Grabbed It, So What!

Magnus couldn't understand it after thinking for a long time.

Why did the Marines attack him, and why did they surrender immediately after attacking him? After surrendering, they even left behind an entire cargo ship transporting "Celestial Gold."

Was this...

An attempt to solidify the fact that he had stolen Celestial Gold, and then incite the Celestial Dragons' hatred?

Magnus had to admit, it was a poisonous scheme.

With the loss of Celestial Gold, the Marines responsible for escorting it would definitely be punished.

However, under circumstances of clearly insufficient strength, if the World Government wanted to severely punish these Marine soldiers, the higher-ups in the Marines would also try their best to plead for leniency.

In the end, the blame would still fall on Magnus.

Previously, the World Government might not have paid much attention to Magnus. Even if he possessed Admiral-level combat power, they might not have taken him seriously.

But stealing Celestial Gold was different.

To recover the Celestial Gold, the World Government would definitely order the Marines to pursue him with all their might. Once his whereabouts were exposed, he would likely face a siege by several Admiral-level powerhouses.

But would Magnus be afraid?

The cargo piled up in the ship's hold before Magnus's eyes was, by a rough estimate, worth at least two billion Belly.

And this was two billion Belly without inflation!

Magnus's own head wasn't worth that much.

"I've already stolen it, why the hell should I be afraid!"

With so much money, even if the Marines wanted him to be a scapegoat to balance the books.

He'd accept it!

As for why his whereabouts were exposed, Magnus could only attribute it to their lack of discretion when they last landed on the island, which allowed the Marines to find their location.

There was nothing strange about that.

The reason he left Elbaf was to prevent the Marines from mistakenly believing that the White Wolf Pirates and the Giants of Elbaf had joined forces, and to preemptively blockade Elbaf's outward sea routes.

However, as long as the White Wolf Pirates appeared in the Marines' intelligence system, the Marines would not easily attack Elbaf.

It was just that he needed to be more careful next time.

"Ripley, can you shrink all these goods and send them to our ship?"

"No problem!"

Ripley's voice was more enthusiastic than ever.

Growing up, she had never seen so many strange and exotic luxury goods, as well as glittering gold and silver jewelry. It almost blinded her.

Fortunately, Ripley had eaten the Mini Fruit, which not only allowed her to control her own size but also to shrink items she touched.

Even people could be shrunk.

However, how small a person could be shrunk depended on Ripley's proficiency with the fruit's abilities, and there were also situations where certain special individuals couldn't be shrunk.

For example, Charlotte Linlin.

After mastering her fruit abilities, Ripley could shrink the Giant King Harald, who was twice the normal height of a Giant, to the size of an ordinary human, without Harald offering any resistance.

But when facing Charlotte Linlin, Ripley's fruit power failed.

Therefore, Magnus guessed.

Charlotte Linlin's physique might be related to Haki.

For ordinary people, Haki was in a dormant state. Due to the small reserves, they needed to train their physical condition to the extreme before they could guide the Haki within their bodies.

Charlotte Linlin's Haki, however, was in an activated state from birth.

Maintaining such a state required a massive consumption of physical strength, which was why Charlotte Linlin suffered from Gluttony Disorder.

This was a self-preservation instinct of the body.

In the future, Charlotte Linlin would experience situations where her physical condition became ineffective due to emotional instability, which further validated that Charlotte Linlin's talent was not purely physical.

Of course, the specific details could only be verified by Magnus when he returned to Elbaf and began training Charlotte Linlin.

A cargo ship piled high with goods was something no pirate crew could swallow all at once. The best solution was to take the entire ship.

But with Ripley's efforts, Magnus and his crew managed to transport all the "Celestial Gold" into their ship's hold in less than half a day.

Not only did it solve their financial problems, but it also solved their food problems.

"Is even the milk Celestial Gold?"

Rocks took a large gulp of milk from the cargo ship and couldn't tell the difference from the milk he usually drank in Elbaf.

"Haha, Celestial Gold doesn't just refer to gold, silver, and jewelry. Some rare plants, animals, and even rare races are also considered Celestial Gold."

"Rare races?"

"That's right. There's a commodity called 'slaves' in this world, and rare races, as 'slaves,' can fetch a high price."

Magnus's face showed no attempt to hide his disgust.

Because his past crew members had been captured by slave traders, Magnus was well aware of the suffering of being a slave.

"Doesn't that mean we robbed the right people?"

"You could say that."

If he had robbed a legitimate merchant fleet, Magnus might have felt guilty, but robbing the Celestial Dragons of their Celestial Gold? He had no psychological burden whatsoever!

"However, this Celestial Gold is all stolen goods, and it's not easy to fence it in ordinary places. I'll see if I can find an island where pirates gather nearby."

Magnus dragged a large chest out of the captain's cabin. It was filled with pointers, each with a different label, which stunned Ripley standing beside him.

"Are these all Eternal Poses?"

"That's right. This is the most precious treasure I've accumulated over these decades!"

Magnus wore a smug smile.

Before becoming a pirate and having his own fleet, Magnus mostly operated alone, essentially a lone ranger of the seas.

As a lone ranger, how could he not be able to tell direction on the sea?

Therefore, in the White Wolf Pirates, Magnus was not only the captain but also the navigator. This was Magnus's confidence in daring to set sail regardless of how many people were with him.

"Found it."

An island that wasn't on the regular pointer records appeared in his mind. Having found its Eternal Pose, Magnus's face lit up with a smile.

"Next, our destination is—"

"Sphinx!"

One day later.

Vice Admiral Robbie, who had rushed over from Marine GL Branch 9, saw a cargo ship that had been completely emptied, not even a rat left inside.

"They really came prepared, didn't they?"

When he first heard Vice Admiral Ackerman, who was in charge of escorting the cargo ship, request reinforcements, Robbie had doubted the truth of the matter. After all, pirates robbing Celestial Gold was something that might not happen once in a hundred years.

Didn't those pirates know that robbing Celestial Gold would incur the wrath of the World Government and their Marines?

But upon seeing the empty cabins before him, Robbie had no more doubts.

"After gaining the strength to contend with a Marine Admiral, the White Wolf Pirates are preparing to raise funds to further expand their influence?"

Thinking this, Robbie's expression grew heavy.

This was no longer a problem that he, a mere Vice Admiral, could solve. He had only come to offer support, hoping to find any clues the White Wolf Pirates might have left behind.

Engage the White Wolf Pirates in battle?

Don't be ridiculous!

"Contact headquarters immediately and inform them that the White Wolf Pirates might be preparing a terrifying conspiracy and require Admiral support!"

"Yes!"