Fortune Man

The building of his power base was already on track, and Lofan received new information from Morgans.

"Issho, the latter half of the Grand Line, Fortune Island."

Issho was the Admiral in the original story who had risen through the ranks by special appointment through Akainu's World Military Draft.

He was a man with a powerful sense of justice, yet a gentle, straightforward disposition. He simply had an extraordinary love of gambling.

And Fortune Island was an extremely famous gambling island.

All sorts of talented gamblers gathered there, with a dazzling variety of games to catch the eye.

Anything that could be gambled on could be found on Fortune Island:

Dice, poker, mahjong.

Roulette, pai gow, high-low.

But Fortune Island had one openly stated rule: all cheating was permitted, provided it was not discovered on the spot.

This was not merely a requirement for gamblers, but an equally strict requirement for the establishments running the games.

You could rely on Devil Fruit powers, use skills beyond those of ordinary people, or even team up to cheat, employing any means at your disposal.

But you must not get caught.

Once you were caught, punishment from Fortune Island's king awaited you.

On Fortune Island, the biggest thing you gambled with was your own financial luck, and the man who ruled the island was Heng Youcai, the Fortune Man who had eaten the Fortune-Fortune Fruit.

Through his fruit, he could grant people extraordinarily good financial luck, or strip them of it for life.

If you were caught cheating, depending on the size of the stakes, you would lose your financial luck for a short period, a long period, or even your entire life.

It was nothing unusual for Issho to be on this island. He was a man who could find time even while working to visit a tavern and gamble a few rounds.

Fortune Island was practically a must-visit destination for him.

Issho was a talent Lofan had set his sights on long ago, and one of his candidates for the Espada.

It was not merely because Issho possessed a power as formidable as the Press-Press Fruit. More important was his obsessive outlook.

He had destroyed his own eyes because he could not bear to look upon the filth of the world.

Only someone like that could bring the abilities of the Espada into play to the fullest extent.

The Search Bureau was largely on track, and the battle at the branch had thoroughly shaken the Marines from within.

Smart people knew that a tremor this large would surely be followed by aftershocks, and had already begun reining themselves in.

Yet plenty of greedy fools refused to stop, believing this was merely a newly appointed Admiral making a show of force to assert his authority.

But Lofan had made up his mind to develop the power currently in his hands to its fullest extent.

After all, until the Paramount War arrived, he needed to use the Marines as a smokescreen to conceal his plans to overthrow the World Government and bring down Imu.

After reviewing the important matters on his hands and finding nothing overlooked, Lofan arranged for his personnel to board the ship and set out to personally invite Issho to join the Navy Criminal Search Bureau.

The Search Bureau's original headquarters had already relocated to Punk Hazard. Only an office remained at Marineford, managed by Robin under the alias Mary.

She had never imagined that a criminal wanted worldwide since the age of eight could actually drink tea and handle cases at Marine Headquarters, the very embodiment of justice.

These days, the words "drink tea" at the Search Bureau made quite a few Marines tremble inwardly.

Of every ten people who went in for tea, only three or four came back out.

Robin currently had the appearance of a fair, rosy-skinned young married woman wearing glasses, and her graceful charm had attracted plenty of suitors.

Every one of them was eager to try his luck, each showing off his own particular talents.

Regional specialties, fresh flowers, fine wine, exquisite jewelry.

Gifts had practically piled into a small mountain outside Robin's door, but a good deal of malice was mixed in among them.

As a member of the Search Bureau, whether she accepted these gifts or not, it looked bad in the public eye.

This was also the source of Robin's recent distress. How to resolve these problems had instead become the most troublesome part of her work.

Robin was currently the head of the Search Department, primarily overseeing logistics, personnel transfers, and similar matters. Over the past few days, the person this work had brought her into contact with most often was Fleet Admiral Sengoku.

Now she was once again on her way to request personnel and submit a list of new hires.

Heaven knew how much psychological pressure she had to bear every time she walked through that door, and how much she had to steel herself each time.

Knock! Knock!

"Come in."

"Fleet Admiral!"

Robin saluted, briskly handed over the documents, then waited for Sengoku to finish reading before asking for personnel...

"Mm, understood. I'll notify the replaced Rear Admirals and the others to resume their former posts."

Progress so far had made the transition of authority very smooth. Lofan's move against the branches had indeed generated considerable pressure, but Sengoku had already quietly dealt with much of it.

"Hm? He wants to personally bring a civilian expert into the Search Bureau?!"

Once an Admiral left Marineford, his daily movements had to be reported to the Fleet Admiral, so many of Lofan's earlier activities had needed to be conducted in secret.

With the cover of recruiting personnel for the Search Bureau, however, many of his activities had indeed become much easier.

Sengoku recalled the details of the worldwide talent recruitment plan Lofan had previously discussed with him. He was not particularly in favor of it.

Too many factors were involved. Opening that door would create far too many conflicts.

For example, someone might indeed be powerful, but lack years of service. Promote him, and the existing personnel would be unhappy; refuse to promote him, and he would be unhappy.

Unless someone was exceptionally outstanding, the benefits and drawbacks would be difficult to balance.

There were far too many problems like these. Unless things truly reached a critical point, this measure was best left unused.

That was why Sengoku had told Lofan to shelve it for now. He had simply not expected the brat to start thinking along those lines again.

"Yes. The Admiral said this Issho's abilities and character warranted a personal visit."

Robin saluted again. In truth, Lofan had already set out, so she had to settle this matter satisfactorily.

"Just this one person?"

"That's right. The Admiral understands your concerns, but this man is worth it."

Sengoku pondered for a moment, then approved it with a wave of his large hand.

Seeing the look on Robin's face, as though she were ready to die for the cause at any moment, he knew Lofan must have acted without permission.

Sengoku could hardly make things difficult for her. After all, this was not her choice.

In any case, all these questions would have to wait until Lofan returned, when he could question him properly.

"Also, why do you need to transfer more administrative personnel from the Marines? This is the third time. A few more rounds of this, and the Marines' administration will collapse."

Looking at the row of requests, Sengoku's heart sank. He had truly never imagined that the Marines were so short of administrative staff.

They were merely meeting the needs of one newly established department, yet they seemed to be scraping by at every turn.

"We're already doing our best to train office staff, but the volume of past records to be reviewed is simply too vast and complicated. Since no complete filing and classification system was established, we can only rely on manpower to sift through everything again."

Robin was helpless too. Faced with those veritable mountains and seas of text, even a historian like her felt immense pressure, let alone an ordinary person.

Yet these records had to be compiled both quickly and accurately, to determine whether the people who had voluntarily left the Search Bureau truly had clean hands.

All of it required checking and comparison. Otherwise, would they not suffer another blow to their reputation, as well as lose a large sum of funding?