"You said, as long as I pull the trigger, you'll let me go!", Pagaya stared deathly at Rosse, his voice distorted from extreme fear and trembling uncontrollably.
"I said, if you kill your friend, I'll let you not go to the Holy Ground," Rosse still wore a smile on his face, his tone gentle, patiently repeating the words he had just said.
Immediately, he gently flicked his fingertip, aiming the bullet in his hand at Pagaya.
Ding!
A faint sound, yet like the whisper of death.
The bullet was flicked out lightly and casually by Rosse's index finger.
But the speed was so fast, it almost surpassed the limits of what the human eye could capture, carrying a chilling whoosh of air, instantly piercing through Pagaya's heart.
"First, you didn't kill your friend."
"Second, your act of shooting at your friend made me very displeased, extremely displeased."
"Finally, you are the traitor of Skypiea. If just now Conia hadn't stepped forward, all of you would've died here, without anyone spared," Rosse's voice clearly reached the ears of every Skypiean present.
But what was a bit of a pity was, Pagaya couldn't hear these words anymore.
The bullet had precisely pierced his heart from the same angle he had used to shoot Conia just now, taking away his last breath of life.
As Rosse's final words fell, Pagaya's body also collapsed like a puddle of mud to the ground, limbs twitching a few times before completely losing all signs of life.
The platinum pistol in his hand was also quietly retrieved by Stella. She needed to clean it before giving it back to Rosse.
Pagaya's role was over.
Rosse turned his head, looking at the expressionless Conia, smiling in satisfaction.
He knew, the effect he wanted to achieve had already been perfectly achieved.
Conia's heart had already developed a rift with Skypiea.
She would still step forward for this place, but it would never be so pure again.
"Let's go. We'll go to the Holy Ground you spoke of together,".Rosse gently raised his hand, softly rubbing Conia's silky blonde hair, his tone as tender as a lover's whisper, finally pulling her dazed and soul-lost expression slightly back to reality.
"Mm... let's go," Conia let out a soft sigh, without looking at the still-motionless crowd, without looking at Pagaya's fallen corpse.
She resolutely turned around, walking toward the direction of Upper Yard.
All of this was Pagaya's own choice.
With his cowardice and stupidity, he brought death upon himself with his own hands.
Even Conia could see it clearly. Rosse didn't care about their lives or deaths.
Their life and death never depended on Rosse, but on themselves.
As long as it aligned with Rosse's thoughts, nothing would happen to them.
If Pagaya had rebelled, Conia might have looked at him differently.
But from beginning to end, Pagaya was only thinking about saving himself.
"Gion, let's go," With Conia leading the way, Rosse hugged Sora and followed behind, calling out to Gion.
"Coming," Gion smiled lightly, leaping down from the statue, her figure graceful.
At the moment she landed, the statue she had just been leaning on suddenly let out a groan of unbearable weight.
The cracking sounds of "crack crack" were endless, cracks spreading like a spiderweb, quickly covering the entire statue.
Under the horrified gazes of countless Skypieans, the statue they revered as a god collapsed with a roar, turning into a pile of rubble, raising a sky full of dust.
By the time they snapped out of it, Rosse and the others had already disappeared.
"Aren't you worried they'll cause trouble?", Gion looked back with interest at the rear, asking casually.
Of course, she didn't expect all Skypieans to instantly awaken a rebellious consciousness. That was impossible.
But being pushed to this point, if they didn't even have a trace of rebellious thought, that would be too unbelievable.
"No need to worry. Before the results are clear, they don't dare do anything," Rosse smiled faintly.
He had seen too many people like that, meekly accepting fate.
Protecting oneself, avoiding danger, had already become their instinct carved deep into their bones.
When people around them are persecuted, their first thought isn't to help, but to blame the victim.
"Why are they only bullying you?"
"If you didn't provoke them, why would they touch you?"
"If you didn't take that path, nothing would have happened."
"You're a jinx, dragging us down too."
"..."
When an avalanche occurs, not a single snowflake is innocent.
Let alone there are still dozens of people left on the island. Even if it were just Moa and Stella, they'd probably be enough to manage these ten thousand people.
What just happened at the square had already fully proved this.
Except for Conia, among these Skypieans, not one truly had the blood of rebellion.
Such a group of sheep who only sought to protect themselves, even if they were more in number, even if their overall strength exceeded Stella and the others, they wouldn't dare harbor even the slightest rebellious thought.
Not to mention, these people's strength wasn't even as good as Stella and the others.
"I see. Anyway, with their strength, it's definitely enough to handle it," Gion didn't care much, she had just mentioned it in passing.
When boarding Skypiea, she had encountered a few sporadic acts of resistance.
But those resistances mostly came from the Divine Envoys and divine guards.
As for those ordinary Skypieans, they almost had no will to resist at all, so obedient it was astonishing.
Tell them to gather at the square, and they obediently gathered.
Not even afraid that they were a group of butchers, gathering the crowd to slaughter more easily.
If this were the Arabastans, and someone like Cobra was killed publicly, there would definitely be a large group of people risking their lives to fight.
This was also the reason Rosse took a gentle policy approach in Alabasta. Gion had heard Rosse say it before, and now she finally understood.
"This... lord, may I boldly ask something?", Conia pursed her lips, cautiously looking at Gion, her eyes with a hint of probing.
The two's conversation hadn't been hidden from her. From Gion's tone, she could roughly understand that this woman wasn't as scary as imagined.
At least much more friendly than the moody Lord Rosse beside her.
But the scene of the Divine Envoy being killed was still vivid in her mind, leaving a deep impression, also making her tone somewhat hesitant.
Moreover, Gion could talk so casually with Rosse, which meant her status wasn't ordinary.
So Conia also wanted to seize this rare opportunity, trying to gather some information about them from Gion's mouth.
For herself, for the future of Skypiea, to fight for more bargaining chips.
As for asking Rosse...
The oppressive feeling Rosse gave her was too overwhelming. Just standing beside him made her feel breathless, not daring to ask any extra questions.
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