Clink… clink…
"Hey… wake up! Wake up!"
A slightly hoarse voice kept drilling into Barnes' ears.
His eyelids felt as heavy as lead. It took everything he had just to force them open.
His vision was blurry.
Only the dim yellow glow of an oil lamp swayed in the darkness.
Instinctively, he tried to sit up—
—but his body was tightly bound by something hard.
Aside from his neck, he couldn't move even a single finger.
Clank—!
The sound of chains scraping came from the side.
Barnes struggled to turn his head toward the noise.
Behind the bars of the neighboring cell, a thin man with messy hair was squeezing his face between two iron rods, staring at him intensely.
"Y-you're awake!"
When he saw Barnes open his eyes, the man's voice carried a hint of excitement.
Barnes' vision slowly focused.
Under the faint light, he recognized the face.
Though much paler now, it gradually overlapped with the gloomy portrait on a bounty poster.
"You're… Mushroom Tyrant Morris?"
"You know me?"
Morris froze for a moment, then suddenly looked like he had grabbed onto a lifeline.
"Yes! Yes! I'm Morris! Mushroom Tyrant Morris!"
"You… you're new here? How did you get caught too?"
"Are you a Devil Fruit user? Did they say they're going to sell you too?"
A barrage of questions flew at him.
Barnes didn't answer immediately.
He narrowed his eyes and studied Morris carefully.
"Weren't you recruited by the Jellyfish Pirates… and made one of their officers?"
Barnes spoke slowly, probing.
Is this Sami's trick…?
Or… hopefully not the latter.
"HAHAHAHA… officer?!"
Morris burst into laughter as if he had heard the greatest joke in the world.
At first it was a low chuckle.
Then it became uncontrollable hysterical laughter.
Finally his voice shot upward.
"Who said that?! Which idiot spread that rumor?!"
"Ever since that bastard Sami ambushed me and knocked me out on Mushroom Island, I've been locked in this hellhole like a dog!"
"They only told me one thing—"
"They're selling me to Sabaody Archipelago as a slave!"
"Officer? HAHAHA!"
"What?! How is that possible?"
Barnes' voice dropped low.
Not from fear—
—but from losing control of the situation.
Recruitment… admiration… appreciation…
All of it had been deliberate rumors spread by Sami.
This whole thing had been a carefully staged deception.
Morris had been nothing more than merchandise from the start.
And Barnes himself…
"So what did you expect?!" Morris shouted.
He rattled the Seastone shackles on his wrists.
"If it weren't for this damned thing draining all my strength, I could smash through this stupid cell in minutes!"
"Damn it!"
"These bastards better pray they never fall into my hands!"
Barnes tried to force himself upright.
But the layers of chains binding his body made it impossible.
"If not for these chains…"
"Forget it, brother."
Morris shook the Seastone cuffs again.
"With this on, I'm weaker than an ordinary man."
"And you…"
He glanced at Barnes' body, which looked like a tightly wrapped dumpling.
"You look even worse than me."
"We're definitely not escaping."
"Let's just hope that slave trader—what was his name, Gillian—finds us a decent master…"
"Waaaah…"
"Shut up!"
Barnes barked sharply.
Fury burned in his eyes.
"There's no way I'm becoming someone's slave!"
Maybe… there's still a chance…
He took a deep breath.
Using the strength of his waist and small shoulder movements, he slowly wriggled across the ground like an awkward worm.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
Morris stopped crying, staring at his neighbor's bizarre movements.
Barnes didn't answer.
After two or three full minutes of effort, he finally managed to rotate his body so his back faced Morris.
Then he positioned his hips toward the gap in the iron bars.
"Listen carefully," Barnes whispered.
"In the pocket on the back of my pants… there's a mini Den Den Mushi."
"That's our only chance."
"See if you can pull it out."
"A… Den Den Mushi?!"
Hope exploded in Morris' eyes.
He immediately lay flat on the floor and shoved his arm through the gap beneath the bars, groping around Barnes' back pocket.
"…There's nothing here!"
He tried again.
And again.
After twisting into several awkward positions and searching desperately for a while, he finally stopped.
Morris slumped onto the ground.
The spark of hope on his face completely died out.
"You… you're messing with me, right?"
"There's nothing here!"
"The pocket is empty!"
"What?!"
Barnes felt like he'd been struck by lightning.
His last hope… extinguished.
"Did they… take it during the search?"
Of course.
There was no way they wouldn't search him.
The only communication device he had hidden had probably been taken while he was unconscious.
Barnes' voice turned dry.
The last trace of luck vanished.
The plan had gone wrong from the very beginning.
Not only had he failed to approach the core—
He had become a prisoner instead.
And now he would be sold like cargo.
"…Waaaah…"
"I guess it's really over…"
"We're going to be sold as slaves after all…"
Faris Valley Town – Clock Tower Surveillance Post
"Report!"
A Marine intelligence agent in civilian clothing hurried up the tower stairs and saluted the man standing by the window overlooking the harbor.
Rear Admiral Hark didn't turn around.
He simply raised a hand, signaling him to speak.
"Rear Admiral Hark, based on fragmented information gathered from casual conversations among ordinary Jellyfish Pirate crew members in taverns and casinos…"
"After cross-analysis, we can preliminarily confirm—"
"Colonel Barnes from headquarters has successfully made contact with and joined the Jellyfish Pirates!"
"The encounter followed the planned script."
"There was a fierce clash between both sides."
"Although the battle's outcome deviated slightly from expectations, the final result matches our predictions."
Hark slowly turned around.
His expression revealed nothing.
"Continue."
"Yes!"
"According to consistent descriptions from the crew, Colonel Barnes displayed combat power far exceeding his current bounty during the fight with Predator Sami."
"He even forced Sami to reveal a gigantic biological form."
The intelligence officer paused.
"While the sailors' descriptions likely contain exaggerations, they prove one thing—"
"Colonel Barnes' strength has earned high recognition from the enemy, especially Sami himself."
"Based on this, we believe the colonel may skip the peripheral observation phase and directly enter the core decision-making circle of the Jellyfish Pirates."
"Directly entering the core circle…"
Hark stroked his chin.
A glint flashed in his eyes.
That was even faster than expected.
"Did Sami show any suspicion toward him?"
"None so far."
"All intelligence suggests Sami viewed the challenge as a simple martial duel."
Hark walked to the wall map.
His gaze rested on the black marker representing the Jellyfish Pirates.
"Excellent."
"Colonel Barnes has done well."
"The start was risky… but the results are impressive."
"But we cannot place all our hopes—and all our intelligence—on a single person."
"Never put all eggs in one basket."
"Especially not when facing someone as cunning as Sami."
He turned and looked at the intelligence officer and several other Marine officers in the room.
"The other teams of the Seaweed Plan…"
"…continue according to the original operation schedule."
"Yes, sir!"
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