At the Organ Islands, Thousands of Miles Away
After resupplying at a nearby port, an armed merchant ship swiftly set sail, heading north toward the Dominica Archipelago.
A news bird was soaring not far above when it spotted the ship. With a slight flap of its wings, it flew closer.
Anthony casually handed over fifty Berries. The news bird took a newspaper from its bag and then took off again.
"Anything noteworthy in the news?" Ari asked, leaning against the mast.
Flipping through the pages, Anthony replied, "Kaido has defeated the Kingdom of Prussia and plundered their military equipment. Looks like the arms market in the New World is about to undergo major changes."
"That guy hasn't become an Emperor of the Sea yet?"
"Almost there—probably just a matter of a year or two."
Suddenly, Anthony's eyes narrowed as he focused on a small article in the corner of the newspaper.
"Vice Admiral Sakazuki eliminates the Crazy Beast Pirates..."
"Sakazuki... So the Iron-Iron Fruit user from the Crazy Beast Pirates is likely dead," Anthony noted to himself.
________________________________________
Three days later.
Planning to dock at a nearby deserted island for a rest, Anthony gazed at the empty sea ahead and quickly retrieved an Eternal Pose from the cabin.
Actually, it's not just the islands in the Grand Line that have Eternal Poses; islands in the Four Seas can have them too. But because the magnetic fields in the Four Seas are relatively stable, regular compasses can navigate accurately, so fewer people use Eternal Poses or Log Poses.
However, the Noah family possesses quite a few Eternal Poses, mostly salvaged from sunken ships on the ocean floor.
Because hundreds of years ago, the Four Seas weren't as developed as they are now. Back then, Eternal Poses and compasses were used side by side.
The Eternal Pose in Anthony's hand pointed to an island called "Barak Island."
But now, the pointer had shifted from its original direction and was pointing northeast.
Anthony fell into deep thought. "What's going on? Why has the direction to Barak Island changed?"
"Anthony, what's the matter?" Ari jumped down from the lookout atop the mast.
"The position of Barak Island doesn't match what's recorded on the chart. Now it's pointing northeast."
"How could that be?" Ari was puzzled. "What should we do now? Head straight to the Dominica Archipelago or go find this Barak Island?"
After pondering for a moment, Anthony made a decision. "Change course. Let's go check out this Barak Island first."
"Okay."
Soon, the armed merchant ship adjusted its course and sailed northeast.
________________________________________
Before they knew it, they had been drifting at sea for another three days.
During this time, they traveled nearly six hundred kilometers.
The armed merchant ship finally dropped anchor.
But on the deck, Anthony wore a solemn expression as he looked at the Eternal Pose in his hand. At this moment, the Eternal Pose was pointing toward the clouds in the sky.
He took out a telescope and observed for a while. Finally, he spotted some faint outlines among the white clouds, confirming his suspicions.
Barak Island had been moved by the Golden Lion.
Due to the Beast Corps incident two years ago, the Golden Lion had caught the Navy's attention. To prevent the same thing from happening again, he abandoned the dozen or so islands he'd previously moved and chose some unknown, uninhabited islands in the East Blue, transforming them into a brand-new floating base.
However, the Golden Lion hadn't realized that the Barak Island he casually moved actually had an Eternal Pose.
In fact, 438 years ago, Barak Island was a very famous medical nation in the East Blue, so many Eternal Poses were circulated.
According to the official historical records of the World Government, Barak Island experienced a rare plague 438 years ago and soon disappeared into the tides of history.
However, after reading the world history annotated by Noah, Anthony knew that every three years, the Celestial Dragons would conduct so-called "human hunts" on countries that hadn't joined the World Government.
This Barak Island was very likely destroyed by the Celestial Dragons.
The Golden Lion naturally didn't know the history of Barak Island; he thought it was just an uninhabited island with some historical ruins, so he moved it.
Anthony, since it was on the way, had planned to land on Barak Island to investigate and see if any medical technology from the Barak Kingdom remained.
Instead, he ended up finding the Golden Lion's location.
Anthony quickly calmed down. He took out a Den Den Mushi and dialed Noah's number.
"Big brother, there's been a slight issue with the cargo. I need you to come personally. I'll have Ari pick you up."
"Got it. No problem, I'll be there right away."
This was a pre-arranged code within the Noah family, mainly to prevent eavesdropping on their communications.
________________________________________
Before long, Ari opened a wormhole, and Noah crossed over from the Rum Kingdom.
As soon as Noah arrived, Anthony relayed his discovery.
"The Golden Lion is up there?"
Noah was pleasantly surprised by the news. He had thought that after the Golden Lion suffered a setback, his whereabouts would be hard to track.
He hadn't expected to encounter him in such a way.
Quickly, Noah took out his Tarot cards.
The divination results appeared on the cards.
"100% chance of victory, 62% chance the opponent escapes, 21% chance of killing the opponent, 7% chance of capturing the opponent."
Noah wasn't troubled by these results because they were just a reference; the future isn't set in stone.
He soon thought of a method to increase the success rate of capturing the opponent to nearly 100%.
The merchant ship stayed there for over an hour before setting sail again, with Anthony and Vic continuing their previous mission.
________________________________________
Meanwhile, on a nearby deserted island.
Ari and Noah emerged from a wormhole.
Then Ari brought Lilith over from the Rum Kingdom.
Soon, a small sailboat appeared on the shore.
Lilith had changed her appearance, putting on a set of old clothes and dressing like a female pirate, sailing alone in the nearby waters.
Two days later.
When the Golden Lion went out to plunder, Lilith happened to appear nearby, sailing her small boat. She began maneuvering to escape.
Seeing the small sailboat, the Golden Lion naturally wouldn't let Lilith go. He quickly closed in on her.
But with her highly attuned environmental senses, Lilith subtly provoked the Golden Lion by using ocean currents and weather.
After capsizing Lilith's small boat, the Golden Lion looked at the surrounding gale and torrential rain. A trace of reminiscence and anger flashed across his face as he gazed suspiciously at the little girl before him.
He grabbed Lilith by the neck. "You knew there would be a storm here?"
"Cough... You monster..." Lilith pretended to be powerless.
"Hahaha, very good. If you're willing to be my navigator, I can give you everything you want."
"Heh... Even if you're the Golden Lion, you can't help me..." Lilith showed a look of disdain.
The Golden Lion's anger flared. "Are you sure about that?"
"If you can bring me the head of a Celestial Dragon, I'll agree to be your navigator. Otherwise, please let me go," Lilith's eyes were filled with hatred and anger.
Hearing that she wanted to kill a Celestial Dragon, the Golden Lion's suspicions about Lilith diminished significantly. After all, agents from CP wouldn't dare to speak ill of the Celestial Dragons.
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