"Seafloor Drop!"
Garp sprang into the air, his actions speaking clearer than any order. The muscles of his right arm swelled as he swung a fist down, and a visible shockwave hurtled from the sky toward the ground.
Before the guards at the prison gate could even react, the thick iron doors were hit with unprecedented force.
Boom.
The massive reinforced gate was blown open, a gigantic crater punched straight through it. Shattered metal scattered through the air like grains of sand.
"Charge!"
"Get inside and free every prisoner in there!"
Seeing the opening, Dragon's expression turned grim. With a sharp command, the SWORD unit under Garp's command surged forward like a swarm of fish, pouring through the hole Garp had opened and flooding into the prison.
Inside the monitoring room.
Several of the monitoring screens went dark at once.
Shakky's face changed. Just before the feed cut, the last frozen frame was that of Marine Vice Admiral Garp.
"The Navy…"
"They're breaking into the prison!"
Cold sweat ran down her back.
After a brief daze, Shakky fished a Den Den Mushi out of her pocket and reported quickly, "Captain Rocks, Marine Vice Admiral Garp is attacking the prison."
"I need reinforcements."
Her eyes stayed fixed on the remaining screens.
All over the prison, brutal fighting had already broken out. What unsettled her even more was that the Marines were not rushing straight toward the deeper levels.
Instead, every time they secured an area, they immediately freed the prisoners in that section.
"Heh… so they finally made a move. I have been waiting for this moment for days."
Rocks' calm voice came from the Den Den Mushi, completely unruffled.
Not anxious in the slightest.
Shakky knew that for Rocks, the prison was nothing more than bait. A lure prepared specifically for the Navy and the World Government. But that was as much as she knew about his plan.
She continued her report into the snail, "Captain Rocks, the Marines are releasing the prisoners. They are most likely planning to use them to stir up chaos."
"Is that so?" Rocks' tone did not waver. "Those prisoners won't amount to much. They are nothing but losers."
"Tell the men in the prison to hold the line. The ambush squads are already on their way. This time…"
"We are going to capture Marine Vice Admiral Garp and tear off one of the Navy's arms."
Hearing the absolute confidence in Rocks' voice, the panic in Shakky's chest eased slightly.
Outside the prison.
The two CP0 agents looked at each other. One of them spoke first. "Our target is still inside. Now that the Navy is attacking the prison, what do we do?"
They had never expected the Marines to choose this moment to assault the prison, colliding head-on with the mission Crowder had given them.
"Idiots."
The other CP0 could not help but curse, resentment thick in his voice. "Putting aside the question of whether Rocks would even keep Celestial Dragons in a place like this…"
"Even if he did, you can bet the prison is full of traps. That Marine Vice Admiral Garp is completely reckless."
"The worst part is, this stunt is going to interfere with our plan."
His partner curled his lip and sighed. "If he were not reckless, he would not be Garp."
Garp's style was infamous. He was a unique headache, not only for the upper ranks of the Navy, but for the World Government as well.
When it came to Garp…
There was nothing but helplessness and migraines all around.
Inwardly, the two agents complained, "Of all the people they could have sent, why did it have to be that lunatic Garp for this mission…"
The CP0 agent stared at the prison through his mask, eyes cold and predatory. "Shakky. Former captain of the Kuja Pirates, former empress of Amazon Lily…"
"Bounty, 230 million berries."
As the World Government's most elite intelligence arm, CP0 knew Shakky's dossier by heart.
"We cannot wait any longer. If Shakky dies at the hands of the Marines, our plan will fall apart."
Any unexpected death could become the butterfly that ruined the entire operation.
The two CP0 stepped out of the shadows. Their figures blurred as they used Shave and slipped into the prison.
Inside, the dank, gloomy corridors were already in total chaos.
Fighting echoed from every direction.
The moment the two CP0 set foot inside, they ran straight into a group of filthy inmates in prison uniforms.
"It is… CP0!"
"What are they doing here?!"
Even these vicious, hardened criminals turned pale at the sight of CP0's distinctive uniforms and those ghostly white masks.
Faced with the World Government's most mysterious killing unit, the prisoners broke out in cold sweat. None of them had the courage to raise a hand. They just froze.
Under normal circumstances.
CP0 would have slaughtered them without hesitation. But this was not a normal situation. They had more important objectives.
So when they came across this group of prisoners…
The two CP0 acted as if they did not exist, walking straight past them.
The tension was so suffocating that the prisoners practically forgot to breathe.
Only when CP0's silhouettes receded into the darkness did the inmates exhale all at once, legs trembling as they finally snapped out of it.
"What the hell is going on? First the Marines come to save us, now CP0 shows up and just lets us go."
"Something big must have happened on the island. Otherwise the Marines and CP0 would never ignore us."
"Whatever it is, if we can get out of this hellhole, it is good news for us."
"When I get out, I swear I will rebuild my crew and wipe the Rocks Pirates from the map."
"…"
The prisoners fled the prison in a panic. When they finally saw sunlight again, some of them burst into tears.
…
Beehive Island, harbor.
On a mostly pink pirate ship adorned with a massive cake figurehead.
Charlotte Linlin crept across the deck on tiptoe, searching every corner. Her voice was low and coaxing as she called, "Kids, come out already. Do not play hide and seek with Mama."
"Mama prepared delicious white peach, soft center strawberry cake for you…"
Her calls rang across the ship again and again.
No answer.
Only her own voice echoed back at her.
A shadow fell over Linlin's stunning face. Rage simmered up from her chest, pushing blood to her head until her eyes turned completely red.
A terrifying, violent aura exploded from her towering body and spread outward.
The air itself howled, whipped into a chilling gale.
Linlin's expression grew darker and darker. Her lips trembled as she muttered, "My kids… my children…"
"Where are you?"
Behind her.
Streusen could feel that monstrous, demonic aura rolling off Linlin in waves. Sweat beaded on his forehead as his feet unconsciously shuffled backward across the deck.
His face twisted with fear. Staring at Linlin's back, he murmured in a daze, "Linlin…"
"Linlin…"
"She is about to snap…"
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