Chapter 239: Captivity, Rescue Squad and Setting Sail

Chapter 239: Captivity, Rescue Squad and Setting Sail

__________ POV Narration __________

Enel rubbed his earlobes together in frustration as he laid back on the couch by Garp's side.

"Why the hell did he have to go and do that?!?"

The Emperor swore loudly, Garp by his side also grumbled, swearing under his breath much in the same way.

Shiki rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head, his blade scratching the ground underneath him slightly as he lost his concentration.

The Golden Lion had just finished reading out the message they had received from Francisco.

It appeared that the swordsman was grievously injured and was currently being kept in some slave camp that laboured somewhere within the Land of Wano.

It was only thanks to Morgans that Shiki ever managed to get that message, it was essentially an emergency Snail Transmission that the Big News Bird had intercepted by mistake.

And Morgans immediately contacted them, translating the SOS signal over to them.

It was brief, but it was essentially summarised as:

'Got Captured in Wano, lost sword arm and legs. Be careful, Kaido is stronger.'

He wasn't really asking for help, he seemed to be merely informing them of the situation.

At the end of the day, it wasn't in Francisco's nature to ask for help.

But it was plain as day that the situation was dire.

He had lost both legs and his sword arm. And it was obvious that it had happened whilst he was fighting Kaido.

As to why the Dragon Emperor didn't just kill him... That was honestly beyond the comprehension of any of the people present.

They could speculate a few things... Like the fact that Kaido was likely trying to lure the rest of the Army over by using Francisco as bait.

It was certainly working, especially for people like Shiki.

But in truth, no one within the army was going to ever act without Enel's instructions.

Not even Shiki, who was Francisco's best friend in the Army.

The Golden Lion was on the verge of rushing into Wano himself, crashing a few islands into it along the way and bringing Francisco away.

But they all knew that Enel had quite a few plans for Wano especially.

The Sky King hadn't gone into much detail, but he did claim that Wano was going to be the stage for the awakening of a God Fruit user and that the time for said awakening was coming near.

The last thing Shiki wanted was to screw over the very thing that had a chance of winning them the war. He already knew that the God Fruits were legendary objects, on par with the strongest of Ancient Weapons. Having one on their side was vital.

Now, if Shiki had been older and more senile, he likely would've already been well on his way to Wano.

But now that he could think more clearly, he knew that there was no way in hell that Enel was going to ever forsake Francisco.

The Sky King surely had a plan to free Francisco, although he was more stuck swearing at him for now.

"What the hell was he even thinking about?!?"

The Sky King ran his hands through his golden blonde hair with an exasperated expression on his face.

And who could blame him?

'Really...

Why does he always have to get into trouble when he goes out?

Still, at least this does confirm something...'

Enel wasn't the only person in the room to come to that conclusion. And in hindsight, it was already obvious...

Kaido was already on a level of his own. Well above that of the current Yonko and even the old Pirate King.

Hell, he was likely even stronger than Rocks D. Xebec. Although Xebec's potential hadn't ever been reached.

As a Lunarian, he was infinitely weaker with his wings clipped than otherwise.

In a sense, Kaido had likely now risen to the strength of a prime Xebec with his wings still intact.

'I can still manage something like that... But it seems that Francisco alone couldn't...'

Enel himself was unsure if he could win against Kaido without entering his Awakened state, and that spoke volumes already.

"Hey! I can tell her what's going on, it's more fitting since I'm training her too!" Garp voiced out as he also stood up.

He didn't even get to take a step before Sengoku appeared in front of him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"No offence, but subtlety has never been your strong point... Please leave this to Enel." The former Fleet Admiral nodded to Garp.

The old Marine Hero seemed to want to refute that, but he also realized that he couldn't really argue against it.

Not like anyone in the room expected him to be able to anyway.

Enel smiled as he left, turning into a flash of light as soon as he closed the door.

In the next second, he reformed himself in mid-air, floating in place as he stared down at a large training field.

Well, it was more akin to a mountainside, countless holes and broken rocks littered the place. Enel's ears perked up as he heard the grunts of a woman.

Looking down, his eyes finally found her. Bonney.

The same woman he remembered, the same long pink hair now caught into a ponytail, same clothes for the most part as well.

Even when training, she still wore extremely tight outfits in order to facilitate becoming younger.

The Emperor touched Earth, and as soon as he did, Bonney took notice of his presence, her head immediately turning to the side as he met the Emperor with a tired smile.

"Hoh? Look who decided to show up again..." The gluttonous pirate slowly walked towards the Sky King as she reached to the back of her hair and undid her ponytail, leaving her long hair to flow smoothly.

"Yeah, bet you're no longer used to seeing me around." Enel smiled at the De-Aging Pirate.

But his smile was quickly wiped off as he scratched the back of his head a few times before sighing.

"Listen. I'll just get to the point of my visit. There's no good way to go about this anyway.

Francisco's been caught by Kaido, bit of a role reversal if you ask me. But things aren't looking too bright right now."

Enel kept his gauntleted arms closed as he spoke, his shoulders not sagging one bit.

Although the subject matter was gloomy, his confident tone managed to somewhat calm down Bonney too.

Well, at least slightly.

"W-what do you mean caught? What's his condition, and why aren't you already there rescuing him?!?" Bonney crossed her arms as she immediately started asking questions.

"Well, we don't know how he got involved with the Land of Wano, but he fought Kaido there and lost. We only know he's missing a few limbs and is essentially kept alive for slave labour.

We suspect Kaido just wants to mess with his mind and humiliate him, maybe use him as bait. There are many options, but we can't know for sure.

Also, I've just returned from a long trip, there's not even been a full hour since I came to Skypea."

Enel shrugged as he managed to answer all of her questions uninterrupted.

She seemed to be intently listening to anything that was related to Francisco. It was quite obvious that she cared for him as if that hadn't been obvious enough from their previous interactions...

Still, Enel decided not to waste any more time and just told her to postpone her training and pack her stuff.

She readily agreed, also immediately understanding her purpose on the team.

'So I'll be the on-board doctor, huh?'

It was pretty obvious at the end of the day. The mission was not to 'rescue' Francisco. It was to heal him. And she was vital for that goal.

She knew what she needed to do. So that evening, she was well and ready to step on the departing island.

Shiki was tagging along both as a navigator/ship and extra muscle.

But they also had plenty of muscle in the form of Zephyr, Garp and Enel.

Well, Enel was the captain, but he was essentially an all-in-one package.

'With this crew, I doubt we'll run into much trouble... Now, let's set sail to Wano!'

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Eyy, Hope you liked the chapter!

Wano arc incoming :))

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