When Undercover Agents Met Undercover Agents: Espionage Within Espionage Within Espionage

If the quality could not keep up, sheer numbers were meaningless.

Lyliana felt this was already an extremely strong lineup. If they still could not retrieve that Devil Fruit, she would accept it.

But in truth, Lyliana had overestimated how seriously the Marines took this matter. The force they had deployed was already excessive.

As for why she wanted to retrieve it herself—

First, she did not think the Marines, acting under orders from the World Government to obtain the fruit, would be willing to hand it over to someone else midway through.

Second, that thing was too expensive. Five billion berries was enough for Oran to burn through for quite a while. Compared to making a deal, it was more practical to simply snatch it from the pirates.

If one called Lyliana cautious, her plan was incredibly crude: find them, then seize the fruit.

Yet if one called her plan crude, overwhelming strength made up for its shortcomings, even pushing it toward excessive caution.

The Marines' deployment was actually simple. Vice Admiral Tsuru merely led two warships. After all, to the Marines, a mere Doflamingo was something an experienced vice admiral like Tsuru could handle.

The time of the deal drew closer, and the location was in the waters near Minion Island.

"Reporting to Vice Admiral Tsuru, the surveillance ship has reached Minion Island. We have spotted the pirate ship of former Marine officer Balleruz."

It was Balleruz's group that had found the Op-Op Fruit. Inside their hideout on the island, the pirates were admiring the Devil Fruit in their hands.

To them, its red patterns symbolized wealth, while its heart-shaped appearance made it clear exactly what kind of fruit it was.

"A piece of 'fruit' like this can sell for five billion berries? Those World Government people are