CHAPTER 333: CHAPTER 34: FANGS

The sea train slowly starts moving, emitting a plume of black smoke. Its power comes from coal.

At some point, it began to rain outside, with raindrops pounding on the train’s carriages. Thunder rumbled in the sky as the rain intensified.

Outside, the storm raged violently, yet inside the sea train, the temperature was pleasant, with soothing music playing.

Su Xiao puts away his tablet. The puzzle game on it was increasingly challenging, and he suspected it might be unbeatable.

Stretching lazily, Su Xiao stands and heads to the fourth carriage, the resting area.

"Bai Ye, where are you going?"

Luffy speaks up. Su Xiao’s eyes flicker at the inquiry. As they near Enies Lobby, Luffy and the others have become more like guards than bodyguards.

"I’m planning to escape."

Kalifa, Kaku, and Bruno immediately rise to their feet.

"That joke’s not funny at all."

Luffy’s eyelids droop, and the dove on his shoulder flies aside.

"I’m just going to sleep. No need to be nervous. Or... do you all want to come along?"

Su Xiao opens the carriage door and enters the fourth carriage; Luffy and the others do not follow.

"What do we do? His intentions are still unclear. He indeed helped us earlier, but I always feel he has other plans."

Kalifa maintained a grudge against Su Xiao. She had almost been rubbed against the ground, with her sensitive areas touched by that man.

"He surely has other schemes; that’s undeniable. However, he won’t escape before reaching Enies Lobby. If he wanted to escape, he would’ve done so during the capture of Nico Robin. Bruno isn’t a match for him."

Luffy remains calm. After scanning the others, his expression turns displeased.

"You all were too impulsive just now."

"Sorry."

The entire conversation between Su Xiao and the CP9 falls on Robin’s ears. Robin now confirms that Su Xiao’s situation is very similar to hers. She presses her hand against her chest, where an alchemy bomb is nestled between her bosom.

Arriving at the fourth carriage, there’s a hallway with individual compartments on one side, each containing a bed.

Su Xiao opens a compartment door. The interior is very simple, with just a bed.

He stands in front of the bed, closes his eyes, and perceives the condition of the sea train.

"The seventh carriage, with three guards total."

Opening his eyes, Su Xiao looks at Bubute Ni.

"Bubu, lie on the bed, on your side."

Bubu Wang whimpers twice, stepping back. His watery eyes clearly conveying: ’Master, what are you planning? I’m a male, you know.’

"Woof."

"You’ve even learned to talk back. I said lie down, so lie down."

Bubu Wang feels aggrieved, giving a sorrowful glance at Su Xiao, thinking internally: ’I always saw you as my master, but you want to do this to me.’

He tails between his legs and lies on the bed. Su Xiao covers Bubu Wang with a blanket.

"Relax, sleep."

Bubu Wang looks at Su Xiao in puzzlement.

"I said sleep, so sleep."

Though Bubu Wang is bewildered, he lies on the pillow and tries to sleep. In under two minutes, he falls asleep.

Five minutes later, Bubu Wang drools, snoring loudly.

Seeing this, Su Xiao nods, standing still beside him.

Not long after, someone approaches the door. If not for Su Xiao’s keen perception, they wouldn’t have noticed anyone’s arrival outside.

The newcomer listens at the door for a while and nods upon hearing the snores inside the compartment.

Knock, knock, knock...

The person knocks on the compartment door. Su Xiao doesn’t respond immediately. After waiting a few seconds, he covers Bubu Wang’s mouth and mumbles, "Who’s there?"

"Bai Ye, do you want dinner?"

It’s Kalifa’s voice.

"No, too tired."

Saying this, Su Xiao releases the terrified Bubu Wang, signaling him to continue sleeping.

Bubu Wang sighs dramatically on the pillow, feeling dismal about his life.

Not long after, Bubu Wang, carefree once again, falls asleep with loud snores. Kalifa listens outside the door for over ten minutes before leaving.

Su Xiao takes off all his clothes and changes into black attire, removing his shoes to go barefoot.

Bubu Wang wakes at the sound of changing clothes, his dog face full of fear. Su Xiao stares at Bubu Wang, who sighs again and continues to sleep on the pillow.

Su Xiao takes out a screwdriver, pliers, and other tools, removing the glass from the train window.

Setting the removed glass aside, Su Xiao leans out of the train, scanning the surroundings.

The storm-tossed sea is pitch black with visibility limited to ten meters. The only light on the sea is the speeding sea train.

He climbs out through the window onto the top of the train.

Cold rain lashes his face as the strong wind howls.

Su Xiao walks slowly along the top of the sea train. Shoeless, the icy surface doesn’t make a sound beneath his steps.

Fifth carriage, sixth carriage, seventh carriage.

Su Xiao lies prone at the edge of the seventh carriage, his upper body in mid-air. It’s a dangerous position; the rain makes the steel roof incredibly slippery. A single mistake would send him tumbling into the sea below.

The seventh carriage is brightly lit. Su Xiao takes out a mirror to observe the situation inside the carriage.

"You bastards, let me go! Even if you don’t, at least give me some cola! Hey! Hey!"

Franky keeps yelling, much to the chagrin of the three special agents in black surrounding him.

One unable to bear it, removes his shoe and sock, planning to stuff the sock into Franky’s mouth.

"Ugh!"

The other two agents dry heave.

"Put your shoes back on! Your feet stink so much it’s bringing tears to my eyes. Ugh~."

One agent retches continuously, making the shoe-less agent awkward.

"I promise not to shout again. Just please put those shoes back on."

Franky blinks repeatedly, seemingly genuinely overwhelmed by the smell.

"Shout again and I’ll stuff the sock in your mouth."

The agent smiles cunningly, ignoring his colleagues’ pained expressions.

"Put your shoes on!"

One agent can’t take it anymore and urges hastily.

"Alright, putting them on... huh."

The agent with the sock sways, confusion in his eyes.

Thud, thud...

The three agents drop one after another. Franky is stunned, witnessing for the first time people fainted from foot odor.

"No, something..."

Franky attempts to yell but suddenly feels dizzy, collapsing to the side. Franky is only half-cyborg; his brain and other organs remain unmodified.

Outside, Su Xiao observes the fallen agents and discards a small metal can in his hand. He begins checking the fifth and eighth carriage’s conditions.

After confirming that people from the surrounding carriages won’t come to the seventh carriage for a while, Su Xiao starts dismantling the seventh carriage’s glass.

Removing the glass from the outside is technical work. It takes five minutes to remove it intact.

Standing on the train’s window frame, Su Xiao removes his soaking clothes in the heavy rain and changes into dry clothing. He towels his hair and feet dry, then throws the wet clothes and towel into the sea.

Although his clothes quickly become soaked again by rain, they don’t drip water onto the ground.

Quietly, he jumps into the seventh carriage, greeted by an overwhelmingly foul stench.

Luckily, the window is open; otherwise, the smell would be unbearable to humans.

He steps lightly to Franky’s side, flexing his fingers. A ’treasure’ resides within Franky; his collaboration with the CP9 was solely for this item.

Now, with no other Contractors on the sea train to contend with, Su Xiao’s original target was never Robin, Luffy, Kalifa, or Iceberg, but rather something inside Franky. His role in the Galley-La Company was all for this object.