New Mission: Summon Donquixote Doflamingo!

Hearing the system's string of notifications,

Roya was overjoyed!

He had never imagined that coming to Impel Down would yield such immense rewards.

Besides gaining the Venom-Venom Fruit power, the other training programs had also been spurred into training even harder.

Especially his Conqueror's Haki—it had finally activated tenfold training speed.

Roya's Conqueror's Haki was already at the advanced stage, and now that tenfold training speed had been activated, he believed it would soon break through to the top stage.

Once his Conqueror's Haki reached the top stage, it would mean his strength had risen to another level.

"Magellan, now that we've confirmed Ace has been imprisoned, I'll be heading back first." Roya bade him farewell.

Since his objective had been achieved, he had no desire to remain here any longer.

"Alright." Magellan nodded.

Watching Roya's departing figure, Magellan sank into thought. In his opinion, with Roya's strength, the seas would surely see new storms arise again in the future.

After leaving Impel Down and returning to the warship,

Roya arranged for their return to Marine Headquarters. At the very least, he had to report to Sengoku.

Inside the cabin,

Roya still had a question. "System, you said I already have the Dark-Dark Fruit power, and now I've gained the Venom-Venom Fruit power too. Don't they conflict?"

After all, in the world of One Piece, every person could only eat one Devil Fruit.

[Ding! Host, what you have obtained are merely the corresponding powers. There are no fruit-related side effects, and conflicts between fruit powers are also one such side effect.]

"So that's how it is!" Roya nodded.

Immediately afterward, Roya began to sense the newly acquired Venom-Venom Fruit power. It truly was rather exquisite, and he could feel that now that he possessed the Venom-Venom Fruit power, he had also gained immunity to poison.

After all, he could now be considered a master poison user!

At the same time,

the system's voice rang out.

[Ding! Your Dark-Dark Fruit power feels that the Venom-Venom Fruit power has been training far too diligently and has been greatly stimulated.]

[The Dark-Dark Fruit power refuses to be outdone and has resolved to train even harder!]

[Ding! Congratulations, Host. The automatic training speed of your Dark-Dark Fruit power has increased fivefold!]

Well, damn!

He had not expected the Dark-Dark Fruit to be stimulated as well.

That was good too. The time needed for the Dark-Dark Fruit power to advance would be greatly reduced!

A few hours later, Roya successfully returned to Marine Headquarters.

Inside the Fleet Admiral's office at Marine Headquarters,

Roya had already arrived and informed Sengoku that Fire Fist Ace had been imprisoned in Extreme Hell.

Aside from that,

Roya also told him everything about his earlier conflict with Blackbeard and his defeat of Blackbeard without withholding anything.

Naturally, except for the matter of the one billion Beli.

"Good, Roya. You did very well!" Fleet Admiral Sengoku gave Roya his approval.

Sengoku's approval was not merely for Roya successfully completing the mission and imprisoning Fire Fist Ace in Impel Down. More than that, it was recognition of Roya's strength.

After all, Blackbeard had defeated Fire Fist Ace. Since Roya had been able to defeat Blackbeard, the extent of his strength had far exceeded Sengoku's expectations.

"Roya, you performed exceptionally well on this mission. I'm sure you can handle the next one too." Sengoku smiled and nodded.

"Originally, this mission should have been carried out by at least a Marine vice admiral."

"But because news of Fire Fist Ace's capture has spread, the situation in the New World has become extremely tense. At present, the three admirals and most of the vice admirals have been assigned to monitor the movements of the Four Emperors."

"At the same time, you understand that Fire Fist Ace is the commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division. Whitebeard certainly will not let his capture go so easily. There may even be a direct conflict between the Marines and the Whitebeard Pirates."

"That is why we agreed to grant Blackbeard the title of Shichibukai."

"Once he becomes a Shichibukai, he must answer our summons and become part of our fighting force!"

Fleet Admiral Sengoku explained.

In truth, Roya understood all of this, but since Sengoku wanted to explain, he simply listened and nodded in agreement.

"So,"

Fleet Admiral Sengoku continued, "to contend with Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors, we still need the power of the Shichibukai. The vice admirals remaining at headquarters have already set out to summon the Shichibukai. Your next mission is to go to Dressrosa Island in the New World and summon one of the Shichibukai, Donquixote Doflamingo!"

"No problem." Roya nodded in agreement.

"Since there's no problem, set out at once." Sengoku nodded first, then gave an additional warning. "Be careful. Doflamingo is a very troublesome man to deal with, and he is extremely powerful!"

Roya responded, then turned and left.

He was actually somewhat surprised.

During his conversation with Sengoku just now, Sengoku had not mentioned the one billion Beli at all.

Could it be that Sengoku did not know?

Impossible. Blackbeard Teach had been sent back to Marine Headquarters at the time, and so many Marines had accompanied Roya. How could Sengoku possibly not know about the one billion Beli?

Then why had he not mentioned it at all?

Clearly, Sengoku had tacitly permitted his actions. Perhaps it was a kind of reward.

One billion Beli is an enormous fortune for an individual, but it's nothing much to the Marines. Roya silently thought that he could expand his personal wealth again when he had the chance.

Not long after Roya left, a Marine rear admiral in the Fleet Admiral's conference room asked Sengoku with some concern, "Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Doflamingo has recently been getting very close to Kaido, one of the Four Emperors. And he has always refused to obey Marine orders. Could something go wrong if only Rear Admiral Roya goes?"

"Yes, I've heard about Doflamingo as well. It is indeed a troublesome matter. But this time, Roya is delivering a summons from the World Government. He can handle it!" Sengoku once again expressed his confidence in Roya.

Perhaps when Garp had first recommended Roya to him,

Sengoku, as Fleet Admiral of the Marines, had been somewhat distrustful.

But after Roya's performance on several occasions, especially his defeat of Blackbeard, along with the reports Sengoku had received about Roya's performance in Impel Down,

Sengoku was now utterly certain that Roya was the most suitable person for this mission.

A short while later, at the Marine Headquarters port,

Roya's warship set sail once more. This time, it would enter the New World and head for Dressrosa Island!

Several days later,

somewhere in the New World.

"Rear Admiral Roya, we're about to arrive at Dressrosa Island."

"However..."

A Marine soldier rushed in, panting as he reported.

"However what?" Roya asked.

"We... we found a pirate ship at the port of Dressrosa Island!" the Marine soldier said frantically.

"It's just a pirate ship. What's there to make such a fuss about?" Roya was somewhat speechless. As Marines from headquarters, had they never even seen a pirate ship before?

"That pirate ship is rather unusual. It belongs to Jack the Drought!"

Jack the Drought's ship?

One of the Three Calamities under Kaido, one of the Four Emperors—Jack the Drought?

"Interesting."

A faint smile curled across Roya's lips.