Caesar was ruthless. Once he realized he couldn't withstand Enel's revenge, he steeled himself and sold the gold to the Black Market.
Even for the Underworld's power brokers, buying that much gold was no small matter. If the seller had been anyone else, they might have driven the price into the ground. But out of respect for Loa, they offered just ten percent below its value and bought the lot.
Enel needed gold, not Beli. And after that ten-percent discount, the Beli Caesar received wasn't even enough to buy back all the gold he had sold.
So Caesar gritted his teeth and spent nearly all of it ordering several pieces of high-end laboratory equipment and a mountain of raw materials. By the time Enel's painstaking solo investigation led him to Caesar, his gold had already turned into lab equipment.
Enel was furious!
Even now, Caesar's injuries had yet to fully heal. Whenever he spoke, air whistled through the gap where his two front teeth had been.
"Mm. I know."
Loa ignored Caesar's resentful look, rose, and left the office.
The construction of Pluton was too important for Loa to leave Dragon guarding it alone. He had sent Crocodile to the Ice Domain to protect the project alongside Dragon and keep an eye on Mary Geoise while he was at it.
Crocodile had now reported that the Antonio Family's steel warships had passed Ice Cream Town. Xin Luo made no attempt to hide his movements. He flew his banners for all to see and led his fleet straight toward Turtle Island.
He certainly didn't dare attack!
Besides, Xin Luo had a theory: Vegapunk might not be hidden away by Loa at all. He might already have escaped Turtle Island. Xin Luo had prepared the fleet to pursue him.
Turtle Island, south