Chapter 54: The Red Earth Continent
After seeing Bubu Wang’s expression, Su Xiao clasped his hands together, signaling that they should wait and see which route the Navy would take.
The Navy had imprisoned Su Xiao here, and he had a general idea of their intentions. For now, he was not in danger of losing his life.
Su Xiao was very curious about one thing: where was the Navy’s destination on this voyage? If it was Mary Geoise, then he would need to find a way to escape as soon as possible. If they were heading to Impel Down in the first half of the Grand Line, then there was no rush. He could simply hitch a ride to the first half of the Grand Line and then find a way to break free.
Moreover, Vice Admiral Tsuru was keeping a very tight watch on him, almost never leaving his side for even a moment.
Holy Land Mary Geoise was a very dangerous place for Su Xiao in his current state. What Bubu Wang needed to do now was to find out their destination.
After receiving this intelligence, Bubu Wang installed a bug on the wall and then walked toward the cabin exit. His steps were slow. When he reached the door, he crouched down and waited patiently for someone to open it.
Although Su Xiao seemed to be trapped, as long as the timing was right, he could escape in a short time. It had been a wise choice not to use the Demon Hunting Hour ability earlier.
Clang, clang, clang…
Su Xiao used the shackles on his wrists to strike the metal floor. At first, Vice Admiral Tsuru ignored him, but after Su Xiao had been tapping for two full hours, her brow furrowed.
“Can’t you just be quiet for a while?”
Vice Admiral Tsuru finally lost her patience. Unlike pirates, Su Xiao was an important researcher. The higher-ups had ordered that he be captured alive, no matter how many soldiers were lost.
“Can’t a prisoner have a hobby?”
Su Xiao continued tapping his handcuffs against the floor. After four hours, Kizaru finally grew annoyed and left the cabin, claiming he needed some fresh air. Vice Admiral Tsuru, however, remained as still as an old nun in meditation, showing no sign of leaving.
“Vice Admiral Tsuru, your mission to the New World wasn’t to capture me, was it?”
Su Xiao felt that unless the higher-ups of the World Government had lost their minds, they wouldn’t send top-tier combat power to capture him at this time. Garp + Vice Admiral Tsuru + Kizaru + five warships + over a thousand Marines—this was clearly a lineup meant to deal with an Emperor.
“…”
Vice Admiral Tsuru remained silent, as if she had fallen asleep.
“The fact that Dressrosa wasn’t flattened by Big Mom must be the biggest disappointment for Sengoku and you. For the Navy, Doflamingo is a cancer that can’t be removed.”
Hearing this, Vice Admiral Tsuru’s eyes opened.
“Is that why you cooperated with Doflamingo?”
“…”
This time, Su Xiao didn’t respond. Vice Admiral Tsuru glared at him, then closed her eyes to rest again.
By now, Su Xiao understood that it wasn’t Doflamingo who had betrayed him. In fact, Doflamingo had indeed helped him block the CP department. If the CP department had shown up, Su Xiao wouldn’t have even considered a fake surrender.
“You’d better hope that Doflamingo stays safe and sound.”
“You cooperated with Doflamingo. The cancer metaphor is apt—he really is a cancer. Rather than hoping he stays safe, I’d prefer to see him eliminated.”
Vice Admiral Tsuru seemed bored from sitting around, and she wanted to extract some information about the New World from Su Xiao.
“If you eliminate him, you’ll definitely regret it. That guy is smart. He’s the one holding the chain. Even Big Mom doesn’t want to completely wipe out the Don Quixote family. The daily import and export volume of a certain place, in just half a month, is enough to support the Navy’s military supplies for half a year.”
“I didn’t expect you to be so well-informed. But the place you mentioned isn’t realistic.”
Vice Admiral Tsuru was praising him while using provocation. She was very eager to hear the information Su Xiao was about to reveal.
“The New World? The Grand Line? You Marines can use your imagination freely.”
“…“
Vice Admiral Tsuru realized she had been tricked, but she wasn’t angry. Instead, she continued chatting with Su Xiao about trivial matters.
After an unknown amount of time, a Marine walked into the cabin carrying a tray. On one side of the tray was grilled fish, rice balls, and a bowl of hot soup. On the other side was a piece of dry bread and a glass of water.
There was no need to guess—the grilled fish and rice balls were Vice Admiral Tsuru’s lunch, while the dry bread and water were Su Xiao’s “special” meal.
The Marine placed the bread and water on the ground, picked up a long wooden pole shaped like a rake, and pushed the food in front of Su Xiao.
Su Xiao picked up the glass of water, poured it over his hands to wash off the blood, and didn’t touch the food the Navy had provided at all.
“I hope you’re still this tough a few days from now.”
Vice Admiral Tsuru smiled as she ate her rice ball.
Three days later.
Su Xiao sat cross-legged in the cell, shirtless, with his eyes tightly shut.
Through Bubu Wang’s eavesdropping, Su Xiao had confirmed their destination. Contrary to his expectations, he was neither being taken to Mary Geoise nor Impel Down. Instead, they would first arrive at Enies Lobby.
This was something Su Xiao hadn’t anticipated. Had things really come to this? Did the World Government actually intend to put him on trial?
Although he didn’t know why the World Government wanted to send him to Enies Lobby, it was good news. This made Su Xiao stop worrying about escaping immediately. Besides, Vice Admiral Tsuru was watching him too closely. This old hag had been monitoring Su Xiao for three days straight.
During those three days, Su Xiao had kept his heartbeat and blood flow at their lowest levels. This was the result of deliberate control, allowing him to conserve energy without any food or water.
In the quiet cell, there was no sense of time. Fortunately, Bubu Wang reported the time every ten minutes through the team channel.
On the morning of the fourth day, Su Xiao’s eyes suddenly snapped open. The ship was about to dock.
The cabin door opened, and several Marines walked in carrying mechanical parts. At Vice Admiral Tsuru’s signal, the cell door was opened.
The mechanical parts in the Marines’ hands resembled disassembled armor. From their precision, Su Xiao immediately recognized them as the work of Vegapunk.
Soon, these primitive-looking mecha components were attached to Su Xiao, making him look like he was wearing a set of external armor. When he tried to move his arm, the mechanical arm encasing it remained completely still.
Pfft～
A burst of steam shot out from the mechanical arm, and Su Xiao’s arm involuntarily bent slightly.
This was a set of external armor used to restrain prisoners. When Su Xiao tried to move, the armor would sense it and delay its response by more than five seconds before executing the command.
The construction of this thing reminded Su Xiao of the Pacifista. In fact, it was essentially the shell of a Pacifista broken down into over a dozen pieces.
“The power transmission is too stiff. Has Vegapunk still not solved this problem?”
Su Xiao’s words made Vice Admiral Tsuru shake her head repeatedly. She actually felt a bit of regret. If Su Xiao could truly be loyal to the World Government, he would be a top-tier talent in weapons and explosives.
Pfft～
Steam hissed as Su Xiao walked out of the cell in a halting manner. Each of the over a dozen external armor components was connected to a short chain, which in turn was linked to a metal rod at least three meters long. Over a dozen Marines gripped these rods tightly, surrounding Su Xiao.
Outside the warship, on a small island, this island was not naturally formed but artificially constructed.
This island was connected to a crimson wall of heaven—the Red Earth Continent. It was thanks to the Red Earth Continent that the Navy had been able to build this island.
On the island was a Marine branch base. Though small, it had all the necessary facilities.