Sengoku did not rush to reprimand the soldiers. Instead, he turned, his sharp gaze piercing through his glasses to land squarely on Lin Xuan.
The scrutiny in his eyes was gone, replaced by a burning intensity and a trace of shrewd calculation.
"Lin Xuan." Sengoku's voice was quiet, but with Observation Haki, it reached every ear in the square clearly. "That special training that could guide Haki awakening... can you keep it going?"
At that question, the tens of thousands of soldiers who had been glaring fiercely at Akainu turned in unison, every pair of eyes gathering on Lin Xuan.
The square grew so quiet that a pin dropping would have been audible. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the answer that would decide their fate.
Even Kizaru, who had been fiddling with his nail clippers all this time, stopped, his eyes narrowing slightly behind his brown-tinted sunglasses.
Under the pressure of all those eyes, Lin Xuan did not panic. Instead, he felt his blood begin to warm.
He knew perfectly well that Sengoku was offering him a way out while also probing his hidden cards.
If he said he could mass-produce Haki experts, the World Government would immediately keep him penned up as some sort of strategic resource. But if he said he could not, the support he had worked so hard to gather would scatter.
"That's what they call an opportunity, Fleet Admiral."
Lin Xuan shrugged, putting on an expression of exhaustion and helplessness.
He raised a hand and pointed at his slightly pale face-a show of weakness he had deliberately put on.
"My Devil Fruit development is still in its early stages. Guiding potential at that intensity drained the machine's energy and my stamina. My ability consumes a lot of energy, and I need time to recover