Six hours later, at the ruins of Savila Island.
More accurately, it wasn't ruins anymore. . The entire island had sunk beneath the waves, leaving only vast stretches of shattered icebergs floating on the sea.
High in the sky, amid the turbulent clouds that had only just begun to settle, the Flying Lion of the Flying Pirates slowly emerged.
Moments later, Shiki's figure descended rapidly from the airborne ship onto the ice.
The instant his feet touched the frozen surface, a layer of frost crept up the toes of his shoes.
"Hah…" Shiki breathed out a cold mist and frowned slightly. . "So it's already over? Still, that was one hell of a fight. The residual freezing aura hasn't even faded yet…"
Thanks to that lingering chill, Shiki could tell the battle between Garp and Valthior hadn't ended all that long ago.
After thinking for a moment, Shiki quickly flew back up to his ship. Then the Flying Lion sped up again and headed toward the Red Line.
But whether it was Shiki, or Valthior and Garp who had left earlier, none of them cared or noticed that someone was still frozen inside one of the broken glaciers.
Crocodile.
He had been the first to attack Chinjao, only to be taken down by Chinjao soon after. Then Garp and Valthior appeared one after another. Their Conqueror's Haki spread wildly, and the aftershocks of their fierce battle treated Crocodile like a nameless extra in the background, throwing him around again and again.
With Crocodile's current strength, he could not withstand the clash of Conqueror's Haki between Valthior and Garp at all.
He had been knocked unconscious long ago. After that, whether through luck or misfortune, he had been frozen solid inside a piece of glacier and was not found by anyone.
After that floating ice drifted in the seawater for a long time, the ice on the surface slowly began to melt. Crocodile's face was the first part to be exposed to the air.
Several waves rolled over, and cold seawater slapped against his face. Crocodile's brow instinctively furrowed. A moment later, his eyes suddenly opened. First there was confusion in them, then panic. Only after he found that the surroundings were very quiet did he gradually calm down.
"What… happened to me?" Crocodile muttered in confusion while still trapped in the ice.
Fragments of memory from before he passed out flashed through his mind. The sky and earth had seemed to collapse. The island had shattered. Raging Haki swept through his mind like a tsunami. In a daze, he seemed to have seen two terrifying monsters tear the sky apart.
At that moment, Crocodile finally understood what a battle between true strong fighters looked like.
For someone like him, a proud genius who thought too highly of himself, he might not even have the right to watch.
Just the aftershocks of those two monsters' fight and the careless release of their Haki had left him unable to resist.
The Baroque Works he had only recently formed was probably wiped out by now.
Crocodile, who had grown up in the New World since childhood, seemed to realize that only today had he truly seen how terrifying the New World was.
Even as a Logia user, he was nothing more than a stray dog by the roadside in the eyes of true monsters.
Fine yellow sand flowed out from the cracks in the ice. Soon, Crocodile escaped from the block of ice and landed with both feet on a larger piece of glacier.
He looked around blankly. After a long while, his body turned into yellow sand and drifted away with the wind.
Fortunately, there were still places to land around this sea. In his current state, he should be able to last until the next island and recover there.
...
At the same time, elsewhere.
The Oro Jackson and Garp's dog-headed warship were sailing side by side.
On the deck, Bullet was using blue flames to "burn" Valthior's body. As the blue flames kept covering him, some of the rough wounds on his body began to heal.
After a while, Bullet withdrew his ability and said with regret, "This is all I can do."
The Phoenix did have some healing power, but that power mainly worked on the user. Using it to heal others was clearly not very practical.
After Bullet stopped, Bartholomew Kuma immediately stepped forward. He pressed both hands hard against Valthior's chest, and a huge paw-shaped bubble with a faint red glow slowly expanded from Valthior's back.
Before long, a giant paw bubble that took up almost two-thirds of the deck floated behind Valthior.
"Your ability really is amazing, Kuma!" Valthior said, suddenly looking much more energetic and pleasantly surprised.
As a Zoan user, Valthior could clearly feel that his body had been extremely tired just now, with his injuries slowly healing under heavy strain. But after Bartholomew Kuma pressed his paws against him, even though his body had not fully recovered, that deep fatigue vanished at once.
Once that tired feeling disappeared, his body's recovery speed began to rise quickly.
Originally, he thought it would take seven or eight days to recover. But now, it seemed he could sleep once and be mostly fine by tomorrow.
While Valthior was thinking this, Bartholomew Kuma took a deep breath and raised both hands, preparing to reach into the bubble filled with fatigue, pain, and injuries.
Valthior reacted quickly and immediately grabbed him. "What are you doing!?"
"Young Master, if these are not absorbed soon, they will return to your body before long," Bartholomew Kuma said seriously as he looked at Valthior.
"That still does not mean you have to absorb them!" Valthior stopped Kuma and called out, "Bring those two up."
As soon as he said that, Doringo soon brought out Chinjao and Tofu, who had been locked in the cabin.
Of the two, only Tofu was a Devil Fruit user, but Chinjao was also bound with Seastone cuffs. There was no other reason. The Valthior Pirates lacked many things, but they did not lack Seastone. After all, Frost Island had the richest Seastone mines in the world.
"Chinjao, I heard you came to the New World because of me?" Valthior grinned.
Chinjao stayed silent for a moment, then looked at Valthior and said, "That is right. I came to the New World this time to get the coordinates to Laugh Tale from you, then find the legendary great treasure and the sixty billion Berries Roger left behind."
After a slight pause, he could not help asking, "Does Laugh Tale really exist? Is there really a great treasure? Did Roger really bury more than sixty billion Berries there?"
Valthior smiled and nodded. "That is right. We did find Laugh Tale, and Captain Roger did leave behind all the wealth he gathered as a pirate."
"Then his title as Pirate King really is well deserved…" Chinjao sighed.
As for why Valthior and the others had not taken the great treasure on Laugh Tale, Chinjao did not ask. He knew very well that even if he asked, Valthior would never tell him the reason.
"Since you came after our treasure, then use treasure to buy your life now," Valthior said with a grin.
"What treasure would I have…" Chinjao froze for a moment, then shook his head.
Valthior waved his hand. "Kuma, let him have a taste."
Bartholomew Kuma did not hesitate. He raised his hand and grabbed a small portion from the bubble filled with Valthior's pain. Under Chinjao's confused gaze, Kuma pressed it into his body.
"Ugh—!!!"
Chinjao let out a single agonized scream. A moment later he clenched his teeth and forced himself to stay silent, but every muscle in his body was trembling, and cold sweat poured down his face.
"That was only a tiny bit. You saw it too. I still have this huge source of pain waiting for you. Speak now, and you can avoid all of it," Valthior said with a smile.
"Hah…" It seemed the pain had passed. Chinjao took a rough breath and said, "I do not know what you are talking about…"
"The Jewel Ice Sheet," Valthior said with a cold smile. "I have already said this much. Are you still going to play dumb?"
Chinjao froze.
He truly did not know how Valthior knew about that.
But soon, his eyes darkened. He stayed silent and no longer spoke.
Seeing this, Valthior waved again. Bartholomew Kuma grabbed an even larger portion of pain and pressed it straight into Chinjao's body.
This time, Chinjao was prepared. He did not make a sound and endured the pain by force. His whole body trembled, and faint blood vessels began to fill his eyes.
The more silent he became, the faster Bartholomew Kuma moved. From time to time, another piece of the pain-filled bubble was pushed into Chinjao's body.
Still, it had to be said, this man was truly tough. He valued the Jewel Ice Sheet even more than his own life and refused to speak no matter what.
After a long while, Bartholomew Kuma looked at Valthior with some hesitation. "Young Master, should I continue?"
A third of it had already been pushed into Chinjao.
Any more, and Chinjao might really die.
Valthior also looked at Chinjao with some respect. "You are a tough man. Still refusing to speak after all this. Impressive…"
At this point, Valthior raised his hand and said, "Let this Tofu guy have a taste."
As soon as his words fell, Chinjao suddenly raised his head and stared hard at Valthior, his eyes full of anger.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Do you think I am shameless? Come on, we are pirates. You did not think I was a good person, did you?" Valthior said with a cold laugh.
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