Chapter 528 Valley of the Gods: A Difficult Problem

Behind the stage of the Celestial Dragons' grand banquet speech—

In the room where rare and valuable rewards are stored.

Shakky, imprisoned in her cell, sensed the fluctuations of Conqueror's Haki outside and grabbed the iron bars. "Such Haki... could it be Rocks and Roger?!"

Inside the first-class treasure cage, Xia Qi wore an expression full of anticipation.

Overjoyed, she glanced at another level-two rare cage and saw the little naval girl cowering in the corner, her hands tightly wrapped around her legs, utterly despondent.

The navy, which their family has served for generations, is actually so inhuman, secretly devoid of any sense of justice, and even more despicable than pirates.

The actions of those Celestial Dragons shattered her faith. What exactly is justice, and what is evil?

Shouldn't justice be a core belief for the strong to protect the weak and create peace and development?

Why does justice prey on the weak and secretly kill innocent people?

The fact that such terrifying Conqueror's Haki didn't affect her left Xia Qi utterly shocked.

Seeing that she remained conscious, Xia Qi took the initiative to greet her, "Who are you? To be able to stay calm under such Conqueror's Haki, you must be someone important, right?"

Gion was silent for a moment before speaking, "I am... a Marine."

"Huh?!" Shakky's heart skipped a beat when she learned the other person's identity. "Why would a Marine be a prize? Did you offend a Celestial Dragon? There's no precedent for Marines being prizes in events like this before."

"Before?" Upon hearing this, a spark of interest ignited in Gion's despairing heart, and she quickly looked up at the Pirate Empress. "Could it be that something like that really happened before?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Qi narrowed her eyes slightly and began to analyze why she had been chosen as the prize.

The other woman was very beautiful, and her figure was just as good as hers.

The Celestial Dragons must have seen this in her, which is one of the reasons they made her a prize.

The second point must be that, as a member of the Navy, she knew about the darkness of this world and was trying to find the truth when she was discovered, which led to this.

As an intelligence expert, Xia Qi certainly possesses this analytical ability.

"Yes." Xia Qi replied affirmatively after finishing her analysis, "Sea Calendar 1481, Sea Calendar 1478, Sea Calendar 1475."

Every three years, the Celestial Dragons hold such an event, plundering resources from non-member states while also hosting a brutal killing game.

When she received the truth from the Pirate Empress herself, Gion's beliefs completely collapsed; justice was so utterly worthless.

“It’s normal that you, as a Marine, wouldn’t know,” Shakky continued. “If the Celestial Dragons told the Marines all these things, who would want to join the army as an executioner?”

Gion remained silent, deeply moved by Natsuki's words.

"Also, so far, no one has ever survived a murder game held by the Celestial Dragons."

None survived—what a terrifying phrase.

These four words stunned Gion once again, and she stammered, "What does 'no one... still...' mean? Does it refer to pirates?"

At this moment, she still harbors some illusions and expectations.

Shakky then replied, “Kingdom, King, Royal Family, Nobles, Families, Commoners, Refugees, Slaves, including all life within the country except for the Celestial Dragons.”

This is the true purpose of this game: after killing all life, the Celestial Dragons will take all the country's resources and move on to the next country to host the next game.

Even Shakky was terrified at this moment, but as the Pirate Empress, she had to be strong and pretend to be calm.

After all, she was just a young woman in her early twenties, how could she not be afraid of such a thing?

“Oh…” Gion felt an overwhelming sense of despair and sighed, “Oh God.”

This is absolutely terrifying.

In the world of living people, would such a thing really happen in the real world?

Has justice become a bloodthirsty demon?

What is the true nature of this world?

Is black and white reversed?

Just as she was racking her brains trying to figure it out, the iron door to the room where they were being held was suddenly opened.

Xia Qi and Gion immediately became alert, their eyes simultaneously turning to the person who had entered through the door.

They are not Celestial Dragons, nor are they the Knights of God, nor are they the Five Elders or CP agents.

The short figure, the boy with a hat without the navy insignia hanging from his waist, was looking around the huge room in a very comical pose. He was none other than Arthur, the Ice Swordsman who had become famous in the sea a few months ago.

"Huh?" Arthur suddenly looked at the two of them, startled. "Here you are! I've been looking for you for so long, Gion."

"Huh?!" Gion froze instantly. The frustration, despair, and even the collapse of her beliefs vanished from her face, leaving only a look of shock and confusion as she stared at the familiar figure.

"Uh! Arthur?!" Shakky was equally shocked, her eyes almost popping out as she watched him walk toward the cell where Gion was imprisoned.

Arthur arrived outside the cell where Gion was imprisoned, slashed open the iron bars with his sword, and said to her,

"Come with me, Gion! We can't stay here any longer, or something bad will happen."

Completely stunned, Gion racked her brains, never expecting that the guy who caused chaos in the Hive, avenged her, and told her about the dark side of the world would appear here.

Pirates...pirates...pirates...the other party's identity is the pirate who slaughtered her family.

Do I really want to go with him?

Gion was caught in an endless internal struggle: just who was this guy?

During her months of imprisonment, she was classified as a second-class rare item and was to become the wife of a Celestial Dragon, so she was not mistreated.

During this time, what she thought about most was the words of the pirate in front of her.

But I never expected him to come here.

Seeing that she remained unmoved, squatting motionless in the corner, Arthur quickly urged, "Come on! What are you daydreaming about! When the general arrives and the overseas guards arrive, I can't defeat them all by myself!"

"I...I..." Gion struggled internally, gritting her teeth, "Why did I go with a pirate?!"

She suddenly resisted and shouted.

This shout, however, left Arthur frozen in place, completely bewildered.

He really didn't know what to do. Considering that the other girl was only 6 years old, even though she looked big, she was just a 6-year-old girl inside, only a little more mature than an average 6-year-old girl.

"My whole family was killed by pirates!" Gion roared at Arthur again. "And now I'm going to go with a pirate? What kind of logic is that!"

"Don't...don't get emotional." Arthur still treated her as the Gion from his previous life, and said with an awkward smile, "Come out quickly and leave this place with me first, then I'll explain everything to you."

Arthur was extremely anxious, more anxious than ever before.

If those guys outside recover from the chaos of the Conqueror's Haki burst, and with overseas support, he'll have no chance of escaping even if he dies.

Emotions are always a hurdle that people find difficult to overcome.

“You want me to go with a pirate…” Gion stood up, clenched her fists, and bit her lip. “I… I’d rather die here.”

Upon hearing this, Arthur experienced a ringing in his ears.

A feeling of emptiness washed over him, but he didn't complain at all.

Thud! Arthur paused for a moment, then his expression turned serious as he plopped down outside her cell.

"No woman has ever made me feel this way before. What do I have to do for you to come with me?" Arthur placed Ao Shuang on his lap and stared at Gion.

"Every second we delay makes escaping from here as difficult as climbing to the sky."

"Just now..." Shakky, trapped in the cage behind Arthur, gripped the iron bars, staring at Arthur's back with a look of shock on her face. "Was that domineering aura outside just now yours?"

“Long time no see, Shakky,” Arthur replied calmly. “Let me deal with the problem at hand first, and we can catch up later.”