Silas thought for a long time but could not figure it out.
Why did the Marines attack him? Why did they immediately surrender after attacking? And why did they leave behind an entire ship transporting "Heavenly Tribute" after surrendering?
This was... Did they want to confirm the fact that he had robbed the Heavenly Tribute, then draw the Celestial Dragons' hatred?
Silas had to admit this was a vicious scheme.
If the Heavenly Tribute was lost, the Marines responsible for escorting it would definitely be punished. But with their strength clearly insufficient, even if the World Government wanted to severely punish these Marine soldiers, the Marine higher-ups would try their best to plead for them.
In the end, the blame would still be thrown on Silas.
Previously, the World Government might not have cared about Silas. Even with Admiral-level combat power, he might not have been taken seriously by them.
But robbing the Heavenly Tribute was different.
To recover the Heavenly Tribute, the World Government would definitely order the Marines to pursue him with full force. Once his whereabouts were exposed, he would likely face encirclement by multiple Admiral-level powerhouses.
But would Silas be afraid?
The cargo piled up in the ship's hold before Silas was worth at least two billion Belly by rough calculation.
This was two billion Belly without inflation! Even Silas's own head was not worth that much money.
"Since we have robbed it, what is there to fear!"
With this much money, even if the Marines wanted him to play the fall guy, he would accept it!
As for why his whereabouts were exposed, Silas could only attribute it to not concealing their tracks when they last made landfall, so the Marines had found their location.
There was nothing strange about that.
The reason he left Elbaf was to prevent the Marines from mistakenly thinking the White Wolf Pirates had allied with the giants of Elbaf, thus preemptively blocking Elbaf's sea routes.
But as long as the White Wolf Pirates appeared in the Marines' intelligence system, the Marines would not easily attack Elbaf.
He just needed to be more careful next time.
"Ripley, can you shrink all this cargo and move it to our ship?"
"No problem!"
Ripley's voice was more excited than ever.
Growing up, where had she ever seen so many rare luxury goods and glittering gold, silver, and jewels? It nearly blinded her eyes.
Fortunately, Ripley had eaten the Mini-Mini Fruit. She could not only control her own size but also shrink objects she touched.
She could even shrink people.
However, how small she could make people depended on Ripley's proficiency with the fruit's abilities, and she would also face some special situations where things could not be shrunk.
For example, Charlotte Linlin.
After mastering the fruit's abilities, Ripley could shrink Giant King Harald, who was twice the height of ordinary giants, to normal human size when he did not resist.
But when facing Charlotte Linlin, Ripley's fruit power failed.
So Silas speculated that Charlotte Linlin's constitution might be related to Haki.
Ordinary people's Haki existed in a dormant state. Because the reserves were too small, they needed to train their physical condition to the extreme before they could draw out the Haki within their bodies.
But Charlotte Linlin's Haki had been in an active state since birth.
To maintain such a state required consuming large amounts of stamina, which was why Charlotte Linlin suffered from an eating disorder.
This was a kind of survival instinct of the body.
In the future, Charlotte Linlin had instances where emotional loss of control made her constitution ineffective, which also verified that Charlotte Linlin's talent was not purely physical constitution.
Of course, the specific situation could only be verified one by one when Silas returned to Elbaf and began training Charlotte Linlin.
A cargo ship loaded with goods could not be swallowed in one bite by any pirate crew. The best approach would be to take the entire ship.
But with Ripley's efforts, Silas and his crew took less than half a day to move all the "Heavenly Tribute" to their ship's hold.
Not only did this solve their funding problem, it also solved their food problem.
"Even milk is part of the Heavenly Tribute?"
Rocks took a big gulp of milk from the cargo ship but could not feel any difference from what he usually drank in Elbaf.
"Haha, Heavenly Tribute does not just refer to gold, silver, and jewels. Some rare plants, animals, and even rare races are all types of Heavenly Tribute."
"Rare races?"
"Exactly. In this world, slavery exists as a thriving trade. People become commodities, and those from rare races fetch particularly high prices on the slave market."
Silas's face showed undisguised disgust.
Because some of his former crew members had been slaves captured by slave traders, Silas was very clear about what it meant to be a slave.
"Does that not mean we robbed the right money?"
"You could say that."
If he had robbed legitimate merchants' fleets, Silas might have felt guilty, but robbing the Celestial Dragons' Heavenly Tribute carried no psychological burden at all!
"However, this Heavenly Tribute is all dirty money. Ordinary places cannot fence it. Let me see if there are any islands nearby where pirates gather."
Silas dragged out a large box from the captain's quarters, filled with pointers bearing various labels, which left Ripley staring in amazement.
"Are these all Eternal Poses?"
"Exactly. This is the most precious wealth I have accumulated over these decades!"
Silas's face showed a smug smile.
Before becoming a pirate and having his own crew, Silas mostly acted alone, essentially a ranger of the seas.
As a ranger, how could he not be able to navigate the seas?
So in the White Wolf Pirates, Silas was not only the captain but also the navigator. This was his confidence for setting sail regardless of crew size.
"Found it."
An island not recorded on regular pointers floated into his mind. Finding its Eternal Pose, Silas smiled.
"Next, our destination is Sphinx!"
One day later, Vice Admiral Robbie, who had rushed from Marine GL Branch 9, saw a cargo ship that had been completely emptied, with not even a mouse left inside.
"So they really came prepared?"
Originally, when he heard the call for help from Vice Admiral Ackerman, who was responsible for escorting the cargo ship, Robbie had doubted the story's authenticity. After all, pirates robbing Heavenly Tribute was something that might not happen once in a hundred years.
Did those pirates not know that robbing Heavenly Tribute would draw the wrath of the World Government and the Marines?
Upon seeing the empty cargo hold, Robbie's suspicions vanished.
"Now that they have the strength to challenge Marine Admirals, are the White Wolf Pirates raising money to expand their power even further?"
The realization weighed on Robbie, and a serious look settled over his face.
This was no longer a problem a mere Vice Admiral like him could solve. Coming to provide support was just to see if the White Wolf Pirates had left any clues.
Fight the White Wolf Pirates?
Do not be ridiculous!
"Immediately contact headquarters and tell them the White Wolf Pirates might be preparing some terrible conspiracy. We must have Admiral support!"
"Yes!"
[Chapter Complete]
***
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