Inside the temporary prison of the Marine headquarters, three days had passed, and Rear Admiral Kasso had a look of smugness on his face.
As expected, his backers hadn't abandoned him. Though he didn't know why he hadn't been released yet, it was obvious that the execution time had passed.
But he wasn't going to die. This was no act—he believed that as long as a bit more time passed, they would be able to get out.
In the Fleet Admiral's office, six senior Marine officers, along with Vice Officers Brannew and Bogart, sat in silence.
A year had passed, and that group of Celestial Dragons had abandoned their interests with the Marines. To put it simply, they had skipped over people like Kasso and others, and now the Marines directly had to pay tribute to them.
"Has the intelligence department figured it out?"
"Why is Saint Lindgas helping Ryuen and his group? What kind of relationship do they have?" Sengoku looked at Vice Admiral Tsuru.
Vice Admiral Tsuru shook her head and slowly said, "No, all we've found is that whenever Ryuen's group asks for something, Saint Lindgas always helps them. It seems like he fulfills their requests without hesitation."
"Of course, it could also be that those things aren't important to Saint Lindgas, and he's just helping them casually."
"They must have some history together!"
"When we were at Clover Island, Saint Lindgas disappeared for a while, and it just so happened that Ryuen appeared there too. After that incident, the two seemed to become friends. I have a feeling there's something suspicious about this," Vice Admiral Garp said, recalling the events at Clover Island and then analyzing them seriously.
"This time, when we clashed with Ryuen's group, we lost terribly... I didn't expect they'd even make Rear Admiral Kasso surrender." Sengoku said, feeling helpless.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Kasso and the other traitors definitely can't be let go. If we release them, the Marines will lose all their face!" Akainu said, his body steaming with anger.
"But don't we still have one more year?"
"During this year, we won't release Kasso and the others. They'll stay locked up in the headquarters prison!" Sengoku said coldly, his expression blank.
They couldn't kill them now, but they wouldn't release them either. No matter what, they had to think about the Marines' reputation.
On the ancient island of "Little Garden," four adventuring teams were getting closer to the island's center. The wild atmosphere excited everyone.
Ryuen and Nami's group were currently taming a carnivorous dinosaur with Haki-like appearance as a mount.
"Nami... you've been in front for so long. Can I ride in front for a bit?" Ryuen, holding onto Nami, said a little annoyed.
"Riding in the back is no fun, I don't want to be back there!" ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novᴇl(ꜰ)ire.ɴet
"Little dinosaur, run faster! Go!!" Nami refused Ryuen's suggestion.
Excited, she slapped the dinosaur, making it run even faster. The two of them sped through the dense jungle, and whenever they came across something interesting, they would stop to play around.
Ryuen felt something was off. Why hadn't the two giant creatures on the island appeared yet?
'Blue Demon' Dorry and 'Red Demon' Brogy!
The two captains of the Giant Pirate Crew. Ryuen was eager to meet them. Having been in this world for so long, he still hadn't seen just how big giants could really be.
"Ryuen, what are you doing?"
"Come help me pick the fruit up there, it's really delicious!" Nami's cheerful voice called out as Ryuen zoned out.
"Coming, coming! Watch me!" Ryuen quickly snapped back to reality.
Then, his figure flickered through the trees, plucking the sweet, tempting fruits one by one.
"When Anya sees these fruits later, she'll be so happy..." Nami said with a big smile as she packed the fruit, looking like oranges, into her pocket space.
Soon, the four adventuring teams gathered at the center of the island, each with plenty of items they had collected. This adventure had been very satisfying.
"Kuina, Anya, you guys actually caught such a big dinosaur..." Leah, the young girl, said with wide eyes as she saw Kuina and Anya each dragging half of the dinosaur.
"It's nothing, nothing at all. Just a small thing..."
"That's right, that's right! If you guys had encountered them, you could have done it too," Kuina said, waving her hand and crossing her arms with a proud look while speaking humbly.
"You're definitely laughing at me!"
"Watch my invincible little punches!" Leah rushed forward and started playfully fighting with the two girls.
The others didn't pay much attention to them and were busy complimenting each other on their findings.
The dinosaur that Kuina and Anya had taken down looked like it had great meat. Nojiko and Daisy had collected a lot of herbs in the forest, while Ryuen and Nami had gathered many delicious fruits.
Only Hog and Leah had no harvest. They had just been playing around in the forest, but everyone agreed that Hog would handle the firewood situation later.
At that moment, a few birds flew down toward Ryuen and landed on his shoulder, chattering as if reporting something.
Everyone stopped and looked at Ryuen. They knew this must be related to Rear Admiral Kasso and the execution.
Because it was already time for the execution.
After a while, the birds flew into the forest to find food, and Ryuen sat down cross-legged, deep in thought.
"So, what's going on, Ryuen?" Nojiko asked quietly as she approached Ryuen.
The others also looked at Ryuen with curiosity.
"Looks like the execution didn't happen. I thought Sengoku would cut down Kasso no matter what, but in the end, he didn't act," Ryuen said as he returned his thoughts to the group.
"No way, Kasso could openly surrender at Marine Headquarters..."
"Yeah, there were so many people there, and still no execution..."
Everyone felt it was hard to believe.
"Actually, it might be that we're thinking too simply. These scumbags have powerful backers, the Celestial Dragons who benefit from Marine's corrupt system.
The Marines are just a subordinate branch of the World Government. It makes sense that they wouldn't act..."
"But I've thought of a plan. Maybe, in the end, these people can be used by us," Ryuen said mysteriously.
"Don't give that evil smile, it's so gross!" Nami said as she went over and pinched his cheek.
"Is that what he meant by 'Dragon King's Smile'?"
"Dragon King's Smile, life and death uncertain?"
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