"Hmm... what?! I understand, you can go now!!"
Just as Akainu was gazing at the sea ahead and sighing, a soldier jogged over and, seeing Akainu deep in thought, didn't dare disturb him. Instead, he walked up to his adjutant and quietly reported the intelligence that had just arrived.
After listening to his report, the adjutant beckoned him to leave, but instead walked over to Akainu.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Akainu naturally overheard their conversation and knew that his adjutant had come to report important intelligence, so he spoke first and asked a question.
"Yes, Admiral Sakazuki, an important message has just arrived from headquarters."
The Celestial Dragons Saint Orange, attempted to use force to compel his fiancée, Miss Catherine, to return with him, but was stopped by her companion, a man Luo Chen.
After defeating Vice Admiral Califo, a bodyguard of Saint Orange, he planned to attack Celestial Dragons, but was stopped by Vice Admiral Garp. He then left Marine Headquarters with Miss Catherine. Fleet Admiral Sengoku has now issued a warrant for his arrest.
Your subordinate would like to ask for your opinion on whether to launch an operation to apprehend them.
The adjutant respectfully informed him of the matter and sought Akainu's opinion.
"Hmph, I knew those Celestial Dragons wouldn't come here with anything good. Now they've dumped this mess on the Marines. Do they really think the Marines are just tools to clean up their messes?"
Upon hearing this, Akainu snorted and spoke with a hint of anger.
"So, what is your opinion...?"
Seeing Akainu's angry expression, the lieutenant cautiously asked him for instructions.
"... Have you received their latest location data from headquarters?"
After a moment of silence, Akainu finally spoke through gritted teeth.
"Regarding this, headquarters doesn't yet have their exact location information, but we heard from the people there that Catherine and her group just set sail on the Saint Orange's warship, Isel, so they shouldn't have gone very far!"
His adjutant was also unsure how to answer, but after thinking for a moment, he gritted his teeth and said...
"Hmph, if we don't know the location of those pirates, how are we supposed to track them down...? Are those people at headquarters idiots? They haven't even figured this out and they're already sending others to chase them? How are we supposed to catch them...?"
Upon hearing this, Akainu immediately flew into a rage and began to curse.
"..."
His adjutant remained silent, knowing that Akainu was currently enraged and that provoking him would be disastrous. So he stood there quietly, waiting for Akainu's orders.
"... Phew... Oh well, let's just make it look like we're doing something. We'll search the area, and even if we don't catch them, headquarters can't really say anything!"
After roaring for a while, Akainu quickly regained his composure and gave his lieutenant the order to investigate.
"Yes, I will arrange it immediately..."
Having received Akainu's explicit instructions, the lieutenant quickly saluted and withdrew.
Soon after, the warships, under the control of the soldiers, began searching the vicinity of the Gate of Justice.
On the other side, aboard the Isel warship, Luo Chen and Catherine sat Fuza on the deck, with a large pile of gold and silver treasures and several mysterious treasure chests placed in front of them.
"Wow, it seems there's a reason why the Celestial Dragons don't care about money. They can even amass so much treasure just by casually setting sail. I'm so Envy!"
After scanning the pile of treasure before him several times, Luo Chen finally exclaimed in amazement.
"Hmph, it's just money he got by using that identity, what's there to envy..."
Catherine, sitting opposite him, dismissed the treasures with disdain.
"I have nothing to say about your thinking... However, I personally envy the Celestial Dragons ' status. They stand at the pinnacle of ordinary people from the very beginning, born nobles, and everyone else is inferior to them, forced to serve you descendants of the Creator."
Hearing Catherine's dismissive words, Luo Chen chuckled.
Indeed, being a Celestial Dragon is a highly coveted status in the world of One Piece. They are born into privilege, and even figures like the Shichibukai Doflamingo yearn to regain their recognition and return to the Celestial Dragon lineage.
But they rejected him. The Celestial Dragons in the Holy Land did not recognize his identity at all. Even when he killed his father and brought his head back, they still despised and drove him away. In the end, he hated all the Celestial Dragons in the Holy Land. Otherwise, perhaps such a powerful figure would never have appeared on the sea.
However, Catherine and her brother, being Celestial Dragons themselves, truly understood this. They had seen through the despicable nature of the Celestial Dragons of the Holy Land, loathed that identity, and were even disgusted by the blood flowing through their veins, which is why they uttered such words.
"Let's put that aside for now and see what's inside these boxes..."
After Luo Chen finished speaking, he noticed that Catherine's expression was somewhat unpleasant, so he quickly changed the subject and said...
"Hmph... Don't you dare use the word ' Celestial Dragons ' in front of me again, or I'll make you pay!!"
Seeing his clumsy attempt to change the subject, indicating he didn't want to discuss the matter further, Catherine snorted and then warned Luo Chen.
"Yes, yes, Miss Catherine, please forgive me this time. I won't bring it up again... Let's see what's inside this treasure chest first!"
Luo Chen apologized as well, then turned his gaze to the three treasure chests, speaking with some eagerness and anticipation.
"I've opened it..."
Luo Chen placed his hands on the lids, preparing to violently open the boxes. After saying something, he suddenly exerted force, his hands like steel clamps violently prying open the boxes. With a snap, the lids were torn open, revealing the treasures hidden inside.
"Hmm... what is this?! Is it Devil Fruit?"
Catherine leaned closer for a closer look and saw a fruit about the size of a fist, its surface covered with strange blue patterns, lying inside.
Although she had never seen Devil Fruit before, she had heard of it. Seeing that it looked very similar to the Devil Fruit described in the rumors, she asked Luo Chen with some uncertainty.
"Indeed, this thing is the treasure of the sea... Devil Fruit. Any one of these fruits is worth at least 100 million Beli on the black market, and they're practically priceless."
"How about it, Catherine? Want to try it? Eating this will grant you an unknown ability, which could be strong or weak. Since we don't have an encyclopedia, we don't know what kind of ability it is. Do you want to give it a try?!"
Luo Chen nodded in affirmation, then explained the details of the fruit to her, before asking in a somewhat seductive voice.
"No, while it might be a powerful ability like that of Admiral Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru, it could also be a very weak Zoan ability. I won't test it on my own body."
Furthermore, my dream is to become a great swordsman like Sister Gion, who doesn't eat any fruits to strengthen herself.
After glancing at it a few times, Catherine shook her head and said to him.
"Hey, hey, hey, I don't like hearing that. What do you mean by 'weak Zoan '? Do you think my ability is one of those weak Devil Fruits?"
And I remember someone saying something quite right, "There are no useless fruits in the world, only useless people. Any ability, if developed properly by the user, can be extremely useful."
Upon hearing Catherine say that Zoan Devil Fruit abilities were weak, Luo Chen immediately became dissatisfied and began to explain to her.