Transaction

The submarine carrying Lucci sailed into the distance, and after half a day, it arrived at an island at dusk.

The submarine then surfaced, where people on the island met them and carried the cage ashore, heading inside.

"It doesn't look far."

Lucci, "It took half a day by ship and half a day by submarine to get here from Water 7."

Cargo ships, fully loaded with goods, have limited speed, only about ten knots. As for submarines, sailing on the surface with the help of sails, they can only reach a speed of eight knots.

The speed was slow, and the distance was not far.

After determining the distance, Lucci surveyed the surrounding environment. The island wasn't very large; in terms of population, it could probably accommodate a small town of about two thousand people.

A path leads into the middle, densely wooded, but in some places, holes left by trees being dug up are visible and have not yet been filled in.

Wood chips, stones, and lime were scattered along the roadside.

The building materials, and some of them were not sunk into the ground, so they must have been recently moved in.

It is very possible that this place was originally a deserted island, which they then transformed.

In other words, this may not be their main base.

Lucci stroked his chin and looked at the road in the distance. After walking for a while, the view suddenly opened up in the distance, revealing an open space. Near the foot of the mountain, there was a row of two-story buildings, about one or two hundred meters wide. The buildings were some distance away from the mountain, and there should be a courtyard behind them.

At the main entrance on the first floor stood a blue-haired woman.

Lucci had no information about her in his mind. Perhaps the intelligence department had a record of it, but it wasn't part of his mission, so they wouldn't specifically tell him.

"Take it inside."

The blue-haired woman addressed the crowd.

"Yes, Miss Doublefinger." Someone immediately replied, carrying the cage through the gate.

"Mr. 1?"

Lucci remembered the name while observing his surroundings.

Behind the main gate was a large hall with passageways extending into the distance on both sides, and opposite the main gate was another door.

After stepping out the door, a courtyard appeared in front of me. The courtyard was not very big, and the walls were only about the size of the hall.

However, there is a large gate on each of the walls on both sides of the courtyard.

They carried Lucci through the door on the right and went inside, where they found a huge courtyard, about four or five hundred meters long, stretching all the way to the distant coast.

In the courtyard, a Giant Beast lay prone.

"It really is the Giant Beast that appeared with Robin."

Upon seeing the other person's complete appearance, Lucci confirmed their identity and wondered if Robin was truly behind it.

"You may leave now. Keep watch around the coast and sound the alarm immediately if you detect any ships approaching."

Zala looked around, and the people around her immediately left the courtyard.

Zala closed the door, walked up to Lucci, looked at him, and said softly, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rob Lucci of CP9."

"Who are you?"

Lucci looked at Zala and asked in a cold voice.

Zala waved her hand and said, "Who I am is not important. What's important is that we have what you want."

"The blueprints for Pluton?" Lucci asked back, staring intently at the other man.

Zala nodded and said, "That's right, we know the location of the Pluton Blueprints. If you're willing to cooperate, we'll give them to you."

"Then you need to prove that you have the blueprints for Pluton."

Lucci looked at Zala and said, "I can't just believe you because of what you said. What if you're lying to me?"

Zala said, "The blueprints for Pluton are not in our hands."

Lucci leaned back in the cage and said lazily, "Then there's no need for cooperation."

"Don't rush."

Zala looked at Lucci and said, "You infiltrated Water 7, probably because the blueprints for Pluton, one of the Ancient Weapon, fell into Tom's hands, right? Tom."

"You know quite a lot."

Lucci was somewhat surprised. Lucci's identity was not difficult to find out, but it was known that the Pluton Blueprints had fallen into Tom's hands, which was a very secretive matter.

Zala said, "Spade was Tom's apprentice, and he was the president of the Galley-La Company. The Galley-La Company was established five years ago, and you also came here five years ago. So you guessed that after Tom died, the blueprints fell into Spade's hands, so you joined the Galley-La Company and became a shipwright, with the aim of obtaining the blueprints for Pluton. Am I right?"

"It seems you know a lot."

Lucci's eyes turned calm. She knew about Spade, but her words also revealed a lot.

Her words contained a lot of information.

So first of all, they must know that Tom has the blueprints for Pluton.

Secondly, they knew they had infiltrated five years ago.

Finally, they didn't mention anyone else's name, only referring to "you," focusing on themselves throughout. These three points could lead to several inferences: first, based on the content of her words, she inferred her purpose from the relationship between Spade and Tom, and the timing of her arrival at Galley-La Company.

Perhaps there was no traitor; he deduced the purpose through conjecture.

They knew that he had infiltrated five years ago, and the timing was quite precise, proving that he had discovered them midway through the infiltration.

Secondly, they knew their target was Pluton, yet they claimed to know the blueprints for Pluton and asked if they wanted Pluton. Perhaps the blueprints for Pluton were no longer in Spade's possession. And they might very well know Pluton Blueprints whereabouts.

Third, they may not be aware of the existence of Kalifa Kakublum.

So, if we think about it, it's very likely that five years ago or sometime in between, they discovered him, recognized him as Rob Lucci of CP9, and guessed that he must have some ulterior motive.

He also used Spade to determine his own purpose.

At the same time, they found the Pluton Blueprints, and then approached themselves, hoping to exchange the blueprints for cooperation.

Lucci asked softly, "So you discovered my whereabouts a long time ago?"

"Certainly."

Zala laughed and said, "We discovered you years ago. We never expected that the famous Rob Lucci would come to Water 7 and work as a shipwright. And he actually stayed here for five years. We were very curious at the time. What exactly was Lucci doing? What was worth spending so much time on?"

"Just as I thought."

Upon hearing this, Lucci became even more certain of her thoughts. She had discovered him long ago and, based on the time she had been infiltrating, deduced his possible motives.

Lucci looked at Zala and asked lazily, "If the blueprints for Pluton aren't on Spade, then where could they be? Tom seems to have two apprentices, right? Could they be in the other one's hands?"

"You mean Franky? That gang leader?"

Zala laughed and said, "Of course not. Why do you think Tom would definitely give the blueprints to his apprentice?"

"You mean to say?" Lucci raised an eyebrow.

Zala said, "He gave it to someone, someone you would never expect. You could lie low here for five years or ten years and still not find the blueprints."

"Give it to someone else?"

Lucci frowned. She spoke with such certainty; could Tom have given it to someone else? Someone he couldn't have imagined, so it was clear he couldn't get the blueprints through Spade.

Lucci looked at Zala and asked, "So you know where the blueprints are and want to cooperate with me?"

"That's right."

Zala said, "If you're willing to help us, then we'll naturally be willing to give you the whereabouts of the Pluton Blueprints."

What do you want?

Lucci looked at Zala and asked.

Zala replied, "It's simple. We need the Six Powers and the training techniques for Life Return, and then we'll tell you the whereabouts of the Pluton Blueprints."

"Six Powers and Life Return?"

Lucci looked extremely surprised, not because the reward was too high, but because it was too low.

The importance of Pluton is beyond doubt. As one of the Three Ancient Weapons, Pluton was so important that he was willing to lie low for five years to obtain it.

This is a force capable of changing the course of world wars, and it is invaluable.

However, there are a few problems here.

First of all, there are quite a few people who know the Six Powers, not just the intelligence department, but also the Navy. Moreover, many of them are much weaker than me, so why choose me? Wouldn't it be simpler to choose someone weaker?

Few people Life Return, such as Vice Admiral Onigumo and CP9's Wiper.

The Six Powers plus Life Return, with oneself as the target, is quite reasonable.

The problem is that the Six Powers and Life Return are no match for Pluton.

Once they possess Pluton, they will have immense power, so why would they need the Six Powers and Life Return?

Secondly, if they were to use CP9 or even higher powers to hunt them down after being released, wouldn't that be a net loss for them?

So they will never let me go, but that's secondary; I'm willing to exchange my life for the whereabouts of Pluton.

But they would never reveal their Pluton Blueprints.

Lucci asked subtly, "Is it that you're going to let me go if I tell you?"

"Certainly."

Zala shrugged.

"I need to think about it."

Lucci hesitated for a moment and said, "I can't make a decision right now."

"Then I'll give you some more time."

Zala looked at Lucci and said coldly, "You must give us an answer tomorrow."

Lucci looked around and said, "So you're not planning to release me?"

"Of course not."

Zala said, "You are very strong, and we are no match for you, so please stay here. If you don't want to stay here, then you should tell us as soon as possible."

"Good."

Lucci nodded, but he had already calculated in his mind that even with the Giant Beast, those who remained here were not confident of defeating him.

This Giant Beast is very strong in the water, and its head is extremely hard; even my strongest attacks failed to hit it.

However, on land, if you have speed, attacking his weak points will make victory not difficult.

Therefore, their strength here is limited, at least not as great as ours, so there's no point in thinking about reaching a new agreement to gain any chance of survival.

Zala waved her hand and said, "I'll bring the food over in a bit."

After saying that, Zala turned to leave, but Lucci called out, "Where's Robin? Isn't she one of yours too?"

"Robin?"

Upon hearing this, Zala stopped and looked at Lucci, asking, "You know her?"

Lucci nodded and said, "Of course, this giant Giant Beast once acted with Robin, so seeing it naturally makes it recognize Robin."

"Robin"

Zala asked with a smile, "Do you want to see her?"

Lucci said, "Well, I'm curious about some of her behaviors."

"You want to see her."

Zala pointed at Xia Qiu and said with a smile, "Then it can only be eaten by it."

After saying those words, Zala turned and left, walking away until she burst into laughter.

"Robin was eaten by Giant Beast?"

Upon hearing this, Lucci looked at the Giant Beast, somewhat surprised.

Did she do something wrong and get punished? It seems the Navy's wanted poster has been searching for a dead person.

Lucci, looked at the Giant Beast, and shook his head.

Not long after, Zala personally delivered food, including not only food for Lucci but also food for the Giant Beast.

Lucci ate the food with some difficulty, closed his eyes to rest, and waited for tomorrow to arrive.

The next morning, Lucci suddenly opened his eyes and saw Zala walking towards him in the distance.

Zala looked at Lucci and asked softly, "What's your decision?"

"I haven't decided yet."

Lucci shook his head and said, "The Six Powers are manageable, but Life Return is far too important. This is a bit troublesome. If there are only the Six Powers..."

"No."

Zala said, "This deal is the Six Powers plus Life Return."

"Okay, let me think about it some more."

Lucci nodded and said, "This is of great importance, give me some more time."

"By noon at the latest, because we must leave by noon, either with news of you or with your body," Zala said coldly, then turned and left.

Leaving at noon?

Five hours is enough time, which is a bit short, but it should be doable.

Moreover, they were to leave with information, even though they might not be key figures in the mysterious organization, they could still lead him to the key figures.

That's about right.

Lucci continued to wait, while Zala returned again, bringing a chair and some food.

She handed the food to Lucci, while she sat down in a chair and flipped through a book.

After finishing his food, Lucci closed his eyes to rest without saying a word.

Time ticked by, Zala grew increasingly impatient, putting down her book several times to ask questions, her voice growing more and more agitated.

But all Lucci kept saying was, "Wait a minute, wait a minute."

Finally, at 11 a. m., Lucci suddenly said, "I intend to refuse."

"Reject?"

Zala frowned, stood up abruptly, and looked at Lucci, saying, "If you refuse, you'll only face death."

"That's not necessarily true."

Lucci finished speaking, bang! A gust of wind swept in and struck Zala's head.

"Um?"

Zala immediately turned around and raised her hands, crossing her arms behind her back to block, and spikes spread out, while a wave of Rankyaku came from behind.

Bang.

The Rankyaku struck the spikes. The two arms crossed, and the extended spikes blocked the Rankyaku. With a snap, the spikes broke.

The spikes, which could easily pierce thick walls, didn't last very long.

But using this force, Zala leaped backward and landed next to Xia Qiu, looking into the distance.

Standing in the same spot was a tall woman who had just retracted her right leg, and a tall man.

Not only that, but another figure jumped out from the doorway that opened in the air.

"Boss."

Upon seeing Lucci, the three immediately called out.

"You're too late. I almost died," Lucci said coldly.

"It took some time."

The woman pushed up her glasses and said, "But now that we're here, they're the ones who are going to die."