While people around me were in chaos and scrambled to get away as far as possible, I came upon the man who was forced to be silent by Laurass and Firis.
"I'm sorry. I should have acted sooner."
The man cried and shook his head sadly. It was as if he tried to say my retaliation would only bring trouble to me.
I smiled, "Don't worry. I'm quite strong. I can protect myself. Now, I will try to correct my wrong."
I stood up and came up to Laurass and Firis. "Don't play dead. I didn't hit any vital point."
They didn't react, so I kicked them. As expected, Laurass was the first to react. He doesn't know how to endure pain.
"Agh! You…you bastard. What do you think you are doing? Do… do you not know who I am?"
"No, I don't. What's with the ridiculous clothes you are wearing anyway? And why do you wear a fish tank on your head?"
"Be careful of your mouth, commoner!" Firis stopped pretending to be dead as well and shouted. "You just committed the greatest sin of mankind. Hurting a Celestial Dragon. How dare you harm your God!"
I scratched my ears so I wouldn't have to hear his nonsense anymore. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You, come here." I dragged Firis to the silent man and demanded. "Make his voice come back. You have a way, right?"
"Why do I have to listen to you?"
I stabbed his thigh before he could finish rambling. "I am not patient," I remembered hearing from the crowd that an admiral is coming. From their fear, it sounds like that's someone very strong. I don't know how strong the people in this world are. So I should finish things here quickly and get away as soon as possible before encountering that admiral.
"AAGH!! Ugh! Here! Here." Firis yelled in pain and passed me a small tube that contained a white liquid.
"If this harms him in any way. I will kill you."
"I swear… that… I gave you the cure."
I was skeptical, but it didn't sound like he was lying. I took the tube and gave it to the man. He tried to talk, but still no sound came out. I pressed the sword harder.
"Agh! Please wait for a bit for the effect to kick in."
After a minute of anxious waiting, he was finally able to talk again. "Thank you for saving me."
"I should have acted sooner," I smiled once I heard his voice and kicked Firis away. I leaned close to his ear and whispered. "Now get out of here. Bring your family and run far. These people will try to search for you."
He nodded and ran away while I guarded Laurass and Firis so they couldn't see where he was going.
"You have some guts! I must admit that. Aren't you afraid of losing your life?" Firis threatened.
"I already did once. To be honest. It wasn't as bad as people make it seem to be," I smiled.
"Firis! Look! Look! We got backup!" Laurass pointed and jumped like a child.
I looked up and saw that I was surrounded by men wearing blue and white clothes. They look like soldiers. Each of them held a strange, long object, pointing at me.
"Freeze!" One of the soldiers yelled. He must be their leader. "You're right there! Do not move a finger! Or we will shoot!"
"Shoot? What does that mean? They're telling me to freeze. Are they trying to buy time until that admiral person comes?" I thought internally. "I could run right now, but I should hold their attention for a bit longer for that man to have time to get away."
So I stood still, not moving at all, but not saying anything either.
"Saint Laurass! Please get away from there!" The leader shouted. Laurass and Firis cautiously stood up, but saw that I didn't react at all.
Laurass laughed and kicked me. "You scaredy cat! You are afraid of dying after all. Firis, I want him to be my slave."
I gave him a death stare and he was knocked from his feet from terror.
"Sir! I… I think we should just get out of here!" Firis quickly helped him stand up again.
"Yeah… yeah."
I didn't bother holding them back when I saw those too running away like two scared chickens.
Some the side of my eye, I saw another soldier come to the leader to whisper something. My hearing was trained so I could hear what they were saying clearly.
"Sir, I got confirmation that Admiral Akainu is coming."
"Akainu? Ugh, that's going to be a lot of unwanted damage. Quick! Evacuate the civilians. Get as many of them out of Sabaody Archipelago as possible."
"Yes, sir!" the soldier replied and ran away.
"Doesn't seem to be a nice guy from the sounds of it, that Akainu person. Now, it should be enough time for that man to hide. I should move."
"Hey! What are you doing!?" the leader yelled when he saw I raised my hand.
I slowly pulled out my sword. He warned again. "Don't do anything stupid! Put that sword away right now! We will shoot! Men! Ready!"
I heard a clicking sound from the strange, long object the soldiers were holding. I didn't know what that would indicate, but I knew that wasn't a good sign. Anyways, I won't know about it, because of what I was about to do next.
"Sword light," I flick the sword and amplify the light reflection so that the place instantly brightens up and blinds everyone who's looking.
"Shoot!! SHOOT!!" they yelled, but that effort was in vain.
"One step, ten thousand miles." I transported myself out of the scene. Now I landed in a dark place, where a bunch of people are chained up with chains on their limbs and necks.
"Did I transport myself into a prison cell?" I thought. "That's not good. One step, ten thousand miles can only be used once every three days. I can't use it again to get out of here."
Just when I was thinking about how to get out of this cell, I noticed a man was sitting beside me the whole time. His demeanor was unlike the others, full of sorrow and worry. He looked carefree, with a bottle of wine in one hand, smiling. "Young man, looks like you caused a lot of trouble."
"Old man. Do you know me?"
"No," he shook his head. "But I saw what you did just now. That was quite admirable. Being a hero like that. But now an admiral is coming. Can you survive that? Ha Ha!"
"I only did it to repay a favor. Old man, who are you? How did you manage to see what happened when you were sitting in this cell the whole time?"
"I am just an old man who learned how to observe a little, that's all," he smiled mysteriously. "But I'm curious who YOU are. That transportation you used. It doesn't seem to be of a devil fruit power at all. Who are you?"
"I'm just a man who loves swords," I replied with a slight smile.