As Uchiha Madara stepped closer, the surrounding marines tensed up immediately, raising their rifles and aiming them at him.
A marine beside Lieutenant Colonel Kurohige quickly whispered a warning, "Be careful, Lieutenant Colonel! This guy is Uchiha Madara—the one who attacked the Celestial Dragons. He's suspected to be a mysterious Devil Fruit user with terrifying strength!"
Lieutenant Colonel Kurohige waved his hand dismissively and then barked at Madara, "Are you here to surrender? Release the three nobles immediately, or the consequences will be dire!"
Madara crossed his arms and smirked mockingly. "If I release them, will you let us go?"
The question left Lieutenant Colonel Kurohige at a loss for words.
It was obvious. Given the severity of Lin Xuan and Madara's actions, the World Government would never allow them to live—whether they released the Celestial Dragons or not!
Seeing his silence, Madara burst into laughter. "Since you won't spare us, why should we let them go? If we're going to die anyway, dragging them down to hell with us sounds like a fair trade, doesn't it?"
Lieutenant Colonel Kurohige's expression darkened.
If possible, he would have ordered an attack already. But without absolute confidence in success, he had no choice but to suppress his rage and stall for time, waiting for the arrival of a Marine Admiral.
Finally, he growled, "Did you even consider your family and friends when you did this? Maybe you aren't afraid to die, but aren't you worried they'll suffer the consequences?"
Before Madara could respond, Lin Xuan burst out laughing. "Sorry to disappoint, but we really aren't worried—because we don't have any family or friends in this world!"
Lieutenant Colonel Kurohige: "..."
How the hell am I supposed to respond to that?!
At this moment, Lin Xuan's gaze swept over the thousand or so marines surrounding them, and an idea struck him: Judging by their reactions, these marines probably haven't seen me before. I should be able to harvest another wave of reputation points!
So, he suddenly added, "Besides, do you really think these three pieces of trash Celestial Dragons are worth saving?"
The marines had no answer to that.
In truth, they wanted to say: It's not about whether they're worth saving—it's that we HAVE to save them!
Lin Xuan shrugged. "Fine, I'll lift their genjutsu for now. Let's see how they react."
Hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Kurohige and the others didn't react much, but Madara was shocked.
Because from Lin Xuan's tone, it sounded like he wasn't asking Madara to undo the genjutsu—he planned to do it himself!
But how was that possible?
The genjutsu cast on the Celestial Dragons was his, Uchiha Madara's! It wasn't something just anyone could break!
Did Lin Xuan have some method to counter his genjutsu?
Filled with doubt, Madara fixed his eyes intently on Lin Xuan.
What he saw next left him utterly stunned.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
What was this?!
He saw Lin Xuan's pupils suddenly turn blood-red, with three tomoe swirling within them!
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan!
"How is this possible?!"
Madara nearly shouted aloud.
Lin Xuan wasn't even from his world—how could he possess the Sharingan? And not just any Sharingan, but the Three-Tomoe!
For a moment, Madara even wondered if Lin Xuan was actually a fellow Uchiha, and if everything he'd seen so far—this so-called "other world"—was just an illusion!
Why had Lin Xuan suddenly awakened the Sharingan?
Simple: he had just used a Universal Copy Card!
And he had fully expected Madara's shock. With a faint smile, he transmitted his voice directly into Madara's mind: "What's the big deal? Didn't I already tell you? As long as you agree, I can learn anything from you without you even teaching me."
Madara's eye twitched. "A Kekkei Genkai isn't something just anyone can learn!"
Lin Xuan chuckled. "Of course ordinary people can't learn it. But am I ordinary? Could an ordinary person have summoned you from another world with Edo Tensei?"
That shut Madara up, though his estimation of Lin Xuan's abilities rose even higher.
While Madara was still reeling from the shock of Lin Xuan's Sharingan, Lin Xuan had already activated his newly copied eyes and began unraveling the genjutsu on the Roshwald family.
Since his Sharingan was a direct copy of Madara's, undoing Madara's genjutsu was effortless.
Soon, the genjutsu was dispelled, and the Roshwalds gradually regained consciousness.
The moment they woke up, all three of them—Roshwald Saint and his two sons—started shouting.
Charlos Saint glared at the marines and screamed, "You useless marines! Save us now! If anything happens to us, the World Government will make sure you, your families, your villages—no, your entire countries—pay for it!"
Hearing such threats, Lieutenant Colonel Kurohige and the thousand marines present all felt a headache coming on.
They couldn't fathom the Celestial Dragons' thought process. Couldn't they see the situation they were in?
Right now, they were hostages. If the marines acted recklessly, they might not only fail to rescue them but even accidentally harm them!
But no matter how frustrated they were, they didn't dare show the slightest disrespect to the Celestial Dragons. They could only remain silent.
At the same time—
*"Ding! Congratulations, host. Reputation points +9999!"*
Hearing the system notification, Lin Xuan couldn't help but grin. His guess had been right—another wave of reputation points successfully harvested!
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T/N:
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