Only twenty-four hours remained until Ace's execution.
"SO WHY DID IT TURN OUT LIKE THIS?!"
Lilith clutched her head and screamed in frustration.
Even after she had managed to contact the Stella, all he told her was to follow Cain, avoid being discovered by Kizaru and Sentomaru from the Science Unit, and then sneak back to Egghead once the war was over.
Hearing her complaints, Cain hurriedly explained with great patience,
"Your mechanical shark is too conspicuous, and the Queen Mama Chanter is far too massive. Either one would easily draw the Marines' attention."
"My original plan was to pass through Fish-Man Island, then find a way to sneak into Marineford. But you showed up at just the right time. This is the safest method."
Lilith refused to listen and shot back.
"EVEN IF YOU WANT TO DISGUISE YOURSELVES AS MARINES, DON'T DRAG ME INTO IT! I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT WAR!"
Cain smiled and thanked her in a soothing tone.
"Don't look so miserable, Lilith. In any case, I really do owe you one this time. In return, I'll protect you too."
"Even if you say that, I'm not going to be grateful. Besides, that one is definitely going to expose us, isn't she?"
As Lilith spoke, she turned to look at Yamato, who had been making a racket beside them the entire time.
Yamato had never seen a ship that could sail without sails before, and her eyes were full of curiosity.
She could not resist touching and poking at everything aboard the warship.
"Uh, true… Even crossing the Red Line will be a problem with her around."
Their plan was to disguise themselves as Marines and use the cable car the World Government had built specifically for the Marines and the World Nobles to cross the Red Line, then head straight to Marineford.
It was the fastest route, and the one least likely to alert anyone.
But with Yamato acting so loudly and carelessly, hiding her was going to be incredibly difficult.
"There. This should do it."
Cain clapped his hands.
Yamato had already been wrapped up in strips of cloth until she looked like a rice dumpling.
She was lying in the corner of the cabin beside Doflamingo, who had barely been saved but was still unconscious.
Seeing that everything had been arranged, Lilith gave them a solemn warning.
"Listen, I'll say this first. The Marine uniforms you're wearing aren't real clothes. They're simulated using a special optical principle, and after twenty hours, they'll automatically fade and return to normal. So during that time, absolutely do not cause trouble for me!"
"I'm fully aware of that," Cain replied without mercy. "Rather, I'm more worried that you'll be the one causing trouble for us."
"Hah. With things already like this, do you really think I'll still act the way I did before?"
"Who knows? Maybe you're already thinking of a way to screw me over."
As the two bickered, Katakuri's gaze grew slightly grave. He stared closely at Lilith.
…
Atop the Red Line, beside the cable car reserved for Marine use.
"HEY, ARE YOU PEOPLE OUT OF YOUR MINDS? HEADQUARTERS IS ABOUT TO GO TO WAR, AND YOU'RE STILL BRINGING INJURED PEOPLE OVER AT A TIME LIKE THIS? THIS IS PURE NONSENSE!"
The Marine soldier responsible for inspection stared in shock and shouted at Lilith.
"Ah, i apologize!"
Lilith hurriedly bowed in apology and began making up a lie on the spot.
"Our forces were all redeployed, and there's a severe shortage of medical personnel on our side. We could only give them simple bandaging. These two are too badly injured, and we had no other choice but to bring them to headquarters for treatment!"
As she spoke, she quickly glanced at the two giant bandage balls being carried by Cain and Katakuri.
They were Yamato, whose face was flushed red from being wrapped up, and Doflamingo, who remained in a deep stupor. Both of their faces had been wrapped so completely that they no longer looked human.
"Honestly, causing trouble for the medical unit at a time like this…"
The soldier shook his head helplessly, but in the end, he did not ask any further questions. He stamped their pass and said,
"Hurry up and get them treated. You be careful too!"
After they passed through smoothly, Lilith let out a breath of relief and patted her chest with a smile.
"Whew. I didn't expect it to be that easy. What a false alarm!"
At that moment, the bubble cable car carrying them slowly descended.
Not far below, the outline of Marine Headquarters, Marineford, had already come clearly into view.
"Don't let your guard down," Cain said in a low voice, his eyes sweeping warily over the area below.
"The Marines are already on full alert. The waters around Marineford are under strict surveillance, so don't expose yourselves during this period."
"Everyone stay close. Whatever you do, don't get separated."
Lilith and Katakuri both nodded. Yamato, still wrapped up like a rice dumpling, also gave a muffled "mmph mmph" in response.
…
"Tell me, what exactly are you two doing? Why are you both trying to crawl inside my body?"
Katakuri pushed the two "bandage balls," Doflamingo and Yamato, while moving toward the Marine hospital along the route Cain had described.
His face was expressionless, but his voice was low.
His Mochi-Mochi Fruit was a special Paramecia, allowing him to turn his body into moldable mochi. In a way, he was like a walking storage room.
He often used this ability to hide his weapon, Mogura, storing it inside his thigh.
But he never could have imagined that Cain and Lilith would actually crawl directly inside him.
In order to let the two of them breathe properly, Katakuri had no choice but to manipulate his body and open two small air holes on his back.
Puffs of air kept coming out of them as he walked, drawing curious glances from passing soldiers and making him feel indescribably uncomfortable.
"We had no choice. Who would've thought we'd run into someone familiar the moment we landed?" Cain's muffled voice came from inside Katakuri's body.
He truly had not expected that the instant their ship reached Marineford's harbor, they would bump into Zephyr returning to headquarters.
Zephyr knew him.
At such a critical time, there was no way Cain could allow himself to be exposed.
"Exactly!" Lilith echoed with a complaint. "And I didn't expect Sentomaru to be guarding the harbor himself. I didn't even dare bring the Pacifistas over to report in, so I had to leave all of them at the port and sneak in."
Fortunately, Katakuri's body was large enough.
He was much bigger than Cain and Lilith combined, so the two of them did not feel cramped inside.
Looking somewhat helpless, Katakuri pushed the two "bandage balls" quickly toward the Marine hospital.
Only after confirming that no one was around did Cain and Lilith use the cover of the bandaged bodies to secretly crawl out of Katakuri's body.
However, the instant they pushed open the hospital doors, all three of them froze.
The beds were packed full.
Even the corridors were lined with temporary bedding, and everywhere they looked were soldiers in Marine uniforms.
"What's going on here?" Lilith widened her eyes and instinctively lowered her voice.
"It's probably because Marines from all over the world have gathered at Marineford. There aren't enough beds," Cain guessed.
Fortunately, there were enough medical personnel in the hospital.
In the end, they found a way to put Doflamingo on an IV drip and give him nutritional fluids.
Lilith had stabilized his injuries, but the man had not eaten a single grain of rice for days.
The fact that he had lasted this long was already a miracle.
Throughout the entire process, Cain blocked the medical staff from examining Doflamingo's face.
He simply claimed that the man was a severely wounded Marine whose face had been injured, and somehow managed to muddle through.
The three of them decided to rest in the hospital for the time being and conserve their strength for the great battle the next day.
…
The next day, only six hours remained until Ace's execution.
At that moment, Ace was being escorted from Impel Down to Marineford by Vice Admiral Onigumo.
A sharp whistle suddenly rang through the entire force.
It was the signal for the Marines to assemble.
Cain instinctively started to get up in response, but the moment his hand pressed against the floor, he abruptly came back to himself.
'I was no longer a Marine.'
The Marines who had spent the night in the hospital instantly burst into motion, all of them hurriedly straightening their uniforms and preparing to move out.
Cain glanced at the still-unconscious Doflamingo and tucked Uta's Tone Dial into the bandages around his neck.
The Tone Dial immediately began playing a gentle melody on a loop.
This time, if they wanted to save Ace, the key would still be Doflamingo.
"Everyone stay close. Whatever you do, don't get separated." Cain warned.
An assembly of tens of thousands of Marines was astonishingly chaotic.
Cain, Katakuri, and Lilith had just rushed toward the door when Yamato, who had been wrapped up like a rice dumpling, finally could not hold herself back anymore.
She burst free of the bandages and shouted, "DID YOU ALL FORGET ABOUT ME?!" before pouncing toward Cain.
But at that very moment, the fully equipped Marines surged toward the exit like a tide, instantly scattering the four of them.
The crowd swept them along, carrying them straight toward the central plaza of Marineford.
Yamato caught sight of a soldier dressed like a Wano ninja and immediately became interested.
Swinging her kanabo, she followed after him and, without any suspense, ended up mixing into Zephyr's unit.
Because of her female appearance, Lilith had just been pushed to the edge of the plaza by the crowd when a capable female Marine grabbed her wrist and pulled her into Vice Admiral Tsuru's formation.
Katakuri, meanwhile, found himself standing among a group of rank-and-file Marines, looking completely out of place.
"Hey, look at that guy. Isn't he way too arrogant?"
"So what if he's tall? He's even taller than our vice admirals!"
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH! CAN'T YOU FEEL HOW SCARY HIS PRESENCE IS?" A veteran beside them hurriedly pulled him back.
"I don't think he's an ordinary soldier. Don't get us into trouble!"
Katakuri stood five meters and nine centimeters tall.
Among ordinary soldiers whose average height was less than two meters, with even the tallest barely over three, he looked like a tower among men.
He was simply far too conspicuous.
As for Cain, in the middle of the packed crowd, someone suddenly grabbed his arm.
He turned his head and saw a blond brat wearing a strange pair of sunglasses.
His face was full of surprise and joy as he dragged Cain toward the recruit formation, shouting nonstop,
"KOBY! YOU FINALLY CAME BACK! EVERYONE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE OKAY!"
Cain froze.
He recognized this guy.
It was Helmeppo.
But what did he mean, Koby was dead?
What exactly was going on?
Just as Cain was filled with confusion, Helmeppo had already shoved him into the recruit formation and kept talking.
"By the way, did you get taller? I'm telling you, the teacher doesn't want me anymore—ah! Sorry, sorry! I mistook you for someone else!"
He hurriedly took half a step back. After seeing Cain's face clearly, he quickly apologized.
"Your hair color looked a lot like my friend's, and I didn't see clearly for a second! I'm really sorry!"
'First Koby was dead, then Garp had abandoned him. What was all this supposed to mean?'
Cain waved a hand, forgiving his carelessness, then lowered his voice and asked,
"It's fine. But what did you mean just now about Koby… and about your teacher not wanting you anymore?"
When Helmeppo heard that, he immediately looked left and right.
After confirming that the surrounding recruits were all focused on the execution platform ahead and that no one was paying attention to them, he carefully leaned close to Cain's ear and lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Since you're a recruit too, and none of us even know whether we'll survive this war, I'll tell you this secret for now."
"Actually, from a certain point of view, this war is partly my fault."
---------
Read 30 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator