After an unknown amount of time, the devastating blood-red tornado finally began to dissipate slowly.
The original Sleeping Ancient Town, along with its foundation, had been completely wiped off the map, leaving only a massive, deep pit covered in vitrified crystals.
In the center of the deep pit, Redfield knelt on one knee, barely supporting his body with his umbrella sword.
His elegant blood-colored cloak had long since turned into tattered rags. His body was charred black and covered in fine wounds, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. His previous aristocratic and refined temperament had vanished, leaving him looking like a beggar who had just crawled out of a mining disaster, his aura withered to the extreme.
A massive shadow completely enveloped him.
Charlotte Linlin, in her Dragon Girl Form, landed slowly before him. The lightning surrounding her had subsided, but her prestige remained undiminished. The cold blade tip of the Seven Thunders of Purification in her hand pointed at Redfield's throat.
"Well? Want another round?" Charlotte Linlin looked down at him, her tone flat yet carrying an unquestionable sense of oppression.
Redfield struggled to lift his head, looking at the Valkyrie-like figure before him, then at the dead silence of his surroundings which seemed to have been baptized by a natural disaster. A complex, somewhat relieved, and even excited smile actually pulled at his pale face.
"No more... *cough cough*... As expected of the New World, it's truly... spectacular~"
His voice was raspy, but it didn't carry much of the dejection of defeat; instead, there was a sense of wonder at having seen a brand new landscape.
"Since you admit your defeat," Charlotte Linlin's wrist moved slightly, the blade of the Seven Thunders of Purification pressing closer to his skin, leaving a faint bloodstain,
"then according to the rules between pirates, the winner takes all. You are mine now. Any objections?"
Redfield felt the coldness and stinging pain from his neck and looked at Charlotte Linlin's emotionless eyes. He shrugged helplessly, but the movement pulled at his wounds, making him grimace.
"I think... I probably don't," he said with a bitter smile.
If he could live, why go looking for death? Although he couldn't read the thoughts in the heart of the woman before him, he could still understand that gaze filled with killing intent.
Moreover, he was truly intensely interested in why he couldn't read Charlotte Linlin's inner voice and the endless secrets she possessed.
He vaguely realized that in this defeat, besides the opponent's powerful strength and domineering moves, his habit of relying on mind-reading Observation Haki to fight—and the resulting errors in judgment and habitual dependency when he completely failed to "hear" the opponent's heart—was also a major factor.
"Very well. I'll wait for you in Totto Land."
The blue-winged dragon that Charlotte Linlin had transformed into beat its wings and soared high, heading off to find her dear son.
Left behind on the ground, the newly "joined" Crew member Redfield, still in a heavily injured and weakened state, watched dumbfoundedly as she rapidly shrank and disappeared into the horizon.
"Hey! Charlotte Linlin! I'm your Crew member! What do you mean by just flying off like that?!"
Looking at the empty sky, Redfield finally failed to maintain his remaining elegance and shouted at the sky in exasperation for the first time.
He had never received such treatment in his life! Just after being brutally beaten, he was thrown away like trash by his newly acknowledged Captain?
When did he become so worthless? And isn't this woman afraid he'll run away halfway?
High in the air, Charlotte Linlin's ethereal and slightly playful voice reached his ears:
"Find your own way to the Totto Land Sea Area! This is your first test and your initiation ceremony! If you can't even handle such a small thing, you're not qualified to follow me!"
The voice grew distant, carrying an undisguised hint of "settling a personal grudge"—she would never admit this was revenge for the frustration he caused her during the fight and for the near "exposure" she suffered!
Redfield looked at his tattered clothes and his wound-covered body, then at the ruins that had been completely leveled around him, and felt a hint of doubt about his decision to "join Charlotte Linlin's banner."
"...This woman!"
...The dragon soared above the sea of clouds at extreme speed.
After flying for a while with Kuri, Charlotte Linlin subconsciously wanted to confirm their direction and habitually reached for the log pose on her person. However, she felt nothing.
"Hmm?" A flash of confusion crossed her massive dragon eyes. "Where's the log pose?...Oh, it was probably shattered by the shockwaves during that intense battle just now."
She quickly found a reasonable explanation for herself and didn't pay it much mind.
"Anyway, I remember the direction of Totto Land very clearly."
Confident, Charlotte Linlin adjusted her direction and continued flying according to the "memory map" in her mind.
She was a transmigrator, after all. She had... probably... maybe... possibly... some concept of the Pirate King world's geography, right?
Some time later... Kuri, sitting between the dragon horns, looked down curiously at the scenery flashing past below.
Suddenly, she blinked and pointed at a towering red barrier ahead that seemed to connect heaven and earth, asking in confusion:
"otousan, aren't we going back to Totto Land? Why have we come to the Red Line? Do we have something else to do?"
!!!
Charlotte Linlin's massive dragon body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
She looked at the red wall before her—all too familiar, yet absolutely not supposed to appear on the route back to Totto Land—and her huge dragon eyes twitched slightly.
Was she lost? Impossible! Absolutely impossible! You should know she never gets lost! Never! This time, there were definitely just too many identical islands! That's why she took the wrong direction!
That damned Redfield! She would definitely not make things easy for that guy!
After a brief silence, Charlotte Linlin spoke in a tone that suggested everything was under control:
"Ah, right! Exactly! We indeed have business to attend to here. Did you forget? Didn't we secretly swap out that Poneglyph stone from Fish-Man Island and turn it into 'Mr. Krabs'? I'm stopping by to see if the imitation we left behind has any flaws."
Kuri tilted her little head, her pointed ears twitching, becoming even more confused:
"But otousan, this isn't near the Sabaody Archipelago? It seems... quite far from the entrance to Fish-Man Island?"
Even though she was small, she still had a basic sense of direction.
Charlotte Linlin: "..."
Why do you have so many questions, child! Can't you just obediently believe in your omnipotent father!
The blackness on the dragon's face was almost tangible enough to drip ink. She toughened her resolve and said in an unquestionable tone:
"None of your business! Your father has his own reasons for doing things! What's wrong with taking a detour? Reconnaissance must be thorough!"
In this awkward moment (mostly awkward for Charlotte Linlin alone)—
"Bulu bulu—bulu bulu—"
The small transponder snail Kuri carried with her began to ring.
Kuri took out the transponder snail and answered: "Moshi moshi?"
On the other end of the transponder snail, Gloriosa's expression and voice were immediately simulated with a hint of anxiety and confusion: "Hello! Is that Kuri? Is Linlin with you?"
"Yes! We're on otousan's back!" Kuri answered obediently.
"That's good! Tell Linlin that a strange guy came to the house, calling himself Patrick Redfield, saying he's Linlin's new Crew member. Is this true? He looks... heavily injured, but his aura is very strong." Gloriosa's voice carried uncertainty.
"Yes, it is! Okasan," Kuri immediately confirmed. "He's the Crew member otousan recently recruited, though otousan just left him in Sleeping Ancient Town after beating him up."
Kuri added without any guile.
Charlotte Linlin: "..." (This child tells everything!)
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