The First Intelligence Deal

By Ginny's third day on the island, the intelligence network was up and running.

"Don't you have informants in the South Blue?" Lin Yuan asked her.

"I do. But they're all in the South Blue, none in the New World."

"Then build one from scratch."

Ginny chewed on the end of her pen, writing and sketching on a sheet of paper.

"What about the money?"

"How much do you need?"

"Fifty million to start."

Lin Yuan didn't even bat an eye.

"Fine."

"Oro ro ro ro ro..." Kaido gnawed on a hunk of meat. "Fifty million would keep me fed for a long time."

"Shut up." Ginny glared at him. "That money's for building an intelligence network, not buying you meat."

Kaido shrugged and went back to his meat.

Two

Word from Morgans came quickly.

"Lin Yuan, the World Government is shipping a batch of weapons from the West Blue to the Grand Line. It's taking a commercial route, disguised as a merchant ship, but its hold is packed with New Model Rifles and shells."

"When?"

"In three days. It'll pass through the waters near Water 7."

"What about the escort?"

"Two warships and a Rear Admiral."

Lin Yuan thought for a moment.

"Where did you get this information?"

Morgans chuckled on the other end of the Den Den Mushi.

"Heh heh heh... That's a trade secret."

"Fine. I won't ask."

Lin Yuan hung up the Den Den Mushi and stood.

Ginny was sorting through the account books. She looked up at him.

"Going out?"

"To raid a ship. Want to come?"

"I can't fight."

"Come and watch. Learn how intelligence gets put to use while you're at it."

Ginny hesitated, then closed the account book.

"Fine."

Three

Off the coast of Water 7.

Three ships sailed in a line—the transport disguised as a merchant ship in the middle, with a warship fore and aft.

Lin Yuan stood on a Micro Door, suspended in midair, looking down at the ships below. Kaido, Bullet, King, Moria, and Ginny stood on Micro Doors behind him.

"The one in the middle is the transport," Lin Yuan said. "Kaido, take the warship in front. Bullet, the one behind. King and Moria, come with me to the transport."

"What about me?" Ginny asked.

"Stay here and watch. Don't fall."

Ginny glanced down at the Micro Door beneath her feet and swallowed.

"This door won't suddenly disappear, will it?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Ask me again and I'll close it."

Ginny shut up.

Four

Kaido landed on the deck of the warship in front and swept his iron club across it, sending three marines flying.

"Oro ro ro ro ro... Come on, you little Marine brats!"

The marines raised their guns and fired. The bullets struck him as though they had hit a steel plate.

"Too weak! Too weak!"

On the warship behind, Bullet was even more direct. He punched the deck, smashing a huge hole through it, and seawater poured in. Another punch hit the mast, snapping it and sending it crashing against the side of the ship.

"Hoo ha ha ha ha! Is that all the Marines can do?"

On the transport, King and Moria made their moves as well. King burned through the ropes holding the sails, while Moria used shadows to bind the soldiers on deck.

"Shadow Horn Spear!"

Black spears pierced several soldiers' shoulders, and screams rang out one after another.

Lin Yuan didn't attack. He stood at the bow, looking at the Rear Admiral on the transport.

The Rear Admiral was a middle-aged man with a scar across his face and a long blade in his hand.

"You're that Spatial Ability User?"

"Lin Yuan."

"Hmph, a bounty of one billion? I'll take you down today!"

The Rear Admiral stepped forward and slashed at Lin Yuan, his blade coated in jet-black Armament Haki.

Lin Yuan didn't dodge. He raised a hand and opened a Micro Door in the blade's path. The tip plunged through the door, with the sea on the other side. The Rear Admiral's force was redirected, and he pitched forward, nearly falling.

"You—!"

Lin Yuan opened a door beneath him. One of the Rear Admiral's feet stepped through it, while the other remained on deck.

"Rear Admiral, sir, do you still want to fight?"

The Rear Admiral's face turned ashen.

"Just kill me."

"I won't kill you," Lin Yuan said. "Go back and tell the Marines I've taken these weapons."

He raised a hand and opened a huge door at the bottom of the transport's hold. On the other side was a warehouse on Hachinosu.

"Move them," he told King and Moria.

Without another word, the two began carrying crates through the door.

The Rear Admiral could only watch as crate after crate of weapons was carried away, unable to move.

Five

In less than ten minutes, the entire transport had been emptied.

"Withdraw," Lin Yuan said.

Kaido, Bullet, King, and Moria disappeared through the door at the same time.

Lin Yuan walked over to Ginny and waved a hand in front of her eyes.

"Seen enough?"

Ginny came back to her senses.

"Do you... always raid ships like that?"

"How else?"

"That's too violent."

"If pirates aren't violent, can you still call them pirates?"

Lin Yuan raised a hand and opened a door in front of him.

"Come on, let's go back."

Ginny followed him through the door, unable to resist looking back.

The two warships were still floating on the sea, their masts broken and decks damaged, while the marines floundered in the water.

"They won't die, will they?" Ginny asked.

"No," Lin Yuan said. "We only knocked them out."

"Why didn't you kill them?"

"If we killed them, the Marines would send more people. If we don't, they'll think, 'We were only robbed. Nobody died,' and they won't rush to retaliate."

Ginny looked at him.

"You really know how to scheme."

"How would I survive if I didn't?"

The door closed.

Out on the sea, only two battered warships and a ship's worth of marines soaking in the water remained.

Six

Hachinosu.

The warehouse was piled high with New Model Rifles and shells.

Ginny held an account book, counting the crates one by one.

"Five hundred rifles, two hundred crates of shells, fifty crates of grenades..." She looked up at Lin Yuan. "How much is all this worth?"

"At market price, around two billion."

Ginny swallowed.

"We robbed them of two billion?"

"We robbed them of two billion."

"Oro ro ro ro ro..." Kaido laughed. "Two billion! Think how much meat that could buy!"

"Can you stop thinking about meat all the time?" Ginny glared at him.

"No."

Ginny rolled her eyes and went back to keeping the accounts.

Seven

Morgans's report came out the next day.

The front-page headline read: "Mysterious Spatial Ability User strikes again! World Government transport looted, Marine Rear Admiral falls into the sea in disgrace."

The report embellished the story, portraying Lin Yuan as a Ghost Pirate who appeared and vanished without a trace.

Lin Yuan smiled after reading the paper.

"That Morgans can write."

"Aren't you afraid he'll expose your information?" Ginny asked.

"He didn't," Lin Yuan said. "Look closely. He didn't even mention my name."

Ginny looked down and read it again. Sure enough, the name "Lin Yuan" was nowhere to be found.

"He wrote 'Spatial Ability User.'"

"Right. That's the effect he wanted. Everyone knows I did it, but no one can prove it."

Ginny stared at him for a few seconds.

"You're frightening."

"Thanks for the compliment."

(End of chapter 21)