When Jim overheard Roberta asking Kaido to take her and leave him behind, his trust in Roberta shattered completely.
Following that, Kaido dropped all pretense and made it clear he intended to kill Jim right then and there.
At that moment, Jim's hatred for Roberta reached its peak. He was convinced that, without her involvement, he wouldn't be in such danger.
Later, when Roberta pulled out the bomb, Kaido's demeanor suddenly shifted. Jim was genuinely confused by this. Why had these terrifying people suddenly changed their tune so quickly?
When Roberta suggested staying behind as a hostage in exchange for his freedom, Jim wasn't moved at first. But then something clicked.
Could this all be a staged act by Roberta to distract him and escape on her own?
After all, he had overheard what Roberta said when he first came in! She wanted to abandon him and run.
Now, if he did as Roberta suggested, leading those outside while she stayed as a hostage, wouldn't that give her the chance to escape alone?
Jim's thoughts quickly turned to revenge.
Fine. You want to slip away quietly, right?
Well, I'm not going to make it easy for you!
If you're staying, then we're all staying. Worst case, we'll die together!
He suppressed his emotions for the moment and managed to deceive both Roberta and the boatmen.
Ridiculously, Roberta even claimed she believed him. Did she really think he was that naïve?
Did she think that a few words would trick him? Did she take him for a fool?
Just looking at Roberta's face made Jim feel disgusted.
As soon as he got outside and began shouting, he felt an overwhelming sense of joy and relief.
Even if you want me dead, you're not getting away with it!
…
Inside the cockpit, Roberta's once-confident expression froze.
Up until then, she had been so certain that her self-sacrifice would touch Jim.
But reality hit hard—Jim had delivered a resounding blow.
She had clearly underestimated Jim's thirst for revenge and overestimated his capacity for forgiveness.
The moment Jim's impatient voice rang out from outside, an eerie silence fell over the cockpit.
Outside, Jim—perhaps worried that Larson and the others wouldn't hear him—ran and shouted, heading straight in their direction.
"Boss..." Quinn's voice trembled.
Kaido said nothing, his eyes fixed on Roberta.
The atmosphere grew tense.
"Jim, you bastard!"
Roberta was so frightened she almost burst into tears. "Please, listen to me! I don't know why he went out…"
Kaido angrily slapped her to the ground. "Explain yourself? I trusted you, and now this?! Damn it!"
"Boss, we need to run!" Kings body had already started transforming into his Pterosaur form—thanks to his Ancient Zoan Pterosaur Devil Fruit powers.
Kaido gritted his teeth. "Let's go!"
He was desperate to leave before the others outside could react.
But as Kaido was about to rise and leave, he suddenly felt several eyes on him.
It was a feeling he knew all too well—it meant he was being watched by someone using Observation Haki.
A few moments earlier...
As Jem's desperate voice echoed out, it instantly drew the attention of Larson, Whitebeard, and the others.
They had been discussing their next plan of action when Jem's sudden shout cut through the air. It was impossible to ignore.
"Someone's going to kill him?"
Larson looked puzzled. "What's going on?"
Whitebeard closed his eyes, sensing something. "There's someone in the cabin."
Roger narrowed his eyes and smirked. "Looks like we've got someone hiding in there that we didn't know about."
Larson and Rayleigh exchanged glances, both clearly surprised. They had known for some time that Jem had people in his cabin—quite a few, in fact—but neither of them thought much of it.
Later, Plank had even asked Roberta about it. Roberta explained that their shipwright was sick, so Larson didn't bother digging any deeper at the time.
"Let's go check it out."
Now that Jem had raised the alarm, they couldn't just turn a blind eye.
In the cockpit, Kaido could feel several terrifying auras slowly closing in on him.
Quinn was drenched in sweat. "Boss! Boss! What do we do now?!"
Kaido said nothing—not because he didn't want to, but because he was too terrified to find the words.
He was panicking. Quinn might have been pestering him for answers, but what Quinn didn't know was that Kaido's mind had gone completely blank.
With trembling lips, Kaido turned to King. "Are you sure you can get us out of here?"
King was silent for two seconds. "Boss... my legs are shaking. I... I don't think I can."
Kaido fell silent too. He didn't blame King for being too scared to move.
After all, Kaido himself could no longer stand.
If he could, he wouldn't need King. He could simply fly away using his powers.
The ominous presences outside were drawing closer, and the cold sweat on Kaido's forehead was getting worse by the second.
It was like they were counting down to their own deaths. If they hadn't been strong enough mentally, they would've broken down by now.
At that moment, Kaido thought he heard Jem talking to someone outside.
A few seconds later, Kaido felt multiple powerful auras surrounding the cabin.
He knew their last chance of escape was gone.
In truth, it didn't matter if they were surrounded or not. In their current state, standing up was already a challenge—escaping was out of the question.
"Hello, may I come in?"
A gentle voice called from outside the door.
Larson knocked on the cockpit door a few times. When no one responded, he asked politely, "Alright, I'm coming in."
The door creaked open slowly.
The next second, Larson found himself face-to-face with Kaido, Quinn, and King, sitting quietly in the room.
Kaido bared his large white teeth in a nervous smile, waving at Larson.
Under the intense gaze of Kaido and the others, Larson's expression shifted from shock to confusion. After a brief moment, his confusion began to melt away, slowly turning to surprise—and finally, to excitement.