Chapter 95 095 Intimidation

At an unknown location in the Pacific Ocean, the Nautilus remained submerged, while Christie, Romain Rolland, and Verne looked at the group before them with a slight headache.

Barry floated in mid-air, unusually refraining from arguing with Vladimir. Instead, he whistled guiltily, his eyes darting around. Vladimir, on the other hand, became serious and stopped pretending to speak in a childish voice. Instead, he recounted the entire incident in a logical and expressive manner.

The two men were at least four or five meters apart, and in the open space between them was Montgomery, who had been bound into a cocoon by Barry and brutally knocked unconscious.

Romain Rolland sighed, "What a chaotic turn of events... And then, why did you bring Montgomery back?"

Vladimir was taken aback by the question, tilted his head and thought for a moment before answering, "I caught it, and then I just brought it back out of habit?"

Barry, still in mid-air, scratched his head: "Hmm... that pervert carried her back. He was so busy arguing that he didn't think much before bringing her back."

This time, Verne also started facepalming: "You two, do your IQs drop to five years old when you're with each other?"

Barry & Vladimir: I don't know why, but I feel like I can't refute it.

Unlike Romain Rolland and Jules Verne, Christie was speechless. Having already known and witnessed countless times how unreliable Vladimir and Barry were, Christie had gotten used to it much faster than others.

So Christie didn't waste time dwelling on these meaningless matters. Instead, she focused her gaze on Montgomery and muttered to herself in a voice loud enough for everyone present to hear: "Fitzgerald is a man who cares deeply about his men. While being captured accidentally wouldn't necessarily cause conflict, killing or detaining such an 'important subordinate,' even if the circumstances prevent direct hostility, Fitzgerald would absolutely do everything in his power to hinder us afterward."

Although a rule was established that no member of the group could fail, it was only a demotion, not dismissal. Fitzgerald was actually quite concerned about his subordinates.

"If sending Montgomery back and removing his superpowers is a gesture of goodwill, and an attempt is made to negotiate an alliance with the group... for a shrewd businessman, if payment has already been received, an agreement is practically meaningless."

Even if they wanted to send Montgomery back but didn't remove his ability as a hostage... well, the closest nullification ability user to this place, Osamu Dazai, is currently in Yokohama, so this threat is practically nonexistent.

From this perspective, it seems the only option is to send Montgomery back intact and then try to get Fitzgerald to buy him outright.

Barry, who was listening attentively, felt he understood: "So, they're going to use Montgomery to pay the ransom?"

Verne shook his head – “It would be a waste to just go to Fitzgerald to exchange some ransom for what we have now.”

A little bewildered by the rejection, Barry tried to think of something again but to no avail. He then obediently asked, "Then what should we do?"

Although what Verne said seems to make a lot of sense, doesn't the UN need money?

Barry's thinking is no longer on the same level as everyone else's.

"Christie means that it won't work if you don't use the ability to nullify it as a form of coercion. After all, there are still people in the world who can nullify abilities, and Fitzgerald has no problem hiring such people with his wealth. So, threatening them is meaningless in itself."

Having worked in intelligence every day and already accustomed to explaining and analyzing situations to others, Romain Rolland, a UN special narrator, automatically began his work.

"But if we don't ask for anything and just want to send Montgomery back in this state... the most direct benefit would be getting rid of a superpowered user with very useful abilities."

"The group and the Armed Detective Agency are hostile to each other. So we can't count on Dazai Osamu for the time being, and there aren't many known non-ability users out there. If we weren't being threatened, helping Montgomery remove his ability would be a pretty low priority."

Originally, Montgomery's ability "Anne of the Abyss" wasn't very useful for direct combat; it was better suited for surprise attacks or personnel concealment.

Montgomery's supernatural abilities became known to Atsushi Nakajima and Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. That's roughly equivalent to the Armed Detective Agency finding out, and even more roughly, the Joint Major Crimes Unit also knew. The effect of his underhanded tactics was lost.

As for personnel concealment... "Anne of the Abyss" truly has unparalleled concealment effects. With its unequal flow of time and being in another dimension, it's practically invincible if you enter with the user and don't know about the back door.

However, in terms of the number of people that can be carried, "Anne of the Abyss" is really not comparable to "Moby-Whale" at all!

For a super-large organization like the Group, "White Whale" is sufficient. Restoring Montgomery's powers would seem unnecessary in the current situation, unless threatened.

Montgomery's strength lies in his mobility, but in this major battle in Yokohama, mobility doesn't seem to be a particularly important factor.

Therefore, Christie previously stated that using this as a threatening tactic is not feasible. However, maintaining this status quo in Montgomery does offer some benefits to the UN.

For example... used to deter combinations.

"He didn't take any lives, left any scars or disabilities, and even rendered the soldiers useless. I have to say, Nabokov's abilities are really useful."

Vladimir, flattered by the praise, nearly had his tail held high, his face beaming with pride that said, "Of course."

Romain Rolland shrugged: "Then things are simple. We definitely have to put Montgomery back. But we certainly can't just put him back directly."

"Just a few threats and harsh words, the effect doesn't need to be too good. As long as the group is wary of us in this operation and doesn't dare to directly provoke us or take the initiative to confront us, that's enough."

Anyway

"Then..."

The three giants, Romain Rolland, Jules Verne, and Christie, turned their attention to Barry, who was still deep in thought.

Christie spoke slowly: "Barry is better at intimidation."

Barry... Barry is still lost in his own thoughts and hasn't heard what the Big Three are saying at all.

Barry: I understand the logic, so why isn't the UN short of money?