Victory, Devil Fruit

Mr. 1's arms transformed into blades as he charged at the T-X Terminator at top speed. With a single hand-blade strike, he slashed at the T-X Terminator's neck. However, the blow only cut through the liquid metal covering its body before being firmly blocked by the superalloy skeleton revealed beneath it. He could not advance even an inch.

The T-X Terminator's limbs rapidly twisted and transformed, locking Mr. 1's body in place. Mr. 1 did not panic. Rings of blades emerged from his hands and began spinning at high speed, scraping the liquid metal from the T-X Terminator's body and scattering it across the ground. Yet they still could not inflict the slightest damage on its superalloy skeleton.

The T-X Terminator transformed its right hand into a particle impact cannon and fired directly at Mr. 1's head. Mr. 1's head snapped back, his eyes turning unfocused, and the spinning blades on his arms slowed. Then the T-X Terminator fired another shot at his head. Mr. 1's eyes rolled back, and he completely passed out.

The T-X Terminator rotated its limbs and released the unconscious Mr. 1. Carrying him by his clothes, it walked toward Rody. As it walked, the liquid metal Mr. 1's blades had scraped onto the ground slowly flowed back onto the T-X Terminator's exposed superalloy skeleton, transforming into human skin.

"Th-That's too ridiculous! It... it actually defeated Mr. 1!"

"Th-That's way too strong! It's practically a robot from the future!" The officers present stared at the T-X Terminator in shock, with no small amount of dejection and disappointment in their eyes.

The agents of Baroque Works were ranked according to strength. As the strongest beneath the president and vice president, Mr. 1 was undoubtedly stronger than them—and not by just a little.

Even Mr. 1, who was stronger than them, had now been defeated by a robot. There was even less need to mention them. If there had been only one such robot, they would have been shocked but not too disheartened, because a single robot proved nothing. But there were now five of them, and no one knew how many more there might be—or whether there were even stronger ones.

The T-X Terminator placed Mr. 1 on the ground before Rody. At a wave of Rody's hand, it retreated behind him and stood together with the other T-X Terminators. Its level of intelligence was remarkably high.

Miss Doublefinger, Mr. 1's partner, woke him up. Mr. 1 shook his groggy head and rose to his feet, lowering his voice as he said, "Boss, I lost."

"That's enough. You were simply too reliant on your Devil Fruit ability before. From now on, as long as you train properly, you'll defeat these robots sooner or later." The Dice-Dice Fruit's ability was still quite good. It allowed his entire body to turn into blades, and his body possessed the hardness of steel, including the inside of his body. Rody believed that as long as Mr. 1 developed his ability and trained diligently, he would not be weak.

In the end, Mr. 1 Daz Bones, Mr. 2 Bon Clay, and the Mr. 3 designated by Rody, Galdino, along with his partner Miss Goldenweek, Marianne, would sail with Rody. The rest chose to remain in Alabasta.

Afterward, Rody went to see his two subordinates, Shuke and Beta. Upon learning that their former leader Crocodile had been killed by Rody and that Rody had become the new leader of Baroque Works, the two readily agreed to return to Rody's service.

After the meeting ended, Rody dismissed everyone and told those intending to sail with him to gather again in two days.

Early morning

Rody woke up in Vivi's room. Since Vivi would be staying in Alabasta, Rody had spent nearly every night resting in her room these past few days. Glancing at Vivi, who was still in his arms with exhaustion written all over her face, Rody got dressed and headed to the dining room for breakfast.

"What, Vivi can't get up again?" Nami teased Rody with a mischievous grin.

"Oh? Then, Nami, would you like to help Princess Vivi?" Robin gently stirred the coffee in her cup as she teased Nami.

"Mm, that's an excellent suggestion. It'd be even better if my Robin could join us too." Rody reached out and ruffled Nami's beautiful orange hair, then pulled out the chair beside her and sat down.

"Oh my, our Mr. Rody really is greedy, isn't he?"

"Still, if Miss Nami agrees, I wouldn't mind." Robin took a sip of coffee and smiled at Nami.

"Robin, why are you joining Rody in fooling around? How could anyone agree to such an outrageous request?"

"Oh, I'm not fooling around. I'm quite serious. After all, our Mr. Rody is so capable, and we can never satisfy him completely every time. That wouldn't be very good, would it?"

"Isn't that right, Rody?" Robin smiled and winked at Rody.

"Ah, I never expected Robin to be the one who cared about me the most among all of you. Looks like I'll have to pamper Robin more from now on."

"Nami, you heard him. Mr. Rody said that from now on he wants to—"

"Id-Idiot, something like that... at least wait until tonight..." Nami's cheeks flushed red. Her voice grew quieter and quieter until she finally pinched Rody's waist.

Just as they were chatting and laughing, the butler Mike entered with a box in his hands.

"Lord Rody, this is the Devil Fruit the World Government sent over." Butler Mike handed the box to Rody.

"Go bring the Zoan Devil Fruit we seized first." After instructing Mike, Rody placed the box in his hands on the dining table and slowly opened it.

This Devil Fruit felt rather ordinary to Rody. Unlike the other Devil Fruits he had seen, whose type could more or less be identified from their appearance, this one was the size of an ordinary apple. It was entirely purple, with yellow circular patterns of similar size across its surface.

"So this is a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit?"

"It should be worth a lot of money, right?" Nami picked up the Devil Fruit and examined it carefully.

"Of course. This is a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit. Even the cheapest ordinary Devil Fruit is worth at least 100 million Beli. This Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit is worth at least one billion Beli." Robin slowly explained as she looked at the Devil Fruit in Nami's hand.

"Rody, let's trade it for money!" Nami blinked her large eyes at Rody, her gaze filled with symbols of money.

"You really are greedy for money."

Rody pinched Nami's cheek and said with a smile, "But that won't do. Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits are extremely rare, so we can't trade it for money. Besides, have you forgotten? The next island we're going to is the Sky Island I told you about. There's so much gold and treasure there that you won't be able to carry it all away."

"Hmph, I don't believe you. There's no way there could be treasure in this world that I can't carry away."

"Oh, really?"

"Then when the time comes, how about you carry away all the gold on the island? However much you can carry will be yours."

"Hmph, I won't fall for that. If I really can't carry it all, you'll have to help me carry it too. And everything you carry will be mine as well, hehe..."

"Yes, yes. It's all yours."