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Chapter 450: The Revolutionary Army on the Move
Kuma's eyes shone with anticipation. With that kind of power, the Revolutionary Army's casualties on the battlefield would drastically decrease. The warriors bleeding for their ideals would have much better protection.
"You don't need to worry about the Beri. We overthrew the nobles of the Goa Kingdom and seized the wealth they had hoarded for centuries. It's more than enough to arm an elite division entirely equipped with otherworldly powers." Dragon patted Kuma's shoulder.
Dragon walked over to the window and pushed open the heavy wooden shutters. Fresh sea breeze blew into the basement.
"Any news from Sabo?" Dragon asked casually.
"Sabo is still in Foosha Village. I heard he's hanging around with Luffy and Ace, pestering Boss Blake every single day to buy a dungeon ticket." Kuma stepped up behind him, taking in the bright sunlight outside.
"Those three brats… let them be. Under Lord Blake's nose, no one can hurt them." Dragon shook his head helplessly. He tilted his head, gazing in the direction of Foosha Village—the new eye of the global storm. "Get ready. Tomorrow, we'll take a squad of elites and visit the tavern again. This world is about to be turned entirely upside down."
Stroking Bonney's hair, Kuma's perpetually stoic face actually wore a warm smile today. He knew that the oppressive, despair-filled old era was truly coming to an end.
"Papa, when are we going to thank the big brother who runs the tavern?" Bonney tugged at Kuma's coat, looking up at him.
"We'll go tomorrow. Papa will take you to eat the best roast meat in Foosha Village." Kuma bent down and lifted his daughter onto his broad shoulders.
The East Blue breeze swept over the skies of the Goa Kingdom. This island, once segregated into rigid classes by towering walls, had welcomed a complete rebirth. The central plaza of the royal city was piled high with extravagant furniture and art pieces seized from the noble estates. Under the organization of the Revolutionary Army, commoners were orderly distributing the supplies. Inside the main hall of the royal palace, Emporio Ivankov, sporting his massive purple afro, circled Bonney three full times.
"KUMA, ARE YOU SURE THIS IS BONNEY!? THE SAPPHIRE SCALES THAT EVEN VEGAPUNK COULDN'T CURE… JUST VANISHED COMPLETELY!?" The Revolutionary Army executive, with a bounty of 210 million Beri, wore a look of sheer disbelief. Leaning his face, heavy with purple eyeshadow, close to the little girl, his voice was so shrill it could pierce eardrums.
"It's real. Inside that tavern in Foosha Village, something like this doesn't even count as a miracle." Kuma sat nearby on a solid gold throne that had previously belonged to the King. His massive frame made the ornate chair look like a child's toy. Reaching out with his thick hand, he patted Bonney's pink hair. Kuma recalled the conceptual power he wielded when using Soten Kisshun. That absolute rule-based power, directly rejecting the phenomenon of damage, completely transcended the medical common sense of this world.
"THAT LORD BLAKE WHO SELLS POWER… COULD HE TRULY BE A GOD DESCENDED TO THE MORTAL REALM!?" Ivankov exaggeratedly covered his mouth.
"He isn't a god, but he is far more powerful than the self-proclaimed gods of the Celestial Dragons," Monkey D. Dragon emerged from the shadows of the hall, still wearing his dark green cloak. His voice was low and firm.
The red square tattoos on his face were stark in the sunlight. Opening his eyes, his purple Rinnegan emitted terrifying ripples. Ivankov only took one look before feeling it hard to breathe. Walking to a long table in the center of the hall, Dragon looked over the ledgers of the Goa Kingdom's newly audited treasury.
"The wealth extracted from the people of this country over the past centuries amounts to roughly 4.5 billion Beri. Keep half of it for constructing a new city for the commoners and building defensive fortifications. The other half will be entirely converted into tickets for that tavern." He tapped his long fingers against the ledger twice.
"Dragon, are you sure about this? This is our largest single pool of operational funds right now," Ivankov asked, a tinge of worry in his voice. Over two billion Beri. That was enough money to buy dozens of extremely rare Devil Fruits on the black market. And Dragon was planning to dump it all into a single tavern?
"Ivan, you haven't seen the worlds in there. Devil Fruits have limits; they are countered by seawater and Seastone. But the power Lord Blake offers has no such weaknesses." Dragon turned his head, his Rinnegan piercing the palace walls.
Raising his right hand, a formless wave of repulsive force violently expanded outward from Dragon. The multi-ton stone pillars in the hall groaned under the unbearable pressure. And that was just a tiny fraction of his power released casually.
"If we want to overthrow the World Government, we must possess the strength to crush Marine Headquarters. Sengoku, Garp, and the others have already experienced massive leaps in power inside that tavern. If we fall behind, the spark of revolution will be completely snuffed out." Retracting his repulsive force, Dragon turned to Kuma. "Let's go. Bring Bonney. We're heading to Foosha Village to thank that man in person."
…
Foosha Village, the back alley of Makino's Partys Bar.
This narrow street used to be quiet, but now it was piled high with the corpses of dozens of massive wild beasts. There were three-eyed tigers, wild boars with tusks taller than a man, and even a ten-meter-long Lord of the Coast. Three young boys sat atop the pile of carcasses, panting heavily from exhaustion.
"I'm so hungry! Fighting these guys takes way too much energy!" Wearing his signature straw hat, his face smeared with mud and blood, Luffy patted his shriveled stomach and complained loudly.
"Who asked you to insist on having a tug-of-war with that giant tiger? You should have just knocked it out with your pipe." Ace, shirtless and gripping a lead pipe, shot Luffy a dirty look.
"The tiger pelt can probably sell for 20,000 Beri. The boar meat is around 5,000. This Sea King is more valuable; it should fetch about 100,000. It's no use, Ace. We've hunted for three days and three nights, and the total isn't even 300,000 Beri." Sabo, dressed in his ragged noble attire and wearing a top hat with goggles, was seriously calculating on a broken abacus. The more he calculated, the deeper his frown grew.
"That Blake guy is way too shady! The cheapest low-tier dungeon ticket is a million Beri! WHERE THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO ROB THAT MUCH MONEY!?" Ace scratched his head in frustration.
"Since we can't afford it, let's just go beg Boss Blake! If worse comes to worst, I'll trade my most precious treasure for it!" Luffy suddenly jumped up, planting his hands on his hips and loudly declaring his master plan. He reached up and carefully patted the straw hat on his head.
"IDIOT! THAT'S THE STRAW HAT SHANKS GAVE YOU! HOW COULD YOU TRADE THAT FOR A TICKET!?" Ace slammed a fist onto Luffy's skull.
Suddenly, the back door of the tavern was pushed open from the inside. Blake, dressed in a casual white button-up shirt, stepped out holding a freshly brewed cup of green tea. His short silver hair caught the bright sunlight. Glancing at the mountainous pile of animal corpses, Blake clicked his tongue in disgust.
"You three brats are making trash at my back door again. Makino just cleaned this alley yesterday."
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