Chapter 611: The Hollowed Out Infinity Stones!
Ryuunosuke was genuinely taken aback after hearing Magellan's answer.
Even as Impel Down's warden, Magellan barely knew anything about that prisoner. That meant the Red Earl was even more deeply buried than Ryuunosuke had imagined.
"By the way, Mr. Magellan," Ryuunosuke said after a brief pause. "What are you planning to do next?"
"I'll keep my promise to Orochi," Magellan replied without hesitation. "I'll go attack those samurai. After that, we'll leave."
He exhaled, and for the first time since the fight, his expression loosened.
"Now my body has developed antibodies against the toxins. I can finally go out to sea and actually eat properly."
A longing flashed in his eyes as he spoke.
"My dream is to taste every delicious thing in the world."
Ryuunosuke understood the weight of those words.
Because of Magellan's condition, food barely touched his mouth before it spoiled. Every meal turned into pain. Every bite meant an upset stomach. If it were not for that, with Magellan's strength, how could he have stayed locked inside Impel Down as warden for so long?
"Mr. Magellan really was a stylish man once," Ryuunosuke said, tone calm, almost amused. "But for now, I might not be able to let you leave."
Then he added, as if offering a casual suggestion.
"Of course, if you remember anything about the Red Earl, you can use it as leverage to earn your freedom."
With that, Ryuunosuke turned as if to leave.
Magellan's face tightened. He grew anxious immediately.
It was important to understand one thing. Ryuunosuke was the type who said what he meant.
Magellan had still been clinging to a thin thread of hope that he could escape Feitan somehow. But in front of Ryuunosuke, there was no escape at all.
"Captain Ryuunosuke," Magellan blurted, "if you really want information on the Red Earl, ask Mr. Garp, the naval advisor. He might know more. I know too little. All I know is the World Government arranged for him to be sent into Impel Down."
"World Government?" Ryuunosuke stopped and looked back. "So he wasn't captured by anyone?"
His eyes narrowed slightly, contempt flickering.
"It's practically impossible for those CP0 scumbags to catch someone like that."
Then his expression eased.
"I was joking, Mr. Magellan. Where you go is your freedom."
He tossed something over with a casual flick.
"Take this Den Den Mushi. If you run into anything strange, or if you find out anything about the Red Earl, contact me."
Ryuunosuke's tone stayed light, almost friendly.
"And if you need help, that's fine too."
Magellan caught the Den Den Mushi on instinct.
Then Ryuunosuke turned and left.
Kuina, Akame, Kobayashi, Feitan, and the others followed in a grand procession, vanishing from the field one after another.
"They… they're leaving already?"
Even after watching them go, Magellan still felt unreal, like he had walked out of a nightmare without understanding why.
He had truly believed there was no chance to leave.
Yet he had been let off that easily.
And he had even been given a Dragon Hunter Pirates Den Den Mushi.
That alone carried terrifying value. On the high seas, one call would be enough to make more than ninety percent of pirates think twice before touching him.
Of course, Magellan's own strength was already enough to let him roam freely.
Still, this felt like someone had handed him a flag and told the world, touch this man if you want to die.
…
Not long after, Ryuunosuke arrived at the place where Chrollo was waiting.
"Captain."
The moment Chrollo saw him, he stepped forward to greet him, a smug look flickering across his usually ascetic face. It was strange on him, but it was there.
"You found something strange?" Ryuunosuke asked directly. "Or rather, you found what's strange about Wano?"
"Not only strange places," Chrollo answered, "strange people too."
His voice cooled.
"Momonosuke might not be just one person."
He explained quickly, laying out everything that had happened.
"A man came earlier and claimed he was Momonosuke. But he looked like an adult Momonosuke."
Ryuunosuke's interest sharpened.
"Interesting. Another cyborg?" he murmured. "I didn't expect anyone besides Vegapunk to be capable of that."
His gaze returned to Chrollo.
"Any other news?"
If that were all, it would not have made Chrollo look so satisfied.
Chrollo reached into his belongings and pulled out a fragment.
"I found this."
Ryuunosuke's eyes locked onto it the instant it appeared.
"This is… a fragment of an Infinity Stone," he said slowly. "And all the energy inside has already been extracted."
"That's right," Chrollo replied. "Infinity Stones."
He sounded certain, like he had touched the memory itself.
"I remember these things. Even back then, we couldn't extract all the energy from an Infinity Stone."
He held the fragment up again.
"But this extraction was clean. Perfect. You can't feel even a trace of residue."
His eyes narrowed.
"In other words, someone in Wano can perfectly use the power of the Infinity Stones."
He corrected himself immediately, as if the second phrasing was even worse.
"Or rather, they have a method to use them."
Chrollo continued, explaining how he had discovered it.
He had first noticed something off while fighting the Aragami, though he had not known where it came from at the time.
Later, on the high seas, he encountered a Wano ship and found this fragment aboard.
The most important part was not the fragment itself.
It was the people.
Those men were retainers of the Kozuki clan, and their attacks were infused with Infinity Stone energy.
The moment Chrollo realized that, he understood Wano was not simple.
Wano had not closed itself off merely because it disliked outsiders.
It was hiding something.
"It really is strange," Ryuunosuke said. "Did you find the origin of these Infinity Stones?"
"Not yet," Chrollo replied. "It should be connected to the Beasts Pirates, but the one who notified us…"
He paused.
"That is, King."
"He's disappeared."
Ryuunosuke frowned, confusion rising.
How could King, the strongest of the Three Calamities, vanish for no reason?
And King was Kaido's man. With Kaido's temperament, if someone harmed his people, he would not sit still like nothing happened.
Could Kaido be involved in whatever was happening here?
But Kaido had been on Ryuunosuke's ship the entire time. Under those circumstances, Kaido should not have had time to arrange anything like this.
More than that, Ryuunosuke could not shake the feeling that Kaido simply was not the type to pull off something this delicate.
The man looked… honestly kind of stupid.
"Then let's contact Kaido first," Ryuunosuke said. "Ask him about this."
"Kaido is gone too," Chrollo interrupted.
Ryuunosuke's eyes narrowed.
"Kaido disappeared too?"
That made even less sense.
.....
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