They Robbed It, So What?!

Magnus thought about it for a long time but still could not make sense of it.

Why had the Marines attacked him? Why had they surrendered immediately after attacking him? And why had they left behind an entire cargo ship transporting "Celestial Gold" after surrendering?

This was...

An attempt to pin the theft of the Celestial Gold on him and draw the Celestial Dragons' hatred?

Magnus had to admit, it was a vicious scheme.

If the Celestial Gold was lost, the Marines responsible for escorting it would certainly be punished.

But given their obvious lack of strength, if the World Government wanted to punish those Marine soldiers severely, the higher-ups in the Marines would do their best to plead for them.

In the end, the blame would still be shifted onto Magnus.

Previously, the World Government might not have cared about Magnus. Even if he possessed Admiral-level strength, they might not have considered him worth their attention.

But stealing the Celestial Gold was different.

To recover it, the World Government would certainly order the Marines to pursue him with everything they had. Once his whereabouts were exposed, he would likely face a coordinated siege by several Admiral-level powerhouses.

But would Magnus be afraid?

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

And this was two billion Berries without inflation!

Even Magnus's own head was not worth that much.

"They already robbed it, so what the hell is there to fear?!"

With this much money, even if the Marines wanted him to play the role of the one who covered the deficit—

He would accept it!

As for why his whereabouts had been exposed, Magnus could only blame the fact that they had not concealed their tracks when they last landed on an island, allowing the Marines to locate them.

There was nothing strange about that.

He had left Elbaf to avoid the Marines mistakenly believing that the White Wolf Pirates had joined forces with Elbaf's giants and sealing off Elbaf's sea routes in advance.

But as long as the White Wolf Pirates remained in the Marines' intelligence system, the Marines would not dare attack Elbaf lightly.

They just had to be more careful next time.

"Ripley, can you shrink all this cargo and move it onto our ship?"

"No problem!"

Ripley's voice was more excited than ever.

From childhood to adulthood, where had she ever seen so many strange and extravagant luxuries, along with glittering gold, silver, and jewels? They nearly blinded her.

Fortunately, Ripley had eaten the Mini Fruit. Not only could she control her own size, but she could also shrink objects she had touched along with herself.

Even people could be shrunk.

However, how small she could make someone depended on Ripley's proficiency with her Fruit ability, and there were also certain special cases that could not be shrunk.

For example, Charlotte Linlin.

After mastering her Fruit ability, Ripley could turn Giant King Harald, who was twice as tall as an ordinary giant, into the size of a normal human—as long as he did not resist.

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

So Magnus guessed—

Charlotte Linlin's physique might be related to Haki.

An ordinary person's Haki remained in a dormant state. Because its reserves were too limited, they had to train their physical condition to the limit before they could draw out the Haki within their bodies.

Charlotte Linlin's Haki, however, had been active from the moment she was born.

Maintaining such a state required an enormous amount of physical energy, which was why Charlotte Linlin suffered from Gluttony Disorder.

It was an instinctive form of self-preservation by the body.

In the future, Charlotte Linlin had once lost control of her emotions and caused her physique to become ineffective. That also proved that Charlotte Linlin's talent was not purely a matter of physical constitution.

Of course, the specifics could only be verified one by one after Magnus returned to Elbaf and began training Charlotte Linlin.

A cargo ship packed full of goods was something no pirate crew could swallow in one go. The best method was to take the entire ship with them.

But with Ripley's efforts, Magnus and the others moved all the "Celestial Gold" into their ship's hold in less than half a day.

Not only had they solved their money problem, but they had solved their food problem as well.

"Even milk counts as Celestial Gold?"

Rocks took a huge gulp of milk from the cargo ship, yet he could not taste any difference from the milk he usually drank in Elbaf.

"Haha, Celestial Gold doesn't only refer to gold, silver, and jewels. Rare plants, animals, and even rare races can all count as Celestial Gold."

"Rare races?"

"That's right. This world has a kind of commodity called 'slaves,' and rare races can fetch high prices as 'slaves.'"

Magnus did not hide the disgust on his face.

Some of his former crewmates had been captured by slave traders, so Magnus knew very well what slaves went through.

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

"You could put it that way."

If he had robbed a legitimate merchant fleet, Magnus might have felt guilty. But robbing the Celestial Dragons' Celestial Gold gave him absolutely no psychological burden!

"Still, this Celestial Gold is stolen property. Ordinary places won't be able to fence it. Let me see if there are any nearby islands where pirates gather."

Magnus dragged a large box out of the captain's cabin. It was filled with pointers bearing all kinds of labels, leaving Ripley beside him utterly stunned.

"Are these all Eternal Poses?"

"That's right. This is the most valuable wealth I've accumulated over the past few decades!"

A proud smile appeared on Magnus's face.

Before becoming a pirate and forming his own fleet, Magnus had acted alone most of the time. He could be called a ranger of the seas.

How could a ranger fail to tell direction on the ocean?

So among the White Wolf Pirates, Magnus was not only the captain but also the navigator. That was why he dared sail out no matter how few people he had.

"Found it."

An island that did not appear on ordinary Log Poses surfaced in his mind. Having found its Eternal Pose, Magnus smiled.

"Our next destination is—"

"Sphinx!"

One day later.

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

"So they really came prepared?"

When he had first received a request for help from Vice Admiral Ackerman, who was responsible for escorting the cargo ship, Robbie had still doubted whether it was real. After all, pirates robbing Celestial Gold was something that might not happen once in a hundred years.

Did those pirates not know that stealing Celestial Gold would draw the fury of the World Government and the Marines?

But upon seeing the completely empty hold before him, Robbie no longer had any doubts.

"After gaining the power to contend with a Fleet Admiral, the White Wolf Pirates began raising funds to further expand their forces?"

Robbie's expression turned grave at the thought.

This was no longer a problem that a mere Vice Admiral like him could solve. He had only come to provide support in the first place to see whether the White Wolf Pirates had left behind any clues.

Fight the White Wolf Pirates?

What a joke!

"Contact Headquarters immediately. Tell them the White Wolf Pirates may be preparing a terrifying conspiracy. We must have Admiral support!"

"Yes!"