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"What if... I mean, what if we really blew up that monster, Orrick-Sama?" Sugar wiggled her little feet, her innocent and pure eyes expressing a bloodthirsty cruelty that didn't match her appearance as she spoke, "Is there a possibility? After all, that's Dyna Stone, a high-end product bought specifically to prevent the Sea King Poseidon from raging."
"That's so expensive!"
A few years ago, when Teach caused a stir in wanting to destroy the world, the price of Dyna Stone in the underground world skyrocketed nearly 10 times. However, even so, it remains a seller's market.
It's not that it's being held for a better price; it's that there is genuinely no circulation.
Touching upon everyone's survival principles, this ban would lead the major players in the Underground World to clean out those who break the rules, even if the government does not take a stance.
If it weren't for some hidden methods, they wouldn't have been able to acquire so much Dyna Stone.
In response, Orrick put down the book in his hand and gently sipped from his teacup.
"Anything is possible; the word 'possible' is also the driving force that urges us forward. But that guy... is a monster that can turn 'possibility' into 'impossibility,' so just go to sleep."
"Eh? I don't understand!"
With a helpless sigh, Orrick pulled Sugar, who was swaying on his shoulder, down and tossed her back to her seat, shaking his head.
"Do you know why I've been avoiding a war with the Soryu? Even when we already have the Sea King Poseidon and hold absolute initiative."
"Isn't it because you need to use him to form a pincer attack against the Gorōsei (Five Elder Stars) and the World Government?" Sugar shrugged her shoulders, "It's unavoidable, right? After all, the opponent is the government that has ruled the world for 800 years. With our strength alone, it's still too difficult to challenge them."
"That's right, strength!" Orrick's expression grew serious as he looked at the others: "Everything is a matter of strength!"
"To be honest, even today, I still have no confidence that I can defeat Soryu... that monster can be said to be the one who restrains my abilities the most in the world."
"Interesting, even Orrick Sama thinks so?" Ryokugyu opened his mouth wide and slowly smiled, "I really want to meet the guy who received such an evaluation from you."
There are no strongest fruits, only the strongest people. Orrick's fruit ability is restrained by the Soryu (Azure Dragon), but that doesn't mean Orrick himself is weak.
On the contrary, his strength can be considered top-level in the world! Ryokugyu didn't join this group just because of his dreams or demeanor.
So, to be able to make a monster as strong as Orrick, admit he has no confidence to win against him... Ryokugyu smiled: "I feel a surge of excitement!"
"Well, that said, he isn't worth our full attention." Glancing at Sugar's still confused expression, Orrick turned his face away as if he hadn't seen it and said, "The Marines are heavily equipping incomplete versions of the Pacifista. This is both good news and bad news... The good news is that Vegapunk hasn't completed that project yet; perhaps the events surrounding the Celestial Dragon have diverted too much of his attention in the past two years."
"And the bad news is that through observation, it has been discovered that those incomplete Pacifista are only one step away from completion. Once they are completed and scaled up, even the Sea King Poseidon may not gain much advantage."
"Pacifista, huh?" Lirisk rested his chin on his hand: "I've seen them quite a few times. Indeed, in terms of combat power, few can withstand them in the First Half. Such a revolutionary weapon... if it had appeared a bit earlier, it might have been classified as the fourth Ancient Weapon."
"So we don't need to focus too much on the Soryu (Azure Dragon). On the battlefield that I want, individual strength can only determine the local situation and cannot change the overall direction."
Seeing that everyone understood the key point of the issue, Orrick concluded: "Tell Kaido that I want to see the first batch of Cyborg soldiers under his command in three months. We no longer have time to continue dragging our feet."
"Yes!"
...
"Ah? Is this place going to explode?" The soldiers who went to find Moria rushed back in a panic, reporting the situation inside to Rowen.
Hearing this, Rowen's expression froze, tilting his head: "Who is so bored? Do they not worry about sleeping on a bomb all day?"
"There's no time to talk about that now, Admiral!"
"There's less than two minutes until the explosion. What should we do?!"
In the current situation, the soldiers wouldn't believe this was a joke, and those with keen senses felt an indescribable sense of impending death, causing their breathing to quicken.
"What to do? What else can we do..." Rowen grinned.
"Do you know? Generally speaking, devices used for self-destruction are usually placed at the very center."
"Unlike demolition explosives used for construction, to fully utilize the explosive radius and for safety reasons, there typically won't be other chain explosion points within the effective range."
"No! There can't be! Only madmen would do that... Achoo!"
"Achoo!"
Far away in G-10, both Dante and Rowen sneezed simultaneously.
The messenger: "..."
'I understand the reasoning, but why do you have that look of someone who's been through it all?! I haven't heard that the Admiral Soryu (Azure Dragon) studied demolition engineering, have I?'
"So what do you mean?" Not wanting to think too much, the messenger cautiously requested orders.
"Notify everyone to stay away from the center of the villa... If nothing unexpected happens, the detonation point should be right in the middle of the mountain."
As he spoke, Rowen tilted his neck and began to stretch.
"Destroying the explosives before they detonate should solve the problem, right?"
'Would that even work? This method is akin to creating a firebreak when surrounded by a forest fire.'
The messenger wanted to complain.
But...
"We can only try this; otherwise..."
The messenger replied loudly, knowing what 'otherwise' meant.
"Yes!!!"
Watching him walk away, Rowen silently turned the silver ring on his left thumb, a smile creeping onto his face: "To find Edward Weevil's corpse, to obtain my and Big Mom's cell samples, to leave behind experimental data that allows Moria to transfer his Devil Fruit ability... and now a self-destructing device."
"Is it you, Orrick?" His star-like bright eyes gazed into the distance, as if seeing through everything.
"Wanting to destroy the base to completely conceal your traces? Then I absolutely cannot let you succeed!"
No matter what exists within the base, since it has that capability and was left by Orrick, Rowen had no reason to ignore it.
…
Fire Fist!
Gomu Gomu No Cannon!
Bang...!!
Once again, a clash of equally matched techniques erupted, with Koby and Luffy panting heavily on the ice field, while thunder struck down from the sky, the momentum completely overwhelming.
"With such power and such ambition... why do you want to be a pirate, Luffy San?"
"Shut up!"
Luffy wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, also panting heavily: "If I can't do what I want to do, what's the point of living?!"
"Is that so? Even if becoming a pirate brings disaster to others, can you just ignore it?"
"I don't care about that! I want to be the man who becomes the Pirate King!!" Luffy declared in an extremely solemn tone, uttering this very awkward line: "You can call me selfish or foolish; I've made this decision, and I will definitely do it!"
"Don't you have something you want to accomplish, even if it means risking your life? Koby!"
"Naturally!"
Koby clenched his fists, the figure of that man appearing in his mind, then he shook his head and said firmly: "That is to defeat you! To bring you to the Marines or send you to prison, Luffy San!"
"You won't succeed, Koby!"
"Then let's see!"
Bang!!!
As the words fell, a cloud of smoke suddenly erupted between the two.
The terrifying shockwave forced both of them to retract their half-charged attacks. Koby managed to adapt to the sudden loss of force through his Elementalization, while Luffy spun in place, tangling himself up like a pretzel.
"Oh no, I'm going to throw up!" Luffy exclaimed, his eyes wide with fear as he anticipated what would happen next.
However, at that moment, a large hand suddenly reached out from the smoke, pressing down on his head.
At the same time, a voice full of disdain rang out: "If you're going to throw up, go away! I'm busy with important matters, don't disturb me!"
Hearing this voice, Koby froze: "Master?"
"Thunderous Ossan?!"
The one who appeared in the center of the arena was Rowen, who hadn't expected that these two kids would end up hitting the core point while fighting.
"How should I put it? Truly the Child of Destiny?"
"If I don't intervene, they would probably inadvertently destroy the detonation device under some coincidental force, right?"
"Simply... terrifying!"
(End of this chapter)