Chapter 111: The Shadow Behind
The meteor fell like a burning sun.
Wrapped in flame and smoke, it tore through the sky above the Sabaody Archipelago, dragging a deafening roar behind it. The sound rolled across the groves like thunder from the heavens, shaking windows, rattling rooftops, and making countless people look up in terror.
Inside shops, people rushed outside in confusion.
Those already on the streets froze where they stood.
For a moment, every voice on Sabaody seemed to vanish beneath that blazing descent.
Humans were painfully small before the might of the sky. Even in this sea of monsters, pirates, and impossible powers, there were few who could stand calmly before a falling meteor.
Most people could only thank whatever god they believed in that it was not falling on their heads.
None of them knew it had been brought down by human hands.
Boom!
The meteor struck Grove 8.
The impact erupted like a cannon fired by the world itself. The ground bucked violently, and the tremor rippled through the connected groves of Sabaody, shaking even the distant areas before the archipelago gradually settled again.
Across the island, every faction moved at once.
The underworld sent men to investigate. Merchants locked their doors. Human traffickers vanished into back alleys. Pirates lifted their heads from tavern tables, wondering whether a new disaster had arrived.
The Marines were no exception.
In ordinary circumstances, a falling meteor would not have been their responsibility beyond rescue and disaster relief. But this was Sabaody, and Sabaody existed under the shadow of the Celestial Dragons.
The World Nobles demanded an investigation.
To them, even natural disasters ought to bow before their bloodline. They were descendants of the creators of the world. They ruled over all beneath the sky. Therefore, if a meteor had dared to fall upon their territory, then it could not possibly be ordinary.
Someone had to answer for it.
Bang!
Rear Admiral DeWitt, commander of the Marine forces stationed on the Sabaody Archipelago, slammed his fist down on his desk.
"Damn it!" he growled. "Right now we should be rescuing people, not chasing shadows! They want every available Marine sent to investigate instead of helping survivors?"
His adjutant stood nearby, expression taut but controlled.
"Rear Admiral, the meteor fell straight down onto Grove 8. Judging from the size of the impact, there likely aren't many survivors in the center. And…" The adjutant hesitated briefly before continuing. "That area was known to be connected to a kidnapping ring. If anything, some people might call this divine punishment."
DeWitt's face tightened.
He knew about Grove 8.
Of course he knew.
He had wanted to crush the criminals there more than once, but every attempt had met obstruction from "above." Nobles. Influential buyers. Invisible hands hiding behind polite words and sealed orders.
The adjutant lowered his voice. "For now, perhaps we should follow the Celestial Dragons' order."
DeWitt did not answer immediately.
His fingers drummed against the desk. He hated it, but there was logic in the suggestion. The Celestial Dragons were unreasonable, but their power was very real. A direct refusal would only make things worse.
Still…
"We don't know whether there are injured civilians nearby," he said at last.
"Then allow me to lead a small team for rescue work," the adjutant offered. "You can conduct the investigation personally. That way, the Celestial Dragons will have their answer, and we won't abandon the injured either."
DeWitt exhaled sharply through his nose.
"Fine. Take your team and search the surrounding groves. If you find any injured civilians, send them to the hospital on Grove 22. Their facilities are the most complete nearby."
"Yes, sir."
"And once I'm done with this ridiculous investigation," DeWitt added, grabbing his Marine coat from the back of his chair, "I'll join the rescue myself."
At the same time, Grove 8 no longer looked like a grove.
Outside the small area where Issho, Axel, Hawkins, and Eli stood, nearly everything had been erased.
The Peterman Base was gone.
The ground had collapsed into a vast, blackened crater. Heat rolled up from below, carrying the sharp stink of scorched earth, burned wood, and something darker that Eli did not want to identify.
He leaned forward to look.
One glance was enough.
The crater plunged so deep that its bottom vanished into darkness. Eli jerked back at once, his face pale, his whole body trembling.
He swallowed with difficulty and stole a glance at Issho.
Then another at Axel.
Then Hawkins.
At first, Eli had thought these people were dangerous.
Then he thought they were monsters.
Now he realized that even the word "monster" felt too small.
A blind swordsman had pulled a meteor out of the sky.
What kind of joke was that?
No—what kind of nightmare was that?
Issho, however, looked as calm as ever. He sheathed his cane-sword and turned slightly.
"Let's go," he said. "To the next place."
Eli's mouth twitched.
The next place?
After dropping a meteor?
"Uh…" Eli glanced at the abyss surrounding them. "How exactly are we getting there?"
Before anyone answered, his body suddenly grew light.
Too light.
His feet left the ground.
"What—what's happening?!"
By the time he shouted, they were already floating into the air.
The crater yawned beneath them, black and bottomless. The ruined remains of Grove 8 spread below like the scar of a god's hammer. Eli's vision went white around the edges.
"Ahhhhh!"
For Issho and the others, the flight lasted only a short while.
For Eli, every second stretched into a separate lifetime.
When they finally landed on solid ground, his knees gave out. He dropped onto the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
Axel turned toward him. "Are you all right?"
Eli raised one trembling hand. "I'm fine. No, I'm not fine. I'm very much not fine. I'm afraid of heights. Let me breathe. I need to remember how lungs work."
Axel was quiet for a moment.
This was the same guide who had boasted about surviving the darkness of Sabaody's lawless zones. He had spoken like a man who had seen everything.
Apparently, "everything" did not include flying over a meteor crater.
Since Eli clearly could not walk yet, they waited.
To his credit, Eli did not waste the time. He forced himself to sit upright, wiped the cold sweat from his face, and began speaking.
"Since we're going to the next place, there are things you need to know first."
His voice was still shaky, but there was something new beneath it.
Resolve.
After what he had just witnessed, Eli's thoughts had changed.
A normal person would run as far away from these three as possible. A normal guide would abandon the job, hide for three days, change his name, and pretend none of this had ever happened.
But Eli had survived in Sabaody by not thinking like a normal person.
He was not part of the human trafficking business. He was not a pirate. He was just a guide, a broker, a man who knew how to talk to the right people and avoid the wrong ones. That was why he could build connections across the lawless zones without being swallowed by them.
It was his tragedy.
It was also his chance.
If he ran now, he would go back to being Eli the guide, scraping a living from crumbs between monsters.
But if he followed these people…
He might die.
Or he might witness the lawless zone change forever.
Eli took a breath and continued.
"Next, we're going to Grove 1. That's where the biggest human auction house in the entire Sabaody Archipelago is located. And that place isn't like Peterman's base. There are shadows behind it."
Issho turned his head slightly. "Shadows?"
"Power," Eli said, his expression grave. "The auction house isn't protected by one group. It stands because several forces allow it to stand."
He raised a finger.
"First, the nobles. The human auction house supplies them with slaves and handles money for them. In exchange, it receives their protection."
A second finger.
"Second, the underworld. I don't know which dark force exactly, but someone powerful backs them. Whenever pirates or criminals cause too much trouble there, they tend to die afterward. Quietly. Thoroughly."
A third finger.
"And third—the Celestial Dragons."
The air seemed to grow heavier.
Eli lowered his voice. "The Celestial Dragons don't directly run the auction house, at least not openly. But it's one of their toys. A place where they can buy people, laugh at them, show off, and throw money around for amusement."
Issho's face darkened.
Such things were not new to him.
That was precisely why they were unbearable.
Axel remained calm. He had expected as much. He even knew the name of the shadow lurking behind the auction house.
Doflamingo.
Joker.
That man's threads seemed to stretch everywhere.
Hawkins, meanwhile, stood silently beside them, his expression unreadable as always. Very few things in the world seemed capable of moving his face.
Seeing that the three did not respond, Eli misunderstood their silence.
He thought they had finally realized the danger.
So he hurried to reassure them.
"You don't need to worry too much about destroying the auction house itself. The Celestial Dragons don't really care about their subordinates. If the auction house gets destroyed, they'll probably just mock the people running it for being useless."
Then his expression turned severe.
"But there is one thing you absolutely must remember."
He raised a finger again.
"That place is a toy for the Celestial Dragons. Sometimes, they attend the auctions in person. If we get there and a Celestial Dragon is present, you must restrain yourselves."
Eli looked at Issho. Then Axel. Then Hawkins.
His throat bobbed.
"Because if you attack a Celestial Dragon, a Marine Admiral will come."
.....
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