Cat and Mouse Operation

The Five Elders also had to contend with backlash from within the Celestial Dragons.

No one was more displeased by the reduction in Heavenly Tribute than the Celestial Dragons.

The original sixty-percent share had already been hard-won by the Five Elders.

Of course, the Five Elders were the ones who ran the World Government now.

The true power holders among the Celestial Dragons understood the situation, and the voices of dissent were soon silenced.

Naturally, they turned their hostility toward the Rocks Pirates.

The Celestial Dragon families voluntarily contributed money to replenish the World Government's finances. Some even sent family members to bolster CP0.

That gave the World Government more strength to use against the Rocks Pirates.

Of course, their demands were outrageous.

They wanted Rocks D. Zebek and the other key members of the Rocks Pirates as their slaves?

How could that be possible?

Monsters like them could not be restrained by slave collars.

Still, to secure more support, the Five Elders readily agreed. In the end, the decision would be theirs.

More than anything, though, the Celestial Dragons had begun to feel threatened.

Rocks D. Zebek had become a force to be reckoned with.

He bore the "D"! The fabled enemy of the gods!

The Reverie came to an end.

Ship after ship carrying Heavenly Tribute set sail for Mary Geoise under escort from the Marines and World Government agents.

Many kingdoms were waiting to see the World Government make a fool of itself.

The Rocks Pirates received one inside tip after another about the Heavenly Tribute shipping routes.

Some of the information was true, some false. Some might even have been planted by the World Government to mislead them.

The Rocks Pirates had limited manpower. They could not go after every shipment of Heavenly Tribute.

But giving