Upon entering the port, Shiraishi and his group followed Ivankov's directions toward the western sector of Cartier Island's main town to seek out a navigator named Moyard.
"You mean Mr. Moyard...? He hasn't come home for several days. Then again, he's just a drunkard, so who cares?"
The middle-aged woman living next door to Moyard pondered for a moment, recalling that she indeed hadn't seen the man in a few days. However, observing her tone and demeanor, Shiraishi noticed that while her speech seemed normal on the surface, a subtle delay marred her memory recall.
As a master of illusion techniques, Uchiha Madara instantly identified the underlying issue: this woman's memory was missing a crucial piece.
The Moyard recommended by Ivankov had once served as the navigator for a veteran pirate crew—one that had traversed not only the Grand Line, but also reached the New World in its second half.
However, after retiring from the pirate life, Moyard had struggled to adapt to a normal existence, spending his days drowning in alcohol until his recent disappearance. Yet Shiraishi consistently felt that the neighbor's recollection of Moyard remained trapped in a hazy state.
"Thank you for your help, ma'am..."
"The stench of blood is exceptionally heavy..."
Leaving Moyard's house, Kikyo surveyed the surrounding urban area, her keen senses detecting an abundance of chilling, sinister energy within the atmosphere.
Leaving Moyard's whereabouts aside for the moment, the reeking smell of blood that drifted through this town from time to time caused Kikyo's expression to grow increasingly stern.
Both Unohana Retsu and Kikyo possessed extraordinary sensitivity toward spiritual entities. In this world, the order governing the three realms was vastly more stable than that of the Naruto world.
Once a person's life reached its end, their soul departed without hesitation for the heavens. However, lingering traces of vengeful spirits would still remain briefly, even if they automatically dissipated before long.
Throughout this town, dense spiritual impurity hung thick in the air, yet the local residents remained entirely oblivious—some even exhibiting memory lapses identical to the woman next door. This clearly signaled that the situation on Cartier Island was far from reassuring.
"In my memory, Cartier Island hasn't been controlled by pirates in recent years, though I recall a supernatural incident breaking out here once." Saying this, Ace wore a lingering expression of dread...
"I didn't expect you people to actually spot the strange anomaly in this city."
A mocking voice echoed nearby. Shiraishi turned to look as a dilapidated, middle-aged man holding a liquor bottle slouched into view: "This town has long become the personal toy of a certain grand pirate. Every single villager here is merely a puppet manipulated by his Devil Fruit ability."
Drinking heavily with a flushed face as he stepped out from the alleyway, the black-haired, middle-aged man looked at them with eyes filled with pity: "You bunch of rookie pirates should leave this place immediately."
Shiraishi's group clearly carried the air of pirate newcomers. As the man exhaled heavy fumes of alcohol, Shiraishi shook his head slightly. "The memory issues... are they caused by a Devil Fruit ability?"
Observing Moyard's reaction, the others suddenly realized the truth: "No wonder the memories of some people in the city seem slightly garbled, as if affected by an illusion—just like that plump woman living next door to you."
"She confused me with another drunkard. Though to be fair, our living conditions are pretty much identical... heh."
Clearly, this man was Moyard himself, though judging by his posture, he seemed to possess inside knowledge regarding the island's situation.
"If you don't want to end up like the ones down there..."
Moyard pointed toward the earth beneath their feet. Shiraishi remained silent for a long moment before asking: "What lies underground?"
A chilling, horrifying expression crept across Moyard's face: "Heh, nothing more than the skeletal remains of experiments... men, women, the elderly, and children included..."
Six years ago, the Kingdom of Cartier had signed a collaborative treaty with the World Government, which involved extensive human experimentation and development projects.
Three years ago, due to funding cuts and project abandonments, the human experiments on Cartier Island were officially discarded by the World Government. However, the laboratory that had originally lost its backing resumed operations a year ago.
When the World Government previously conducted these operations, human experiments were carried out covertly to avoid unnecessary panic. But the new controller of the laboratory was using his Devil Fruit ability to conduct tests across the island with complete, reckless abandon.
"So which faction is behind these experiments this time?"
To dare conduct human experimentation on an island in the East Blue, if it wasn't the World Government, it inevitably required the backing of a major pirate fleet—a small-time pirate crew could never orchestrate a storm of this magnitude.
Moyard glanced at Shiraishi with a touch of surprise: "This island is actually the territory of the Earl Pirates, who follow Patrick Redfield. And the King of Cartier, Philip III, happens to be the leader of the Earl Pirates."
Patrick Redfield?
How could it be him?
Known as the "Lone Red," "Red Count," or "Red the Aloof," this legendary grand pirate possessed strength so immense that he rivaled Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard entirely on his own. Wasn't he famously known for acting strictly alone?
Noticing the peculiar look in Shiraishi's eyes, Moyard shook his head: "Although the Red Count has always operated as a lone wolf, that doesn't mean he lacks followers.
Philip III is his nephew and follower. Even though the Red Count has never formally acknowledged him, this connection alone has allowed Philip III's Earl Pirates to establish a massive footprint across the East Blue."
Shiraishi and his crew quietly listened as Moyard continued, the latter's face turning thoroughly grim: "You lot had better not pick a fight you can't handle. Get out of here as fast as you can."
"In truth... you're hoping we'll stay behind to help this island, aren't you?"
Moyard had constructed a chain of coincidental encounters, explained the origins of the enemy pirate crew, exposed their atrocities, and then urged Shiraishi's group to leave immediately.
This contradictory behavior was nothing more than a roundabout attempt to secure the Sunagakure Pirates' assistance.
Shiraishi intended to decline, but Kikyo stepped forward, her eyes locked onto the pirate ships anchored on the distant sea: "The stench of blood is concentrated most heavily over there..."
"The laboratory is operated directly on a pirate ship?"
"Yes..."
Without another word to anyone, Kikyo drew the third arrow from her Sacred Twelve Rainbows quiver, channeling a radiant surge of energy into her hands.
With a thunderous roar, the arrowhead flashed with dazzling starlight, detonating abruptly upon the massive pirate ship...
The exact moment the roar of the explosion echoed through the air, Kikyo turned around slowly: "My apologies for bringing trouble upon you all."
"There's no need to apologize for that... it's not something worth fretting over anyway."
Aboard the vessel torn apart by the massive inferno, a silver-haired pirate had completely lost his prior composure. Having intended to go ashore to visit the Sunagakure Pirates, he now stared at the scene before him, his face contorted in absolute rage.
His laboratory... had been destroyed just like that...
"Where did that sniper come from?!"
As the son of Philip III and the true operational leader of the Earl Pirates, this silver-haired young master had spent years developing and refining advanced biochemical weapon tech for his father.
After finally achieving tangible results over the past few years, his life's work had just been blown to pieces in a single instant...
"It's the archer from the Sunagakure Pirates!"
"An archer?"
"Not a sniper?!"
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