"Your sword—wasn't that Roger's 'Ace'? How come you've changed it since I last saw you?"
Sengoku looked at the sword by Michael's side. It was a long, slender straight blade that emitted a gentle Holy Light.
And on the sword's guard, there was a pair of feathered wings engraved.
"This is the 'Ace' that has been reforged by Holy Flame. But since Ace was Roger's sword, now it goes by a new name—'Myōjō'."
Michael stroked the blade of Myōjō. Sengoku vaguely heard a soft, low-voiced hymn—a heavenly chant.
He shook his head, and the sound vanished without a trace.
After a few casual exchanges, Sengoku entered official mode.
"...So you're saying, while you were out looking for the Celestial Dragons, you just happened to stumble upon Rayleigh and the others executing them?"
"Do I look like the type who'd go out of my way to rescue Celestial Dragons?" Michael lied without batting an eye, completely shameless.
"To be precise, I found traces of Rayleigh, Gaban, and Gloriosa on the Sabaody Archipelago, and during the pursuit, I accidentally rescued the last surviving Celestial Dragon—Charlos."
"It's Charlos-sama," Sengoku corrected.
"Alright, alright, 'sama,' 'sama,' 'sama.' It's not like that fancy title ever saved them from Rayleigh and the others' blades."
Michael curled his lips and sat down on the sofa, half-listening to Sengoku's grumbling.
The old man was only in his fifties, but all the stress had made him age prematurely.
"...Forget it. I don't even have the energy to dig into your real situation anymore." Sengoku sighed, shaking his head. Then he continued, "But I suppose this still counts as good news. After all, before this happened, your name was already placed before the Five Elders as a Marine to be held accountable by the Celestial Dragons."
"And now, not only has all that been written off, but Charlos-sama's family even sent over a huge amount of supplies as thanks for saving him."
Michael blinked.
A thank-you gift?
"What kind of stuff? Gold and jewels? If that's the case, don't give them to me. Just put it into the Marine's military budget... I don't want to touch any of the Heaven's Tribute money scraped off the commoners."
"Funny enough, it's not gold or jewels at all... it's actually a batch of Devil Fruits and famous blades."
"Well... that's acceptable."
Michael's body visibly relaxed. Devil Fruits in the hands of the Celestial Dragons often included some quality picks.
They could definitely be used to train a few more powerhouses.
But while Michael was busy envisioning the future, he didn't notice that Sengoku was now staring hard at him.
"Michael, the Cross Guild... was it really just Rayleigh, Gaban, and Gloriosa who put it together?"
"Of course not!" Michael replied with exaggerated seriousness under Sengoku's scrutinizing gaze.
"There's definitely some filthy rich guy bankrolling the whole thing and covering their backs."
As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed a few wanted posters from Sengoku's desk.
Only these weren't issued by the World Government—but were reverse wanted posters put out by the Cross Guild.
And wouldn't you know it, one of them had Michael's own mug front and center.
The bounty was a staggering one billion Belly, currently the highest among all the reverse bounties issued by the Cross Guild.
"Even I ended up on their wanted list. Guess Rayleigh's really pissed at me—after all, I did manage to snatch someone right out from under their noses."
Michael's expression held a hint of surprise, but in truth, he knew what this was—Rayleigh's way of covering for him.
After all, who would ever suspect that the mastermind behind the Cross Guild was the very guy with the highest reverse bounty?
Say what you will about Rayleigh's teaching skills, but the man was still clever.
"It's because of the Cross Guild that Mary Geoise has now been completely sealed off on orders from the Five Elders," Sengoku sighed. "More importantly, a huge number of World Government personnel have resigned. The government itself is now in a half-shutdown state..."
Hearing this, Michael felt very satisfied deep inside.
The noise stirred up by the Cross Guild was more than enough—and the threat it posed even greater.
So much so that the World Government now had no spare energy left to deal with the Revolutionary Army.
What? The Revolutionary Army is going to overthrow those kingdoms ruled by tyrants?
Let them! Once a regime falls, another will just take its place.
The Revolutionary Army won't be knocking on the World Government's door anytime soon.
But the Cross Guild?
They're actually placing bounties and hunting down World Government officials!
Faced with the choice of letting comrades die or dying themselves, the World Government didn't hesitate—they let the comrades die.
"...Anyway, you can go now."
Sengoku looked at Michael, who was still zoning out, and couldn't help but feel that this kid was acting more and more like that lunatic Garp...
Just looking at them gave him a headache!
"By the way, old man, those supplies..."
"They've already been delivered to the Sabaody Archipelago."
"Take care of yourself, then—I'll be off."
Michael turned and walked out of the Admiral's office.
...
"Michael, you rescued a Celestial Dragon?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
"And then they sent over a bunch of supplies?"
"You were a Celestial Dragon once—shouldn't you know?"
"How would I know it'd be this over the top! My dad wasn't even one of those greasy, disgusting Celestial Dragons! And I moved out of Mary Geoise when I was six."
Rosinante stared wide-eyed at the mountain of supplies in front of them.
He'd never seen anything like this in his life.
Michael was just as stunned.
He had already braced for something outrageous, but this... this was beyond even his expectations.
Twenty whole Devil Fruits.
And five hundred weapons forged by renowned master smiths—at least fifty of which were top-grade famous swords or better.
As for their exact grade, further study would be needed.
Still, it was the Devil Fruits that interested Michael more than anything.
Just by the packaging alone, it was easy to tell which fruits were premium, and which were more run-of-the-mill.
Three Devil Fruits were packed in separate boxes made of luxurious wood. The rest were lumped together in one big crate.
Michael opened the three boxes to get a look at them.
His pupils instantly contracted.
Charlos, the mole buried deep inside the Celestial Dragons, had really delivered a stunning surprise.
All three Devil Fruits were familiar.
The first one was pink and purple, covered in heart-shaped patterns—Love-Love Fruit.
The second one gleamed like pure gold—clearly the Paramecia-type Gold-Gold Fruit.
As for the third...
Its surface was formed by countless tiny, flame-shaped swirls...
A Logia—the Flame-Flame Fruit.
Michael reached out and weighed the Devil Fruit that had been mockingly called "no one will eat it," a faint smile on his lips.
This fruit really didn't suit Ace.
Ace had to walk the path Michael had carefully planned for him.
As for the Flame-Flame Fruit...
It should belong to the Revolutionary Army.
The Flame-Flame Fruit and the flames of revolution...
A perfect match, don't you think?
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