The neatly arranged instruments, the blinking indicator lights, even the faint smell of ozone in the air-all were far too similar to the laboratory in that deep-sea prison in his memories.
Almost identical.
"Hee-haw!"
Ivankov suddenly laughed, resting her fingertips against her chin.
"So the ones who broke into Impel Down and took Golden Lion away were your people."
She tilted her head, her exaggerated false eyelashes casting fine shadows beneath her eyes.
"You're Shichibukai, yet you sneaked into a prison to break someone out.
Aren't you afraid something will go wrong, showing us a secret like that?"
Rossi merely shrugged, as casually as if he were discussing the weather.
"We only borrowed a few things from there.
But you-"
He paused, the faintest curve rising at the corner of his mouth.
"You're the 'Revolutionary Army' that intends to topple Mary Geoise.
Just standing here talking to you is a far greater crime than breaking into Impel Down."
"You certainly think highly of us, youngster."
Ivankov drew out his words.
Although the Revolutionary Army had already attracted certain people's attention, it was still far from making the world's ** restless.
Yet from this boy's mouth, it sounded as though they had already become its greatest thorn in the side.
"It's only a matter of time."
Rossi brushed past the remark and turned to Dragon, who had remained silent throughout.
"Teacher, let me borrow your subordinate for a while.
In exchange, some of our businesses in the North Blue will be transferred to the Revolutionary Army."
Dragon nodded, his gaze calm within his deep-set eyes.
"You're used to turning everything into a transaction with a fixed price."
He paused, his voice low.
"It's hard to make true friends that way."
It was just as things had been in the North Blue: