"We're too late."
Looking at the scene of devastation before him and the already worm-ridden, rotting flesh, Sai's face became extremely grim.
Not just him, the others in the Happo Navy fleet had similar reactions.
Chinjao stood on the coastline where the [Battle of God-Slaying] had erupted, bending down to pick up a pinch of the blackened sand.
'It didn't look like blood... no, it shouldn't be just blood.'
Not far from him was a protective suit guard whose flesh had completely melted.
"Brother Chinjao, our tribesmen... they... they..."
King Gancho of the Tontatta Tribe, seeing this cruel and bloody scene, felt his stomach churn.
The Tontatta Tribe had always loved peace. Even when enslaved by the Donquixote Family, they had never witnessed such undisguised brutality.
Beside him, Princess Mansherry, though also feeling very uncomfortable, forced herself to stay strong and supported her father.
In contrast, the captains like Leo and Kabu, as warriors, were clearly much more resilient. They had already begun searching for clues all around.
"Don't panic, Brother Gancho."
During the time spent sailing with the Tontatta Tribe, Gancho and Chinjao, two old men with vastly different statures, had actually become good friends.
Chinjao possessed a wisdom and experience uncommon among ordinary pirates, and Gancho had a breadth of knowledge and insight not typical of most Tontatta.
The two got along very well… until they followed the clues to Punk Hazard.
"Judging by the state of these corpses, the battle that erupted here must have been several days ago."
Saying this, Chinjao tightly closed his eyes, spreading his Observation Haki around.
Although he couldn't explore an entire island with Observation Haki as casually as an Emperor or Naruto, covering this coastline was enough.
After sensing for a while, he opened his eyes and shook his head at the others watching him.
"No life signs."
"However, I found many ships at sea."
"Sai, Boo, you two take some men and go check over there."
After Sai and Boo left, Chinjao lifted King Gancho onto his palm, comforting him.
"Don't worry too much, Brother Gancho."
"There are no Tontatta Tribe's corpses here, they must still be alive."
Hearing this, Gancho could only sigh deeply, pacing back and forth on Chinjao's palm while leaning on his royal scepter.
"Sigh... I hope so."
"They are all good children... it's my fault, my fault for not saving them in time."
Gancho was about to indulge in self-blame again when he heard Leo suddenly shout.
"Everyone, come quickly! Over here! Their footprints!"
Everyone looked towards the sound and saw Leo standing in a certain spot, pointing ahead.
Then the group analyzed and identified those footprints, finally reaching a conclusion.
When those guys in protective suits died, the Tontatta tribesmen should still have been alive.
Because many of their footprints overlapped the traces of those corpses, meaning the Tontatta were still active after these guards died.
Then they followed the footprints to the place where the large transport ship had once been docked.
"It seems someone took them away."
Chinjao said so.
Actually, according to his deduction, whether it was their abilities or unique appearance, many on the sea would be interested in the Tontatta Tribe.
Not everyone was like them, willing to befriend this race out of gratitude for saving them.
Regardless of combat power, these little ones were simply too guileless; a simple lie could trick them away.
But this way, tracking these Tontatta tribesmen again would be troublesome.
Gancho seemed to understand this as well, so his face didn't show much relief.
Not long after, Sai and the others returned, bringing news about those ships.
"No one alive. They either turned into... mincemeat or became this thing."
As he spoke, he threw a snake-humanized corpse in front of everyone.
Everyone was all too familiar with this.
"That guy who spread poison on Dressrosa! Is he still alive? Or are they his other accomplices?"
Unfortunately, the corpses of Orochimaru and Caesar were already gone, so their conclusions drifted further from the truth.
"It's likely those guys took them away!"
"This... what do we do now?"
Gancho also became anxious.
Seeing this, Chinjao comforted him.
"Don't be hasty, Brother Gancho."
"I'll send men immediately to track in the directions of the surrounding islands, we'll surely find clues."
"Don't worry, no matter how much time and effort it takes, we will definitely help you get your tribesmen back."
"The Happo Navy always repays its debts!"
Chinjao's words were firm and resolute.
"...Alright, I can only rely on you then."
Saying this, Gancho gave Chinjao a slight bow.
"Hey! What are you saying? If we really talk about it, we should thank your daughter for saving us."
After saying this, Chinjao also nodded to Mansherry in thanks.
Then, as if thinking of something, Chinjao took the initiative to ask,
"But Brother Gancho, it might be somewhat difficult to find your tribesmen back in a short time… it will take some time."
"Now that Dressrosa has fallen into the hands of the Beasts Pirates, why don't you come with us to the Kano Country and rest for a while first."
"I still hold some sway in the Kano Country. At least arranging a place for you to recuperate shouldn't be a problem."
For Chinjao's invitation, Gancho thought for a few seconds before nodding in agreement.
They didn't have many better choices anyway.
Moreover, practically the entire Tontatta Tribe was already on the Happo Navy's ships. Strictly speaking, this could be considered a relocation of the entire tribe.
Seeing Gancho agree, Chinjao felt half relieved and half worried.
'Sigh, these little friends are still too trusting.'
'Thankfully they met people like us who genuinely want the best for them.'
'If it were other bad guys, they could take this opportunity to capture them all at once.'
'No, I must protect them well from now on and warn them often to be wary of outsiders' words.'
Chinjao thought, somewhat fretfully.
However, his thoughts were destined to be in vain. After all, the Tontatta Tribe's 'simplicity' was ingrained in their bones… how could it change so easily?
Gancho sat on Chinjao's shoulder, boarding the Happo Navy's large ship alongside him, still worried about his missing tribesmen.
…
Yet at this very moment, there was someone whose worries ran even deeper than Gancho's.
That was the base commander of Marine G-5, the Vice Admiral who participated in the Summit War, known as [Demon Bamboo] Vergo.
At the same time, he was perhaps the only remaining 'lone survivor' of the Donquixote Family on the outside.
Since returning from Marineford, he had been concerned about the family and the young master, wanting to rescue Doflamingo from Big Mom's hands.
However, while the idea was good, forget about heading to Whole Cake Island… right now, he couldn't even extend his hand beyond the G-5 base.
So much so that after learning the news of Dressrosa's 'change of ownership' through other information channels, he could only watch helplessly from within the base.
And the reason for all this was because of that blind man!
Fujitora.
Although they shared the same rank of Vice Admiral, it was clear that Issho carried more weight in the eyes of the Marine Headquarters brass than him, a mere base commander.
This could be seen from his epithet.
As everyone knew, Marine Admiral epithets were basically distinguished by a 'color' plus an 'animal'.
At the moment when Akainu's fate was unknown and he had been sent to Egghead Island, the Admiral position became vacant.
And this position was very likely to be chosen from among Fujitora, Momousagi, Chaton, and Ryokugyu.
Currently, it seemed Fujitora had the highest chance of succeeding.
Compared to Momousagi and the others, Fujitora had been summoned multiple times by Sengoku after the Summit War and entrusted with many tasks.
Like re-establishing order on Sabaody Archipelago, for example.
Fujitora completed them all very well.
Then, he was dispatched to the G-5 base, said to be assisting him in stabilizing the security situation in the nearby sea areas.
The Marines still hadn't planned to completely abandon the New World.
While contracting their patrol range, they also deployed new forces.
Currently, over thirty percent of the Marines at the G-5 base were brought over from Headquarters by Fujitora.
Surprisingly, these 'elite soldiers' in Vergo's eyes got along fairly well with the old hands at the G-5 base.
Even if there were minor conflicts, they were resolved seamlessly under Fujitora's handling.
Thanks to this, his own prestige and authority here were gradually flowing to the other side.
If this continued, he would be kicked out of the G-5 power structure.
And this blind man's intuition was frighteningly accurate. Lately, he had started closely monitoring his movements, as if noticing something.
If he discovered his true identity...
Losing his Marine status meant nothing to Vergo personally, but without this identity, how could he save the Donquixote Family?