Charlotte Linlin's lips curved as she watched the Kuja Pirates before her, openly worshipful, and a strange new feeling fluttered in her heart.
To be praised and confessed to by a group of beauties—something she had never experienced in this life or the last.
Looks like subduing Nine Snake Island will go even smoother than she first thought.
She chuckled. "Enough dawdling. Carry your unconscious comrades and call your ship back; this one won't sail any farther."
Perhaps because Barnett's men had meant to take the Kuja Pirates alive, most had only been knocked out; almost no one was dead.
Gloriosa exchanged glances with the few Crew members still on their feet, embarrassment flickering across her face.
"Um… we can't contact them right now."
Linlin lifted a brow. "You didn't bring a transponder snail?"
Gloriosa's voice dropped. "No. The logistics crew usually looks after them."
"Fine. Good thing I brought one."
She reached into the white coat draped behind her and produced a transponder snail.
"You remember how to reach your ship?"
"I do!" Gloriosa nodded eagerly.
But when Linlin's gaze fell on the snail, a faint blush crept across her exquisite face.
In the earlier fight she'd completely forgotten the creature existed. Though her Conqueror's Haki was under control, the overlooked snail hadn't escaped the shock; its eyes were still spinning, knocked out cold.
"Wow! Shy Lady Linlin is gorgeous!" a Kuja Crew member blurted.
Gloriosa glanced up, heart suddenly racing.
The embarrassment tinting Linlin's cheeks, set against her overwhelming aura, made her unexpectedly endearing.
Flustered by their stares, Linlin shoved the stunned snail into Gloriosa's hands.
"Here. Wake it yourself and call your ship. And you—"
She turned to the others, deliberately stern.
"What are you looking at? Go bring the wounded over here!"
"Yes, Lady Linlin!" they chorused, eyes shining brighter than before.
"Even angry Lady Linlin is irresistible," someone murmured.
Linlin shot the speaker a look.
"Ah! Lady Linlin looked at me!"
The Crew member clutched her chest and fainted from joy.
Linlin was speechless. Had recruiting this lot been a mistake?
They meant no harm, but their habit of fainting at the drop of a hat was downright embarrassing.
Equally mortified, Gloriosa busied herself prodding the snail, as though she weren't their Captain at all.
Soon every unconscious Kuja was laid together on deck, and Gloriosa finally roused the snail and reached Tritoma.
"Hey, Tritoma, where are you now?" she asked urgently.
From the snail came a little girl's excited voice: "It's the Captain! Captain! Empress, you're safe?"
"I'm fine. A powerful friend saved us. Can you come back for us?"
"Great! We're already in the Calm Belt at Barren Isle Nine. We'll turn around right now. Little Snake, about-face! We're picking up the Captain!"
Tritoma's tone brimmed with relief.
On Nine Snake Island the Empress isn't elected or appointed; she is chosen by the island's giant serpents. Only one who can command them is qualified to become Empress.
Because the Kuja Pirates rely on the serpents to tow them safely through the Calm Belt, this matters above all.
That was why Gloriosa had told Tritoma: Tritoma was the third person selected by the serpents and the only one aboard Perfume Yuda who could direct the snakes.
"All right, Tritoma. We'll wait at the same spot."
Gloriosa exhaled—then heard a rough male voice boom through the receiver: "Stop that pirate ship! Hand over your first mate!"
Her face paled. "A man? In the Calm Belt?! They're in danger!"
"Tritoma! What's happening? Answer me—Tritoma!"
But no matter how she called, only ominous silence answered from the snail.
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