The photo of Law flashing a peace sign beside a lump of weird-looking honey, paired with the line of notes, left Machi and the others at a loss for words.
They had been worried the entire way over, constantly imagining Law caught in some kind of dangerous situation he couldn't handle.
But from that photo and the tone of his message, it felt like he was living a little too comfortably.
Machi bit her teeth lightly, and suddenly a familiar raspy voice came to her ears.
"That's honey from the littlasps. They're very rare. I didn't expect that Demon Island also has it." Linne recognized the special honey at a glance, then stretched out her hand to Machi and said lightly: "Give me the phone."
Upon hearing this, Machi obediently handed her phone to Linne, who picked it up and scrolled through the message again, this time carefully memorizing the intel Law had provided.
As she gets older, her memory wasn't what it used to be, but her brain still worked well enough to hold onto key information.
After she finished reviewing the information, Linne returned the phone to Machi, "Let's find a place to rest and continue our journey tomorrow morning."
And with that, she turned and headed toward a massive boulder lying across the grassland, not bothering to check if anyone followed.
Originally, the plan had been to travel through the night and meet up with Law as soon as possible. But the message, and especially that photo, made her change her mind.
"That little punk…"
Linne cursed in a low voice. Knowing that Law still had time to go honey hunting, all her worry now felt like a waste.
As long as one uses the pungent odor emitted by the Pyros Flower and do not harm the queen, they can easily get honey from the hive under the guard of the soldier bees.
However, although it is not difficult to obtain honey, the real difficulty lies in finding the Pyros Flower.
If Law had not given Linne specific information about the enemy, she might have concluded that the enemy was very weak. Otherwise, how could Law have had the leisure to get some honey?
If Linne knew that Law used the littlasps as part of a trap to create openings for an assault and that the honey gathering was just a convenient bonus, she might have had a different take.
Machi put her phone away and followed after her.
"Let's go." Uvogin patted Buhara, and then followed Machi with Nobunaga.
"Uhh…" Buhara wiped the drool from his chin and hurried to catch up.
The photo sent by Law had definitely put a damper on their sense of urgency. After all, the fact he still had time to mess around with bees, things couldn't be that bad.
In fact, the situation Law is facing is really dire. If the members of Zodiacs were to take his place, they wouldn't have made it this far, including Jin.
If Law had not used the White Smoke Font to gradually understand the forest's ecosystem, he wouldn't have gained the crucial terrain advantage, and without the advantage of terrain, it would have been difficult for him to harm the enemies who had surrounded him like an iron barrel.
To put it plainly: the two sides' margins for error were completely unequal. Law only needed to mess up once for everything to fall apart. But for the enemy's team, they could fumble several times and still hold the upper hand.
This unequal margins for error, coupled with the drawn-out stalemate, actually made the entire situation incredibly unfavorable for Law. Even if the current Ging comes, he will definitely not be able to do as well as Law.
After all, very few people truly understood Alcatraz Island.
Linne had set foot on the island once or twice before, but she didn't stay here for long, so her knowledge of the island was quite limited.
However, even though Linne only had limited knowledge of her journey, after landing on the island, she was still able to rely on her rich experience to lead Machi and the others to avoid potential dangers time and time again.
And now, with their concerns about Law somewhat eased, the reinforcements traveling across vast distances finally let themselves rest for the night.
…
Inside the cave, Law set the phone aside and took a bite of the littlasp's honey. It was thick and soft, sweet but not cloying, and, just like Sanbica'd said, it didn't stick to the teeth.
The texture was truly reminiscent of malt syrup, though the taste was entirely natural, free from any hint of artificiality.
After swallowing a few mouthfuls of honey, the data of his Nen Categories jumped a little. It only increased by the smallest value, but it was better than nothing.
"Since I've worked so hard to protect Sanbica, please let me have a taste too!" Looking at Law and Sanbica eating the honey without stopping, Kuro was really worried that they would not leave any for him.
Upon hearing this, Law immediately considered whether to reward Kuro with the honey.
After all, apart from the incident in prison, Kuro did help a lot afterwards, so maybe he deserved a little reward.
"You! You are actually hesitating!" Kuro almost coughed up blood. In order to build a hidden hiding place for Sanbica, he had swallowed a lot of rocks and soils, and he also had been looking for food for Sanbica during this period.
Even if he didn't earn any merit, he sure suffered enough!
Law glanced at Kuro calmly, then extended his index finger and sliced off a chunk of the honey. With a casual flick, he tossed it over.
Kuro's anger suddenly turned into joy, and he pounced on the flying block of honey, opened his mouth and swallowed it, munching away happily.
Before long, Kuro had devoured the sweet, non-cloying honey down to the last drop. Afterward, Law and Sanbica lay down with their clothes on and drifted off to sleep, leaving Kuro to keep watch outside.
Before dawn, Law quietly explained the situation to Sanbica, then left the cave to go after his enemies again.
"Be careful." Sanbica said softly as she watched him go.
Given the current circumstances, she was nothing more than a burden. Law could not take her away from Demon Island directly, but had to eliminate the threat from the prison first.
A feeling of powerlessness grows inside her, and even if she wanted to do something, she can only think about it.
'I'm...really weak. I can't do anything.'
Sanbica bit her lip unwillingly, clenched her fists quietly, and thought silently in her heart.
From the corner, Kuro scoffed and said lazily, "Those deformed monsters are tough and there are many of them. Even if we let that old hag fight them head-on, she will be defeated. So don't overestimate yourself. Just hiding well in here is the best help you can give that little bastard."
After saying that, he turned into black smoke and floated toward a ventilation crevice.
The old hag he was talking about was naturally Biscuit, and the meaning of his words was very clear. The enemy was very powerful, and even if Biscuit came, she might not be able to do much well, let alone Sanbica.
Sanbica looked in the direction where Kuro had disappeared.
Though Kuro's tone had been gruff and rude, Sanbica could feel that he'd been trying to comfort her in his own way.
…
Linne and the others had only just set foot on the island. Even at full speed, it would take them at least two days on foot to reach Law's location.
But Law had no intention of waiting. If he wanted to chip away at the Seirin Group's strength, he had to take the initiative. So before the sun rose, he went out to cause more trouble.
Law was like a venomous loach. The Seirin Group concentrated all their strength to deal with him, but he still kept slipping away from their grasp.
The worst thing was that not only could they not catch him, but they would lose a few manpower every time they met him.
There was one thing Dove just couldn't wrap his head around: Why did this vast forest seem like Law's personal playground?
If not for the terrain, Dove could've crushed Law easily by concentrating all his forces. But somehow, Law always managed to use the forest's various creatures to launch counterattacks.
Just this morning, they'd finally pulled off another coordinated encirclement, but it was broken through by Law using a horde of writhing tree roots. And they lost two more artificial creatures in the chaos.
Faced with this result, Dove was bewildered at first, but then, he's filled with uncontrollable anger.
He gathered all his team together and then rode the Scale Lizard back to his base to get something.
He no longer wanted to waste energy and time, even if it meant burning through one of his precious reserves.