When Iggy returned to the bandits' hideout, it was already the early hours of the morning.
From a distance, he noticed the lights inside were still on. Confused, he wondered why no one had gone to sleep yet.
The events of the night—the fire in the Grey Terminal, the ambush on the Bluejam Pirates—had unfolded one after another.
It was destined to be a restless, unforgettable night.
As he stepped inside, Iggy was greeted by the sight of several mountain bandits sitting anxiously, their faces bruised and swollen.
"What happened? Where is everyone?" he asked, scanning the room. But Ace, Dadan, and Sabo were nowhere to be seen.
A sinking feeling crept into Iggy's chest.
"Sabo… Sabo was taken by the royal guards of the Goa Kingdom!" one of the bandits blurted out.
The words hit Iggy like a bolt of ice. He stood frozen, as if the floor had disappeared beneath his feet.
Sabo's fate had always haunted him.
To avoid the tragedy he remembered from his past life, Iggy had deliberately kept Sabo from joining the mission to save people from the fire. He thought keeping him safe in the mountains would protect him.
But in the end, it gave their enemies the perfect opening.
"Why didn't you stop them!?" Iggy shouted, grabbing the bandit by the collar and lifting him off the ground, his voice laced with fury and guilt.
"They came prepared! There were over thirty guards from the royal capital. They surrounded the hideout and held us at gunpoint. We fought back, but they overwhelmed us. We could only watch helplessly as Sabo was taken… I'm sorry, Iggy!" the man cried, guilt streaming down his face.
Iggy stared at him for a moment, heart pounding, before letting him go. He knew these people weren't to blame. They had done their best.
"It must've been Sabo's father. He must have waited for the perfect moment—while we were distracted by the fire—to take him back. Damn it… it was a trap from the start," Iggy muttered to himself, furious at how easily fate had once again outplayed him.
"Three or four hours ago, Dadan and Ace came back from the Grey Terminal," the bandit added. "They heard Sabo had been taken and immediately rushed toward Goa City to get him back. They should be close to the capital by now."
Iggy clenched his fists. He hated how late he was. He should've returned sooner.
But self-blame could wait. Right now, he needed a clear head.
He had been in this world for ten years now, and his memories of the original events were starting to blur. Still, what happened to Sabo now felt wrong—different from how he remembered.
"Is everything changing because of me?" he wondered.
The fire in the Grey Terminal had raged all night, killing countless innocent people, yet the Revolutionary Army had not appeared.
Now Sabo had been dragged back by his noble family. But with his unbreakable spirit and hunger for freedom, Iggy knew Sabo would try to flee again.
At dawn, the Celestial Dragons were scheduled to arrive at the Goa Kingdom. If they spotted Sabo's ship at sea...
He wouldn't survive.
"Shit!"
The pieces connected, and panic surged through Iggy's chest like a tidal wave.
Without another second wasted, he turned and sprinted toward the port.
"Sabo, hang in there! I'm coming!"
He dashed through the mountain forest, memories flashing before his eyes—laughing faces, shared hunts, the warmth of brotherhood.
Those few months with Sabo, Ace, and Dadan had been the happiest of his life. They had softened the hatred in his heart, given him something real to hold onto.
Especially Sabo—gentle, kind, strong-willed. He was everything Iggy had ever wanted in a friend.
No... in a brother.
He couldn't lose him. He refused to lose him.
"Soru!" Iggy shouted, activating the Navy's high-speed movement technique. He vanished in a blur, racing through the woods like lightning.
He soon reached the outskirts of the Goa Kingdom. From there, the distance to the port was just a few kilometers—but a massive crowd blocked his path.
Hundreds of nobles and commoners had flooded the streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of the World Nobles arriving at port.
Iggy had pushed himself to his limit using Soru the entire way. His stamina was nearly gone, and now he was forced to squeeze through the suffocating crowd.
"I have to make it! I have to make it!" he repeated, shoving his way forward with everything he had.
"Watch it!"
"What's with this crazy kid!?"
"Haha, desperate to see the Celestial Dragons, are we?"
Iggy ignored their words, their mocking stares. None of it mattered.
He just kept pushing, kept moving—until finally, the street gave way to the sea.
A fisherman's voice snapped him out of his frantic thoughts: "What the… where did my boat go?"
Iggy pushed past a family, the bright sunlight blinding him briefly. Then his vision cleared—and the sea spread out before him.
He scanned the waves, desperately searching—and there, he spotted a small fishing boat.
His heart nearly burst.
"It's Sabo!"
The boy's tall hat and oversized goggles were unmistakable.
Tears welled up in Iggy's eyes as relief flooded him. Without hesitation, he launched himself into the air using Geppo, soaring above the stunned crowd.
But midway through his leap, his exhausted body gave out. He crashed into the sea with a splash, gasping as the cold water enveloped him.
He surfaced immediately. Sabo's boat was barely 100 meters away.
"Sabo!!" he screamed, thrashing toward the boat.
"Sabo!!"
The boy turned his head, surprised by the familiar voice. He dropped his oars and squinted.
"Iggy?! Haha! Are you coming to join my pirate crew?" he called back, grinning with that same missing tooth.
From his abduction to his escape, Sabo had finally tasted freedom—and now, seeing his brother, he could truly smile.
But then, a dark shadow loomed over him and the boat.
Iggy's eyes widened in horror.
A massive ship was approaching—far too fast, far too close.
The symbol on the sails was unmistakable.
The Celestial Dragons had arrived.