"Yeah! I came late!" Drake nodded, turning his eyes toward Weitian beside him, his gaze softening with far more gentleness than usual.
Dragon watched the two of them in considerable surprise. Judging by how things stood, the progress between them was moving along rather smoothly.
It seemed there was no need for him to worry needlessly.
Then again, matters between the young were best sorted out by the young themselves.
Feeling self-conscious under Dragon's knowing stare, Weitian quickly changed the subject. "By the way, Mr. Dragon, I believe we have uncovered the specific reason behind that recent matter."
"We now have a definitive answer. Naturally... Drake was the one who explained it to me."
"Oh?" Dragon cast a surprised look at Drake. "Let's hear it."
Their side had formed deductions of their own, suspecting that the great war from a year ago was the root cause, as the anomaly had only begun manifesting gradually in the aftermath of the East Blue conflict.
Their prevailing conclusion had been that certain unknown variables from that clash were casting adverse ripples across the globe.
Weitian then recounted Drake's deduction to Dragon point by point. Only the three of them and her aide, Xiaoguang, were present in the room.
Every soul here was entirely trustworthy.
Besides, the issue was no longer the looming disaster it had seemed. When the cause remained shrouded in mystery, they had treated it as an urgent crisis of the highest order.
Now that the riddle had been solved, a great weight had lifted from their shoulders.
Listening to Weitian's breakdown, sudden understanding washed over Dragon. Viewed from this angle, every piece of the puzzle aligned seamlessly.
He marveled inwardly. While the concept seemed simple in hindsight, an entire cadre of learned, seasoned high officials had debated the mystery for months without finding clarity.
Yet Drake had untangled the knot in a single stroke.
With Dragon's own breadth of knowledge, grasping the underlying logic was effortless, and the moment he heard Drake's conclusion, he knew it struck true to the mark.
Dragon looked at Drake with renewed amazement. How had this young man managed to reach such an astonishing plane?
Not only was his combat might peerless beneath the heavens, but his breadth of insight was equally formidable.
On that front, he did not lag behind Sabo in the slightest, to say nothing of his raw talent.
Sabo's natural aptitude was among the finest Dragon had ever witnessed; what was more, Sabo was diligent and studious, having pored over navigational lore since his youth.
Yet Drake seemed to surpass even that standard.
This young man was truly frightening!
Drake had no inkling that the usually stoic Commander-in-Chief's thoughts were currently drifting miles away.
Knowing that as the supreme leader of the New World Government, Dragon had a mountain of responsibilities demanding his attention, Drake spoke up without delay: "Uncle Dragon, I'll leave you to your duties. Weitian and I still have a few things to discuss, so we'll take our leave."
With that, he reached out and took Weitian's slender, porcelain hand, guiding her out the door before she could recover from her startled daze.
Xiaoguang was left standing rooted to the floor in pure bewilderment.
Ever since they had stepped into the office, she had been trapped in a state of profound shock. Naturally, she had not dared interject into the discussion between Weitian and Mr. Dragon.
Yet their exchange had cemented the truth of Drake's identity in her mind.
The God of War, Vale D. Drake—a man whose thirst for battle was his very lifeblood, ruthless and unsparing, carving his name into legend through relentless slaughter!
While the origins and paths of the other legendary brothers could be traced, Drake and his Dragon Flag Pirates seemed to have descended from the void itself, appearing without fail at the center of every epoch-defining battlefield.
Drake himself was a battle maniac through and through, fighting wherever his feet carried him!
By rights, the God of War ought to be a merciless, bloodthirsty warlord, cloaked in a suffocating, terrifying pressure that made men tremble with every step he took.
How was he so completely different from the rumors?
Not only was there not a shred of cold cruelty about him, but... he was actually rather gentle.
Especially that look he had directed at Weitian just moments ago—it was tender enough to melt water.
Could that truly be the legendary God of War?
Along the precipice of the Red Line, Drake and Weitian sat side by side, their eyes sweeping across the distant horizon in prolonged, unbroken silence.
"What... what was it you wanted to say to me?" Weitian finally broke the quiet.
She turned her face toward Drake. Her luminous, spirited eyes framed by trembling eyelashes held an arresting blend of brilliance and alluring grace.
Steeling his resolve, Drake prepared to speak, only to freeze the instant his gaze met hers.
It was not as though he had never laid eyes on stunning women.
Over the long course of his journey across the world of pirates, he was no longer the naive boy who had first arrived on these shores.
He had crossed paths with every manner of beauty. Only by standing at the summit could one gaze upon vistas hidden from the rest of the world, and without realizing it, he had ceased sparing other women a second glance.
Yet whenever he stood before Weitian, he was inevitably, helplessly drawn to her. Drake was so captivated that the words resting on the tip of his tongue slipped back down his throat.
Once, he had believed it impossible for him to harbor the clumsy, breathless fixation of an infatuated youth for any woman.
Now, he recognized just how disastrously mistaken he had been!
The reason no one else could catch his eye was that, long before he even realized it, the space in his heart had been claimed entirely by a single figure.
And so, no matter who stood before him, they paled into insignificance.
None held the power to sway him in the slightest.
The frantic pounding against his ribs only laid his deepest feelings bare before his own conscience.
Her silhouette was etched into the marrow of his memory, refusing to fade with the passage of time. Facing Weitian in this quiet hour, past moments rushed into his thoughts like a swelling tide, echoing ceaselessly through his mind.
"You..." Flustered by Drake's burning, unblinking stare, Weitian felt completely at a loss. It was a sensation entirely foreign to her.
Over the past year serving as Fleet Admiral, she had cultivated the unyielding demeanor of a sovereign commander, stripping away every trace of youthful vulnerability.
The timid, delicate flutterings of a maiden's heart had long seemed eradicated from her soul. Yet beneath Drake's steady gaze, that dormant feeling flared to life once more.
Her pulse surged out of control, her mind froze, and a helpless warmth flooded her chest.
Drake felt a sharp tremor run through his core. Reaching out, he rested both hands firmly upon Weitian's shoulders, gently turning her to face him directly.
Their gazes locked, both holding their breath in the quiet air.
This time, Drake no longer suppressed what lay within his chest, his eyes peering straight into the depths of hers.
He clearly felt her small, tucked-away hands clench tightly into fists. "Weitian, that letter you gave me back then... it doesn't count. Those words should have come from me from the start."
Reaching forward, Drake took her trembling hands into his own and pressed a gentle, lingering kiss against them.
"You are the silhouette that has never left my mind—the one person I refuse to let slip through my fingers. You are the one I want by my side forever, the one I vow to protect through whatever comes."
"If you are willing, would you... please marry me?"
Drake lifted his head, his gaze locked upon hers, his own heart trembling faintly. He laid his most vulnerable, long-guarded truth bare before her without holding back a single breath.
This was his solemn vow to her.
He held matters of the heart with absolute reverence, which was precisely why he had held back for an entire year.
"I will!"
Weitian answered without a fraction of a second's hesitation. She had waited for this day for far too long.
Drake pulled Weitian into his embrace, tightening his arms around her as he slowly let his eyes flutter shut.
This silly woman!
Under normal circumstances, anyone else would have paused to weigh the question, if only for the sake of appearances.
After all, without confirming the other person's resolve down to the bone, how could anyone accept a proposal of marriage so readily?
Yet beneath her serene, unflappable exterior beat a heart of pure, unreserved devotion.
She chose to believe in Drake without a single condition.
Feeling the frantic cadence of her heart hammering against his chest, Drake swore a silent, unbreakable oath to himself: he would ensure that this woman, who had waited for him in silence and trusted him without a shred of doubt, would wear a genuine smile for the rest of her days.