Chapter 49: Chapter 49
Lowering their stances, Mr.12 and Ms.Wednesday immediately drew their weapons. Mr.12 held onto two steel bats while Ms.Wednesday had sharp discs attached to her fingers by wires.
Mr.7, the tall man with a red mohawk, seemed unfazed by Mr.12 and Ms.Wednesday's reaction. Laughing in amusement, he then proceeded to take out a piece of letter from his pocket.
"During the investigation of Ms.Tuesday's belongings following her arrest, we came across this letter that hasn't been sent. Though the names of the recipients weren't written, we managed to learn from this that she wasn't alone in her 'spy work' against our organization."
The content of the letter was now visible in Mr.12 and Ms.Wednesday's eyes. It read,
*Mr.1 isn't an administrator. There is someone else behind him. However, I was discovered and will shortly be pursued afterward. If you've read this, ru*
It was an incomplete one, which suggested just how much of a hurry Carina was in.
Mr.12's eyes trembled in fear. Meanwhile, Ms.Wednesday seemed to have realized.
The letter contained crucial information. Baroque Works values secrecy above all. Any sort of information regarding Administrators is treated as a top-tier secret that only the Officer Agents may be allowed to know. The fact that these Frontier Agents, Mr.7 and Ms.Father's Day were holding this letter, knowing full well what exactly was written inside...
'Are Officer Agents on this island...?'
Ms.Wednesday's face became pale.
Thinking that such behaviour of Ms.Wednesday was based on the fear of Mr.7 and Ms.Father's Day, Ms.Father's Day, the woman wearing a strange frog-like costume, grinned.
"Why, aren't you a cute one?"
Mr.7 continued,
"We managed to get code names of other betrayers from Ms.Tuesday. However, upon tracking them down and disposing of them, we found that something was wrong; there was no way that Ms.Tuesday could've reached this deep into our organization if her group only consisted of Millions and Billions except for her. Mr.3 thought that there must be betrayers within the executives—"
"Geez, get to the point already."
Rowan, tired of listening, cut Mr.7's words. Mr.7, growing a tickmark on his head, growled,
"...Don't worry. Soon enough, you will meet the same fate as these two—"
"I said, get to the point already. For how long must I wait for you to finish speaking?"
Mr.7's face has become as red as his hair. With his clenched fists trembling, he barked at Rowan,
"SHUT UP AND SIT TIGHT!! I'LL—"
The non-stop roar from Mr.7 began, causing Rowan to wince at how loud the man's voice was.
'What the fuck is wrong with this guy?'
Rowan couldn't help but think as Mr.7, who was pointing his finger at Rowan, continued his yapping.
Rolling her eyes as Mr.7 lost control of himself, Ms.Father's Day carried on.
"And so, where were we?"
Mr.12 awkwardly mumbled,
"Um... about Mr.3 thinking that there are betrayers among executives."
"Aha, yes! Thank you, sir!"
Seeing this strange turn of events where Mr.7 continued to throw non-stop curses at uncaring Rowan, and Mr.12 responded to Ms.Father's Day's question amid his fear of death, Ms.Wednesday found herself sweatdropping.
'What even...'
"After that, we decided to investigate the tracks of Frontier Agents within the recent month! We noticed that the traveling path of you two, in particular, overlapped with Mr.10 and Ms.Tuesday's pathway far more than any other agents! Based on this finding, we decided to tail you, and ta-da, here you are, admitting that you indeed were the betrayers!"
"Huff... huff..."
As Ms.Father's Day finished the explanation, Mr.7, having run out of energy, ceased his scream and huffed. Gritting his teeth, Mr.7 then unsheathed a blade and glared at Rowan with his bloodshot eyes.
Ms.Father's Day placed her hands on her waist while puffing her chest out in pride,
"Mr.11 and Ms.Thursday seem to have caught onto something and tried to place a spoon, but in the end, it's us who will capture you two and receive the promotion!"
As Mr.7 raised his sword, Ms.Father's Day revealed her frog-themed pistol.
"Behold, Gero Gero Gun! You two stand no chance against this priced weapon of mine—"
"Hold on."
Rowan, placing a hand under his chin, held his hand out and caused Ms.Father's Day to pause in curiosity. He proceeded to ask casually,
"Let me summarize. So you have Ms.Tuesday locked behind bars somewhere. You found that she had allies. She gave the list of her allies, but you are unsure if she spoke the truth. You found that these two over here may be linked with Ms.Tuesday. You came here and heard these two talking about how they're working Ms.Tuesday."
"That's right!"
Ms.Father's Day nodded, before her eyes widened,
"Wait, why am I answering that?!"
"Why indeed."
Rowan snorted in mockery, and Ms.Father's Day exploded just as Mr.7 did.
"WHY YOU LITTLE...!!!"
Exploding in anger, Mr.7 and Ms.Father's Day immediately rushed at Shooting Star, intending to kill Rowan.
Mr.7 hopped over the ladders and jumped atop Rowan with his sword gleaming against the sunlight. Ms.Father's Day, on the other hand, initiated shooting without hesitation, aiming at Rowan who was right below Mr.7.
In this state, Rowan was found to unsheathed his Sting in a split second. He then angled Sting in a way that deflected the flying bullets at Mr.7 right above him.
CLANG CLANG CLANG!
By the time Mr.12 and Ms.Wednesday registered what just happened, they saw Mr.7 falling out of Shooting Star with blood spilling out of his body. There were gruesome bullet holes on his forehead, and his eyes flipped back, revealing nothing but a white.
"...Huh?"
Ms.Father's Day stared blankly as Mr.12 fell in front of her with a thud. She then raised her head to stare at Rowan, who hadn't moved a step. She saw that Mr.7's sword was not held by Rowan. Rowan impassively stared at the sword as he spun it around atop his palm.
Then, said sword suddenly flew at Ms.Father's Day, and before she could even react, impaled her by the chest. The blood freely gushed out from her chest and agape mouth as she fell to the side.
Thud.
Mr.12 and Ms.Wednesday, in complete shock, gazed at Rowan in horror; they couldn't believe that someone of this strength and violence was the friend whom Ms.Tuesday mentioned.
Rowan noticed their gazes and scratched his head. He eventually remarked awkwardly,
"Uh, they were trying to kill me, you know."
This plain remark of Rowan seemed to have calmed the two down by a little, as they saw just how casual and unfazed Rowan was after killing two Frontier Agents.
"...Hahh."
Eventually, Mr.12 fell on his butt, having lost the control over his legs. Sighing deeply, he wiped the sweat off of his forehead and lamented,
"Just... just how did I get myself into this...? I wasn't even planning to betray the organization, and yet, I somehow ended up in this situation after... after..."
Mr.12, snarling, glared at Ms.Wednesday,
"That's right!! You, Ms.Tuesday, and Mr.8... it was you three who blackmailed me to join you!! If not for you, I wouldn't have needed to endure all this!!!"
Just then, Ms.Wednesday's eyes widened, having felt a slight vibration under her feet. Dismissing Mr.12's hateful words, she cried,
"WAIT, MR.12—"
Before she could finish her words, mole-like claws popped out of the crack in the ground right above Mr.12. Grabbing him by the ankle, Mr.12 was pulled underneath before he could resist it. In a span of a second, Mr.12 disappeared from Rowan and Ms.Wednesday's view.
"A devil fruit?"
Rowan commented before speaking to Ms.Wednesday,
"Come here if you want to live."
Ms.Wednesday stuttered desperately,
"W-What about... what about Mr.12...?"
"Dead or alive."
Rowan calmly stated as he examined the scene in his front. Ms.Wednesday, knowing that there was nothing that she could do for Mr.12, proceeded to heed Rowan's advice and began running toward where Shooting Star and Rowan were situated.
As she ran, holes began to form all over the ground around Ms.Wednesday. The ground crumbled and Ms.Wednesday stumbled before falling and rolling. In a panic, she immediately stood back up and resumed her run.
In this state, Rowan's eyes gleamed before he dashed off of his spot on Shooting Star. At a fast speed, he dashed past Ms.Wednesday, and,
just when a mole-like arm popped out of the ground from the hole just behind Ms.Wednesday, Rowan severed it with his Sting.
"A-AHHHHHH!!!"
The blood splattered over Rowan's cheek and a scream was heard. Said scream echoed throughout holes, and Rowan looked at the severed arm that was now flopping on the ground as it oozed out the blood.
"T-This has to be..."
Ms.Wednesday, with her hands latching onto the ladder that was attached to Shooting Star, gulped as she managed to calm down a little.
"Ms.Merry Christmas... the Officer Agent who's paired-up with Mr.4!"
"Officer Agents, huh."
Rowan grinned before he tilted his head to evade a baseball that suddenly flew past him.
Just then, an obese-looking man with blonde hair and thick lips popped out of a hole behind Rowan and hit the baseball with his metal bat. The baseball's direction was changed, and it began to travel back to Rowan's back.
Rowan narrowed his eyes at this,
'Baseball alone shouldn't be lethal enough, so I assumed that it would be an explosive. However, judging by how it doesn't explode after that man hits the ball with his bat...'
while assessing the abilities of his foes, Rowan moved to the side to dodge the baseball for the second time. The baseball ended up hitting a tree at the far back and exploded.
BOOM!
Ms.Wednesday, who was huffing rapidly as she had her hands and feet on the ladder of Shooting Star, shed a cold sweat as she saw several trees falling due to the impact of the explosive baseball.
'Nah, it still doesn't make sense,'
Thought Rowan as he gazed at the fallen trees,
'The impact when that guy hits baseball with his bat should be stronger than when baseball hits that tree. This means that the explosion isn't triggered by the impact. If so—'
Rowan then paused.
'I'm overthinking again, aren't I.'
Turning his head, Rowan saw a dog-like cannon or cannon-like dog with a snot on its nose, one that was looking back at him.
He couldn't help but grin upon coming up with a simple solution in his head.
BANG!
A second baseball was shot from the dog's mouth as it sneezed. Rowan, dodging it with ease, began to run straight at the dog.
The obese man popped out of a hole once more and hit the ball toward where Rowan was running. Rowan, while minding the ball, didn't stop his run toward the dog.
Then, right before the ball entered his proximity, Rowan suddenly kicked back and backflipped before landing atop one tree.
BOOM!
The ball exploded and a cloud of smoke was generated between Rowan and the dog. Kicking his feet against the tree, Rowan dashed at the dog through the cloud of smoke, and before it could do anything more, Rowan grabbed the dog's nose and jaw together—preventing it from dispensing a third baseball.
When the smoke cleared, no baseball was fired. Ms.Wednesday, noticing what Rowan had done, whispered,
"Right...! If the source of that exploding baseball is dealt with, then there is no need to worry about its mystery!"
Rowan, staring at the dog, said out of curiosity,
"Are you a dog or a cannon? You must've eaten a devil fruit of some kind, so... Cannon Cannon fruit?"
"Lassoo~!"
A call was heard from the hole. It was a masculine voice, and Rowan deduced that said voice must've come from the obese man whom Rowan concluded as Mr.4.
"Oh Lassoo~!"
Rowan stared at the dog.
"Are you Lassoo?"
The dog simply stared back at him plainly. Rowan chuckled.
"And I guess he wants you to fire a third one."
The dog's nose which had a snot swinging on it then twitched, and Rowan noticed that it was about to sneeze.
Casually, Rowan released his hold on the dog's nose and jaw, before directing the dog's head into one of the holes nearby. The dog then sneezed.
BANG!
There wasn't an explosion. Rowan concluded based on this,
"Ah, so the bomb is a timed one. Explodes after a set period, and not by impact."
Suddenly, Mr.4 revealed his body from one hole with a metal bat in his hand but seemed confused as no baseball was seen.
"Ehh..."
Slowly, he turned around to find the ball, but to no avail. He eventually looked at Rowan, who was holding onto the dog-cannon. His eyes widened,
"LASSOO!!!"
Then, the ball exploded underneath,
BOOM!
and along with a vibration, Mr.4 and Ms.Merry Christmas, the mole-like woman who lost an arm, were flown out from holes due to the impact of the explosion.
From the other hole, Rowan and Ms.Wednesday saw two unconscious people flying out. One was Mr.12 who seemed brutally beaten, while the other... was an unknown man who was wearing a bandanna that had a jolly roger engraved on it.
The unconscious two perfectly landed on Shooting Star's deck right next to Ms.Wednesday, and she immediately began to inspect Mr.12's state.
"Phew... he's still alive."
Ms.Wednesday let out a relieved sigh, before looking at the unknown man by Mr.12's side,
"But this guy... seems not, unfortunately."
"Ugh..."
Ms.Merry Christmas grimaced as she held her bleeding stump of an arm. Mr.4 stood back up but swayed, with his head still ringing from the explosion.
Rowan, still holding onto the dog, then spoke,
"Hey Lassoo, how about you become my pet instead of theirs?"
The dog simply looked back at him blankly. His nose then began to twitch again, and Rowan, noticing what was about to happen, pointed the dog's head at Mr.4 and Ms.Merry Christmas.
"L-Lassoo!!! W-WAITTTT!!!"
Ms.Merry Christmas cried, but Lassoo nonetheless sneezed according to his instinct. The ball was fired, and Mr.4, who instinctively lifted his bat back up, deflected the ball back at Rowan.
Ms.Merry Christmas seemed jovial at this. With a relaxed laugh, she said to Mr.4,
"G-Good job, Mr.4!"
Seeing as the ball was flying back at him, Rowan didn't dodge. He, with a knowing grin, sheathed Sting and clenched his fist. Ms.Merry Christmas frowned at his behaviour.
Then, Rowan's fist then collided with the baseball, and the ball's direction was changed back to where Mr.4 and Ms.Merry Christmas stood once more. Ms.Merry Christmas yelped in shock and cried at Mr.4,
"Quick!! We need to dodge!!"
"Ehhh..."
Mr.4, being a slow man, slowly turned his face to Ms.Merry Christmas and let out a confused noise. Ms.Merry Christmas panickily tried to escape on her own, but then, a sharp disc attached to a wire came in flying and wrapped Mr.4 and Ms.Merry Christmas's bodies together.
Ms.Merry Christmas, upon feeling an obstruction that prevented her re-entry, turned back and saw that Ms.Wednesday had her hand outstretched.
"M-MS.WEDNESDAY!!! YOU—"
Before Ms.Merry Christmas could finish her words, the baseball exploded in front of Mr.4 and Ms.Merry Christmas, sending them flying into the air.
With a splash, they then fell into the water, signaling the end of the battle.
Ms.Wednesday, huffing rapidly from the intensity of the battle, looked at the rippling body of water with trembling eyes.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone