Rosinante stared at his own mouth in terror, watching it open and close without making a single sound. Then he looked at Aiden in panic, frantically waving his hands as he tried to explain himself.
But because of the Calm-Calm Fruit's power, all his movements looked like some bizarre silent film. Not the slightest sound came out.
Aiden leaned against the rock wall, the corner of his eye twitching as he watched the scene. Before, he was just clumsy. Now he was clumsy in complete silence, which somehow made it even harder to watch.
Aiden cut off Rosinante's frantic gesturing and raised a hand to signal him to stop.
"Focus," Aiden said, mouthing the words. "Try to control your own power."
Seeing that, Rosinante quickly took a deep breath. He held it so hard that sweat started forming on his forehead. Putting all his focus into it, he tried to deactivate the ability.
A few seconds later, he cautiously made a sound.
"Ah!"
It wasn't loud, but it was real.
The moment Rosinante heard his own voice, his whole body nearly gave out. He dropped to the ground and patted his chest in relief. "Th... that scared me to death... I thought... I thought I'd never be able to speak again!"
"You'll get used to it," Aiden said, changing the subject. "Right now, our priority is finding the other survivors and a way to get moving."
Hearing that, Rosinante's face immediately returned to its usual anxious expression. "Then let's go, quickly!"
The two of them wasted no more time and left the cave.
"Follow me," Aiden said, checking his bearings in the thick fog. "When I was clearing out the pirate outposts earlier, I remember seeing a small raft they used for patrols in the eastern bay."
He led Rosinante through the jungle, and sure enough, they found the small boat hidden in the bay.
"Where are we going now?" Rosinante asked nervously.
"When the ship broke apart, the shockwave sent everything toward the southeast," Aiden calculated. "If Commander Dal is still alive, he's most likely on the shallow beach over there. Let's go check."
He steered the raft through the fog and reefs with precision. Before long, they arrived at a shallow beach littered with wreckage and massive rocks.
The scene before them was horrifying.
Broken pieces of the speedboat were scattered all over the beach. Several unrecognizable bodies of their fellow Navy soldiers floated in the cold seawater. It was obvious they hadn't survived when the ship broke apart.
Rosinante's face turned pale again in an instant.
Just as Aiden was starting to think no one had made it, his eyes suddenly fixed on a spot beneath a massive broken mast not far away.
Under the shattered wreckage, they found Commander Dal and two other elite Navy soldiers, all unconscious.
Dal was badly injured. One of his legs was pinned beneath the broken mast, and the freezing seawater was soaking into his wounds. He was already drifting in and out of consciousness from severe blood loss.
"Commander!" Rosinante shouted, about to rush over.
"Don't move!" Aiden grabbed him and signaled for him to keep watch on the surroundings. Then Aiden walked toward the wreckage himself.
He looked at the heavy mast pinning Dal down. Without wasting a single motion, he bent down and put strength into one hand.
CRACK...
Under Rosinante's stunned gaze, the mast, which would normally take four or five men to move, was lifted effortlessly by Aiden with one hand and thrown aside.
Commander Dal was jolted awake by the noise. He snapped his eyes open and saw Aiden's face. A flash of shock and gratitude at having survived passed through his eyes.
"It's you... Aiden?" His voice was hoarse as he struggled to sit up. "Where is Squard? He..."
"He's dead," Aiden said calmly. "I killed him."
"..."
Dal froze completely. He looked at the calm recruit in front of him, unable for a moment to connect the Aiden he knew with someone capable of killing Squard.
Aiden didn't give him much time to think. He knelt down, looked straight into Commander Dal's eyes, and spoke in a steady voice. "Commander, you owe me your life. Back on the speedboat."
Commander Dal nodded without hesitation. "That's right. You blocked Squard and saved me."
"Now, I need you to do me a favor."
Aiden's tone left no room for refusal. "To deal with Vice Admiral Sakazuki, Squard... needs a different cause of death."
Dal's pupils shrank. "...What do you mean?"
Aiden needed a perfect lie. He couldn't let Sakazuki know that a seventeen-year-old recruit had killed a famous pirate in a one-on-one fight. His file was too clean. He had grown up in the Navy since childhood, and there was no way to explain where this kind of strength had come from.
He needed a perfect explanation.
Aiden looked at Rosinante, who was standing nearby with no idea what to do, and continued speaking to Dal. "Rosinante has to be the one who killed Squard."
"Huh??? Me???" Rosinante had been crouching nearby trying to wake up another soldier. Hearing that, he was so startled he fell flat onto his rear.
Commander Dal looked at the calm Aiden, then at the panicked Rosinante, who looked like he was about to cry. It felt like his brain was about to shut down.
Aiden began weaving a flawless, logical story:
"Rosinante found a Devil Fruit on the island called the Calm-Calm Fruit. After we got separated, Squard landed on the island to hunt us down."
"While I kept him occupied from the front, Rosinante used the power of the Calm-Calm Fruit to completely erase his presence and footsteps. He approached Squard from behind..."
Aiden's voice was cold and steady, as if he were stating an established fact.
"...Then he launched a fatal sneak attack and killed him in a single blow."
Aiden had effortlessly put together a complete excuse.
Commander Dal fell silent after hearing it. He stared straight into Aiden's eyes. He wasn't a fool. He remembered clearly that back on the speedboat, it was Aiden who had physically blocked Squard's terrifying strike.
Aiden had also just admitted that he was the one who killed Squard.
And now, this man with monstrous strength was asking him to hand all the credit for that enormous achievement to a recruit who could trip over his own feet on flat ground.
Commander Dal looked at Aiden for a long moment. He understood everything in an instant. Aiden was hiding his strength. He didn't want to expose it.
By telling Dal the truth, Aiden was making a trade. At the same time, he was collecting on the debt for the life he had saved.
And now, Dal owed him two lives.
Commander Dal slowly closed his eyes, as if steadying himself through the pain in his leg. A few seconds later, he opened them again and turned his gaze toward the utterly bewildered Rosinante.
"...Rosinante." Commander Dal struggled to raise a shaky Navy salute toward him. His voice was hoarse, but extremely serious.
"Thank you... for avenging... Seagull No. 3 and all of us."
Rosinante: "Huh??? WHAAA-!!!"