Thanks to the massive amount of combustible material Chu Yang had created, the scale of the fire far exceeded the original canon timeline. Currently, the entirety of Mary Geoise was drowning in an ocean of flames.
The situation was so catastrophic that the Celestial Dragons couldn't even spare the manpower to hunt down Fisher Tiger.
Even Kuzan, who had just arrived at the Holy Land, immediately had to join the firefighting efforts rather than chase down fugitives. Combined with the sheer chaos of slaves scattering in every direction, the Holy Land's military forces were stretched well past their breaking point.
High above the chaos, in the uppermost courtyard of Pangea Castle, a solitary figure stood quietly, gazing down at the burning city.
As the true ruler of the world, Imu did not feel a shred of humiliation. Instead, a playful, amused smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
Since acquiring the supreme, absolute power of the world, she had rarely encountered anything this entertaining in her long, endless life. Especially over the last century, the sheer boredom had drained her interest in almost everything.
Today... was actually a pretty decent show.
Like a completely detached spectator, Imu watched the disaster unfold with keen interest. As for how many slaves escaped or how many billions of Berries were lost in the damages, she couldn't care less.
While Imu was busy admiring this spectacular "bonfire," Chu Yang and Tiger had already fled the perimeter of the Holy Land, arriving at the very edge of the Red Line.
Chu Yang hadn't expected the Fish-Man to actually follow him.
He had only helped the guy back there because that Marine squad was blocking his only escape route. Left with no other choice in the heat of the moment, Chu Yang had to strike.
That single attack had drained almost all of Chu Yang's chakra. If it weren't for the astonishing regenerative buffs provided by the Wood Release, he probably would have passed out from exhaustion on the spot.
Along the way, Tiger kept sizing Chu Yang up.
The bizarre abilities the boy had displayed made Tiger highly suspect he was a Devil Fruit user. As for what specific power it was, Tiger was definitely curious, but he wasn't stupid enough to pry. They weren't exactly close enough to start trading deep, dark secrets.
The two stopped at the edge of the cliff. Chu Yang looked down the impossibly sheer, tens of thousands of feet drop, his eyes catching the violent, crashing waves at the very bottom. He subconsciously gulped.
He wasn't afraid of heights, but a drop this terrifying would make any normal person's legs turn to jelly.
"I remember there being transport lifts..." Chu Yang muttered, looking around. He knew there were massive, specialized gondolas—Bondolas—used to ferry people up and down the Red Line.
"The lifts are usually heavily guarded," Chu Yang reasoned aloud, "but right now, those soldiers should be busy fighting the fires in the city. It's probably completely unguarded. If we can just find the lift, we can get out of Mary Geoise."
Hearing Chu Yang mention the lifts, Tiger immediately spoke up: "I know where they are!"
Chu Yang looked at him in surprise. Wasn't this guy just a Fish-Man slave who broke out of the dungeons? How did he know the layout of the exterior ports?
Seeing Chu Yang's doubt, Tiger quickly explained, "When I climbed up from the bottom, I saw the lift station."
"Ah, that makes sense..." Chu Yang nodded, before suddenly freezing. "Wait. You climbed up from where?"
Tiger pointed casually at the bottomless abyss right next to them.
It was in that exact moment that Chu Yang finally realized exactly who this Fish-Man standing beside him was.
In all of history, there was only one person capable of scaling the sheer face of the Red Line to reach Mary Geoise with his bare hands. The legendary hero who liberated the slaves—Fisher Tiger!
Now fully aware of Tiger's identity, Chu Yang couldn't help but look him up and down, finally realizing why the man's red-skinned appearance felt so familiar.
Tiger's scalp tingled under Chu Yang's intensely burning gaze. He hurriedly waved his hands. "Little brother, don't worry, I swear I'm not lying to you."
"I know." Chu Yang's eyes narrowed with sudden curiosity. "Did you come up here to set fires too?"
Tiger, having already been wrongly accused once tonight, couldn't swallow this grievance. He instantly defended himself: "I didn't set the fire! I was just taking advantage of the situation to free some of the slaves—"
Mid-sentence, Tiger paused, his face scrunching up in confusion. "Wait... why did you say 'too'?"
Chu Yang's face instantly stiffened. He hurriedly changed the subject. "No time to chat! If we stay any longer, the Marines will catch up. Hurry up and take me to the lift!"
"Ah, right, right, right!" Tiger snapped back to reality and led Chu Yang along the cliff's edge.
A short while later, they successfully found the Bondola boarding station. Exactly as Chu Yang predicted, the security was practically nonexistent. Only four lonely guards remained, and Tiger knocked them out cold with a single punch each before they could even react.
Looking back at the burning plateau, Tiger couldn't help but sigh. "The defenses here are so thin; it must be the same everywhere else. I truly hope those innocent civilians can escape this hell and make it back home safely."
What a genuinely good man... Chu Yang, a pragmatist who usually preferred to look out only for himself, felt a deep sense of respect for Tiger. Those words came from the absolute bottom of the Fish-Man's heart, without a single trace of hypocrisy.
Under the cover of darkness, the two boarded the lift, descending the Red Line and finally returning to the embrace of the sea.
Directly below Mary Geoise sat a port town—the Red Port—which served as the docking point for the lifts. Travelers crossing the Red Line usually gathered here.
Because the guards above had been dealt with, their arrival triggered no alarms. As they walked through the quiet, empty streets of the port, Tiger suddenly broke the silence.
"Little brother, are you planning to head home?"
Home? What home did a transmigrator have?
Chu Yang smiled bitterly. "My home is gone. I can't go back."
Tiger assumed Chu Yang's family had been destroyed by the human traffickers. A wave of intense sympathy washed over him. "Then... where do you plan to go next?"
Yeah... where do I go next? Chu Yang fell into deep thought.
He needed to find a place to learn some actual, practical skills! Whether it was Haki or Taijutsu, he needed to learn something fast. Otherwise, the next time he met his clones in the soul space, he would be completely useless to them. Being a freeloader was nice and all, but leeching off himself was just pathetic.
But what should he learn?
In Chu Yang's eyes, the most valuable skill in the One Piece world was undoubtedly Haki. Its power was undeniable, and in many ways, a supreme mastery of Haki was even better than a Devil Fruit—especially since it didn't come with the crippling weakness to seawater.
The problem was: who was going to teach him Haki?
Sure, there were plenty of Haki masters in the New World, but with Chu Yang's current level of strength, even with his rudimentary Wood Release, going to the New World was basically suicide.
Outside the New World, the only place he knew of with widespread Haki use was Amazon Lily, Hancock's homeland. But they had a strict ban on men. Without the thick plot armor of the canon protagonist, walking in there would result in him being executed on the spot.
If Haki was out, the next best things were Swordsmanship and Taijutsu.
At this point in time, the only accessible place to learn top-tier swordsmanship was the Isshin Dojo in the East Blue—meaning he'd have to go become Zoro's fellow disciple. But for a lone, wanted boy to travel all the way from the Grand Line back to the East Blue? Completely unrealistic.
As for Taijutsu... honestly, Chu Yang didn't think much of it. Aside from the Marines' Rokushiki (Six Powers), he felt the overall level of pure martial arts in the One Piece world couldn't even compare to the Naruto world.
He was out of his depth, out of options, and rapidly running out of time. As the orchestrator of the greatest attack on the Holy Land in history, the World Government would soon be hunting him to the ends of the earth.
He needed power. And he needed it now.