Very soon.
News of Spiders Cafe Town spread across the seas. Marine Tough Guy Wilton became famous once again. First, he had fought the World's Most Evil Man; then he had clashed with Whitebeard's Second Division Commander, Fire Fist Ace, in Alabasta; after that, he had even taken down the Shichibukai Crocodile.
And now, only days later, he had engaged another Shichibukai, Doflamingo, in a fierce battle at Spiders Cafe Town. The various powers could not help wondering what the Marines were planning.
The most apprehensive among them were the other Shichibukai.
Especially after receiving orders from Marine Headquarters summoning them to Marineford to discuss Crocodile's matter.
It was impossible not to read into it.
Was it merely a discussion, or were the Marines planning to wipe them all out in one sweep?
After some analysis, the possibility of wiping them out was not very high. At present, the Shichibukai and the Marines were still cooperating peacefully enough.
Both sides knew exactly what kind of people the other was.
As for Crocodile, he had it coming. His filthy deeds had been exposed, and the Marines had no choice but to deal with him. Otherwise, it would have damaged the image of Marine Justice.
In short, the seas were far from peaceful.
The sun rose and set.
Two days had passed since the Spiders Cafe Town incident. At the world's greatest prison, Impel Down, Magellan sat deep in thought in the warden's office.
Just an hour earlier.
The Marines had delivered several hundred pirate thugs. Although Impel Down was not yet overflowing, every floor had become livelier than before.
Apparently, Wilton had cleaned out Spiders Cafe Town, which was why so many pirates had arrived.
So far.
The number of pirate criminals sent to Impel Down because of Wilton was at least two thousand, if not ten thousand. The first two thousand had accumulated over five years.
This time was even more excessive—several hundred in one go.
He could be called the most diligent Marine officer when it came to cracking down on pirates.
Elsewhere.
Beneath a cloudless blue sky, a warship bearing the Marine's Jolly Roger—a flag emblazoned with a dumbbell—was cutting swiftly across the sea.
"Lord Wilton, Water 7 is almost in sight."
At the bow.
Sadie lowered her telescope. She could vaguely make out a tiny black speck on the horizon. That was Water 7.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Behind Sadie, Wilton was enduring the beating of four Jailer Beasts. The Marines all over the ship had long grown used to the sight.
This was Vice Admiral Wilton's unique method of working out.
"Slow down. I'll be back soon."
Wilton signaled for the four Jailer Beasts to stop. Since he was passing by Water 7 this time, he intended to quietly obtain Pluton's blueprints.
Without alerting anyone.
The warship therefore would not dock. Its supplies were plentiful, so there was no need to restock.
"Lord Wilton—"
Before Sadie could ask anything, Wilton leaped fiercely and vanished from the deck. When he reappeared, he was already far out over the sea. He floated there for a moment, then his feet exploded with Armament Haki and he disappeared again.
Water 7.
It was famous for shipbuilding. The Pluton Battleship, one of the three Ancient Weapons, had been built here.
In order to obtain clues about Pluton, the World Government had sent its intelligence organization, CP9—Lucci and the others—to infiltrate this place.
Wilton's goal was clear: find Franky, the future shipwright of the Straw Hat Pirates. Pluton's blueprints were inside that guy's stomach.
Knowing the plot was Wilton's greatest Golden Finger.
What difference was there between that and a heaven-sent opportunity? At most, he had to spend a little time making the trip himself. The thing the World Government had expended enormous manpower and resources trying to obtain would fall into his hands so easily.
Franky House.
It was the residence and ship-dismantling base of the Franky Family.
Franky was the boss of the Franky Family, and Wilton found him easily enough. After all, there were only so many shipyards.
Inside the dismantling house, the place reeked of alcohol even in broad daylight.
Quite a few people lay sprawled over ragged sofas and the floor. It seemed they had gone wild last night.
His Observation Haki spread rapidly. After confirming there was no surveillance hidden nearby, Wilton entered the building and spotted Franky at once.
He was lying between two women with square hairstyles, both dressed in bikinis.
He was far too conspicuous.
He wore nothing but black triangular briefs. His hands were somewhat oversized due to his modifications, while his blue pompadour stood out even more.
If Wilton remembered correctly.
Pluton's blueprints were inside Franky's stomach. The man had modified himself into a cyborg, making him undoubtedly a genius.
Even in the modern world, that level of technology would have been impossible.
But in the pirate world, it was nothing unusual. The technology here was truly hard to describe—it was advanced in some ways and backward in others.
It could only be called bizarre.
Boom—
Wilton's eyes widened, and an incomparably domineering will filled the room. Every drunken person completely lost consciousness and fell into a deep coma.
From awakening Conqueror's Haki to controlling it freely, Wilton had needed only one battle at the edge of life and death.
Doflamingo had helped him awaken it, and Doflamingo had also helped him gain an initial grasp of it. After all, setting aside Recovery, Healing, and Justice Potential, Wilton had already died three times.
The reason he only used abilities like Recovery at the very last moment was because he wanted to force out his potential at the brink of death.
Combined with the solid foundation he had built over the previous five years, that was why he had mastered it so quickly.
That was also why he had initially been confident that he could become an admiral after the Summit War. He had accumulated enough, repeatedly tested himself at death's edge, and was a transmigrator to boot. With all those advantages, if he did not even possess this much ability, what kind of cheat user would he be?
Even with such absurd cheats, he still could not compare with the protagonist, Luffy. That guy had taken down the Four Emperors in just over two years.
Evaluation below.
Out of five stars.
Doflamingo's teaching ability: ★★★ Evaluation: His teaching ability is outstanding. He surpasses Pluton Rayleigh, falls slightly short of Katakuri, and trails far behind Kaido.
Knock, knock.
Wilton tapped Franky's steel-like eight-pack abs. Sure enough, they were hard as iron plating, tightly sealed without the slightest visible trace.
Wilton raised two fingers, entered the Iron Body state, stiffened them, and thrust. They pierced through with ease. He hooked them in and pulled outward, violently opening Franky's abdomen.
There was actually a small refrigerator inside, containing two chilled bottles of cola along with various strange items—wrenches, pistols, and other weapons or tools.
After searching through it, he found no documents or paper.
Wilton frowned. Could it be that Franky had not been carrying Pluton's blueprints at this time?
After observing carefully, Wilton noticed something odd about one section of the refrigerator wall. There was a faint gap, likely caused when he had forcibly opened it just now.
Well, well.
There was a hidden compartment too?
He peeled back that protective layer, and several yellowed sheets of paper fell out. Wilton carefully picked them up and unfolded them. They were exactly what he had been looking for.
It seemed he would need to control some scientists in the future. Otherwise, building Pluton would be difficult.
What famous scientists were there in the pirate world? There seemed to be many, but the undisputed number one was Vegapunk.
Having obtained the blueprints, Wilton did not linger. He even thoughtfully shut Franky's little refrigerator before disappearing from Water 7.
No one noticed a thing.
From beginning to end, only around half an hour had passed. He had not stopped along the way, at most slowing the voyage a little. Before the warship even approached Water 7, it swiftly headed toward the New World.
That day.
A dog-headed warship with a bone in its mouth and its tongue hanging out docked at Impel Down's harbor. A burly man stepped off it, dressed in a white suit and blue tie, with a vice admiral's Justice Coat draped over his shoulders...
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