#20 Panic and Pursuit

"Oh my god, who would dare to mess with the Celestial Dragons? They must have a death wish!"

"They must be insane, definitely insane!"

"Will this affect us? Damn it, why did this have to happen now? We were planning to set sail today!"

"Tell me about it. Let's hope the Navy and World Government don't drag innocent people like us into this..."

"Innocent? We're pirates! To them, we're anything but innocent!"

"The Navy is using this as an excuse to clean out all the pirates in the Sabaody Archipelago. What can you do about it?"

"Oh no... an Admiral... a Navy Admiral is here!"

In an instant, all the grooves of the Sabaody Archipelago were thrown into chaos.

The residents were a bit better off; the World Government wouldn't go on a killing spree in one of the busiest towns on the Grand Line.

But the pirates were in deep trouble. Everyone was panicking, cursing their bad luck for being here at such a time!

Some pirates, unwilling to sit and wait, were preparing to set sail and leave.

Among them were the pirates whose ship had been stolen by Caro and Blackbeard...

Poor guys, now not only were they stuck, but their ship had also been stolen, and they had no idea.

Talk about bad luck!

But all the chatter stopped when the news of the Admiral's arrival spread.

It was Kizaru, of course...

Admiral Kizaru, with his Light-Light Fruit, moved at incredible speed. From getting the news to arriving in Sabaody, it took just a few minutes.

Behind him, over a hundred giant warships from the Navy headquarters were on their way, set to arrive within half an hour!

This was clearly a full-scale lockdown of the Sabaody Archipelago!

The World Government had sent out most of the CP0 agents to investigate the situation.

Even the science division of the World Government was involved!

This showed just how serious the situation was!

In less than ten minutes, the Navy Admiral, the World Government's top intelligence agency, and the science division were all mobilized!

"Oh~ so scary~"

"They even blocked the surveillance Den Den Mushi. This is tricky~"

Kizaru, looking as if he wasn't being paid enough, lazily leaned back on a couch in Saint Larcher's palace.

"Well, nothing I can do. Let those CP0 guys handle it. Investigations aren't my thing~"

While Kizaru remained nonchalant, the others didn't dare to slack off...

Seeing Kizaru relaxing on the couch, everyone else quickly left the palace to assist with questioning and searching.

It wasn't until a barrage of calls a few minutes later that Kizaru finally got up to hunt down some of the stronger pirates.

"Who dares to harm my son...!"

"Find them! We must find these lunatics and tear them to pieces!"

This command came from Mary Geoise, issued by the furious Saint Hothstall.

Saint Hothstall was Larcher's father, the head of his family, and a descendant of the Twenty Kings. His words carried significant weight.

With only one son, Saint Hothstall was not about to let this go.

After the questioning of servants, guards, and surveillance personnel in the palace, he immediately ordered their execution in a fit of rage!

This day was a dark one for the Sabaody Archipelago, especially for the pirates there.

After extensive searching, neither the Navy nor CP0 found any clues.

The only conclusion was a useless statement: Saint Larcher had indeed vanished into thin air...

Even though they captured and killed numerous pirates, they found no leads related to Larcher's disappearance.

It was as if he had simply vanished!

The CP0 agents, experts in tracking and intelligence, were completely baffled...

Killing so many pirates without finding a single useful clue? It didn't make sense!

Eventually, they turned their attention to the ships in the port, inspecting each one. But the results were the same.

For ships that had already left, it was impossible to track them all. In a lawless port like this, it wasn't feasible to have surveillance Den Den Mushi everywhere.

Moreover, the pirate crew whose ship Caro and Blackbeard had stolen had already been wiped out by the World Government's science division.

So, a potentially useful clue was lost. The Navy and World Government's efforts were fruitless!

As for Saint Hothstall's underground treasury, they had no authority to search it...

And even if they did, CP0 and the Navy didn't know it existed!

That was a private treasury of the Celestial Dragon family, unknown even to other Celestial Dragon families.

With his son missing, Saint Hothstall wasn't thinking about his treasures.

Considering the idea of someone robbing the Celestial Dragons, Saint Hothstall, who raised such a foolish son, clearly lacked the intelligence.

And he wouldn't believe anyone would dare rob the Celestial Dragons!

In this age of piracy, with frequent plundering at sea, such a common occurrence couldn't possibly happen to them!

Even the Four Emperors of the New World wouldn't dare to do such a thing!

So, it had to be something else!

Blinded by rage, Saint Hothstall overlooked the treasury, the only real lead...

Ironically, Saint Hothstall's treasury was now one of the safest places in the Sabaody Archipelago!

Talk about irony!

After a day and night of turmoil, the chaos in the Sabaody Archipelago finally subsided temporarily.

With no results, the Navy and World Government had to broaden their search, starting to look beyond the archipelago!

Of course, the lockdown of Sabaody wasn't lifted...

It would likely remain in place for a long time.

They wouldn't rest until they had searched every inch.

As the Navy and World Government's search expanded, the news of the Celestial Dragon's disappearance couldn't be kept secret.

By the next day, word of what happened spread beyond the archipelago...

By the third day, almost the entire world, including the Four Seas and the New World, had heard the explosive news!