Chapter 43

"Three hours have passed. Still no sign of returning." Dan muttered as he checked the watch on his left wrist. "But no signal either. Most probably, they haven't been discovered yet."

With binocular in her hands, Carmen tried to view the Mundi island from afar but had no success. After all, if they can see the base, it means that the marines can see them too; they had to position themselves far away.

Currently, Prominence was anchored behind a large rock that poked out in the middle of the sea. The rocky formation around the island usually served as an advantage for the marines to defend, but has been working in their favour this time.

"I guess we wait for sixteen hours. If there is no change after, then…"

"We go in." Carmen finished Dan's line, with her right hand litting on a fire.

"Yes yes, no need to lit your hand with fire and burn our ship by accident. What can be more ridiculous than 'Prominence' sinking due to fire?" Dan waved his hands to calm Carmen down. Simultaneously, he grabbed the binocular from Carmen's hand and looked through it himself.

"Huh?" Dan sighted a countless number of the marine ships that appeared all of a sudden, sailing outward from the base.

Watching Dan's sudden change in demeanour, Carmen asked in inquiry, "What's the trouble?"

Dan squinted his eyes, trying to get a better view of the marine ships. "The marine ships. So many of them appeared within our sight all of a sudden. From what I can see, all of them are traveling toward large rocks that are all around the island, including the one we hid from its behind."

Carmen's face turned grim hearing this.

"Given the vibrant colour of Prominence, I don't think we can afford to hide. Once we are discovered, it will be impossible to escape without a battle." Dan quickly assessed the situation. 'The fact that so many marine ships are dispersed at the same time. Either captain and Carina are caught, or the marines somehow figured out the infiltration and that we have the ship hidden.

'The fact that so many ships are out at once means that the marine base is mostly empty… oh no, captain and Carina will be exposed!' Dan's eyes widened in horror as he realized how detrimental the situation has developed.

Carmen, tensed up as one marine ship kept on approaching closer to them, and asked, "Should we fight?"

Dan looked troubled as he looked up towards the direction Carmen was staring at. Eventually, he gathered his resolve and stood up from his spot.

"Blast them."

___________

Rowan and Carina's faces looked grim as they continued their walk around the marine base.

'No Log Pose in sight. The marine base usually serves as the point where many marine ships restock their supplies; Log Pose should be quite common equipment. Having seen none means… they figured out our motive.' Rowan let out a cold sweat as he thought of the dreaded possibility.

For the past three hours, they have constantly been moving, visiting all the places that they suspect to contain the Log Pose. They ended up finding none as if someone deliberately removed them.

*BOOM* Even from the inside, Rowan and Carina heard a sudden booming noise.

"Don't tell me…" Carina instantly turned her face towards the direction of the noise.

Rowan's gaze sharpened. "How? No sound of alarm or signal for mobilization. Yet, the marines somehow grouped up and began their chase for our crew. This shouldn't be possible unless… we've already been found out."

*Clap* *Clap* a clapping sound was heard from behind before Baten stepped out with his huge body towering over Rowan and Carina.

"Well, to be precise, we already found you two around three hours ago. How? Why should I explain?" Baten lazily shrugged with his hands in the pocket. "Let's see who we got here. A blond-haired man and an ugly-looking man. Got to say, your disguises were the only perfect aspect of your infiltration."

"Haa…" Rowan sighed, wanting to facepalm himself at the current moment. So they've been fooled for three hours. The moment they were identified, all the marine troops were pulled out to search the remainder of Rowan's crew, while the formidable officers would remain to handle Rowan and Carina.

Since there is was no point in keeping their disguise, Rowan and Carina threw away their disguises.

"Hmm, who do we have here… ah yes, the woman with short purple hair, has been sighted in Logue town before, but the image was blurry." Baten stared at Carina, who pulled out her daggers and slipped into each of her hands.

"And of course, the notorious 'Grimheart' Rowan, or should I call you…" Baten's eyes lit up in excitement, "Youchiha Bob?"

'Ugh, that name again.' Rowan thought in annoyance, although his posture remained in a tensed-up state. 'Even if it's the name given by my very own parents, the name is just too hideous! Youchiha… sounds similar to the infamous clan from another world, but that's ok! However, why must it be Bob!!'

"Haha, seems that you aren't that fond of that name. You see, I am… kind of your fan." Baten said while lazily putting pair of white gloves onto his hands. "To think Youchiha wasn't merely a fiction, you have no idea how much ecstasy I felt when I heard of your name."

'Fiction? Youchiha? Naruto exists in this world or what?!' Rowan thought as he gritted his teeth. The man in front of him had the biggest size he's ever seen in his whole life. Additionally, his calm attitude seemed to warn Rowan that the man has a formidable strength for himself. "And you are?"

Baten held out his arms wide open. "Why, your number one fan, Rear Admiral Baten at your service. Also, the one who's responsible for your doom." Subsequently, Baten snapped his fingers.

Immediately following, five marine officers with justice coats dropped down from the top, before surrounding Rowan and Carina.

'That dude we saw before, Commodore Kazu, doesn't seem to be here. Probably after Carmen and Dan.' Rowan quickly shifted his eyes left and right, scanning their opponents.

Baten also took out a shortsword from his sword sheath on the left side of his waist. "Prioritize in separating them from one another. Leave Grimheart to me and focus on the girl."

"We must stay together no matter what, okay Rowan?!" Carina quickly shouted, knowing full well that separation will lead to their defeat.

"No need to tell me a blatant truth, Carina." Rowan replied as he took out his new revolver from his holster. "So you must have figured out that we need a Log Pose. Are you going to tell me where you hid them?"

Baten shrugged. "Maybe if you can beat us all."

In the intersection of the hallway, within the marine base, Rowan and Carina were back-to-back as all four pathways were blocked by the marines. Rowan was pointing his gun while Carina was holding her two daggers; Rowan's bounce will only hinder her from using her ten dagger style.

'This man came prepared. He already planned to meet us in a secluded spot, judging by the length of his sword. However, why in here? If it's building...' Rowan inwardly thought as the marines began to launch themselves toward them.

*Clang* Carina deflected the blade from the green-haired marine officer and used her other dagger to slam the blade away sideway. Immediately, Carina ducked to dodge the punch from the burly marine officer and jumped back next to Rowan's side.

"Bounce!" Watching five marine officers simultaneously jumping up to strike toward them, Rowan quickly hugged Carina and crouched down, prior to using his ability to bounce back the weapons. The blond-haired marine officer was seen to have recovered the fastest, and dashed again towards Rowan and Carina.

*Boom* Lightly bouncing away from the sword strike from the blond-haired marine officer, Rowan gently tapped on his foot and used Carina's back as the support to lift his legs up in the air.

*BOOM* Right afterward, Rowan pulled the trigger of his revolver, and two bullets flew off with a burst of bounce force. The bullets traveled rapidly towards Baten, who was standing on his spot and analyzing the situation.

"Lesser." Holding up his free hand towards the rapidly approaching bullets, Baten stated. Surprisingly, the bullets traveling with incredible speed stopped in front of Baten in a matter of a millisecond, before losing their forces and dropping down.

'A devil fruit ability!' Rowan mentally exclaimed as he saw Baten stopping his bullets. He started to feel the dread creeping down his spine as he felt the gaze of Baten intently staring at him and Carina battle against the five officers.

*Clang* "Damn it, Rowan!" *Clang* *Clang* Carina shouted in midst of the fight as she continued to deflect the attacks that kept coming from three different directions. "Do something already!" She was displaying a quick blade-play in a very flexible manner. She bent her body backward to let a sword slip behind her back, before back-flipping and kicking off the extended sword to dodge a punch that was heading towards her way.

*BOOM* Rowan's punch met the burly officer's punch, causing the latter to fly away with his hand bleeding and broken. Trying to keep his emotion in control, Rowan spoke back calmly, "Don't be careless Carina. That dude over there is just watching us fight right now, and possesses a devil fruit ability." At the same time, Rowan slammed his bullets into the nearby marine officer with black hair, causing the latter to throw up a gallon of blood and drop dead instantly. The blood sprayed and landed on Rowan, leaving him stained in red. "Hard to focus on both at the same time, you know."

"Haa, it seems that you are unable to separate the two from one another. Stary, Kenzo, and Haruo, back off. This should be good enough; go with the plan B." Baten sighed and began to approach Rowan and Carina. The marine officers with blond hair, green hair, and burly feature nodded before backing away and standing on the side while grabbing their fellow marine officers, although it is unknown whether they are alive or dead.

Rowan grimaced as he watched Baten slowly walking towards them. "Listen Carina. When I shot the bullets earlier, he somehow stopped it in the midair. He said 'lesser.' Don't really understand what his ability can truly do, but he can stop my bounce."

Carina nodded, having learnt new information. Although she was right next to Rowan, she was occupied with the fight that she didn't get to witness the scene.

Baten eventually stopped in proximity to Rowan and Carina. "Any last words?"

Carina raised her hand eagerly, "Well not last words, but I do have something to say. Did you brush? Why does it smell so much when you talk?"

Rowan smirked hearing Carina's words. "I bet that he's never dated before. A loser who locks himself in a room and does questionable things. Look at his hair, it's not wax. It's gotta be the oil from his hair since he didn't shower for years."

Baten laughed, "Sure sure. Nice attempt, I bet that some would've gone angry hearing that. Anyway, shall we start?"

Right after, Baten raised his shortsword and slammed down, which is blocked by Rowan's fist and Carina's daggers.

*BOOM* Baten held an amused look as his shortsword was repelled by Rowan's bounce force.

The fight between Rear Admiral Baten versus Rowan and Carina has begun.