The Imperial Capital of the Mars Kingdom — Bari City.
"Captain, from the royal treasury and the estates of the great nobles, we've recovered nearly one hundred billion berries in cash alone, not counting the mountains of gold, silver, and jewels."
Even the pale-faced Lafitte, who rarely showed emotion, couldn't hide the flush of excitement on his cheeks.
This capital was even wealthier than Dressrosa.
Not only the royal family was rich—the nobles were overflowing with excess wealth.
This single raid on the capital alone had filled their coffers to the brim.
It was the kind of fat haul that left one's mouth dripping with oil.
"Most of the nobles have already been executed by the liberated slaves."
Nico Robin, wearing her sunglasses and expressionless as always, made the report.
In her eyes, those nobles had never been worth pity.
Their pleas for mercy and their dying screams couldn't shake her indifferent heart.
"This news has already spread across the entire underground world.
Tsk… Morgans is really something else."
Souta Kiryuu lounged casually upon the high royal throne, accepting a slice of fruit from Baby 5.
He clicked his tongue, but looked entirely unconcerned.
With how fast this information was spreading, the next target—the Adams Kingdom—had certainly already heard of what happened.
Their royal family and nobles were likely already fleeing with their wealth in tow.
Which meant the Dragonfang Pirates' marching plan needed adjustment.
After all—plans never keep up with reality.
Especially when Transponder Snails made it nearly impossible to contain information.
And they had known this would happen the moment they failed to block Mars Kingdom's signal network.
"Captain, should we still proceed to the Adams Kingdom?"
Lafitte tried to calm his excitement.
Pillaging the ancestral kingdoms of the Celestial Dragons was a profit too great to ignore.
Even if the Adams nobles escaped, they couldn't carry everything—there would still be treasure worth taking.
Souta Kiryuu chuckled, biting into a chunk of roasted meat offered by the Pirate Empress.
"If you were the Five Elders, and you discovered our movements—what would you think?"
Their airborne fleet's greatest advantage was speed — they could disappear and reappear anywhere in the New World.
So why act in the obvious way?
Everyone now believed the Dragonfang Pirates would strike the remaining two Celestial Dragon ancestral kingdoms next.
Which meant…
He would do the opposite.
"They'll definitely set up ambushes around those last two kingdoms."
Lafitte reasoned quickly.
Among them, the impoverished Pritzker Kingdom had little value, while the wealthy Adams Kingdom was the obvious trap.
Souta Kiryuu smirked.
"After eating a feast, you rest.
So next—we hit a New World Marine base.
I'll erase the Navy from the New World, one fortress at a time."
Since the whole world was already guessing at their next targets, he would simply shatter their expectations.
He had plenty of time.
And their airborne fleet could cross the New World back and forth with ease.
"Understood. I'll revise the operation. The Adams Kingdom target will be replaced by a Marine base."
Lafitte quickly produced two candidate bases.
"We'll hit G–5 Base," Souta Kiryuu declared, voice cold and amused.
"It's time to expose Vice Admiral Vergo, the Donquixote Family spy."
To humiliate the Navy—
To break their backbone publicly—
To reveal that even their elites were infiltrated…
It would deal a blow far deeper than any battlefield defeat.
"Yes, Captain."
Lafitte bowed and moved to carry out the order.
Their raid on the Mars Kingdom alone would likely yield three to four hundred billion berries.
A sum greater than the combined bounties of all Four Emperors' core crews.
To kingdoms of this scale, even the famed four- or five-billion berry bounties of the Emperors…
…were just a few weeks of business income.
While waiting for the others to return from raiding the three major ports, Souta Kiryuu had Bonaba brought before him for interrogation.
"Mythical Zoan: Dark Phoenix Fowl…?
What kind of ridiculous divine beast is that?
Your Mythical ability is—enhanced reproductive capacity… tenfold?"
Souta's expression darkened as Bonaba nervously explained.
Aside from increased reproduction capacity, the fruit only granted standard flight and high regeneration—like any avian Zoan.
So what was he supposed to do?
Use Bonaba as a stud rooster and breed an army of hybrids?
Then—
a thought struck him.
His own body—rebuilt, reforged, merged with countless lineage factor sequences—
despite sharing his life with multiple women…
There had been no children.
Not one.
Was his transmigrated genetic structure incompatible?
But that shouldn't be possible.
In this world:
Humans and Fishmen had children.
Giants and Merfolk had children.
The Charlotte Family had half a dozen interracial hybrid variants.
This world's genetic compatibility was absurdly high.
Souta turned his head.
His gaze swept across the Pirate Empress, Baby 5, Monet, and Robin.
Slowly, a cold killing intent rose in his eyes.
Perhaps—
the Mythical Zoan's fertility trait could be merged into his own draconic lineage.
And there was someone who dreamed of having his child.
Baby 5's soft voice echoed in his memory:
"I… I want to have your baby…"
He had promised her.
"Seems you don't even qualify to become a pacifist of the Dragonfang Pirates…
Not even worthy to be kept as a blood-slave."
Bonaba screamed, begging for mercy—
But Souta ignored him.
He dragged Bonaba into the Ark Testament's laboratory.
Under the indifferent gaze of Pacifista-Teach, Souta Kiryuu personally ended Bonaba's life, bathing himself in the blood of the Mythical Zoan.
As Bonaba's final breath left his lips, Pacifista-Teach activated the Dark-Dark extraction system, recovering the Mythical Zoan: Dark Phoenix Fowl fruit ability.
Souta's draconic scales absorbed the blood—
and his lips curved.
"Let's see if I've gained that tenfold conception ability…
Time to test it."
He took his women back inside the Ark Testament.
The Pirate Empress, strongest among them, stepped forward first—
her eyes burning with pride and longing.
She, too, dreamed of bearing his first child.
Now that she knew he sought the same—
She would meet him with everything she had.