Super Card System

In another guest room of the castle, Vinsmoke Judge and his three sons had also finished their preparations.

They had removed their battle suits and were now dressed in formal attire.

“Father!” Niji tossed the capsule that contained his compressed battle suit in his hand and asked, “Are we really going without our battle suits? Is it safe?”

Judge shot him a glare and replied, “We, the Vinsmoke family, are guests here. Do you think it’s appropriate to attend Big Mom’s tea party wearing battle suits?”

“But, Ian is still on the island,” Ichiji said expressionlessly. “Don’t forget, he fought Katakuri fiercely just yesterday. What if something happens during today’s tea party? Without our battle suits, we won’t be able to bring out our full strength…”

Judge, though acknowledging that Ichiji had a point, shook his head after a moment’s thought and said, “Ignore him. Even if something does happen, it’ll be the Big Mom Pirates who deal with him, not us. We don’t need to get involved.”

“Fine…” Ichiji and the others, seeing that Judge was firm in his decision, reluctantly placed their battle suit capsules into a box for safekeeping.

“Where’s Reiju?” Judge suddenly asked.

“No idea, probably still in her room,” Niji replied.

“Heh, I bet she’s gone to see Ian,” Yonji teased.

“Damn it! Didn’t I just tell her last night not to get too close to Ian?” Judge snapped in anger. “Did she even listen to me?”

At that moment, Ichiji spoke up, “Let it go, Father. Ian is also a guest of Big Mom. Even if you call Reiju back now, she’ll still meet him at the tea party later. We should just head out and stop worrying about her.”

Judge, fuming, thought about it and realized Ichiji had a point. He sighed in frustration and finally said, “Fine, let’s go!”

With that, Judge and his sons left the room, following a servant who led them to the tea party venue.

Meanwhile, Reiju was walking through the castle corridors.

“Ian’s room… should be on the east side, on the third floor, right?” Reiju thought to herself.

Unlike Judge and her brothers, Reiju wasn’t wearing any formal attire. She still wore her signature pink battle suit, with her cape tied into a neat bow at her neck like wings.

As she climbed the stairs to the third floor and was about to continue down the hallway, she suddenly noticed a figure darting around the corner ahead of her.

Although it happened quickly, Reiju’s keen eyesight allowed her to clearly identify who it was.

“It’s that woman named Stussy. Is her room also on the third floor?” Reiju wondered. “But from the way she turned down the hallway, isn’t she heading towards the eastern rooms? Why would she take the long way instead of using the stairs near me to go down?”

Feeling a subtle suspicion rise in her heart, Reiju frowned slightly and decided to follow from behind.

When she reached the corner of the hallway, Reiju suddenly stopped in her tracks and cautiously peeked around. What she saw was Stussy bending over, doing something at one of the room doors.

A faint “click” sound reached Reiju’s sharp ears, and she immediately pulled her head back.

After picking the lock on the door, Stussy looked up and carefully glanced around, scanning her surroundings.

Since Reiju had pulled back in time, Stussy didn’t notice her. After confirming that no one was around, Stussy quickly slipped into the room and quietly closed the door behind her.

Reiju was puzzled by Stussy’s strange actions, so she continued to hide at the corner. About two minutes later, she heard another faint sound of a door opening, and Stussy exited the room.

Reiju listened as Stussy’s footsteps gradually faded down the hallway before stepping out from her hiding place.

Approaching the spot where Stussy had been, Reiju looked up at the door of the room in question.

“Strange, isn’t this Ian’s room?” Reiju folded her arms, resting her chin in thought. “It seems like Ian isn’t in the room anymore; otherwise, Stussy would have run into him. But why would she break into his room when he’s not there? Is she trying to steal something?”

“No, that’s not right,” Reiju gently shook her head. She knew that Ian hadn’t brought anything important with him. The guest rooms were all prepared by the Big Mom Pirates, so what was there to steal?

Feeling a strong sense that something was off, Reiju decided she had to investigate. After quickly glancing around to make sure no one was watching, she forcefully twisted the door lock, breaking it, and then entered the room.

The room was quiet. Reiju looked around and noticed Ian’s bed, the sheets and blankets in a mess. She couldn’t help but smile slightly.

Lazybones, never making your bed…

Instinctively, Reiju walked over, intending to tidy up the bed. But just as she reached the bedside, she noticed something odd—a bit of unusual color peeking out from under Ian’s pillow.

“Hmm?” Reiju lifted the pillow, and underneath, she found a rolled-up piece of paper stained with ink.

Curious, she unfolded the paper, and her eyes went wide in surprise.

“This… this is…”

Having spent so much time with Ian on Sky Island, Reiju had seen the Poneglyphs in the ancient ruins. She couldn’t read the ancient script, but she recognized it immediately. The ink markings on the paper were none other than the ancient text from the Poneglyphs!

Where did Ian get a rubbing of the Poneglyph!?

“No, that’s not right!” Reiju quickly realized. “This isn’t Ian’s—it’s that woman, Stussy’s! She wasn’t here to steal something; she came to hide something!”

Understanding that something was amiss, Reiju immediately folded the rubbing back up carefully, folding it until it was about the size of a handkerchief.

She looked down at herself and realized that her combat suit didn’t have a good place to hide it, so she simply tucked the folded rubbing into her left chest area…

After patting her chest and confirming that it wasn’t visible from the outside, Reiju left Ian’s room, her mind filled with doubts.

The guest rooms in the castle didn’t have any of Big Mom’s soul-animated objects, so neither Stussy’s earlier actions nor Reiju’s were seen by anyone…

…………………………

Meanwhile, in another room, Arest, the White Wolf, was about to leave but hesitated.

He was hesitating—should he kill Caesar?

The situation last night had not gone as he and Stussy had expected. The theft and copying of the Poneglyph in the treasure room had caused a stir within the Big Mom Pirates, but they hadn’t immediately gone after Ian in a fit of rage as they had hoped. With the dawn of a new day, Arest and Stussy quickly realized that not only Ian but also they, as guests, were likely under suspicion.

It was easy to imagine that once the guests went to attend the tea party, Big Mom’s crew would start searching their rooms.

This was why Stussy had deliberately taken her time and made sure to hide the Poneglyph rubbing in Ian’s room. They knew that once the search began, the Big Mom Pirates would find the rubbing there, and Ian wouldn’t be able to deny it.

Stussy had even gone so far as to place the rubbing in an obvious spot…

While Stussy had taken care of her part, Arest was facing a problem. If Big Mom’s crew searched his room, they would undoubtedly find Caesar, whom they had hidden.

Even though Arest and Stussy had never revealed their true identities to Caesar, it wouldn’t matter. If Caesar was found in Arest’s room, there would be no escaping the connection.

Thinking this over, Arest felt that perhaps killing Caesar would be the best option. However, if he did that, he would also have to find a way to hide Caesar’s body in someone else’s room to avoid exposing himself.

He opened the door and cautiously peeked out, glancing down both ends of the hallway. After confirming that no one was around, Arest pulled back and shut the door quietly.

Using the fingers of his left hand like a blade, he slashed his right palm. His sharp nails immediately left a deep cut across his palm.

As blood began to flow, Arest controlled it, making the blood gather and solidify into a long, thin dagger in his hand. Although made of liquid, the blade slowly turned from red to black, coated with a hard layer of Armament Haki.

Gripping the blood-formed dagger, Arest approached the bathroom door, where Caesar had been locked up all night.

“Who would’ve thought that the first person I’d kill after becoming a Navy admiral would be a former Marine scientist…” Arest mused darkly to himself as he pushed the door open.

However, the moment the door swung open, even Arest was left utterly stunned!

The person who should have been shackled with Sea-Prism Stone cuffs and locked inside the bathroom—Caesar—was nowhere to be seen!

What on earth happened!?

Arest was momentarily at a loss, hastily scanning the bathroom for any possible exit.

The door was intact, the windows were intact, and the walls were perfectly fine. The bathroom itself looked just as it had before—the toilet, the showerhead, the sink, the mirror—everything was untouched and in place.

If Caesar hadn’t been restrained by Sea-Prism Stone cuffs, Arest could’ve at least understood how he might have escaped, given that Caesar possessed the powers of the Gas-Gas Fruit, as Stussy had informed him. But there was no trace of the Sea-Prism Stone cuffs anywhere in the bathroom. Caesar hadn’t removed the cuffs—so how had he managed to escape!?

Sweat began to bead on Arest’s smooth forehead.

This… this could be very bad!

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