Purpose

Within the Krol Kingdom.

Although it had abundant iron ore, the land was still barren overall.

And precisely because of that, most of the population was concentrated in the capital near the port.

After crossing the iron-mining area,

Roy soon arrived at the weapons factory hidden in a mountain hollow.

Perhaps because quality materials had been used during its construction, quite a few pirates had survived here.

Roy showed them no mercy.

As his figure flashed past, the pirates' necks became fountains of crimson blood.

Looking at the factory built into the mountain,

God knew how much influence Roy and Spandam had wielded in this kingdom back then, how many people they had taught a lesson, and how many channels they had opened in order to build this factory.

And now that he had to destroy it with his own hands, Roy felt an immense pang of heartache.

He walked into the empty factory.

The assembly lines were still in their original places.

The factory's overall layout had barely changed, except the once-clean walls and floor bore many uncleaned traces of battle.

When he reached the warehouse storing explosives, Roy found that the explosives were still there.

Perhaps because the Black Eagle Pirates had wanted to keep the factory running, none of the raw materials had been lost.

Sizzle!

He lightly struck a match and lit the cigarette in his hand.

He looked at the tightly sealed warehouse of black powder before him.

He opened one of the wooden barrels filled with gunpowder.

Then he lightly tossed the match in his hand forward.

Boom!

Towering flames erupted from the factory.

The shock wave from the explosion instantly made the mountain begin to tremble on the verge of collapse.

Violent explosions began spreading through every production workshop.

When Roy, cigarette dangling from his mouth, re-formed his body from clouds outside the factory,

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The small mountain behind him collapsed in an instant.

Just as smoke filled the sky and scattered sparks were about to rise, they were suppressed by the torrential rain.

He raised his head to glance at the thinning dark clouds and the sunlight at the horizon, which was about to pierce the darkness.

Then Roy transformed into mist again and rushed into the clouds above.

Giant hailstones began their second round of sweeping destruction.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

The natural disaster that had struck the Krol Kingdom was spread across these waters by pirates who had come to join the Black Eagle Pirates.

The Black Eagle Pirates, who had been riding high just a short while ago, had now vanished without a trace beneath a natural disaster.

While countless people found this unbelievable, they also dispatched their subordinates to investigate.

"Oh, damn it, what is this?"

At that moment, in the waters surrounding the Krol Kingdom, the kingdom appeared completely frozen from afar.

And the carriage-sized hail falling from the sky left all the onlookers trembling in fear.

Under a natural disaster of this scale, no one dared to investigate.

Just as everyone pitied what the Krol Kingdom had suffered,

an inconspicuous ship carrying a vast amount of treasure was slowly leaving these waters.

Roy had already done what needed to be done. He had washed away what needed washing with heavy rain, and aside from Patches, who was tied up in a cabin, everyone who needed killing had been smashed into pulp.

The sails swelled full under the sea breeze.

As the sailboat Roy controlled alone sped across the sea,

he thought of the factory he had blown up and the treasures and artifacts he had been unable to take away.

He looked toward the calm, beautiful horizon.

"Looks like I need to move forward with that trip to Sky Island!"

Roy had many ideas for the powers of the Logia-type Cloud-Cloud Fruit.

But his current predicament was that he had no way to acquire the necessary materials for many of its offensive techniques.

Although Roy could create clouds himself, clouds containing Seastone particles were beyond the scope of the Cloud-Cloud Fruit's powers.

This trip to the Krol Kingdom had made Roy realize how important a portable flying base was.

If Roy had a cloud island right now, he would not have needed to destroy all the equipment in the weapons factory one by one. He could have simply placed it on the cloud island and taken it away.

But reality had no room for so many what-ifs. This loss only strengthened Roy's resolve to travel to Sky Island.

The first half of the Grand Line, Sabaody Archipelago.

Because Roy had successfully dealt with the major problem in the Krol Kingdom and brought back a captive Devil Fruit user, Spandam and Roy headed directly to the Sabaody Archipelago, the island closest to Mary Geoise, in order to recoup their losses.

Here, Spandam planned to use his father's connections and trade Patches, a flying Devil Fruit user, for certain profitable privileges for himself and Roy.

A pirate with a bounty exceeding one hundred million, and a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user capable of flight.

Even in Mary Geoise, a slave of this caliber would definitely be considered a premium specimen.

Therefore, Spandam had not the slightest concern that his request would be refused in exchange for this flattering gift.

Inside a luxurious, enormous white villa, Spandam and Roy were leisurely having afternoon tea.

"Say, Roy, did you really destroy the entire Krol Kingdom? You're terrifyingly cruel!"

Holding a cup of black tea, Spandam chatted leisurely with Roy.

"It was just a small country that pirates had already stripped clean. There wasn't much fighting power there.

Any CP9 agent could probably have achieved the same result.

But speaking of cruelty, you're no slouch either, Spandam!

The weapons transport team should have already been sunk to the bottom of the sea by you, right? You're as cautious as ever!"

Roy took a sip of black tea and looked at Spandam before him.

As he lit a cigarette, Roy asked with some concern, "Will our request really be okay? Spandam, aren't we asking for a little too much?"

Smoking his cigarette, Roy voiced his concern.

After Roy asked, several traces of worry also appeared in Spandam's eyes.

"It should be fine. We're only asking for jurisdiction over a few World Government resource islands.

A flying Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, and a pirate with a bounty exceeding one hundred million—this should be enough to please Saint Gareth.

After all, according to the information I know, that lord enjoys conquering powerful pirates."

Spandam's answer eased Roy's concerns somewhat.

He liked conquering powerful pirates?

Patches should be up to the task.

The richly fragrant black tea on the table was quickly consumed by the two of them.

Meanwhile, at Mary Geoise, the chrysanthemums filling the flower beds had transformed into sunflowers.