Bonus chapter.
***
Whitey Bay: "Is this... a floating archipelago? So, Shiki is indeed with Arton."
Gion: "Now a battle between Arton and Shiki is inevitable. If I'm close enough, I might be able to sense the waves of their fight and locate Arton."
Charlotte Smoothie: "This is the power that even Mama is very concerned about. To be able to make more than ten islands float in the sky and even make water streams float, it's truly a dangerous ability."
Charlotte Cinnamon: "If Arton can take down Shiki, his fame and reputation might spread across the seas."
[I must admit, seeing these floating islands makes me think that Shiki still has considerable strength.]
[If he didn't have significant power, how could he keep so many floating islands suspended at such a high altitude for so long?]
[I'm really starting to suspect that Shiki was holding back significantly when he met Luffy in the future.]
[Is it because Shiki is showing respect to Garp? No, Shiki wouldn't show respect to Garp; he must be showing respect to Roger.]
[Perhaps he saw a shadow of Pirate King Roger in Luffy, which made him lose focus and get defeated by Luffy.]
[Maybe it wasn't even a defeat, but Luffy's words and punches made him doubt his goals over the years, leading to his eventual recapture by the Marines.]
[I must be extra cautious. I can't let my companions get hurt.]
[For now, I'll quietly sneak in here.]
Whitey Bay: "Hmm?! In the future, Luffy defeats Shiki? But, Luffy without Haki?"
Sadi: "You've got to be kidding, right? Even if Luffy is Garp's grandson, it's impossible for him to defeat Shiki without Haki."
Gion: "So the new pirate Arton mentioned is Luffy?"
Black Maria: "Shiki saw the shadow of Pirate King Roger in Luffy? Interesting, there seems to be something deeply hidden in these words."
Doll: "Could it be that Vice Admiral Garp's grandson has some kind of connection with Roger?"
Kujaku: "It's strange. By the time Luffy was born, Roger had already been executed. Why is Arton saying this?"
Belo Betty: "Luffy has the blood of Dragon and Garp, and is connected to Shanks. In the future, he will even defeat Shiki. This Luffy is quite extraordinary. Is him the youngest future Yonko that Arton mentioned?"
Charlotte Cinnamon: "This Luffy needs to be carefully observed."
With Arton revealing that Luffy will defeat Shiki in the future, the diary holders' attention on Luffy increased. Charlotte Smoothie, Charlotte Cinnamon, and others began to speculate whether Luffy would be the future new Yonko.
They even started to consider the idea of eliminating Luffy before he could grow into a threat.
But as soon as they had this idea, Smoothie and the others thought of Luffy's background, feeling it would be quite troublesome.
Charlotte Smoothie: "The grandson of a Marine hero, the son of the Revolutionary Army's leader, and guided by Yonko Shanks! This Luffy is completely a second-generation powerhouse. If we really get rid of him, it might attract Garp, Dragon, and Shanks. What a troublesome pirate rookie."
Monet: "Absolutely, we must be wary of this Luffy. We can't let him become an enemy of the Young Master."
At this moment, Luffy couldn't possibly have known that having just set out to sea, many people had already put him on their 'do not engage' list. Because of Arton, some battles that were originally supposed to happen to him would no longer occur.
"Let's go, let's take a look around."
"There are too many floating islands here."
"Before we find Shiki, let's first explore the situation here," Arton said as he landed and disengaged his fusion with Carina.
Although using Carina's Yae Miko's powers allowed him to fly, perhaps because Arton wasn't yet proficient in using Yae Miko's powers, or because flying itself required more energy, flying to the desHination had already consumed a considerable amount of his stamina.
Upon seeing so many floating islands, and believing that Shiki's strength might not be as weak as showed in the anime where he fought Luffy, Arton decided to recover his stamina before engaging in battle with Shiki.
Carina, Kaya, and Uta had no objections to Arton's suggestion. After Arton found a direction to proceed, the three quickly followed him.
Although they didn't have Observation Haki, with the help of Transparent World, they efficiently sneaked into a grand building without being detected.
Seeing this, Uta couldn't help but comment:
"What's this? It seems Shiki isn't that impressive after all."
"We're already intruders, yet they haven't noticed anything."
Arton, walking cautiously along the street, shook his head and said:
"Maybe it's because Shiki's pirate crew is ten thousand meters up in the sky and the patrols here aren't that strict, but that guy is still a legendary figure and this is his territory, so let's be careful."
Just after Arton finished speaking, he suddenly stopped, his face showing a look of surprise.
"What's wrong, Arton?"
"Is there an enemy?"
Seeing Arton's expression, Carina immediately tensed up and looked ahead cautiously.
"It's not exactly an enemy, just... Anyway, follow me."
Arton gestured for the three to follow him and strode towards a partially open door.
Carina, Uta, and Kaya exchanged glances. Despite their confusion, they quickly followed Arton.
As Arton led the way and pushed open the partially open door, they found themselves facing a room filled with cells.
"Is this... a place for imprisoning people?" Carina frowned and said.
"Why are there so many people? What did they do wrong?" Uta's expression also darkened.
There were just too many people locked up in various cells in this room, and many of them didn't look like vicious pirates or criminals; they seemed more like ordinary civilians.
Moreover, many of these people were injured. Some had even lost arms or legs.
"This is too cruel. What happened here?" Kaya put her hands over her mouth and said, unable to bear the sight.
"Because of experiments!" Arton said, frowning. "That bastard Shiki is using these people as test subjects to enhance the combat abilities of his experimental animals."
Due to his keen senses, Arton had already overheard some of the conversations among the prisoners through the partially open door.
After opening the door further, he gathered more information about these people through his senses.
Among these people, although there were some pirates and criminals, the majority were ordinary civilians or bounty hunters.
"To do such a thing?!" Kaya clasped her hands together, pleadingly looking at Arton.
"Arton-san, let's help them."
Arton looked at Kaya. Although he thought many of these people were pitiful, he didn't want to expend energy helping them before defeating Shiki.
However, seeing Kaya's pleading eyes, he couldn't bring himself to refuse her.
"Alright, let's help the ordinary civilians," Arton said with a sigh. "But Kaya, remember to conserve your energy."
"Although I intend to fight Shiki myself, the enemy might still come after you, so be cautious."
"Don't worry, Arton-san. I know what to do." Kaya, happy, squeezed Arton's hand and then picked up her medical kit and walked towards the nearest cell.
"I'll help too," Uta quickly followed Kaya's footsteps.
"Carina, you should go watch over them too," Arton said.
"I'll stand guard here," Arton said to Carina.
"Okay," Carina nodded slightly and walked towards Kaya.
Soon, the people in the cells noticed Kaya, Carina, and Uta and looked over excitedly. When people have hope, they tend to talk more. Arton remained vigilant, keeping an eye on the surroundings while questioning the prisoners about the situation here.
It didn't take long for Arton to roughly understand the situation.
[Photo: People being used as experimental subjects!]
[This is where Shiki keeps the people he's using as experimental subjects.]
[According to the prisoners, new people are brought here periodically.]
[Then these people are sent to arenas to fight modified animals as part of experiments.]
[However, very few of those sent to fight the animals come back alive.]
[Even if someone survives once, there will be a second and third battle.]
[It seems Shiki goes out to capture more people periodically to replenish his experimental subjects.]
Nojiko: "This is too cruel. How can something like this happen?"
Vivi: "Using live people for animal fights in the name of research?!"
Whitey Bay: "This is very much in Shiki's style."
Nico Robin: "In the photo… is Kaya treating the injured?"
Violet: "Definitely, Arton and his crew aren't vicious pirates."
[Doll: It seems Arton's nature isn't bad. If he hadn't encountered the Celestial Dragons when he first arrived in this world, he might have even become a Marine.]
***
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