had Aeneas calm down a fraction. "They are Tinos's nominal rulers, the 'Hunter Organization' composed entirely of bounty hunters!"

"They occupy the most heavily fortified building on Central Circle Street, and its durability is even higher than our underground base here. Trying to break in from the outside is completely unfeasible." Obi-Wan chimed in.

"Why would they capture a little girl?" Aeneas's fists clenched tightly, itching to unleash his "Pit Grit" to the limit just to vent his fury.

"They captured her to get to me!" Obi-Wan looked solemnly at Aeneas. "Therefore, I will surrender to them!"

"What!" Aeneas thought he had misheard. "Surrender?"

"Right!" Obi-Wan's tone did not sound like he was joking. "I will present them with a condition: exchanging 'Rami' for myself."

"Why would they capture you?" A ache suddenly struck Aeneas's heart. Rami was very important to him, but that did not mean Uncle Obi-Wan was unimportant—if this meant sacrificing Obi-Wan, then Aeneas would never agree to it!

"You know about the Marine 5th Branch's wanted poster, right?" Obi-Wan wore a dark expression.

"I know. I saw Uncle's wanted poster over at Round Street. What on earth happened?" Aeneas looked at Obi-Wan.

"My identity as a manager of the Dunhold Family was exposed. I knew exposure was only a matter of time, but what I never expected was that the one who truly stabbed me in the back was the 'Hunter Organization' I originally belonged to!" Obi-Wan said through gritted teeth, clearly completely caught off guard himself. "Who knows what kind of benefits the Marines offered them to make them do something so devoid of a bottom line!"

Aeneas fell silent.

"It's precisely because I trusted others too much that Rami was captured, and I was the only one who escaped." Obi-Wan was wracked with remorse. "I was too careless. I've truly failed Rami..."

"Uncle..." Aeneas had indeed felt some dissatisfaction toward Obi-Wan earlier, blaming him for failing to protect Rami well, but now he understood the full picture—in truth, Uncle was the one suffering the most.

Betrayed by his own comrades, and with Rami used as leverage.

Aeneas grew increasingly hateful of betrayal, and a faint conqueror's spirit welled up within his gaze!