The Operation Begins, Target: The Celestial Dragons of the Golden City

"Kaido, why are you calling me [Hero] Rono?"

Faced with Kaido's offer to join, Rono wasn't in a hurry to accept. Instead, he asked curiously.

When had he gotten the title of [Hero]?

Hearing that Rono actually knew his name, Kaido grew even more excited:

"Captain Rono, don't you know? The last time you hijacked the Heavenly Tribute, you freed many slaves. Among them were brothers from our Oni clan."

"Everyone learned Captain Rono's great name and started calling you [Hero] Rono!" Kaido explained earnestly.

Rono nodded at that. He hadn't expected that a casual gesture of his at the time would bring such an unexpected bonus.

Judging by the look of admiration on Kaido's face, he was probably a hundred-percent fanboy.

Rono still didn't know that among the slaves he had freed, besides Kaido, he had also affected the Mink Tribe, the Fish-Men of Fish-Man Island, and many other races.

These influences would play an enormously important role in the future!

"Good, I understand. I approve your application. From now on, you're a member of my Seventh Division."

Rono was glad to gain a crew member with Kaido's tremendous potential.

After all, this was the future [World's Strongest Creature]!

If he wanted to achieve his goal of killing all the Celestial Dragons, he would need capable helpers.

"Not bad at all. You've barely become a Division Commander, and you've already recruited a monster like Kaido with such potential."

Golden Lion, Silver Axe, Ochoku, and the others nearby spoke sourly, their voices full of envy.

Who among them wouldn't want a powerful crew member with talent?

Unfortunately, they had already invited him, and he hadn't given them the time of day. Instead, he had taken the initiative to beg on his knees to join Rono's crew.

"Congratulations, Rono. You've become a Division Commander. From now on, we're family, so we'll have to look out for each other aboard the same ship."

"That's right, we're partners. We'll be risking our lives together from now on."

"Exactly, Captain Rono. Just let us know if you need any help."

"Mamamama, Captain Rono, would you like to come to my room tonight? I'll make sure you're well taken care of."

The banquet continued, and Golden Lion, Silver Axe, Ochoku, John, and the other Division Commanders raised their glasses and came to congratulate Rono.

They also wanted to leave a good impression on him.

Charlotte Linlin even kept batting her eyelashes and inviting Rono to her room.

Although Charlotte Linlin hadn't yet lost her figure, and was still young and beautiful—she could even be considered a great beauty-

But when Rono saw the young Perospero, Katakuri, Daifuku, Oven, Opera, Counter, Cracker, and more than a dozen other children behind Charlotte Linlin, he nearly spat out the wine he had just drunk.

Forget it. He had no interest in secondhand goods, let alone goods that had been handed down a dozen times.

Big Mom's looks when she was young

"Indeed, we're all partners. We should look out for each other from now on."

Rono clinked glasses with Golden Lion, Silver Axe, John, and the others one by one, while thinking, Fuck you all.

He knew what these people were like. They were a bunch of ambitious schemers.

They kept calling each other partners, but the moment their interests clashed, they'd turn on one another.

Still, it seemed that showing off all his talent earlier hadn't been a bad thing. At least these Division Commanders now feared his strength and potential, and had come one after another to curry favor with him.

From now on, there shouldn't be any flies bothering him aboard the Rocks Pirates.

The banquet lasted three days and three nights, and only ended after nearly three billion Beli had been spent.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye.

During his three months with the Rocks Pirates, Rono had also been constantly training his weaknesses.

First of all, Swordsmanship!

Over the past three months, Rono had often sought out Whitebeard for sparring. Whitebeard was always happy to fight when there was a chance.

After sparring for a long time, Rono had successfully raised his Swordsmanship from Advanced to Top-Level. After all, Whitebeard was also a master swordsman.

Rono now counted as a Great Swordsman-level expert in the way of the sword, and the Sword Aura he unleashed with his Cleaving Wave was strong enough to rival Golden Lion himself.

His three stats-speed, strength, and Stamina-had also broken through during their sparring, reaching Admiral Level!

He checked his status again:

[Host: Rono]

[Age: 17]

[Strength: (Admiral Level)]

[Speed: (Admiral Level)]

[Stamina: (Admiral Level)]

[Top-Tier Conqueror's Haki (1.5%), Top-Tier Armament Haki (4.6%), Advanced Observation Haki (82.7%)]

[Other Abilities: Swordsmanship (Great Swordsman level); Combat Experience (Advanced); Axe Combat (Advanced)]

[Techniques: Iron Fist; Cleaving Wave; Kirin; Six Powers;]

[Devil Fruit Ability: Flame-Flame Fruit · Absorption]

[God-Tier Ability: Voice of All Things!]

After checking his status, Rono nodded with satisfaction.

He could say that he now had virtually no weaknesses. His strength had become that of a genuine Admiral Level powerhouse!

Of course, his Observation Haki was still at the Advanced stage. Rono had already prepared to use some of the Devil Fruits he had seized with the Heavenly Tribute last time to help upgrade it.

However, Rono's Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki were still at the Top-Level stage, some distance from the strongest, God Level.

Whitebeard's Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki were about the same as Rono's. As a result, those two types of Haki grew very little during each sparring session, almost coming to a standstill!

Perhaps he would need a great battle to help himself break through the bottleneck.

As for Rocks, Rono didn't know what he had been doing these three months. He hadn't seen him again.

One day, three months later, Rocks suddenly appeared and called a meeting of the officers without any warning.

Aside from Rono and Whitebeard, the two Division Commanders who had stayed in Hachinosu instead of going out to "earn extra money,"

Golden Lion, Silver Axe, Ochoku, Charlotte Linlin, and John—the other five Division Commanders-immediately stopped what they were doing as soon as they received Rocks's summons and returned to Hachinosu as quickly as possible.

Inside the enormous skull on Hachinosu was a lavishly decorated conference room.

Rocks and all seven Division Commanders had gathered.

"Now that everyone's here, I'll get straight to the point."

"The reason I called you all here is because of a target: the Golden City!"

Rocks tapped his fingers on the table before him, a cold glint flashing in his eyes!

"Oh? The Golden City?!" As soon as John heard the word "gold," he perked up.

"Although it's called the Golden City, it's actually a huge ship!"

"It's known as the largest luxury cruise ship on the sea. The ship's owner is a Gold-Gold Fruit Ability user. They say he alone owns twenty percent of the world's gold."

Golden Lion showed off his extensive knowledge.

He owned twenty percent of the world's gold?

Nearby, John, Ochoku, and Silver Axe stared with wide eyes. John's eyes even turned into the shape of money.

"You called all of us here just because of the Golden City? That's boring."

Whitebeard wasn't interested in the Golden City at all, and yawned.

"Of course not. According to the information I just got, there are currently nineteen Celestial Dragons in the Golden City!"

As he spoke, Rocks released an extremely powerful burst of Conqueror's Haki!

The ground instantly cracked under the force of his Conqueror's Haki!

The surge of Haki even made the seven Division Commanders present sway a little!