Spandine, a man of such ambition, may be highly regarded by the Celestial Dragons, but he has no access to Celestial Dragons core secrets.
Sig began to wonder if he and Tesoro had misjudged the situation. Perhaps the CP0 agents who came weren't there to test Tesoro, but simply to give him a warning after discovering his ambitions regarding several countries in the New World?
After all, if Spandine himself knew nothing, how could he possibly test Tesoro?
Just like now, after a round of sweet talk and superficial brotherly greetings Spandine and Tesoro, they kept bringing up the matter of Dressrosa.
Tesoro appeared somewhat guilty, but was actually quite calm. He subtly and overtly bribed Spandine numerous promises of benefits, which finally changed Spandine's tune. He said he would help Tesoro clear up the misunderstanding when they returned...
From an emotional perspective, Spandine never intended to stop Tesoro; he merely wanted to give him a warning—which was clearly the World Government's intention.
After all, in two or three years, the Navy may have to withdraw from the New World, and at that time, this "vacuum" will either be occupied by the Shichibukai or by pirates.
However, we must remind Tesoro not to be too presumptuous—what we give you is yours, and what we don't give you, you shouldn't even think about taking!
Tesoro outwardly feigned being successfully reprimanded and didn't mistreat Spandine —even without Sig's abilities, Tesoro could see that Spandine wasn't a key figure and couldn't play the role he claimed to have, but...
Tesoro could easily bribe such a scoundrel; he might just come in handy sometime!
Money can't buy everything, but it can buy Spandine's integrity!
However, on Tesoro's way back to his estate after bidding farewell to Spandine, he encountered something else that dispelled Sig's disappointment.
"They ran that way! Chase after them!"
"Surround her... Damn it! She's really going to cause me trouble!"
"Once we find her, we'll give her a good whipping first..."
"Whatever, as long as I don't have any flaws before Auction House."
A conversation between a group of people who were clearly slave traders reached Tesoro and Sig's ears. It seemed that a slave had escaped and the slave traders were chasing after him.
Meanwhile, behind a rock by the roadside, a blonde girl was sitting on the ground, seemingly hiding. However, because the side she was facing was completely exposed to Tesoro, she showed a frightened expression. She was covering her mouth with her hand to keep herself from making a sound, while looking at Tesoro with pleading eyes.
However...
This is just the surface!
This girl's acting skills are truly superb. If Sig had maintained his tension and hadn't used his Observation Haki, he might have been completely fooled by her—she had perfectly portrayed every subtle expression that could be detected with the naked eye!
Unfortunately, she encountered Sig, and... Sig didn't initially treat her as a member of CP0, instinctively using his Observation Haki to observe her.
Fortunately, her Observation Haki is not as powerful as her acting skills.
Therefore, Sig immediately noticed that the girl's emotions... were very calm, even somewhat mocking—mocking Tesoro!
[Calm down! This is a good opportunity!] Sig's voice rang directly in Tesoro's mind.
At the same time, the power of "reassurance" quickly calmed Tesoro's emotions...
Upon seeing the girl, Tesoro not only felt a resonance with her identity but also a strange sense of familiarity—after a moment of rational thought, Tesoro understood the reason... long golden hair, light blue coat—this was how Stella looked when she was taken away by the Celestial Dragons in front of him!
However, through the filter of emotion, Tesoro saw her composure and mockery.
Clearly, her true identity wasn't that of a runaway slave, but rather... a spy! Most likely a CP0 spy, and possibly someone at a higher level.
Furthermore, from the way she appeared, Tesoro instantly gained a lot of information—CP0 most likely already knew his identity, otherwise, this pre-arranged way of contact was hard to call a coincidence.
However, Tesoro's panic was completely overshadowed by anger...
Those CP0 bastards, they actually want to use their memories of Stella to package a spy?
Although Sieg Sig, Tesoro still attacked in anger...
Of course, once they calmed down, the target wasn't this CP0 spy.
"Hey! You in the flashy pink suit, have you seen someone... Ah!"
The slave trader had just come over to talk to him when Tesoro grabbed his head and turned him into a golden statue.
The other slave traders around looked over, and after their initial greed, they all showed expressions of fear— the Shichibukai, Golden Tesoro, had already made a name for himself.
Just as they were about to escape, Tesoro squeezed hard again, and his head, which had already turned into gold, was still "crushed." What splattered out was not red and white matter, but sharp golden fragments that flew far away and in all directions, piercing through the bodies of the other slave traders who were trying to escape!
Many gold fragments were also stuck in the boulder behind the girl...
Regardless of whether Tesoro was watching or not, the girl behind him acted out a fearful expression with great professionalism. The hand that was originally covering her mouth was now stuffed into her mouth and bitten, as if she was terrified.
Compared to the girl, the slave traders' emotions were incredibly real— Sig deduced that the slave traders were genuine slave traders, and they truly believed that the girl was a slave who had "just happened" to escape at that moment.
Furthermore, Spandine had not shown any emotional reaction to this, so he was probably unaware of it.
This exceptionally talented young spy, a scheme orchestrated by Spandine, or even Spandine's superiors, was merely a pretext to facilitate this chance encounter during his meeting with Tesoro. Spandine was completely unaware of anything about it.
As for this girl... she might not even be a "girl".
Sig could sense that she was also Devil Fruit ability user. Although she appeared to be a normal woman with a height of about 1.7 meters and looked slender, which seemed somewhat "petite" for a skilled person, she actually possessed immense power within her body. However, due to her training method, this power was not outwardly apparent.
Even their willpower is equally strong, which means they possess an undeniable Haki...
Although he didn't know her abilities yet, Sig felt that if they fought directly, even Tesoro might not be able to defeat her!
This is undoubtedly a big fish from CP0...
More importantly, she was clearly trying to confuse Tesoro and infiltrate his inner circle, but Sig's abilities detected her, meaning...
Then, she can be used as bait!
Dongdong: I'm not feeling too uncomfortable, but my stomach is still trying to empty itself... I wanted to eat chicken stew with mushrooms, but judging from the repeated emptying of my stomach since this morning, I can't eat meat for now...
However, I'm not feeling too bad anymore, and I'll resume updating three times a week starting tomorrow.