Marineford, Seventy-Third Marine Training Field:
"Black Guns · Giant Iron Spike!"
Along with Hina's low shout, pitch-black iron bars manifested from her outstretched hands.
She hurled the massive iron bars forward in one motion.
"White Smoke · Jitte Slash!"
Smoker, who was currently engaged in combat with her, stood opposite her. At that moment, Smoker chose not to elementalize to evade the attack.
Sweat dripped from his forehead as the White Hunter tightly gripped the iron jitte in his hand. White smoke infused his wrist as he swung the weapon straight at the incoming iron bars.
Bang!
The enormous iron bars shattered from a single strike, breaking cleanly and crashing to the ground nearby.
"Huff..."
"Hah..."
At this point, it was clear that Hina and Smoker had expended a lot of stamina.
Even so, their movements were perfectly in sync. One pulled out a lady's cigarette, the other tugged a cigar from his chest, and both lit up at the same time.
"Exhale." ×2
After each of them let out a puff of smoke, their expressions seemed to relax slightly.
Then...
"You..."
Hina was just about to say something when she abruptly stopped.
At that moment, she saw a seagull flying over Marineford drop two bundles of newspapers, clearly meant for them.
"World Economy Newspaper... isn't the next issue supposed to come out later?" Hina frowned slightly.
"An extra edition? What happened?" Smoker reacted the same way.
She formed an iron bar with her hand to catch the newspaper, and Smoker rolled out a coil of smoke to retrieve his.
They both looked simultaneously at the headlines of their respective papers.
And then...
Their brows furrowed at the same time, and shock flashed through their eyes.
"This really is...something huge." Hina's voice was filled with gravity.
At the very top of the front page, a bold headline was printed in large characters:
[Oka Shichibukai 'Crocodile' Killed]
This single line was enough to shake the seas.
But that wasn't all.
The truly critical information lies in the details below:
"The government claims that Crocodile was killed by the leader of the Grand Line criminal organization 'Baroque Works,' code-named 'MR.0.'"
"However, after our reporter verified the information, an insider revealed that MR.0 calls himself "Shinryu" and appears to be connected to Youji (Rooster), the criminal behind the recent world-shaking "Heavenly Tribute Heist."
"They are said to originate from the same mysterious organization known as the Twelve Zodiac, with Baroque Works possibly being a subordinate organization."
By the time he reached this point, Smoker had already clenched the newspaper tightly in his hand.
"Crocodile is actually dead, and Shinryu comes from the same organization as Youji (Rooster)?"
His voice was kept low, filled with seriousness.
"Yeah, the last time, they seized the Heavenly Tribute, and this time, they directly killed a Shichibukai. The Twelve Zodiac...this looks like a very troublesome organization."
At that moment, Hina took another drag from her cigarette.
"Big News" Morgans really has the guts to publish something like this. Isn't he afraid the government will come after him?"
She was a meticulous person. She knew that information related to Youji (Rooster) was being kept extremely secret within the Marines.
Aside from the Marines led by Roy who had participated directly in the Master Port incident,
Most Marines knew very little about Youji (Rooster).
Yet now, such information had appeared openly in the pages of the World Economy newspaper.
Adding to that, this issue of the newspaper was a sudden "special extra edition," so Hina could almost guess as much.
Morgans probably hadn't coordinated with the World Government at all this time.
"Morgans is the kind of guy who loves chaos. Nothing he does is surprising, right?"
Smoker shook his head at that moment. Then, he tossed the newspaper aside decisively.
"Let's continue training. Today, we're still 83 short of the target."
"..."
Hearing Smoker's words, Hina's expression stiffened.
"So… what's wrong with you lately?"
"Something big enough to shake the seas happened, and you didn't care at all. You were only thinking about training. What kind of stimulation did you get recently? Hina doesn't understand!"
She couldn't help but complain.
For a while now, Smoker had been dragging her to training sessions almost every day, and they were downright terrifying. In fact, even Hina, who normally didn't dislike training, was starting to feel like she couldn't keep up.
"Things like the Shichibukai shaking the seas... I never thought they should exist in the first place." Smoker bit down on his cigar and continued. "Compared to worrying about who defeated them, I have something more important to deal with."
What he said was indeed true.
Under normal circumstances, he might have been interested in the fall of a Shichibukai, especially with the emergence of an organization called the Twelve Zodiac. Just as Morgan hoped, that name alone shook the entire sea.
But the problem was...
Right now, he had something even more important:
The Three-Army Joint Exercise.
"Roy."
Smoker was a competitive person. As a peer and a friend, there had always been a degree of rivalry between him and Roy.
Previously, while he acknowledged that Roy was quite strong, he still believed himself to be stronger.
After all, Smoker was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, while Roy wasn't a Devil Fruit user at all.
But last time, after personally witnessing Roy's battle with Zephyr, his thinking naturally changed.
"That guy...he's already grown to that level without a sound."
Thinking about the Three-Army Joint Exercise that would begin in a few months and the harsh words Roy had said to him back then...
"If that bastard really beats me, he'll probably demand that I become his vice-captain. At that point, he'll mock me for the rest of my life."
Smoker was the perfect embodiment of that saying right now: 'He is afraid that his brother would struggle but even more afraid that his brother would drive a luxury car'.
That was why his training had been so extreme recently.
In fact, even with training this intense, Smoker still felt uneasy.
"He's become Instructor Zephyr's disciple, and Zephyr said he'd pass on the essence of his combat techniques to him..."
Smoker frowned deeply.
"It's already been half a month. That guy has probably been training brutally every day and grown much stronger by now, hasn't he?"
At that thought, the cigar in his mouth didn't even taste good anymore.
He turned to Hina, who still looked completely confused.
"Come on, keep training. I've changed my mind. Today, we're doing fifty more."
"Huh?"
Hearing this, Hina frowned and tilted her head.
Seeing Smoker's resolute "I absolutely must not lose" expression, she could only shake her head helplessly.
"Hina is speechless."
While Smoker fervently thought about his good brother and threw himself into intense training, he naturally had no idea.
...
Inside Zephyr's exclusive "Z" Training Field dormitory.
"Burp!"
A loud belch rang out.
Even though it was broad daylight, Roy was sprawled limply on his bed.
"Ah... so satisfying! I drank an entire bottle in one go. I've really gotten a lot stronger!"
He looked at the empty cola bottle in his hand with great satisfaction, as if he had just accomplished something incredible.
Grueling training?
Naturally, that wasn't happening.
It wasn't that Roy himself was lazy... it was just that Zephyr's arrangements were… strange.
After Zephyr said he would formally take Roy as a disciple and pass on the essence of his combat techniques, Roy had genuinely prepared himself for hellish training.
But the reality was…
After bringing him to the training camp, Zephyr only had him do some basic strength training each day.
If there was anything special, it was that the training covered a very wide range.
Zephyr had him train in every aspect, from muscles and bones to strength, and logged the data.
Aside from that, Roy rarely saw his bargain-bin sensei.
And Roy was more than happy with that.
Doing some basic strength training every day and sipping cola in the sun, life couldn't be better, especially these past few days.
"Baroque Works' business is already in hand, and on top of that, the Beli King Cobra will be delivered to Shinryu soon..."
Thinking of that, Roy almost laughed out loud.
This time, for the Alabasta plan, he had targeted Crocodile from the beginning. As a famous criminal organization in the Grand Line, Baroque Works has over two thousand members.
A behemoth like that wasn't just eating for free.
Bounty hunting, black-market trading, mercenary work, and Sea Beast hunting were just a few of the businesses it was involved in.
And its unique internal structure had long caught Roy's eye.
His plan had gone remarkably smoothly; his carefully prepared "Shinryu" had countered Crocodile effectively. With Nico Robin's help, Shinryu officially became MR.0 after dealing with Crocodile.
From now on, Baroque Works belonged to him.
"Though... the nature of the business needs a bit of adjustment."
Naturally, Roy still had his limits. He would never touch things like human trafficking or banned drugs.
Even so...
"Baroque Works' operations alone can generate over six billion Beli in net profit every year after deducting basic operating costs."
"It's a pity Crocodile burned through most of the liquid funds for his 'Utopia Plan.' Otherwise, I'd already have a lot of cash in hand."
After learning about Baroque Works' situation from Nico Robin, Roy was naturally very satisfied.
It's no wonder that, in the original story, Crocodile was able to establish Cross Guild and spend enormous sums of Beli to put bounties on Marines.
This warlord might not have been the strongest in combat, but when it came to making money, he was undeniably skilled.
And that wasn't all. Don't forget about Roy's cooperation with King Cobra.
For the previous rounds of rainfall alone, King Cobra had already paid 1.5 billion Beli in compensation.
On top of that, the reward for saving the country would be given to Shinryu later.
Another 30 billion Beli would be added to the books at that time, which is more than enough for Roy to enhance many more Devil fruits.
Naturally, for Roy, that still wasn't the biggest gain.
The most important reward was the illusory light screen in front of him at that moment.
[Devil Fruit Encyclopedia]
[Holder: Roy Amos]
[Current number of fruits recorded: 34 (Paramecia ×16, Zoan ×12, Logia ×5, Special Paramecia ×0, Mythical Zoan ×1)]
[Fruit Ability Slots: 3 → 4]
[Current Beli held: 12,000,000,007,543]
[Currently equipped:
Ox-Ox Fruit: Giant Rhino Model Level 2;
Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Wind God Wing Dragon Form Level 3;
Human-Human Fruit: Model Daibutsu Lv.1;
Empty]
As the light screen flickered, Roy could clearly see a newly opened, illusory page in the second half of the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.
On that page, brand-new text appeared:
["After accumulating and fully analyzing 60 Devil Fruit Ability Slots, the fifth slot will unlock a special Fruit Ability Slot, the 'Fruit Fusion Slot.'"]
(End of Chapter)
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