บท 38: Chapter 37
Early in the morning, the sunlight shone through the window and illuminated one room, which was situated in the huge mansion of Veto. The room was exquisitely designed, with the floor covered by the red carpet, the bookshelves lying on the sides, and one luxurious-looking table at the back. Near the table, one old-aged man was seen smoking comfortably in his seat, as he casually gazed at his subordinate who was found genuflecting.
"Huu... a boy and a girl, you say?" Breathing out the smoke, said old-aged man muttered in a deep voice, "From the slum of nameless, there are ones who managed to evade the effects of anger plant?"
"Yes, boss. We thoroughly checked and found no error on our side; prior to their exile from the city, all exiles, without a doubt, were exposed to the effects of the drug that we implemented prior to their expulsion. Although the boy seems to be an outsider who somehow arrived here undetected, the girl belongs in the slum for sure."
"Hm... interesting." Taking another puff out of his cigar, the supposed 'boss' exclaimed as he gazed at the window, "That may explain the case of my nephew then."
Anger plant. This plant is a special type of plant that only grows on the island of Veto, and years ago, he, Giancana Angelo, settled on this island after realizing its potential for monetization. Although the raw effect of the drug was too strong, if the blood collected from those 'druggies' were to be transfused to a patient with the matching blood type, said patient temporarily gains an amazing healing factor.
Anger plant as the processed drug—his nephew, Giancana Antonello, was one of those—along with the special guest of his—who were given the privilege to be treated by the blood of 'druggies.' The issues were the lingering side effect of addiction and the build-up of tolerance against the treatment; Antonello, suffering from a chronic illness that is incurable by any means, has not only become an addict to the drug but had to receive an increased amount of dose upon each succeeding treatment, just to reproduce the same magnitude of effect.
"The tolerance against the therapeutic effect of anger plant... what did Dr. Romand say?"
The lackey kneeling in front of Angelo answered immediately, "Dr. Romand suspects that age is the key; the younger you are when exposed to the drug, the more tolerant you become. However, it's a speculation at best, and he alternatively proposed that the boy from the outside may have something to do about it; he requests that we bring those two children to him."
"Huu..." Placing the cigar down on the ashtray, Angelo's demeanour suddenly shifted, revealing a malevolent gleam, "And where are they at the current moment?"
__________
After filling our stomachs with fish, Robin and I attained our permit into the city. There was no one to stop us from doing so, especially since showcasing the 'cognitive ability' to walk toward the set destination, proves that we are capable of working, and thus, are of use to this small society.
Therefore, entering the lively city of Veto early in the morning, here we sat on a patio that lies outside of one café, with cups of water to quench our thirst.
And Robin and I were currently enjoying a moment of peace.
"Here," Robin, who attained a milk mustache, handed me the rolled-up newspaper, "I saw it as we passed by a newspaper stand."
"How much was it?" I asked lazily while taking the hold of the newspaper.
"Zero. I stole it, after all."
"I see." Picking my ear, I said casually, "Place this back after we are done reading then."
Robin, with her elbow on the table, leaned her face on her palm as she gazed at me blankly, "...You are fine with me stealing?"
"What stealing are you talking of?"
Not bothering with her stare, I shifted my eyes onto the newspaper. But I knew, that on my collarbone which was currently covered from the view by the newspaper, Robin grew an eye—to read along with me.
'And right away, I see the "big news" indeed.'
Right away from the title page, there was one huge picture of a mushroom-shaped explosion cloud, covering an entire island. It read: *Shocking! The World's Infamous Scholars as the Evil Masterminds?!*
'Ohara Incident—scholars, including the infamous Dr. Clover, were executed for the unacceptable crime of deciphering the Poneglyphs, for the purpose of awakening the dangerous weapons of the past... blah blah, five Vice Admirals valiantly condemned the criminals.'
"...What does it say? I lived on the outskirts for most of the time, so I can't read." Robin, who suppressed her trembling tone as much as possible, asked while acting the slum girl 'Orobi.'
"This information is off-limits for a kid like you."
"Why? Is it something lewd?"
"Keep imagining—"
Flipping a page, I then narrowed my eyes at the sudden piece of information that I came across.
'Vice Admiral Kuzan, bestowed with the codename of Aokiji (Blue Pheasant)... hold on.'
'Pheasant' was already in use by Admiral Anastasia. For the sake of symbolizing the strength of the Marine, no codename is allowed to overlap, and this meant that...
'Admiral Anastasia—is she dead?'
Upon flipping to another page, my inquiry was resolved.
*The war at Karai Bari, and the winner: 'Martini' Hook, the super rookie whose bounty was recently renewed to a sheer 1,600,000,000 Beli! And...*
While I was occupied at Ohara, many things seemed to have happened all around the world.
*The fall of the fading star, and the rise of the burning justice—Admiral 'Akainu' and his glorious feats!*
'With this, the current three Admirals are the following: Seidohebi, Haironezumi, and Akainu. If the events are to flow the same as the canon, the former two will eventually step down from the seats within the next twenty years.'
Grimacing, I flipped to the next page,
*Rise of the Undead... Gecko Moria's Resurrection?!*
'...Hm?'
And there, I found yet another piece of knowledge that piqued my interest.
*On the island of Suspiria within the West Blue, the countless undead were abruptly sighted—rendering the island unliveable. Marine officially stated that based on the investigation, such is likely to be the work of Gecko Moria, the 'Nightmare' who lost his war against Kaidou of the 'Beast' a year ago. It was originally speculated that he faced his death in that war, but now, the phenomenon proved otherwise...*
'Well, seems like the Marine is busy as always,' Amazed by what I managed to learn from this piece of newspaper, I finally reached the end.
'But knowing Sengoku's character, it is unlikely that he will sit still. Similar to the case of Ohara incident, it is likely that he assembles a secret team to end Moria once and for all.'
Then, the question was,
'How did Moria survive during his time of adversity? Without the Seven Warlords system, there is nothing that is protecting him from the Marine, and judging by how he's likely to be severely weakened, the World Government won't offer current Moria one of the seven seats.'
The year 1502—there surely were a lot of things happening.
Closing it and raising my head up, I found Robin, whose eyes were now closed and forearms were crossed—signaling the use of her fruit ability.
"Meditating, huh," Remarking impassively, I finished the remaining milk in my cup, and awaited for Robin to finish her 'eavesdropping.'
The people passed by, busy with their daily lives. Though the two of us were far from normal, to them, we appeared as nothing but a teenage boy and a young girl; I couldn't help but chuckle as I thought about it.
"...Thanks for waiting. I periodically need to meditate, to keep myself in control. If I don't do so, I find myself getting angry for no reason in particular."
And after some time passed, Robin finally opened her eyes. Relaxing her arms, she asked knowingly, "Since I made you wait, why don't I tell you a funny thing I've heard as we previously walked by?"
I shrugged, "Sure."
"It's only been spread very recently." Robin the pointed at the huge mansion that could be seen all the way from here, "Since you are an outsider, you must not know; that mansion over there is the base of the Giancana family. And apparently, the boss of the organization, Giancana Angelo, discovered that over-consumption of food is the cure to the effect of the anger plant. He and his entire family have been eating so vigorously that they decided to take away the food from the entire population of this island, except for the bare minimum required for the civilians to survive—"
Click.
Robin stopped her words in the middle, as the sound of a gun being triggered entered our ears.
'...Three only?' I couldn't help but chuckle inwardly, as the two of us saw three suit-wearing mafias approaching us, 'Well, I guess that in normal cases, that's more than enough to fetch two kids.'
However, there was one thing that they didn't know. Robin spoke the name of the mafia boss in a casual manner, and in a broad daylight—this meant that based on the information that she collected, I, the one who singlehandedly caused all the civilians of Ohara to evacuate, is capable of wiping them out.
"...Kids." One among the three spoke threateningly, "Unauthorized 'druggies' are not granted the rights to defile the city."
Walking closer to us, the man placed his gun right next to my head, as I sat still without care, "You two are coming with us... unless death is what you wish for."
"P-please," Robin, who feigned fear out of her, whimpered, "I... I'll go. So please, don't hurt me."
Witnessing this sudden commotion, the civilians who were initially looking at us out of curiosity, quickly scuttled away out of fear. From the back, I heard the sound of the store entrance being locked; it seemed that the control of mafias over this island was absolute.
However, instead of expressing the expected 'fear,' I instead turned my head such that the gun's barrel was now directly pointing at my forehead, "To where?"
"To—"
Then, before he could reply, the mafia suddenly collapsed to the floor, while losing his grip over his pistol.
Two mafias at the back, having noticed this, quickly took out their own pistols, however, before they could do anything, their eyes similarly hollowed out, and they fell onto the floor.
"...W-what's going on...?" From the above, someone—a random civilian—whispered in a mix of nervousness and confusion, "They... fainted...?"
Robin, whose head was lowered and body was trembling forcibly, raised her back in surprise. Then, looking at me, she asked warily, "Who... are you?"
Grinning in response, I took off the rug of a shirt that I was wearing, and revealed my tattered marine attire.
"A fucking marine, that's who I am."
And it was the time to act.
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