Chapter 98: The Watched Yelena
At the edge of the descending Avant Heim, Louis and Arcordon stood side-by-side, quietly looking down at the ravaged and unrecognizable Enies Lobby.
After a long while, Arcordon, feeling the continuous wails from below, remarked with emotion, "Life is truly fragile—"
To this, Louis turned to look at Arcordon with interest. "Are you pitying them?"
Arcordon shook his head and explained in a deep voice, "I just feel that for people like us who possess such great destructive power, life is as fragile as a weed."
Louis crossed his arms and turned his gaze back to Enies Lobby, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "You underestimate weeds. Cutting, burning, or trampling them won't truly harm their life. Humans, on the other hand, cannot withstand the same treatment."
Arcordon heard this and became pensive. He felt that Louis's words were hinting at something. "Are you saying that humans are inferior to weeds?"
To this, Louis did not answer. Instead, he silently raised his hand, and a warm, holy light rose in his palm. He let it scatter in the cold wind, turning into specks of fireflies that drifted down to various parts of Enies Lobby.
Arcordon saw this and raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were going to kill them."
Louis shook his head. "I'm conducting an experiment. If it succeeds, I might even need the help of these agents."
"Suit yourself." Arcordon pouted, then stretched lazily. "Well then, I'm heading back to the New World! I still haven't managed to get in touch with King the Conflagration! Shakky said someone saw Kaido of the Beasts playing suicide in the front half of the New World. I'm going to take the opportunity to go to the Land of Wano and see!"
A hint of frustration flashed in Arcordon's eyes. The people of the Beasts Pirates were too much of homebodies. In the past few years, he hadn't managed to catch a single one of their top executives.
"Alright. Be safe," Louis nodded. Then, as if he'd thought of something, he said pointedly, "Will you be passing by Punk Hazard?"
Arcordon pondered for a moment before answering, "No, but it won't take much time to make a trip there." He then looked at Louis with a puzzled face. "Why? Do you want me to destroy it?"
Louis watched as the giants boarded Avant Heim one by one, then controlled it to ascend again. He then feigned a pensive look. "I heard there's an artificial Azure Dragon fruit there. Take it with you on your way."
"Alright." Arcordon agreed directly, without hesitation. Although he didn't know what an artificial fruit was, it didn't stop him from listening to Louis.
"Wait for my good news!"
Leaving this sentence behind, Arcordon's body began to glow with a white light, and in an instant, he disappeared from Louis's sight.
Just then, Yelena also slowly walked out of the cloud cave and came to Louis's side. "Louis, Dorry and the others are looking for you."
"I know." Louis nodded and turned to walk toward the cloud cave. However, the next second, he stopped in his tracks, looking back with a rather strange expression.
Yelena was taken aback, then seemed to realize something and waited with interest for what would happen next.
A few seconds later, a dazzling flash of lightning extended from the distance, converging in front of Louis to form Arcordon's figure. It was indeed Arcordon, who had just left and now returned. Then, under their gazes, he put on a mysterious look. "It's a good thing Yelena is also here. There's something I almost forgot to say."
Yelena heard this and frowned slightly. "Something about me?" Getting caught up in the drama herself was not something Yelena particularly enjoyed.
Louis put on a "what haven't I seen before" expression and said casually, "Tell me."
Arcordon first glanced at Yelena, and after organizing his words, said something shocking: "Yelena might be related to the Beasts Pirates!"
Louis: "..." This was a situation Louis had truly never seen before.
"???" Yelena's eyes widened as if she had seen a ghost.
Arcordon's eyes fell on the black oni horns on Yelena's head, and he slowly spoke, "A short while ago, when I was fighting a member of the God's Knights, that person thought I was from the Beasts Pirates and said something strange."
Then, under their gazes, he repeated the other person's exact words: "Have the Beasts Pirates already taken notice of this Oni?"
The meaning of the Celestial Dragon's words was very clear. They had been searching for and paying attention to Yelena. And if the Beasts Pirates knew of Yelena's existence, they would also be very interested in her.
Louis and Yelena exchanged glances, both seeing the disbelief in each other's eyes.
Yelena met Arcordon's gaze, raised a hand to touch her unusual black oni horns, and said with some uncertainty, "Could it be... because my oni horns are black?"
On the sea, Oni were not uncommon. They were suspected of inheriting the blood of the ancient giant race. Most had bone-white horns, a few had red or orange. But the oni horns on Yelena's head were black. This made Yelena think that this was the source of her uniqueness.
"Like the flames of your Lunarian race, or the unknown special ability of the Buccaneers... do Oni with black horns like me also have something special?"
To this, Arcordon shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't deliberately ask them."
Soon, Arcordon left again, leaving a bewildered Louis and Yelena to think in the cold wind. But a bold guess soon appeared in Louis's mind. Why had the World Government dispatched a powerful fleet of three Vice Admiral-level combatants, five or six Rear Admirals, and several warships to capture Yelena in the East Blue? Was it really just because of Yelena's outstanding talent?
Louis lowered his eyes slightly, looking at the white hair cascading down Yelena's back. "It's not a gradient color," Louis noted silently. Then, he compared Yelena with an anime character from his memory and once again came to a conclusion. "Including the white hair, the resemblance is at most thirty percent—"
After a long while, Louis asked with great interest, "Yelena, if you had to choose—would you pick a 19-year-old sister, or a 12-year-old sister plus a 10-year-old brother?"
Yelena looked up at Louis. "If my mother were still alive, she would definitely come to see me."
"What if they were half-siblings?" Louis nodded, silently adding.
Yelena heard this and fell into serious thought. In the end, she asked back, "What are the personalities you've given them?"
Louis thought for a moment and said seriously, "The 19-year-old sister likes to fantasize that she's a certain powerful man who has some intelligence issues."
Yelena: "???"
"The 12-year-old sister has a terrible personality, picks fights with everyone she meets, even her boss and benefactor, and she's also a bro-con."
Yelena heard this, and seeing the serious, reminiscent look in Louis's eyes, her heart went cold. At this moment, for the first time in a long while, Yelena lost her composure. Her face became a little strange, and she opened her mouth as if to say something. In the end, she said with a look of utter rejection, "Can I choose none of them?"
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