Arceus's Pirate Journey

Chapter 781: Chapter 780: The Navy’s Small Meeting and a Headache-Inducing Problem

Sakazuki tore off the bandage on his hand. According to the ship doctor’s estimate, his hand should have already healed by now, yet reality was not so, with the wound healing much slower than expected.

Some mysterious force was interfering with the natural healing of his wound.

”According to the Science Corps’ statement, that guy really seems to have pulled off the technology of bringing a Devil Fruit to life. After he threw out that fruit, it turned into a scorpion.

It feels very much like an awakened Zoan-type ability user, plus, for some unknown reason, that thing can attack my body; elementalization seems ineffective against it.”

”Then how did your hand get injured?”

The headquarters office was filled with high-ranking officers of the Navy—with even those pouring tea being Junior Admirals; Vice Admirals had to stand at the back here and merely listen in.

The principal members of this meeting were Tsuru, Sengoku, Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Garp, along with a few trusted aides, and Sengoku’s goat.

There was no need to publicly announce Sakazuki’s injury on a large scale, as it would impact military morale.

”That thing exploded. I mitigated most of the harm underground, but the arm that made direct contact at that time was greatly affected.”

”The Devil Fruit... Sakazuki, you mentioned that you couldn’t help but want to deal with that scorpion first back then, right?”

”That’s correct.”

”Let’s assume that fruit is some kind of scorpion-type Zoan fruit and that Queen freed it, which is the essence of the Devil Fruit, thereby causing this effect. Would this make it more reasonable?”

Tsuru offered her analysis. This was the most plausible reason she could think of, closely fitting the actual situation.

Devil Fruits are shrouded in mystery, and even Vegapunk could only put forth his hypotheses, so Tsuru analyzed the new results based on the information brought back by Akainu.

”No, if that’s the case, why, during the G-1 incident, was Kaidou’s Dragon Demon Hydra unable to attack my physical body?”

Kuzan voiced his objection. There seemed to be some connection between Hydra and Queen’s created monster scorpion, but Hydra couldn’t deal with his Logia-type body and even got hurt.

”It’s different. According to Sakazuki, that scorpion was entirely transformed from a Devil Fruit, but that monster dragon might be some creature that consumed a fruit. Even Vegapunk is not one hundred percent sure that the monster is a Devil Fruit incarnation; it’s merely said to have a high content.

They’re related yet different. At least that dragon doesn’t explode, which is somewhat good news.”

People tend to explain what they see with what they can understand. This was what Tsuru temporarily came up with; overall, it makes sense. As for researching the root cause, that’s the job of the Science Corps, not her strategist’s duty.

Her task was to analyze the implications of this matter for the Navy.

”Good news? Tsuru, you haven’t been influenced by that fool Garp, have you?”

Listening to Tsuru’s somewhat absurd statement, Sengoku felt his head beginning to ache again.

”Firstly, we can confirm that using this ability is extremely physically taxing. If even Queen would become skinny, then common pirates can’t use it, meaning it doesn’t have widespread applicability.

Then there’s the explosion, suggesting it consumes Devil Fruits. Even for the Hundred Beasts, how many Devil Fruits can they find? Although the explosion is very powerful, if it can’t be popularized, its impact is limited.

Sakazuki was first attacked by Seastone and then hit afterward, implying the hit rate is not high.

Based on his reaction, this type of attack seems specifically targeted at ability users, with certain limitations. It’s troublesome but still within acceptable range. Compared to this, Sengoku, you should be concerned about another issue.”

”What trouble?”

”The accountability letter from the World Government – to be precise, accountability letters from some Heavenly Celestial Dragons.”

Standing at the pinnacle of power, enjoying endless wealth, the Heavenly Celestial Dragons lived lives of extreme luxury day in and day out, seeing orgies as a true norm.

Their desires manifested in different forms; some liked to collect slaves of other races, some liked seeking women, collecting stones, or enjoyed fine dining.

The products of the Hundred Beasts were originally positioned for the high-end market, naturally including the Heavenly Celestial Dragons.

The damage to the banana plantation was irreversible; however, this time, Queen’s share was not slashed as he was the victim. To vent outrage for this victim, a part of the Heavenly Celestial Dragons’ share directly vanished.

[Due to force majeure, the noble banana grove built specifically for you was destroyed in a naval attack, and we are unable to provide you with delicious food this year. The quality of food from other areas does not match your noble status; please excuse us.]

This was the rhetoric prepared by Tesoro. He had long grasped the nature of these Heavenly Celestial Dragons, knowing how to communicate with them.

The result was these accountability letters being directed to the Navy.

For the sake of maintaining justice to protect the sea, the Heavenly Celestial Dragons were not interested in such matters; they only cared about themselves. Due to the Navy’s actions, the banana plantation was ruined, displeasing them, which led to a group of Heavenly Celestial Dragons collectively lodging a protest.

If the Navy had achieved results, the World Government wouldn’t have said much, but they failed. To calm those Heavenly Celestial Dragons, the World Government decided to trade the Navy’s reputation, which translated to such specific policies meant that Sengoku had to go to Mary Geoise for another reprimand.

”Those bastards...”

”Those bastard scum, parasites of the sea, just say it if you want to say it; why hold back?”

”Garp!”

”Ah, you’re not supposed to say that; well, just pretend you didn’t hear it.”

Frustrated with the Heavenly Celestial Dragons, Sengoku couldn’t help but gripe inwardly, but Garp directly voiced those words. Even though this truth was well-known among the Navy’s upper echelons, only Garp dared to so blatantly speak out.

”Alright, let’s discuss those headaches later. Any thoughts on the bounties, Sakazuki?”

As a participant in this conflict, Sakazuki’s opinion held substantial weight.

”Setting aside external forces, the threat from Thunderclap is far greater than Plague. It’s just that his technology poses a problem, yet in a one-on-one scenario, they pose no threat.”

”Understood. Let’s report it this way.”

Bounties at this level were decided by the World Government, with the Navy merely providing reference opinions. Ultimately, two brand-new wanted posters were spread to the sea with the News Bird.

Plague Disaster-Queen

Bounty: 2.7 billion Belly, Extremely Dangerous.

ONLY ALIVE

---

Thunderclap Zeraora

Bounty: 1.27 billion Belly

Being able to fight on equal footing with an Admiral for a period and retreat unscathed is extremely rare even among the forces of the Sea Emperor, resulting in an additional 500 million Belly bounty increase for Zeraora. However, compared to Zeraora, Queen continued to capture more attention.

Especially in Punk Hazard, where Caesar Clown looked at the wanted posters with a clenched jaw.