Aboard Herman's Revenge, in the conference room.
The flickering lights cast a pearlescent glow over the mountain of loot piled in the center of the room.
At the head of the table, Dawn stroked the snow-white little fox curled into a ball in his arms.
Beside him, Robin was fully focused on using her ability. Dozens of slender arms sprouted out, sorting the small mountain before her into categories with trained precision and efficiency.
"What did those traffickers use to turn invisible and evade Observation Haki detection?"
Leaning comfortably against the back of his chair, Dawn kept his hands moving as he asked the question that had been weighing on his mind.
Stella lazily yawned, her pointed mouth opening slightly.
"For invisibility, they used Optical Stealth Cloaks specially reserved for CP agents carrying out classified missions. But those things supposedly have unstable energy sources and a risk of explosion, so they are not used unless absolutely necessary.
"As for avoiding Observation Haki detection... they relied on a potion made from a special deep-sea algae. After drinking it, a person's life force and emotional fluctuations are drastically reduced for a short period, making them as difficult to notice as a reef.
"But it also has a fatal side effect. If they do not take a special antidote within the prescribed time, their brain will permanently shut down, turning them into living corpses."
"They're all useless things. The risk is way too high."
After hearing Stella's detailed report, obtained through her charm ability, Dawn's hands paused. A look of speechless understanding crossed his face.
If his guess was right, these flashy yet hazard-ridden gadgets had most likely been personally supervised—or at least finally approved—by Jaygarcia Saturn Saint, the Warrior God of Scientific Defense.
Yet the side effects of this equipment and those