Chapter 267: Unexpected Orders

Seeing the two men’s faces darken and their hesitation, he quickly added, “I’m not here to make enemies of you.”

“My task is simple.”

He pulled a slip of paper from his coat and handed it to them. “Hope this doesn’t spoil your hot spring mood. Farewell.”

Once Yorif took the note, he gave a quiet chuckle, tipped his hat and headed out.

The two of them were left confused. A member of the World Government’s CP0 just came in, handed them a note, muttered a couple of strange sentences and walked off. No matter how they thought about it, they had no idea what was going on.

Soon enough, Wang Zhi—er, no, Yorif—was the first to figure it out. “That guy seemed like he worked for the World Government.”

Yorde replied, “Just like that, our cover’s blown? Could that doctor have…”

Yorde couldn’t understand. They were so careful and clean with their work. That doctor should have met the reaper long ago, right?

Or maybe news leaked out from somewhere else?

Or have they been under the World Government’s surveillance this whole time?

Yorif raised a hand to stop him. “Whatever the plot is, let’s just see what the note says.”

They unfolded the slip and leaned their heads together.

It read: ‘Wang, Silver – Meeting like this was never what I expected.’

‘To put it bluntly, you’re needed to take part in the Cake Island raid. There’s a ship at the harbor. If you refuse… well, you’ve been warned!’

Only two short sentences, but both of them immediately had a terrible feeling. Was this basically asking them to march to their deaths?

Yorde, thinking exactly that, said it out loud. “These World Government types are rotten to the core.”

“Isn’t this just sending us to get killed?”

“We just changed our identities, hoping for a few quiet days… Now what do we do?”

“Maybe we should just run for it?”

Ever since his face-changing surgery, Yorif was calmer than ever. “And where exactly would you run to?”

“What else can we do?”

“They’ve got us by the throat now. Rather than sit here waiting for Karl and Linlin to come after us, why not take the initiative? Who knows, maybe we can use this as a chance to bring one of them down.”

A sharp glint flashed in Yorif’s eyes. “I doubt the World Government would dare attack Cake Island without sending serious manpower.”

There was no reason for the World Government to reach out unless they were pursuing a big goal. Regardless, if they’re targeting Karl, it’s bound to be heavy hitters—Admiral-level at least, and not just one or two.

That meant there’d be a lot of room for maneuvering. How things would play out was anyone’s guess.

“Alright, that’s settled then. I’ll go check on our weapons.” Yorde didn’t even bother finishing his bath—he got up, wiped off and walked out to get dressed.

That left Yorif alone, deep in thought about the World Government’s motives.

Soon Yorde returned with their weapons—two longswords and two massive gauntlets.

There was no time to test them out. Weapons in hand, they hurried to the harbor.

At the dock waited a white ship. A young man sat on the deck, watching them approach.

“Welcome aboard. Please, come on up.”

As he walked, Yorif called out, “Does the World Government seriously think one piece of leverage is enough to keep us on a leash forever?”

“We brothers are only helping you this once.”

“Next time you try to use this to threaten us, whoever brings the message won’t be going back.”

“I trust you know what that means.”

Yorif put down his threat immediately. No one wanted to live with blackmail hanging over their head. Rather than be puppets, it’s better to go all in. One more attempt, and both he and Yorde would kill, no hesitation.

Either way, the end was likely death. At least they could choose their own way to go.

The man in the mask just shrugged. “Hahaha, don’t worry!”

“You only need to help this once. After this, you won’t be needed again.”

“You really have nothing to worry about.”

But after the battle, whether these two would even come back alive was anyone’s guess. They probably wouldn’t need to worry about future threats. Besides, deliveries didn’t have to be in person—a carrier pigeon could do the job.

This bit of leverage could last him a lifetime.

Yorde listened to the young man’s reassuring words but was silently plotting inside. Still, at this stage, there wasn’t much choice left.

“We’re a long way from Cake Island. How do you expect us to get there in time?”

“You want just the two of us to play rescue team or something?”

Yorde looked doubtful. Back when the two of them escaped from the New World to North Blue, it had taken them over ten days.

Making it to Cake Island in just seven days was insane. Unless the World Government had some new tech, it made no sense.

“No need to worry about that. Step inside.”

The young man in white led them inside. The masked man snapped his fingers. Outside, the mast slowly retracted, and a huge metal shell enveloped the entire deck.

Then the ship dropped gently beneath the waves, heading straight for Cake Island in the New World. The two probably never imagined their ride would be a submarine.

There were no windows below, so it was impossible to see what was happening outside. The cabin was lit with a soft yellow glow—clearly some good lighting tech. The two had no idea they were already far underwater.

While their group was speeding along, Karl convened a secret little meeting.

Besides Davis and Fields’ team, there were also people from the Four Seas and Skypiea.

Everyone sat together, and just introducing themselves by name took half an hour.

Once Karl saw everyone was ready, he stood up with both hands down. “For many of you, it’s your first time meeting. Some have met before.”

“But that’s not the point—we’re all part of one big family here.”

“And we have one goal.” He pointed upwards as he spoke.

Everyone nodded. Karl’s gesture made it obvious who he meant. Many even guessed Karl was gearing up for a showdown with the World Government—that was the reason for all these preparations.

“This meeting will be brief; time is short.”

“We don’t need to discuss budgets, the situation of each island or personnel assignments—so long as you can manage your own, Cake Island won’t need a bailout.”

“Now, let’s get to the heart of the matter.”

“Sooner or later, we’re going to face off against the Celestial Dragons.”

“But that day hasn’t come yet. So for now, our arrangements in the Four Seas remain unchanged. South Blue and North Blue will wait for new organizations to emerge—have them keep the World Government’s attention elsewhere for us.”

“After all, if all the underground groups in the Four Seas belonged to us, that’d be a little too obvious.”

“Hahaha, that’s true,” Morgans couldn’t help but laugh.