Acting Clan Leader, Sally

"No negotiating!!"

Guerrero twisted and struggled desperately, roaring:

"When has our Moriju Clan ever-"

"Gag her."

Before she could finish, Dill ordered the sailors to gag her.

Someone reasonable had finally shown up. He couldn't let this idiot talk her into leaving.

Wearing his sunglasses, he walked to the ship's rail and looked toward the beach.

Around fifty women stood on the beach, making for a rather spectacular sight.

But he noticed something was wrong. Several of them were panting heavily, looking utterly weak, nothing like combatants.

With physiques like that, they would only be a burden in a fight.

Ignoring those weakened women, Dill looked at the woman leading them, a woman wearing a top.

"You're the leader?"

"Acting clan leader, Sally."

Sally dropped her spear and looked up as she asked:

"Outsider, what did you come here for?"

"To find a stone. An indestructible stone."

Dill sat on the ship's rail and said earnestly:

"We won't take it away. We'll only make a rubbing of what's written on it. Once we're done, the stone will still be yours, and these four people aboard will be yours too. You won't lose anything."

On deck, Robin couldn't help clenching her little hands, her expression tense.

The Poneglyph she had never stopped thinking about was so close. She desperately hoped Sally would agree.

"Agreed!"

Sally nodded firmly, then spoke again:

"But I have a few conditions. If you can accept them, I'll take you to the stone right now."

"Mmph, mmph, mmph!!!"

Guerrero began struggling madly against the mast, her eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.

The sailor beside her had to use both hands to cover her mouth.

Even among the female warriors behind Sally, several grew agitated and stepped forward to rebuke her angrily.

Dill noticed that all the angry ones were the ones wearing nothing.

Outnumbered and physically weak, they were quickly subdued by the other female warriors who obeyed Sally.

Only after everything had settled down did Dill ask:

"Go ahead. What are your conditions?"

If they weren't excessive, he didn't mind agreeing.

He would still do some good when it was within his power.

"We need food."

Sally took a deep breath, hesitated for a moment, then said:

"And we need you to take the children here away."

Guerrero's expression suddenly dimmed. She stopped struggling and squeezed her eyes shut.

These two conditions weren't difficult, ridiculously simple, even, yet Dill still found them somewhat hard to fulfill.

"Uh, the food might have to wait a few days."

After so many days at sea, he had nearly eaten all the food aboard.

They had still set aside five days' worth of normal rations as supplies for the return voyage.

There were around fifty female warriors in front of him alone. With the children she had mentioned as well, the little food remaining aboard clearly wouldn't be enough.

"Robin, calculate how far we are from Cologne Island."

Before he could give her instructions, Robin had already taken out a nautical chart and begun calculating.

First she confirmed their current location, then calculated the distance to Cologne Island, and finally factored in the ship's speed.

Soon, she gave him an answer.

"An estimated five days, provided we stay on the correct course and encounter no accidents along the way."

"Five days. Can you accept that?"

Dill relayed the answer to Sally, who immediately looked dejected.

She shook her head and said:

"Then forget the food. Just take the children away."

"Come down. I'll take you to the stone."

She hadn't resisted, had offered two conditions that couldn't have been simpler, and had now even withdrawn one.

Her sincerity and openness made Dill feel rather ashamed instead. He scratched his head and gave a slightly embarrassed, awkward laugh.

"Well, uh... you'll have to leave some hostages, or I won't feel comfortable."

Sally: "..."

Should I just lead everyone in a fight to the death against them?

Remembering the children in the tribe, Sally took a deep breath and ultimately agreed to this rude demand.

The unclothed female warriors who had angrily spoken out earlier were sent aboard, along with another twenty people. Including the four already captured, forty-one people became hostages in total.

They were arranged in circles and tied to the two masts. Those who wouldn't fit had their hands and feet bound with rope.

Ten sailors stayed aboard, armed with flintlocks to guard them.

One of them also held a Den Den Mushi with a call connected.

Dill held the other one. The two Den Den Mushi remained connected so that orders could be relayed at any time.

After all this was done, Dill set off with Robin, Hina, and the remaining sailors.

"Keep the noise down from here on."

Before they entered the forest, Sally instructed them with a serious expression:

"If you encounter a long-haired yak, remember to run immediately."

"Yes, yes, yes. Let's go."

Robin nodded frantically, wishing she could fly straight to the Poneglyph.

Seeing her like this, Sally said no more and led everyone into the forest.

The forest wasn't particularly dense, but every tree was enormous, with exceptionally lush crowns to match.

Layers of leaves overlapped, blocking most of the sunlight and leaving the forest rather cold and gloomy.

Fortunately, despite the eerie atmosphere, their journey went fairly smoothly.

Except that the female warriors beside them didn't seem much like forest dwellers. They weren't very familiar with the terrain, and their progress was extremely slow.

With Sally stumbling along as their guide, everyone arrived before the Poneglyph.

A square stone monument stood right there in plain view, its front covered in a Poneglyph inscription written in Ancient Script.

"So this is a Poneglyph."

Excitement filled Robin's face. She couldn't help stepping forward and stroking the indestructible stone.

Nearly three years after the Ohara Incident ended, she had finally taken her first step toward her goal.

Dill, thank you.

She closed her eyes and silently said those words in her heart.

Without Dill's company, there was no telling how much she would have suffered during these years on the run.

Opening her eyes, she saw the white-haired Dill gnawing on the stone.

"What are you doing?!"

"I'm testing whether I can bite through this thing."

Looking a little embarrassed, Dill used his sleeve to wipe the saliva off the Poneglyph.

This thing was supposedly indestructible, while the Flame-Swallowing Lord's fruit ability had strengthened his teeth.

So far, he hadn't encountered anything he couldn't bite through.

The craftsmen of Wano Country could carve words into it. Perhaps he could bite off a piece too.

He had even deliberately transformed into his two-meter-tall beast form.

Unfortunately, this thing really was hard. Apart from getting saliva all over it, he couldn't do anything to it.

"Is that something you're supposed to eat?!"

"Go on, get out of here! Don't get in the way of my translation!"

The unidentified white-haired fellow was driven away from the scene by the doctor and could only stand on the sidelines and watch.

"She can read it?!"

Sally, also watching from the sidelines, widened her eyes, her gaze full of shock.

This stone monument was said to be something their Moriju Clan had guarded for generations, but no one could understand what was recorded on it.

Thinking of the heavenly punishment that had appeared recently, she could only feel that this was heaven's will at work.

Just as their clan was about to be wiped out, a little girl who could read the stone monument had suddenly appeared.