"What did you say? 'Sapphire Star' Xie Wen?!"
Kaios had only just finished identifying the "intruders" and had yet to mention their request when the Vice Admiral on the other end started shouting urgently.
"Wait there! I'm coming right over!"
After leaving them with those words, he swiftly hung up.
Xie Wen: ?
Kaios: ??
The two bewildered men stared at each other for a good while before Xie Wen asked curiously, "Is your commanding officer... always this eccentric?"
"No, not at all... The Vice Admiral can be a little casual, but he's usually very levelheaded. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been assigned to guard a strategic location."
Kaios answered instinctively, his expression still rather blank. His commanding officer's uncharacteristic behavior had clearly left him at a loss.
"Xie Wen, should we make a run for it, meow?"
(=ω=)
Ai Haibara Meow tugged on his ear from his shoulder and asked softly, "Something feels off, meow."
"It's fine. Let's wait until he gets here."
Although Xie Wen also found the situation a little strange, he decided to wait and see. Lowering his voice as well, he replied, "I'm a Shichibukai. The Marines can't attack us without a valid reason."
Besides, Klee Meow had chosen this direction. They probably wouldn't run into anything too terrible.
Even if their luck really hit rock bottom and another Kaido dropped out of the sky, they would still have time to escape aboard the Toot Toot Forward.
With a lucky star like Klee Meow around, though, they naturally couldn't run into that sort of bad luck again so soon. Once the second Marine warship sailed out from the island and arrived before Xie Wen, he understood why the man had been so excited...
"Colonel Hilnans? No, should I call you Vice Admiral Hilnans now?"
Xie Wen