Unfortunately, this place of his was no Utopia.
"I don't need subordinates," Lin Xuan said flatly. "They'd only get in the way and interfere with my fighting."
With that, he ignored Smoker, turned, casually grabbed the half-dead Crocodile at his feet, and dragged him straight toward the warship about to leave port.
The atmosphere on the dock immediately turned awkward.
Hina instinctively moved to stop Smoker, only to find his body rigid.
Just as Lin Xuan set one foot on the gangplank, Smoker's voice rang out behind him again.
"In that case," he said, the earlier fixation gone from his voice, replaced by a trace of calm acceptance, "I'll temporarily join you as an auxiliary under the pretext of helping escort a Shichibukai. That wouldn't make me your subordinate, would it?"
Lin Xuan paused without looking back.
This guy really was impossible to shake.
"Suit yourself."
He tossed out those words and boarded the warship without looking back.
Smoker followed close behind, stepping onto the gangplank as well.
Only a group of Marines exchanging bewildered looks and a frozen-faced Hina remained on the dock.
Watching Smoker walk away without hesitation, her mind was in chaos.
What kind of magic did that man possess?
First Isuka, whom she couldn't catch up to, and now the loner White Hunter Smoker... had they all gone mad?
Half a day later.
The warship sailed through the Calm Belt, flanked by Sea Kings so enormous they could blot out the sky. They cruised slowly through the deep water, yet strangely paid no attention to the Ironclad.
The sea changed from azure blue to an ominous dark green.
The air was damp and oppressive, and even the light grew dimmer.
At the far end of their vision, two gigantic steel doors towered above the sea, with