Chapter 95: Killing Intent at Dawn

Maud knew that Sunny loathed everything associated with slaves.

From that, he could more or less guess what Sunny had been through before. Those deliberate scars on her face were probably tied to that experience as well.

But Maud had assumed Sunny was like him—rescued by Sol and brought to Mad Hat Town. It never occurred to him that the one who had saved Sunny was the Revolutionary Army, not Sol.

Sunny could see the surprise in Maud's eyes, but she paid it no mind. She said calmly, "Judging by this, the Revolutionary Army must be planning to move against the 'factory.'"

The factory she referred to was the Pig Factory, where numerous slaves were held captive.

And freeing slaves had always been one of the Revolutionary Army's primary missions. That was also the basis for her guess as to why the Revolutionary Army had come to Mad Hat Town.

Maud said indifferently, "Whatever. It's got nothing to do with us. Let's go home—we still need to get up early tomorrow."

At the moment, he only cared about growing stronger as quickly as possible and had zero interest in what Sabo and the others were doing.

Sunny said nothing, but her eyes flickered uneasily.

Maud noticed and felt a pang of surprise.

"Sunny, don't tell me you're thinking of getting involved?"

"Yeah."

"Is it really necessary?"

Maud frowned, convinced that such a matter would only be a thankless chore.

Sunny turned her head once more to look back at the end of the alley, her gaze seemingly able to pierce through the darkness and land on Sabo and Koala.

"For me, it's very necessary. It's also the reason... I want to become stronger."

"..."

Maud really wanted to persuade her further.

He believed that in a place like Mad Hat Town, the Revolutionary Army would most likely only strike if they were confident of success. So he felt Sunny didn't need to meddle.

But he could tell Sunny was serious, so he said no more.

"Should we tell Sol about this?"

Maud brought up the matter instead.

"Of course we should. I'm not like you."

With that, Sunny cast a glance at Maud, her meaning perfectly clear.

"Uh..."

Maud had nothing to say.

The two of them and one weasel returned to the weapons shop.

Sol had gone to the pleasure district and probably wouldn't be coming back tonight. Maud and the others simply washed up and went to sleep.

Early the next morning.

Maud went downstairs to wash up, then headed to the kitchen.

Sunny was standing in front of the counter as usual, preparing breakfast.

Maud glanced at the fat weasel lounging lazily on a chair, then looked over at Sunny, who was busy at work.

"Sol hasn't come back yet?"

"Yeah."

"Alright."

Maud smiled helplessly and sat down beside the fat weasel, waiting for Sunny to finish breakfast.

Half an hour later.

Maud and Sunny had just finished breakfast when they heard the sound of the shop door opening, followed by whistling.

It was Sol, back at last...

Sol walked through the corridor and straight into the kitchen.

His face was beaming; clearly, the night had treated him well.

"You two just finished eating, huh."

Sol swept his gaze over the empty plates on the table.

"Yeah." Sunny looked at Sol and asked, "Have you eaten?"

"Yep."

Sol waved a hand.

"I didn't sleep a wink last night. I'm going back to my room to catch up on some shut-eye. We'll start training once I wake up."

Didn't sleep a wink all night?

Maud, Sunny, and Bailey froze for a moment, then quietly studied Sol's old face, which was brimming with energy.

This...

Sol ignored their reaction and turned to head for the stairs.

"Wait a moment."

Sunny spoke up in time to stop Sol.

Sol halted, turned back to look at Sunny, and waited for her to continue.

Sunny then directly told him about the Revolutionary Army appearing in Mad Hat Town and what she might do.

After hearing Sunny's voluntary confession, Sol couldn't help but glance at Maud.

What are you looking at me for?

Maud was taken aback again.

Sol withdrew his gaze and turned back to Sunny.

"Doing what you want is your own freedom. I won't stop you, but you'd better remember this: what's called 'important' always has a priority order. Compared to the freedom of those slaves, your own safety matters far more."

"Yeah."

Sunny nodded.

Maud took the opportunity to suggest, "Old man, why don't you come along too? The Revolutionary Army will draw their attention anyway—we can just hide in the shadows and fire our shots."

"Did the Revolutionary Army pay me?"

"Uh... no."

"Then why the hell should I help them?"

"..."

You win.

Maud was left speechless.

Seeing Maud being silenced by Sol's impeccable logic, Sunny covered her mouth to hide a faint smile.

A moment later, Sol returned to his room to make up for his lost sleep. Maud and Sunny didn't idle around either and began their daily physical training.

Bailey joined in as well, hoping to increase his appetite.

Unfortunately, the shop's food was too good, which suppressed his training progress.

It was afternoon by the time Sol woke up and came downstairs.

Under his instruction, Maud and Sunny set aside their Armament Haki training for now and instead focused on learning the techniques and principles behind the Moon Step.

In Sol's words: as a qualified gunner, the most important thing isn't shooting accuracy—it's the ability to protect yourself. In a battle, only by ensuring your own safety can you keep doing what needs to be done. That was also the fundamental reason Sol had gone out of his way to steal the Moon Step technique from the Six Powers.

Maud understood the principle behind the Moon Step, but no matter how he tried, he failed.

Most likely, only with a sufficiently strong physique could one lower the difficulty of mastering the Moon Step.

Maud wasn't in a hurry, though. He had plenty of time, and with the Hunter's Notebook at his disposal, learning the Moon Step was only a matter of time.

Another day passed.

The next day was still the same monotonous training.

Aside from the necessary technique drills, Maud actually wanted to go out hunting more. But with Sol keeping an eye on him, he couldn't manage to leave.

Night fell.

After a full day of training, Maud was utterly exhausted and fell asleep the moment he hit the bed.

He slept soundly until the early hours of the morning.

A burst of explosions from the direction of the Pig Factory jolted Maud awake.

"The Revolutionary Army has made their move?"

Maud murmured to himself, then got out of bed and opened the door to step outside.

At that same moment, from diagonally across the corridor, Sunny also opened her door and stepped out.

The two exchanged a glance, then simultaneously looked toward the door of Sol's room. There was no sign of movement.

Sunny withdrew her gaze, turned to Maud, and lowered her voice. "Get ready, then let's head out."

"Got it."

Maud nodded, retreated into his room, changed clothes as quickly as possible, and strapped on his firearms along with plenty of ammunition.

Since Sunny had made up her mind to meddle, there was no way he could just sit by and do nothing.

By the time he was ready, Sunny was already at the door.

"Let's go."

Afterward, the two slipped out of the weapons shop with light footsteps, climbed onto the roof of a building, and looked toward the Pig Factory.

In the faint glow of the approaching dawn, they could see a towering plume of thick smoke rising from beyond the wall, with a hint of firelight flickering in the distance.

As they watched, another explosion sounded from that direction.

The tremendous commotion spread across almost all of Mad Hat Town.

Most of the townsfolk merely glanced in the direction of the Pig Factory, paid it no mind, and adopted an attitude of complete indifference.

On the rooftop, Maud and Sunny exchanged glances, then took off toward the Pig Factory.

After Maud and Sunny had gone, a small, short figure emerged from the weapons shop and trailed far behind them.

..............

At this moment.

The Pig Factory was engulfed in a sea of flames.

Ralph's men were locked in combat with the Revolutionary Army.

Everywhere were the sounds of fighting, gunfire, and explosions.