As Shiki spoke, the Den Den Mushi that looked just like him also scanned its gaze over, thoroughly examining the other Den Den Mushis.
"That look, Shiki. Are you doubting us?" a Den Den Mushi that seemed to be wearing silver armor sneered, "I thought we could still work together, but it seems there's no need now."
"That's right. So the bond from all those years ago is really worthless. Or rather, it was never much of a bond to begin with. In that case, let's just go our separate ways."
"See you on the battlefield, Shiki!"
The two Den Den Mushis cut off communication simultaneously, leaving only Charlotte Linlin's and Shiki's still connected.
"Aren't you going to hang up, Linlin?" Shiki's voice showed little emotion. He was indeed suspicious of the others, but what he wanted more was to monopolize John's treasure himself.
The more people who cooperated, the less he would get in the end.
Although he had suffered significant losses in personnel during the war with Inazuma a few years prior, those were merely expendable resources. New pirates grew like weeds, one after another, and before long, his power had grown once more.
The Golden Lion's influence at sea was once again at its peak, and in terms of military strength alone, Inazuma, which had been rapidly expanding its Fatui Skirmishers in recent years, couldn't even come close.
Of course, this was also largely because Xia Lin didn't intend to recruit too many people.
Inazuma already had sufficient manpower, and having too many pirate trash around would just be mouths to feed, completely useless. Otherwise, as Xia Lin, who had made the famous Golden Lion eat humble pie more than once, would have even more followers at sea.
"You old hag, Linlin. After all these years, you're still as annoying as ever, Shiki!" Big Mom laughed. She didn't hang up immediately because she had been distracted eating her dessert.
"Hahaha, what's wrong, Linlin? Isn't that little brat Kaido still following you around? After all how you took care of him when he was on your ship." Shiki was now reminiscing with her.
Back in the day, Charlotte Linlin had been quite the beauty on Rocks' ship. Or rather, among the female pirates of that era, few could compare to Charlotte Linlin.
It was just a pity that Charlotte Linlin, who was only thirty-four years old, was already starting to lose her figure...
It had to be said that this was a regrettable thing. At her age, she shouldn't have been so ravaged by time, but she had eaten too many sweets and had too many children.
It might not be apparent on the outside, but Charlotte Linlin had been pregnant for at least two and a half of the past three years. It was even possible she was pregnant right now!
To be honest, this was also the main reason why Shiki hadn't developed anything beyond friendship with Charlotte Linlin when they were on Rocks' ship. This woman's views on childbirth were something even Shiki, a pirate, couldn't accept.
"Just shut up, you really are such an annoying person!"
The Den Den Mushi in front of Shiki immediately showed a disgusted expression. However, Charlotte Linlin wasn't really bothered by the mention of Kaido. She had long known that Kaido wasn't the type to remain subordinate to others forever. Besides, she didn't have any special feelings for him.
Their relationship was good, but it wasn't romantic.
Charlotte Linlin didn't continue talking with Shiki and simply hung up the phone, while at the same time planning in her mind that when they met, she would slice this old lion as a greeting gift.
...
After entering through the wolf's eyes into the underground, the dim tunnel was extremely narrow and long. The stems of giant green vegetation were deeply rooted in the earth. This tree was the Sunlight Tree Eve, but due to not having absorbed sunlight for a very long time, it was currently unable to emit any light.
Continuing deeper, the direction of the cave changed. This made Ren guess that he was no longer under Hatte Island, but between two islands.
"These are..."
Molly's eyes widened, stunned by the scene before her.
In the pitch-black cave, with the help of the Ruin Hunter's light, she saw the remains of Ruin Guards scattered throughout the entire cave.
"It seems that in recent years, John has collected quite a few damaged Ruin Guards." Ren wasn't surprised. Inazuma wouldn't provide warranty service, and in the New World where wars were frequent, a large number of Ruin Guards would likely be at risk of being scrapped after participating in several battles.
These machines were quite durable in the Paradise, but in the New World, they were purely high-consumption firepower.
Damaged Ruin Guards couldn't be considered worthless. In fact, many remains of Ruin Guards that were only half-intact were also highly sought after in the black market. Basically, no one would consider selling these devices until the damage exceeded 30%.
Even if kept for research, they could still be useful.
Plus, Inazuma and John weren't on good terms, to the point that John couldn't directly buy Ruin Guards from Ren. It's conceivable that even collecting these ruins must have cost John quite a price.
Or perhaps someone was helping him from behind.
This possibility was quite significant.
"Basically, these Ruin Guards no longer have the ability to move, but their energy emission ports and Chaos Cores are quite well-preserved. They can only be used as fixed turrets." Molly slowly approached and said after a brief inspection, "But even so, with so many of them, if they all detonated in such a small space..."
"It's not just that. Don't forget that as long as the Chaos Core isn't damaged, these machines still have a self-destruct program. If they all explode at once, it might collapse the entire cave, right?"
"Then the seawater would drown everyone in the cave!" Ren looked up. Above the rocks above his head was the sea basin. If buried in such a location, let alone ability users, even non-ability users would have no hope of escape.
Merfolk and Fishfolk might have a chance, provided they could withstand the shockwave from the explosion of thousands of Chaos Cores and the giant rocks falling when the underwater cave collapsed!
Seeing these arrangements, Ren instead lost interest in the cave.
He continued deeper and found the Moon Tree, which was said to be extinct. He broke off some short branches, planning to take them back for grafting. As for the Moon Tree's main body, it was just too enormous.
"Let's go back. John and his treasure can't be in this cave," Ren said.
"Why?"
"Because he wouldn't bury his own treasure and life underground just to scheme against others. Even if there are treasures in this cave, there won't be many. It's just bait."
[
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