On the sea, aboard the custody unit’s warship.
Inside his quarters, Roy still had a look of pleasant surprise on his face.
“Five hundred million Berries…
That’s enough to upgrade a top-tier Logia Devil Fruit to LV2.” “And the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Quetzalcoatlus Form…
This really is a massive windfall.” He murmured to himself as he stared at the brand-new fruit displayed on the light screen of the Fruit Encyclopedia.
Yes, he was highly satisfied with the outcome of his first illegal operation.
An income of five hundred million Berries was enough for him to perform his first fruit upgrade.
In this regard, Roy’s target was a Logia fruit.
For he had long coveted the elemental transformation ability of Logia fruits—even if an LV2 Logia only granted partial elemental transformation, it would still be more than enough for him to run rampant in the first half of the Grand Line.
As for the Quetzalcoatlus fruit, it was an even greater, unexpected harvest.
Coincidentally, he knew of a similar fruit.
That belonged to ‘King the Conflagration’, a Lead Performer under the command of ‘Beasts’ Kaido—one of the Four Emperors currently reigning over the seas, and the Grand Line’s premier “golden instructor.” This great pirate, with a bounty as high as 1.39 billion Berries, had consumed the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Pteranodon Form.
The fruit Roy had obtained was clearly of the same type.
“Although a huge part of King’s combat strength comes from his status as a survivor of the Lunarian race, there is no doubt that the uniquely powerful physique and vitality of the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, paired with the pterosaur’s flight and high mobility, makes this Quetzalcoatlus Form a top-tier specimen even among Zoans!” “Especially for me, its significance is even greater.” Roy understood this very well.
If it had been before, obtaining this fruit would have made him happy, but not this excited.
But now, things were different.
Because right now, Roy had a highly daring plan in mind.
“Arasheet Island,” Roy murmured in a low voice.
“With the wealth of the Kingdom of Nismail, the Heavenly Tribute should be an astronomical sum, right?” Indeed.
After realizing that Arasheet Island was the storage site for the Heavenly Tribute, an idea had inevitably taken root in Roy’s mind.
One must know that as the annual tribute offered to the Celestial Dragons, the value of the Heavenly Tribute was absurdly massive.
Superpowers like Alabasta, which lacked neither territory nor resources, were said to pay up to ten billion Berries in Heavenly Tribute every year.
Of course, with such colossal wealth at stake, the World Government naturally maintained strict security measures for the Heavenly Tribute.
First, the shipping route and location of the Heavenly Tribute were absolute national secrets, virtually unknown to the public under normal circumstances.
Second, each country’s tribute was escorted by dedicated World Government agents and Marine officers.
The shipping routes went through the Calm Belt, and the surrounding waters would be placed under martial law, prohibiting all other vessels from entering.
Third, any criminal who attempted to seize the Heavenly Tribute would be deemed an enemy of the World Government.
Furthermore, all the treasures within the tribute bore the unique ‘Hoof of the Celestial Dragon’ mark; if anyone tried to spend them, they would immediately be wanted by the World Government and hunted down by the Marines.
Thus, in recent decades, incidents of hijacking the Heavenly Tribute had been extremely rare.
The only one who had successfully done so didn’t even do it for the treasure itself.
But for Roy, there was no way he could remain unmoved.
He already knew where the Heavenly Tribute was being stored.
And he wasn’t afraid of being wanted by the World Government—after all, the one they would hunt would only be his sliced clone.
More importantly, after acquiring the Quetzalcoatlus Fruit, the martial law on the surrounding seas would no longer be an issue for him.
“Let’s do it!” Roy made up his mind.
He was going to pull off this heist!
But the only remaining problem was…
“The abilities of the sliced clone must be refreshed through physical touch from the main body.” “I have to meet with my clone again—his current abilities aren’t enough to seize the Heavenly Tribute.” Roy reached this conclusion.
But obviously, this wouldn’t be easy.
After a night of sailing, he was now hundreds of nautical miles away from Master Port.
It was impossible to cross such a distance using Geppo.
But Roy wasn’t anxious; he merely waited in silence.
Because if he guessed correctly, the opportunity to return to Master Port would present itself very soon.
And indeed, before long…
“Sir!
Sir!” Hans’s voice came from outside the door.
“What is it?” Roy asked, thinking to himself, *Just as I expected.* “It’s a communication from Headquarters, from Vice Admiral Bilos.” “Oh?” Roy muttered in acknowledgment, then opened the door.
Sure enough, Hans was holding a ringing Transponder Snail that went “purupurupuru.” Naturally, Roy took the Transponder Snail.
“Hello?
Old man, it’s me.” Then, he heard Vice Admiral Bilos’s deep voice: “Kid Roy, how far are you from the G-51 Branch right now?” “About seven hundred nautical miles?” Roy frowned and asked softly, “What happened?” “Shortly after you left, something happened at the G-51 Branch.” Vice Admiral Bilos’s tone was grave.
“The branch commander, Captain Ast, died in the line of duty.
Additionally, the royal steward from the Kingdom of Nismail and all of his guards were killed.” “What?!” Roy’s brow furrowed further as he said in a shocked, booming voice, “How could something like this happen?” “According to the report from the Marines, a criminal stole a merchant ship belonging to the Kingdom of Nismail, drawing away most of the Marine forces.
Just as they were about to catch him, he set fire to the ship’s fuel and sank into the sea along with the vessel.” “By the time the Marines returned to the branch, they discovered Captain Ast’s body.” Vice Admiral Bilos said solemnly, “Kid Roy, do you understand what this represents?” What did it represent?
It meant that kid Aran had done a fantastic job.
Roy muttered internally.
Exactly.
What Vice Admiral Bilos was talking about was precisely one of the tasks Roy had entrusted to Aran.
In order to infiltrate the Marine branch, he needed Aran to sail that merchant ship away to divert the attention of most of the Marine forces, while simultaneously prompting Steward Mantal and Captain Ast to head toward the treasure vault.
As a user of the Slice-Slice Fruit, Aran only needed to discard that particular clone in the end to execute a perfect diversion!
From the looks of it, Aran had executed Roy’s orders flawlessly.
But obviously, Vice Admiral Bilos had no idea what was running through Roy’s mind.
Without waiting for Roy’s answer, he directly reached a conclusion.
“This was a premeditated attack.
The criminal who stole the merchant ship was merely a sacrificial pawn…” He paused briefly.
Hearing this, Roy spoke up without the slightest hesitation: “Sir, I request to return to Master Port immediately.
It has been less than a day since the attack, so the culprit is highly likely still there.
Someone needs to command the search efforts on-site.” “Furthermore, based on your description, I suspect the criminal I am currently escorting may be deeply connected to this attack.
Therefore, I will have Hans and the others continue escorting him back to Headquarters while I return to Master Port alone on an emergency launch!” He spoke with an air of absolute righteousness, earning looks of shock and adoration from Hans and Fal.
And they weren’t the only ones; even Vice Admiral Bilos on the other end of the Transponder Snail fell silent.
In fact, this was also the intention of the Headquarters brass.
This attack was extremely egregious, and the culprit was highly likely still in the vicinity of Master Port.
With Captain Ast dead, the G-51 Branch desperately needed someone to take charge.
And in the nearby waters, the closest and highest-ranking Marine officer to Master Port was Roy.
However…
“Kid Roy, you must understand—the enemy is by no means simple.” “It will be very dangerous for you to go back now.” His voice was heavy.
Consequently, the other Marines on the warship also showed worried expressions.
They, too, understood that a criminal daring enough to attack a Marine branch and kill a Marine captain and a royal steward of a World Government affiliated nation was bound to be an extremely heinous and dangerous individual.
But…
“For justice, I am willing to face danger!” They only heard Roy’s righteous and resolute reply.
The Marines’ eyes grew moist with emotion.
Upon hearing this, Vice Admiral Bilos sighed and said, “In that case…
go.” “When you return to Headquarters this time, I will make sure your achievements are properly recognized.” He paused for a moment before speaking softly.
“For justice.”