Chapter 19

Even people like that were that lord's subordinates. Buckingham no longer dared to imagine what the future held.

"Phew-"

She slowly let out a breath.

But things had come to this, and she had no other choice. She could only follow this path to the bitter end-

"Waaah! Who are you?!"

A scream suddenly came from outside.

Something's wrong!

The thought immediately surfaced in the mind of Buckingham, an old hand at this sort of thing.

They were out at sea on the Grand Line, where it wasn't so easy to encounter another ship!

"Weevil! To the deck!"

She shouted.

Everyone aboard the ship was quite literally in the same boat.

Besides, even if they wanted to run, there was nowhere to go.

"Okay, Mom!"

When Buckingham charged onto the deck riding on her foolish son's shoulders, she saw several escapees hurrying toward the cabin door, as well as a figure standing at the bow with her back to them.

She was about three meters tall, and her entire body was concealed beneath a black cloak.

What caught Buckingham's attention was that the upper half of the figure's body bulged beneath the cloak, as if she had something on her back.

"Lady Bakkin,"

the escapees called Buckingham Lady Bakkin. "That person suddenly fell out of the sky!"

"Fell out of the sky?"

Buckingham frowned. "Go wake the others!"

While someone was in the other world, their body in the real world would react if it received a violent enough jolt.

The officers could choose whether to wake up, while ordinary people would be woken directly.

It was just like-dreaming.

That was why the escapees called that city the City of Dreams.

"There's no need. They're already awake."

The cloaked figure spoke.

It was a calm, indifferent woman's voice, with a slightly husky, spirited edge.

Buckingham's eyes widened in astonishment. The escapees on the deck who had still been immersed in the City of Dreams were now sitting up and rubbing their eyes.

Behind her, Anthony and the others also hurried out of the cabin.

"What happened? We were kicked out of that world!"

Salt cried, "Has our lord come?"

"..."

Buckingham's mouth felt dry.

Has he come in person?

"My lord,"

she said respectfully to the figure's back after taking a deep breath, "have you come here in person?"

"No."

The figure turned to face the escapees. "My master sent me to meet you. The ship to the New World is ready."

She raised both hands and pulled off her black cloak.

"How is that possible?"

Buckingham's eyes widened in astonishment. She could hardly believe them. "You're-"

Beneath the cloak was a true beauty in every sense of the word.

She looked to be around twenty, stood a little over three meters tall, and had a slender figure. She wore a simple white T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and a long black coat, but her figure was so stunning that the T-shirt and jeans clung tightly to her body.

Her white hair fell just past her ears, with side-parted bangs. Her features were sharply defined, and she was unquestionably beautiful.

She even carried a greatsword wider than her waist on her back, making her a dashing beauty.

But it wasn't the woman's beauty that shocked Buckingham.

It was her healthy wheat-colored skin, the pair of black wings on her back, and the blazing flame behind her head.

Buckingham cried out in disbelief, "You're from the Lunarian Tribe!!"

"What? The Lunarian Tribe?"

Anthony and the others all turned pale with shock, and the escapees on the deck cried out as well.

Then.

"What's that again?"

one escapee asked.

Another chimed in, "I don't know either. Judging by Bakkin's face, it seems like something really impressive."

"A bunch of ignorant idiots!"

Buckingham gritted her teeth. "The Lunarian Tribe is a mysterious people who supposedly once lived on the Red Line. They're said to have the terrifying ability to adapt to any environment! They're a tribe that was once called gods!"

That tribe was almost extinct, yet one of them was among that lord's subordinates?

"And the World Government has been hunting them down,"

Anthony said gravely. "They say you can get a reward of a hundred million Beli just for reporting information about them to the government."

"A hundred million Beli?"

The escapees involuntarily looked at the woman.

"Let me introduce myself,"

the woman said calmly, paying no attention to their gazes. "My name is Luna. I am my master's attendant, and starting today, I am your commander."

"Commander?"

Salt raised an eyebrow. "If that's our lord's will, I have no objection."

"Same here."

Anthony nodded as well.

"I disagree!"

One person did object. Byrnndi World spoke aggressively. "I don't need some damned commander! When are you going to let me get revenge on the Marines-"

His expression suddenly changed.

"Luna, you're a little slow."

World—or rather, Naito, who had taken over his body-turned to look at his attendant.

"My apologies, Master."

Luna bowed slightly. Because Naito didn't want to reveal his identity, Luna called him Master. "It was a little farther than I expected."

"My lord!"

Without the slightest hesitation, all the escapees bowed respectfully to Naito.

"Luna is my representative. When I'm not here, she'll lead you."

That was what Naito told them.

Luna was his initial attendant. Not only was she a Lunarian, but she also had the potential to master all Three Types of Haki.

When Naito joined the Marines to learn, Luna had stayed on an uninhabited island to train on her own because she was a Lunarian and couldn't reveal herself. In any case, Naito could teach her everything he learned through the Dream World.

As his initial attendant, Luna was absolutely loyal to Naito, so naturally, she was also the person he trusted most.

If Naito was the god of dreams, then Luna was his chosen sovereign of dreams.

Luna had considerable authority in the Dream World. She could make modifications to Naito's creations to a certain extent—what was commonly called an administrator.

Kicking Anthony and the others offline was one of her privileges. Besides that, she could even pull other people into the Dream World.

Naito couldn't grant too many people that level of authority at present, either.

"Yes!"

The escapees responded respectfully once more.

Since Luna was the person their lord had chosen, all they needed to do was obey.

"Then it's time to leave."

Invisible matter gathered into a long, oval-shaped flying shuttle, and everyone entered it.

The shuttle then accelerated forward, and with the added power of the More-More Fruit, everyone vanished at the far end of the sky in the next instant.

A bay somewhere in the Sabaody Archipelago.

Because it was relatively secluded, quite a few ships that couldn't afford to be seen docked here.

Over time, it had become a small port, and there were even people who took payment to watch over the ships.

Among those vessels was a ship that had already been coated. The layer of coating clinging to its hull reflected iridescent light in the sun.

On shore, Binz and another Marine watched the coated ship from the crown of a large tree, bored out of their minds.

"Nothing's happening at all."

The Marine sighed. "How long do we have to stay here?"

"What can we do?"

Binz rolled his neck. He'd been crouching in the tree so long that his neck was about to break. "What if they show up?"

"Damn it, I'm so jealous of Naito!"

The Marine gritted his teeth. "He gets to be alone with Ain. Isn't that just a date?"

"True enough."

Binz sighed too.

"Huh?"

The Marine beside him suddenly froze. He stared at the sky in astonishment. "Binz, the sky! L-look!"

Binz raised his head and looked up at the sky through a gap in the foliage.