"The World Government is furious! Why didn't our Navy capture this utterly heinous criminal?"
Kong felt a splitting headache. After escaping from an Admiral's grasp, the Rocket Team pirate captain hadn't stayed quiet for long before creating such a horrifying incident.
A single pirate crew had slaughtered hundreds of nobles of a kingdom—including the king himself.
In the eyes of other nations, that was nothing short of demonic.
"Hahaha… what a truly vicious pirate. Looks like your Admirals and Fleet Admiral will be quite busy."
In the heavy atmosphere, an ill-timed burst of hearty laughter tore through the tension.
Veins bulged on Kong's forehead.
"Garp! You're a Marine too. Do you think you can escape responsibility?!"
Garp picked his nose indifferently.
"I'm just a Vice Admiral. You're the Admirals and Fleet Admiral. Responsibility like that obviously falls on you."
"I came to this meeting today to get approval for my vacation request, Fleet Admiral. I'm going back to spend time with my grandson."
Sengoku's face darkened with black lines. Applying for leave at a time like this was practically pouring oil on the Fleet Admiral's flames. There was no way it would be approved.
"Denied! Everyone's swamped to the point their feet aren't touching the ground, and you still want a vacation? Forget it."
"No vacation, huh… Then I'll apply to go suppress pirates in the East Blue. I'll contribute to the Navy's great cause."
Sending someone who once chased the Pirate King around to suppress pirates in the East Blue… didn't even begin to describe it. It was no different from directly granting Garp leave.
In the past, whenever Garp couldn't get vacation time, he would submit such an application instead. Quite a few times it had been approved. Every time he returned, he would drag back a batch of pirates as proof of work.
It was precisely because this Marine hero kept delivering repeated dimensionality strikes against East Blue pirates that their overall "quality" had declined year after year.
"Get out, get out!!"
Garp was directly kicked out of the meeting room. Whether he was there or not made no difference anyway.
"Don't be so angry. Have some rice crackers to cool off."
After being thrown out, Garp showed not the slightest emotion. All he could think about was eating rice crackers.
He had only run into today's meeting by coincidence. As for the Rocket Team pirates, he neither overestimated nor underestimated them.
The bloody policies of the Twin Kingdom meant that even without pirate invasions, hundreds or even thousands of people died every year. The only difference this year was that the victims had changed from commoners to nobles.
"If I run into him… I'll have to see what kind of young man this reckless brat really is."
Garp thought of his own son. What the other man was tinkering with after leaving the Navy bore a few similarities to what this young pirate had done. Sooner or later, his identity as the Marine hero wouldn't be enough to suppress it.
[The revolutionary army organized by Dragon was officially taken seriously by the World Government's kings around the 1513 World Government Council. Before that, for a long time, they were called the Freedom Fighters, and their strength was not particularly powerful within the global system.]
...
Two days earlier.
Green Hell Island.
"Meowth, so much money, meow~~"
Meowth strutted around the deck flamboyantly. A compartment opened in its body, and heaps of gold coins spilled out.
"Well, it's the wealth of so many nobles. It's only natural there'd be a lot."
"Everyone, come and take your share!"
Once a crew had money, it had to be distributed. Even pirates were no exception. Money could steady hearts—and make people more willing to risk their lives for you.
Food and lodging were covered. At sea, there was rarely any chance to spend money. These funds were meant for when the crew reached consumer islands—so they could buy what they wanted and satisfy both appetite and desire.
Spend some. Spend at least a little. No shame in that.
Don't be like low-level pirates who loot everywhere they go. You needed to know clearly where you could rob—and what kind of people were worth robbing.
"Leader, this is our haul from this operation."
Lena and Bonez jumped out from Meowth's castle space, each holding a ledger.
They were the most sensitive to numbers and valuables in the crew, responsible for tallying this operation's income.
"In cash Belly alone, we have a total of 1.67 billion."
"Gold, silver, and various ornaments are worth around 3.6 billion Belly."
"Gem prices are harder to standardize, but together they're worth at least 1 billion."
"There are also some items that are difficult to evaluate."
In other words, by looting Crown City of the Twin Kingdom, their total income was at least 6 billion Belly.
Both Lena and Bonez's hands trembled as they held the ledger.
That was 6 billion Belly!
"Not bad."
"Lena, take the girls to pick out gemstones and jewelry they like. Each person can choose up to two items."
"Bonez, you go take a look too. Anything around 100 million Belly, just take it if you like it. If nothing catches your eye, convert it into Belly."
It looked like a lot of money, but in reality, it was only a portion of the nobles' and royal family's assets. Most of their wealth was tied up in real estate and supplies that couldn't be moved.
Part of this money would be distributed to the crew, and a large portion would still remain.
Generally speaking, whatever remained belonged to the captain alone.
A pirate captain without ambition would disband the crew at this point, take the enormous fortune, find a place to settle down, and live out a carefree life as a wealthy man.
An ambitious captain, however, would turn the funds into resources for the crew's growth—advanced weapons, bigger ships, more ships, more crew members, and even the great treasure of the seas: Devil Fruits.
Vane's plan for this money was to support Meowth's scientific inventions and to purchase Devil Fruits.
"Thank you, Leader."
"Long live the Captain!"
The two happily went off to divide their spoils.
Vane, meanwhile, took out a dark-blue fragment.
This was the item obtained after killing the Logia-type king—a blue shard, crystal clear.
"What kind of item is this? Something dropped from a Logia-type should be powerful. Why does this fragment have no energy at all?"
Vane examined it for a long time. Haki, ice-type energy—none of it worked. He even tried the cliché "blood drop" activation method from cultivation fantasy novels, but the blue shard still showed no reaction.
"Do I need to gather all the fragments?"
Since none of his methods worked, the most likely answer was that he had to collect the complete set.
If he had to match it with an item from memory, it looked remarkably like the Blue Orb that allowed the whale-like Pokémon Kyogre to enter its Primal state.
"Logia-type ability users aren't that easy to come by."
Most well-known Logia-type users were extremely powerful. Judging from this orb fragment, at least ten pieces would be required. Gathering them all to uncover the secret wouldn't be easy anytime soon.
And if this truly was the Blue Orb…
Would its counterpart, the Red Orb, also appear?
If so, then the only Devil Fruits that could correspond to Logia-types would be Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruits.