Chapter 428

"Yo, it's you now."

Ling nodded, saying nothing.

"About what happened before... thank you," Ace said.

Xue Lihong was quite capable; in over a dozen "rescue" operations, she once even snuck up to Ace, nearly succeeding. On that occasion, Bai Huzi personally bundled him into a ball. Just as he was about to kill him, Ling spoke up to save him and secretly let him go.

Ace knew Xue Lihong's character; such secret rescues of himself must have happened more than once. The reason Xue Lihong remained unharmed to this day was surely this young girl. Although he did not know what relationship existed between Ling and Xue Lihong, he still had to thank her.

"Do you mean the matter of treating the wounds? There is no need to thank me for that. If you died, it would be troublesome for us too," Ling said. "Also... do not expect anyone to come save you. We have searched the entire ship; there certainly won't be any of Bai Huzi's people. Besides, with Admiral Akainu stationed here, you should abandon any thoughts of escape."

After hearing Ling's words, Ace smiled slightly.

He heard the implied meaning in Ling's words; in other words, Xue Lihong had not boarded the ship to come along. The reason for speaking so euphemistically was surely the presence of Admiral Akainu watching hungrily nearby?

"In any case... thank you first."

At this moment, Xue Lihong had not disembarked.

Three hours ago, a Marine handed her a note. Upon opening it, she found it neatly written in Chinese: "If you want to know the method to save Ace, go to Vice Admiral Pierre's office."

Xue Lihong was slightly surprised and thought for a long time but could not figure out who Pierre was. However, among the thirteen people, there was one named Wan?????? Li? Tong?? Diao? Jiao??????? Zhuo? Fu?????? Lian?????? Jia???? Diao?? Yu? Fu? Tang??? DiLuJian? /p>

"This Pierre must be Wan, I suppose. I never thought Uncle Wan had risen to Vice Admiral; it is truly hard to imagine..."

At the same time Luffy and the others departed from Water 7.

Heart Pirates.

The submarine, guided by the Log Pose, sailed straight toward Water 7.

Law sat casually in his room with his legs crossed, a copy of the open magazine "Lighthouse" on the table before him.

The two serialized works in this magazine, "All Under Heaven Speak the Dao" and "Nine Characters Great Unity," were his two favorite works, which he had been following from the first issue to the present. But at this moment, he simply could not bring himself to read. He had been reading the latest issue intermittently for a week.

【18】 Law leaned back, his gaze turning to a wall on the side.

Luo leaned back, his gaze shifting to a wall on one side.

There, where Sima Di's spirit tablet had originally been placed, was now completely removed, replaced by Sima Di's latest wanted poster.

The smile on it was brilliant and beautiful, unexpectedly comforting to anyone who saw it.

Law unconsciously let a smile appear, "It seems you are living very well now... I just wonder if the you of now knows me?"

Law stared blankly at the wanted poster for a while before snapping out of it and remembering something very important.

Calculating from the departure from Sabaody Archipelago until now, a long time has passed, but why haven't we arrived at Water 7 yet?

This was the first time he felt he should install an accelerator or something similar on his submarine.

Law stood up, opened the door, and walked directly to the control room.

"Shachi, how much longer until we arrive?" Law asked as soon as he pushed the door open.

Hearing his captain's voice, Shachi did not even turn his head, focusing solely on controlling the helm.

"Captain..." Shachi sighed helplessly. "If you ask one more time, we could hold a hundred grand lotteries. Rest assured, the Straw Hats cannot escape. Even if they leave Water 7, there is no guarantee we won't meet them halfway."

"That many times..." Law was slightly surprised. Had he really asked that many times? He felt he had only asked a few times.

"Haha, of course I was joking," Shachi said. "The number of times the captain has come to ask must exceed one hundred!"

Law's face flushed slightly. Was he really that anxious?

"But speaking of which... Captain, even if we are rushing, we cannot stay below deck without seeing the sun for over a week; we are about to grow grass on us..." Shachi complained. "We strongly demand sunlight!"

Law then recalled meeting crew members between his room and the control room just now; although they all greeted him actively, he felt a sense of lethargy.

"Sorry, I was a bit anxious," Law said. "The time should be around ten o'clock now; let's rest. We will continue moving forward at three in the afternoon."

"My Lord is wise!" Shachi cheered, immediately broadcasting this news to everyone on the ship and maneuvering the hull to surface.

Moments later, the submarine surfaced.

Everyone in the cabin rushed out, welcoming the hard-won sunlight.

Law also stepped out, feeling the sea breeze gently brush against him, the cool fresh air refreshing to the heart.

"Ah! Captain! Captain! What is that!"

One of the crew members discovered a barrel drifting from a distance.

Law tilted his head to look and saw the wine barrel with the characters "Sea God's Treasure" written on it.

"Oh, so it is this thing. We encountered it when we passed by before... but since we have met again, it means there is fate." Law was in a good mood. "You guys hook it up. Let's have a party while we're at it!"

"A party!"

"A party! Awesome!"

"I really look forward to what the wine inside tastes like!"

"It must taste especially good! Wine beaten by the sea waves!"

All the crew members were very happy and quickly pulled the barrel over with hooks.

1.0 However, at this moment, the Heart Pirates, including Law, no one realized that danger was approaching them.

It was another sunny and pleasant day.

It was another peaceful and lively day.

It was... the time to say everything.

From the departure until now, four days had passed, yet he had not been able to say it.

If before he still intended to conceal it until concealment was impossible, Vice Admiral Garp's appearance completely shattered the tiny bit of luck in Sima Di's heart.

He also knew he should not hesitate at this moment; since he had recognized them, he must properly say everything.

But whenever Sima Di saw Luffy and the others playing around, his open mouth would become closed.

How could such a thing be said?

What... should be done?

Thousand Sunny.

Although it is still called the Thousand Sunny, it is exactly twice as large as the Thousand Sunny of the original timeline.

Originally, the Frank family didn't seize two hundred million Berries from Usopp, but a full four hundred million Berries. Frank used this money to acquire more Adam wood from the Treasure Trees.

Not only was the deck expanded by double, the internal changes were also substantial.

Among these, the most noticeable changes were the addition of Sima Di's room, the kitchen doubled in size like a luxury dining hall, and a super-large training ground was added to the First Basement Level.

At this moment, Sima Di stood in his room before a movable whiteboard, writing one name after another with a black marker.

First Generation, God's Hand Tarans.

Second Generation, Cold Blood Sigamoru.

Third Generation, King of Killers Lu Kasi.

Fourth Generation, Flesh Chef Huang Baxian.

Fifth Generation, Demon Hegni.

Sixth Generation, Chessboard Killer Pierre.

Seventh Generation, Prison King Altha.

Eighth Generation, Virus Source Evelyn.

Ninth Generation, Wine-Red Gentleman Lu Hai.

Tenth Generation, Heart of Hearts Sima Di.

Eleventh Generation, Masked Rose Dongyi.

As he wrote here, Sima Di's hand paused; unconsciously, the image of that big boy who always called him Xi flashed into his mind.

He was merely a child from an ordinary family. It was he who had personally unlocked the boy's demonic potential.

If Berial hadn't meddled, Dongyi might still be in school, and with his sharp mind, he could have easily passed the prestigious TK University. Now, he had become a murderer…

Sima Di shook his head sharply, driving the boy's image from his mind.

After that game, the boy was nothing but a demon—his deeds had long surpassed any possibility of redemption. Sima Di would rather believe Hu Zi could be purified than believe Dongyi could become a good man.

Sima Di picked up his pen again and wrote on the whiteboard, "... In addition, there are five lieutenants—the Five Holy Envoys. So far, known ones include..."

Third Generation Holy Envoy, Brad. Possessor of the Ghost Beauty Fruit. Current whereabouts unknown; survival probability extremely high.

Seventh Generation Holy Envoy, Machinaga. Possessor of the Mirror Mirror Fruit. Currently deceased, but likely still alive as a ghost.

"Three left..." Sima Di pinched his chin with one hand while tapping his pen against the whiteboard with the other. "Besides the generations of Black Spades and their lieutenants, there must be many others like Ella. But their strength shouldn't be a threat—if my ability grows, I could probably just harvest their heads outright?"

Ding ding ding—