When Silas awoke, he learned that the Marines had already withdrawn from Elbaf half a year ago.
This was actually a desperate measure.
Facing the Marines' surprise attack, Elbaf's giants initially had no ability to resist, but after rescuing Giant King Harald, some giants with weaker combat abilities began training. In less than a month, they had organized a sizable militia force.
Over the following five months, the giants used their knowledge of Elbaf to continuously raid the Marines. Led by Harald, a top-tier fighter no weaker than Marine Admirals, they caused huge losses to the Marines and CP organization intelligence officers.
So after half a year, the World Government declared that Elbaf no longer had value worth conquering and withdrew their forces. Elbaf returned to the giants' hands.
However, this did not mean the World Government had gained nothing from this operation.
Their greatest harvest was Adam Wood.
Just the Adam Wood logged from Elbaf over these six months was worth several times more than the World Government's entire annual Heavenly Tribute collection.
The cost was merely earning one non-member nation's hostility and losing some elite Marines and intelligence officers.
What was human life compared to money?
For the World Government, which had originally wanted to curb the Marines' growing power, having Marine strength damaged made them easier to control.
This behemoth that had stood for eight hundred years, even today, still looked down equally upon all creatures beneath its feet.
A long road ahead!
Sitting on his bed, Silas assessed his internal injuries, feeling they were more serious than at Sphinx. At Sphinx, he had only been exhausted. His injuries were not severe.
But this time, facing the siege of three top-tier fighters from the Marines and CP0, Silas was not only drained of stamina but also seriously wounded.
However, Silas's gains from this operation were also enormous.
The Battle of Elbaf was the second major battle initiated by the World Government in the new era since the Battle of Sphinx. Compared to the Battle of Sphinx, the Elbaf conquest used a strategy of elite decapitation with small numbers, nearly driving Elbaf's giant race to desperation.
Many legendary great pirates famous in later generations participated in this battle, and you made indelible contributions to this operation.
You can now investigate one piece of medium-danger-level intelligence, including but not limited to: Poneglyph locations, Devil Fruit whereabouts, specified person locations, etc. In this battle, you have once again obtained a Paramecia Devil Fruit, and your cellular activity has increased.
Through two years of understanding, Silas had basically figured out that his system would not actively issue missions but would give him rewards after he experienced certain battles.
Counting the previous two times, Silas now had a full three Paramecia Devil Fruits.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the Sing-Sing Fruit.
And the system's latest reward: the Hormone-Hormone Fruit!
That was right. The fruit that future Revolutionary Army commander Emporio Ivankov would eat, capable of changing people from male to female and female to male, is one of the most perverted fruits in this world.
But actually, the Hormone-Hormone Fruit's greatest function was unleashing the potential within human bodies. Even someone on death's door could be forcibly saved from the brink with a shot of healing hormones.
If eaten by a doctor with exceptional medical skills, the effects could completely rival the Heal-Heal Fruit that could restore anything.
After all, the Heal-Heal Fruit required consuming the user's own lifespan for maximum effect, while the Hormone-Hormone Fruit primarily stimulated the injured person's own potential.
Just obtaining this one fruit made Silas feel this operation was completely worthwhile.
As for the other reward...
"Poneglyphs? Devil Fruit locations? Person whereabouts?"
No need to mention Poneglyphs. They related to this world's greatest secrets. Though Silas was not very interested, he would not mind learning about them if given the chance.
As for Devil Fruits, just thinking about it, Silas could name a long list of top-tier fruits capable of creating artificial Admirals. With proper training, quasi-Admiral level strength was almost a guaranteed achievement.
Regarding person locations, Roger, Golden Lion, Kaido, and the three Marine Admirals Akainu, Kizaru, and Aokiji were all unpolished gems waiting to be carved!
However, at this time point, Kaido was probably just a crying infant, and the three future Admirals had not been born yet, while Roger and Golden Lion had already grown up with the potential for quickly forming combat power.
He just did not know if the future Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, had gone to sea yet.
But compared to clues about these people, Silas felt there was one piece of information that would bring the greatest benefit to the current White Wolf Pirates.
Pure Gold's location!
The special substance Pure Gold could delay cellular aging. Its upper limits were unclear, but it could at least keep a girl at her current age for two hundred years without any side effects.
This alone was enough to drive anyone in the world suffering from aging to madness.
Even the former Silas was no exception.
Medium-danger-level intelligence meant you needed at least great pirate-level strength to possibly escape unscathed. High-danger-level intelligence corresponded to Admiral-level strength.
Did the lanternfish that swallowed Pure Gold have Admiral-level strength?
"I want to know Pure Gold's location!"
Silas had no hesitation whatsoever. Any hesitation would be disrespectful to a treasure that could grant immortality.
Moreover, his White Wolf Pirates were full of old, weak, sick, and disabled members.
They were all waiting for Pure Gold to save their lives!
Ding!
The system's voice rang in Silas's mind, followed by a series of floating text.
Pure Gold is currently located 8,000 meters underwater in the Calm Belt adjacent to the East Blue, in the middle section of the Grand Line. Due to dynamic coordinate changes, information will be continuously updated.
When Silas first saw the system display Pure Gold's information, his spirits lifted, but after seeing its specific location, his expression immediately fell.
"What kind of awful location is this? How am I supposed to enter the Calm Belt as a Devil Fruit user and dive 8,000 meters underwater to find a lanternfish?"
Fortunately, the lanternfish that had swallowed Pure Gold was not fixed in one location. As long as it appeared in waters other than the Calm Belt, Silas could find a way to kill it and extract the Pure Gold.
He was a Devil Fruit user, but were there not two non-Devil Fruit users on his ship?
Thinking this, Silas suddenly heard commotion outside his door.
"Mr. Silas is injured! When he wakes up, he must receive treatment and medicine first!"
"No, Captain is a Zoan Devil Fruit user! When he wakes up, he definitely needs to eat first. Once he eats, injuries and such will heal quickly!"
"Let me go in first!"
"I will go in first!"
Then, amid the commotion, Silas saw Kozuki Toki and Ripley burst in simultaneously. Seeing him awake, they asked in unison:
"Captain, do you want medicine first or food first?"
Hm?
Could he not have both?