"Ryan, bring two squads and come with me. Kuina, circle around the left flank!" The instant Kuina heard the cries for help, she drew Wado Ichimonji and darted into the dense forest like a streak of white lightning.
"First and second squads, follow immediately! Maintain combat formation!" Ryan ordered loudly, charging into the dark jungle right behind her.
Trees raced past them, and the night wind whistled in their ears.
"Kuina, can you pinpoint the location?" Ryan called as he used Soru to leap through the treetops.
"Ten o'clock, about four hundred meters away. Seven chaotic presences are attacking one weak life force!" Kuina's voice came from ahead.
"Pick up the pace! On an uninhabited island in the New World, we can't let a single pirate escape!" Ryan growled, crushing a thick tree trunk beneath his foot as he accelerated again.
Meanwhile, in a clearing deep within the forest, several pirates wielding sharp blades had surrounded a small figure.
"Run, you fluffy little rabbit! Why aren't you running anymore?" The one-eyed pirate leading them grinned viciously, flicking up dirt with the tip of his blade.
"Boss, she's a rare mink! We could get at least ten million Beli for her at an auction house in the Sabaody Archipelago!" A scrawny pirate beside him had greed written all over his face.
At the center of their encirclement, Carrot sat slumped helplessly on the ground, her green hooded garment torn to shreds by branches.
Her snowy-white rabbit ears drooped limply, her body was covered in ghastly bloody wounds, and even her fluffy tail was caked with mud.
"Karuchu... please, don't capture me," Carrot pleaded weakly, tears shimmering in her eyes.
"Shut up and come quietly, and you'll save yourself some pain!" The one-eyed pirate strode forward and reached for Carrot's ears.
**"One