Sakazuki let out a faint chuckle:
"Already knew."
"Don't worry about them."
"The Sorbet Kingdom is one of the member nations, and the Dowager Queen of Sorbet has some ties with the government."
"Just record their electromagnetic fields."
"We'll settle with them later."
Enel's clear voice came through again:
"Understood."
Clack—
Hanging up, Sakazuki casually set the Den Den Mushi aside.
He lay back on the slightly slanted boulder, basking in the sun until he drifted off to sleep.
Relaxation breeds laziness...
He had no idea how long he slept.
Splash—
A crisp sound startled Sakazuki awake.
He sat up, grabbed the newspaper that had been covering his head, and looked at the setting sun and the news bird that had just flown away. Shaking his head, he gave a small laugh:
"It's already evening, huh."
He got up, stretched his body, and let out a long yawn:
"Phew—"
Letting out a breath, he held the newspaper up in front of him and flipped through it.
The headline on the front page instantly caught his attention.
"So it's already happened."
In bold letters, it read:
"Fishman Who Attacked the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, the Most Heinous Criminal!!!"
Beneath it was a huge wanted poster.
The poster showed the grim face of a Fishman, glancing back over his shoulder with a sharp gaze.
Below it was his name: Fisher Tiger.
Bounty: 230,000,000 Belly. Dead or alive.
...
The night before.
The sun had just set, starlight scattering across the sky.
Fisher Tiger surfaced with a large pack slung on his back.
Staring at the towering Red Line before him, so high it reached the clouds, his eyes hardened. He drew in a deep breath.
Clack—
One hand gripped the steep rock face as he began climbing upward, never stopping, all through the night...
Thud—
Hurling his pack up onto the cliffside, Fisher Tiger finally pulled himself over the edge.
The skin on his chest was scraped raw, his hands and feet worn down to the bone. Yet he paid no mind.
Opening the pack, he took out a longsword and a container of lamp oil, striding toward the Celestial Dragons' residence.
He had been a slave here for three years—he knew Mary Geoise well.
He also knew this: the moment chaos erupted where the Celestial Dragons lived, every guard would rush there first.
Not to a group of slaves... That was his chance.
...
Mary Geoise, the slave quarters.
This was where the Celestial Dragons' slaves were kept.
Only those favored by the Celestial Dragons were kept within their mansions... for hellish torment.
As for the rest, they were all locked up here.
After all, the Celestial Dragons owned all sorts of slaves: giants, Fishmen, humans...
They couldn't possibly cram their homes with slaves. Even their vast estates would never be enough.
The guards watching over the slaves suddenly turned pale, eyes widening toward the distance.
They rushed inside to rouse the others:
"Bad news!"
"Fire! There's a fire!"
The resting guards leapt up in shock:
"What?!"
"Where?!"
"There!!! Over there!!!"
Seeing the panicked man, the others rushed outside—only to be struck dumb at the sight:
"This... this is... outrageous!!!!"
"Hurry, put it out!!!!"
In the distance, flames engulfed the Celestial Dragons' divine residence, spreading like a sea of fire across Mary Geoise.
Countless servants of the Celestial Dragons ran to extinguish it.
No one dared hesitate—if even one Celestial Dragon died, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Perhaps... everyone present would be executed...
When the guards had all rushed off to fight the fire, Fisher Tiger strode into the massive prison with his longsword in hand.
Rows upon rows of cells stretched endlessly, crammed with slaves.
The slaves, roused from their slumber, were uneasy and fearful of the unknown.
When they saw Fisher Tiger charge in, many froze in shock.
They had been here together for years, all familiar with each other. But him... wasn't he dead?!
"You... you're Tiger!!!"
"Weren't you already—"
Tiger walked up to a cell, smiled at the stunned slave, and said:
"I came back to life."
"I came to save you."
Clack—
The lock on the cage door snapped apart.
"The keys are at the entrance. Go on ahead."
The freed slaves still stared in disbelief at the Fishman who had lived among them for three years. Then, jolted back to reality, they asked:
"What about you?!"
Tiger's firm voice rang out:
"I still have others to free."
Clack—
Clack—
The sound of breaking locks echoed again and again...
More and more slaves poured out, regardless of race—all freed equally.
Every last slave in that colossal prison was released by Fisher Tiger.
Countless wept as they fled the living hell.
When all was done, Fisher Tiger stood at the prison gates, glanced at the raging flames in the distance...
Then turned, heading in the opposite direction from the others. He would hold back the pursuers.
As he passed, the Boa sisters turned their heads.
They fixed their eyes tightly on Fisher Tiger.
As if to etch forever in memory the man who had saved them...
Elsewhere, Tesoro, who had become a slave while searching for his lover, had borne humiliation for a year.
But when word came of his beloved's death, he was shattered, hopeless, clinging only barely to life.
Now, seeing the broken chains, hope flared again.
Thoughts long buried erupted within him:
"I will live!"
"I will have revenge!"
"I will become richer than anyone in the world!!!"
"Even the wealthiest Celestial Dragon will kneel before me!!!"
"As long as I have money!! Anything can be done!!!!!"
He ran madly with the crowd of escapees...
"I will live!!"
"I will be rich!!"
"And when the day comes that I am unimaginably wealthy... will you come back to me...?"
"Stella..."
Mary Geoise, sleepless that night.
When the flames were finally extinguished, there was time to investigate.
From the mouths of guards knocked unconscious near the slave quarters came the report: it was a scarlet-skinned Fishman.
From the description...
They identified a slave long thought dead.
Yet one burning question haunted them all...
No one had seen where he came from.
Every soldier at every gate had been vigilant. There was no possible way in.
It was as if he had appeared out of thin air—an unsolved mystery.
The soldiers who fought the fire didn't rest. They were dispatched in waves, following the trail of the fleeing slaves.
They hoped to capture some. But every attempt failed.
Finally, one squad followed a trail of footprints to the cliff's edge, only to be struck dumb, unable to think...
"You've got to be kidding!"
"Impossible!"
"He... he!!!!"
"He climbed up from here?!!!!"
On the silent cliff's edge, only one squad of stunned soldiers remained.
And there, on the Red Line, brown stains of blood still marked the path...
The captain leaned over and peered down.
From unfathomable depths below the cliff face, a dark brown trail stretched upward, all the way to here...
---
read +170 chapters on Patreon tambeerg