Shaina indeed didn't understand what Caru meant, but she could comprehend this behavior. The Lunarians are also a minority tribe with their own way of communication; for example, their internal greeting is actually colliding their wings with one another.
Brush against it, then let it be. In any case, nothing's really lost. But when she pursued further, all she saw was King and a field of corpses.
"Did you take care of them?"
"No, that guy got away, but everything that needed handling has been handled."
King pointed to the ashes beside him, and beside them was a strange pattern, the sacrificial symbol of the Lunarians. With a flap of Shaina's wings, the ashes and pattern on the ground vanished.
Clearly, King had found those wings and completely incinerated them.
"What's with these people?"
"The leader here, the one called the Manager, wasn't here from the start. Those transferring his collection and those we encountered earlier were all bait."
King gave a brief overview of the people he'd encountered along the way. As for how he extracted the intelligence, getting some information from their mouths wasn't difficult.
"What's with this Fur Race?"
"Saved her on the road, they captured her too. She said she knew the Manager's location, so I brought her along..."
Shaina paused. The Wolf Fur Race girl claimed she could scent where the Manager was, but King said the Manager wasn't here. So what exactly had she traced here?
"Little one, are you sure you didn't smell it wrong?"
"No mistake, definitely no mistake. That's the guy, that's exactly his scent."
King looked in the direction she was pointing—the very individual who'd spilled the crucial intelligence. Now even King felt something was off. The Wolf Fur Race girl spoke with utmost confidence.
And naturally, when he interrogated for intelligence, he wouldn't leave just one person. The intel from these individuals had a common theme: the Manager wasn't here.
Earlier, he had kicked the opponent in the chest. Logically, he should be dead, but to be sure, King walked over again.
When he touched the body, he finally understood the problem. Although there was no issue with the breath, and there was no breathing,
the corpse's muscles were stiff, joints difficult to bend, and body temperature dropped, all indicating death. But it was too quick; in such a short time, rigor mortis couldn't have set in to this degree.
He'd been tricked. This guy was playing dead and had almost succeeded in fooling him.
King punched towards his head; he wanted to see how he could continue playing dead without a head.
But just as the fist was about to strike, he dodged, and his body also changed form, his entire body covered in gray fur, which was why he had managed to convincingly play dead.
Zoan-type Devil Fruit—Mouse Mouse Fruit—Possum Form.
The Zoan-type physique had led King to underestimate his power, so he couldn't kill him in one blow. The possum's innate talent for playing dead temporarily deceived King, given King's confidence in his strength, he didn't believe an ordinary person could take that kick.
Plus, since the others were his trusted dead soldiers, they hadn't exposed his information, and he himself had passed a false message to King during his vanishing interrogation. Later, during King's eliminaion action, he decisively chose to play dead.
It appeared on the surface that he was indeed dead, leading to this situation.
As the Manager of this organization, he had been hiding his strength all along. Solely relying on managerial skills and brains couldn't get him this high in the Underworld; certain power was necessary too.
"Damn Fur Race brat, should have killed you from the start!"
He hadn't anticipated that his exposure would be due to his own goods.
"So you became a Mouse Fur now!"
"That's the Devil Fruit's ability. You've helped a lot this time."
Shaina patted her head and put her down. King wouldn't waste time checking his slain target again, and the subsequent handling was likely setting the place on fire. This way, he might escape in the chaos.
Furthermore, he might have seen King's actions of sending off the deceased's relics just now. If exposed because of this, it wouldn't have been worthwhile. But now, he wouldn't have another chance to play dead.
"King, your hand-to-hand combat skills indeed need improving."
"Just an accident. A playing-dead mouse is still a mouse, and I won't give him another chance."
Four giant stones appeared out of thin air, trapping the Manager, making it impossible for him to move. That was a Rock Seal, a control skill King frequently used.
King then drew the long sword from his waist, flames enveloping the blade. As he swung the blade, a flaming dragon flew out from it, and the tunnel's temperature instantly soared, making the Wolf Fur girl very uncomfortable. The Fur Race despises hot weather the most.
Their heat dissipation ability is much worse than ordinary humans due to their fur-covered bodies.
"No wonder a guy like you could play dead; your vitality is really tenacious."
Looking at the manager who was scorched all over but still alive, King expressionlessly walked up to him, and it could be said that the tailor who made him the mask was quite diligent.
Not only was the breathability and elasticity of the fabric excellent, but it could even reflect changes in his expressions, at least letting people see if his mouth moved.
"Wait, why go to such lengths? We never offended you, right?"
"The dead don't need to know so much. You did, and it's an unforgivable crime."
King raised the sword and chopped off the Manager's head. Then he burnt both the body and head to charcoal. He didn't believe this guy could still be alive after that.
After taking care of everything, a scattered sound of footsteps came from behind. The ordinary members of the Hundred Beasts had broken through below, also signifying that the battle above had completely ended.
"Let's go."
Even if they weren't interested in the island, they needed to take the spoils back after the victory. They also found a large amount of gold here. Though Belly has maintained its value over the years, the big powers still prefer to convert their money into gold.
It's convenient both for storage and value retention.
Apart from gold and some artworks, the largest bounty was "people," those captured by the organ trafficking assassination group.
This time, Kaidou played the good guy and directly sent them to nearby islands. It wasn't because he wanted to be a good person, but because he wanted to spread the word through them. Such an act of annihilating an organization's headquarters is quite a boast-worthy affair for pirates.
The Hundred Beasts naturally wouldn't send everyone back home; instead, they dropped them off on nearby orderly islands and left. But not everyone chose to leave—the Wolf Fur Race girl seemed to have stuck to them.
Throughout the journey, she clung to Shaina's leg like an accessory, stubbornly following them all the way back.