The sky was a clear, cloudless blue, with the sea and horizon blending into one.
The ship that cut through the waves looked rather worn, and many of the deck's edges had already started to peel up.
There were only five passengers on board: Machi, Buhara, Uvogin, Nobunaga, and Linne.
When the outline of Demon Island came into view in the distance, the group immediately left the cabin and gathered on deck.
The waters surrounding Demon Island were eerily calm, but the island itself was encircled by countless jagged stone spires, like a sunburst chrysanthemum in full bloom, with an aloof attitude that keeps people out. There's only a not-so-small gap, which is the only port on Demon Island.
"Law..." Machi looked at Demon Island and muttered to herself worriedly.
"I wonder how many delicious foods the boss has found on the island during this time." Compared to Machi's worries, Buhara was completely relaxed. He even expected that Law had managed to dig up some tasty ingredients on the island.
Hearing Buhara's words, Machi looked at him speechlessly.
The moving ship suddenly slowed down, and soon it came to a steady halt on the water.
At this time, they were still quite a distance from Demon Island.
Feeling the ship stop, Machi and the others were not surprised at all.
"So, it starts here, huh." Uvogin looked out toward Demon Island in the distance, waved his arms, and twisted his neck, as if doing warm-up exercises.
Nobunaga glanced at him, then silently walked over to a corner of the deck where a small boat had been secured.
In the cabin, the moment the ship stopped, Linne slowly opened her eyes. With her sense, she could easily tell that the ship had stopped.
A middle-aged man with tanned skin came over and said seriously, "As agreed, this is as far as I go."
Linne's unfocused eyes swept over him, then she nodded slightly, and took out a small exquisite glass bottle from her pocket. It was filled with thin transparent crystals that looked a lot like salt.
She casually tossed the glass bottle to the middle-aged man, then slowly stood up and made her way toward the deck.
Seeing the extremely precious 'Special Sea Salt' being thrown to him so casually by Linne, the middle-aged man's heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly caught the glass bottle, and then breathed a sigh of relief.
As someone who has been traveling on the sea for many years, he values such a small bottle of sea salt so much. It shows how rare it is.
The middle-aged man looked up and wanted to complain to Linne, but he found that Linne had walked out of the cabin in a short time, so he gave up.
On the deck, Linne walked over to Machi and the others, and saw that Nobunaga had thrown the small wooden boat into the sea. He was the first to jump onto the boat, followed by Machi and Uvogin.
When it was Buhara's turn, Nobunaga suddenly shouted, "Don't jump!"
Buhara stood on the edge of the deck, looking puzzled, and asked, "Why?"
Nobunaga's face darkened, and he said, "If you jump down, the boat will sink. Go find a rope and lower yourself down."
"Is it really that serious..." Buhara scratched his head and muttered. When he really wanted to turn around and find a rope, his body suddenly tilted and he was pulled by a strong force and then lifted off the deck.
The sudden change made Buhara stunned. He turned his head to look down and saw Linne holding him up with one hand.
"Linne-sama..." Buhara was about to ask what was going on, but before he could finish his words, he cut himself off, because Linne, who is holding him up, jumped towards the boat without saying a word.
Machi, Uvogin and Nobunaga, who were already on the boat, were shocked when they saw this scene. But what happened next left them shocked.
Linne landed smoothly in the boat. Although he was carrying the heavy Buhara in his hands, the boat did not even shake when she landed.
Facing the astonished gazes of the crowd, Linne calmly tossed Buhara aside. Only then did the small boat begin to rock violently.
"Let's go." She said as she sat down, her voice aged and frail.
Everyone looked at each other before settling into the small boat. Uvogin sat at the stern holding two oars and said with a grin, "Hold on tight!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately used his full strength. He attached his Aura to the oars, and started paddling violently.
The oars stirred up two crazy waves, and with a thunderous crash, the boat shot forward like a wild stallion.
Before long, thanks to Uvogin's crazy rowing, the boat reached the only port of Demon Island.
Nearly a hundred guards stationed at the port instantly spotted the incoming vessel and the five passengers on board. Before they could shout a warning, the boat slammed full speed into the cement dock, splintering apart on impact, while the five people on the boat landed smoothly on solid ground.
Crash!
Just as Linne and the others landed, the soldiers came to their senses. They raised their guns and aimed at the group without hesitation.
There was no need for questioning, because there hadn't been any newly authorized arrivals recently. Which meant these people had blatantly trespassed onto the island!
The soldiers didn't hesitate. The moment they raised their weapons, they prepared to pull the trigger.
But in that instant, an overwhelming, soul-shaking Aura burst forth from Linne's frail, hunched figure, sweeping across the soldiers like a hurricane.
This Aura was so sudden and powerful that even Machi and the others were caught off guard.
'What a terrifying old hag.' Uvogin and Nobunaga thought to themselves.
Clatter…!
The guns in the soldiers' hands fell to the ground one after another, and their bodies trembled violently. Their eyes were empty and their faces showed extremely frightened expressions, as if they had seen something unspeakably horrifying.
"Let's go."
Linne retracted her Aura, clasped her hands behind her back, and slowly walked toward the only path leading deeper into the island. She then repeated, "Let's go."
Machi and the others looked at each other again, then quickly followed after Linne.
That short figure suddenly grew taller in their hearts.
It turns out that aging is not an excuse for humans to become weak. The old lady in front of them, who had one foot already in the grave, still possessed strength far beyond comprehension.
It wasn't an exaggeration to speak of her in such lofty terms, because even with their skills, the younger generation had no way to gauge the depths of her true power.
…
Alcatraz Island's forest.
There was a faint floral scent in the air, but it did not attract the attention of the Seirin Group's remnants. Accompanied by artificial creatures, they marched through the area with heavy footsteps and a brute-force pace.
Fifteen artificial creatures moved ahead of them like glowing beacons, pushing rapidly through the dense forest.
High in a tree, Law stood idly, toying with a flower that gave off a pungent, corpse-like odor. Through the gaps in the foliage, his eyes locked onto the prey two hundred meters away.
The corners of his mouth curled up, revealing a hint of a smile.
Buuzzz…!
In the forest, there was a dense buzzing sound, and huge black-and-yellow bees were flying back and forth between the trees.
Afterwards, this swarm of bees, which looked incredibly dangerous just from appearance alone, avoided Law. They flew past him and surged toward the artificial creatures and Seirin Group's members ahead.
Law calmly watched the swarm of bees fly far away in an instant, then gripped the flower in his hand and ground it to a pulp. He then wiped the residual juice of the flower in his hand on his body.
"It's littlasp. They're highly venomous. Don't get stung!" (T/N: It literally means Little Wasp, so I changed it littlasp.)
In the forest, seeing nearly a hundred bees the size of mastiffs, someone shouted a warning with tense urgency.
Despite the 'little' in their name, these littlasps were anything but small, and they're many times larger than ordinary bees. The 'little' part referred only to the size of their venomous stingers.
Compared to their size, the length of their highly poisonous tail stinger is about the same as a sewing needle, but the littlasps can shoot out more than ten poisonous stingers in one go, and each time it comes out of the hive, it carries a stock of hundreds of stingers.
The swarm dove straight into the Seirin Group's formation.
Law murmured to himself, "How many years have you guys been stationed on this island? There's still so much you don't know…"
After saying that, he leaped through the woods, jumping from branch to branch. Every time he landed, a clear sound could be heard. But he didn't care about being discovered by the Seirin Group at all.
In fact, the Seirin Group did notice Law because of the noise, but with the bee swarm overwhelming them, they had no room to react.
Law charged straight into the swarm of bees, but the bees not only did not attack him, but also avoided him as if they were avoiding a plague.
He slashed a Seirin Group's member with a single clean strike, then retreated just as fast, waiting for the next opening.