On the sea, aboard the Custody Unit warship.
In his room, Roy's face still held a look of pleasant surprise.
"Five hundred million Belly is enough for me to enhance a top-tier Logia Devil Fruit to LV2."
"And the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Model: Pteranodon... this is a huge gain."
He looked at the brand-new fruit displayed on the Fruit Encyclopedia's screen of light, muttering to himself.
Yes, he was very satisfied with the results of his first illegal operation.
An income of five hundred million Belly was enough for him to perform his first fruit enhancement.
And in this regard, Roy's target was a Logia fruit.
Because he had long coveted the elementalization ability of Logia fruits—even if a LV2 Logia Devil Fruit only had partial elementalization ability, it was enough for him to roam freely in the first half of the Grand Line.
As for the Pteranodon fruit, that was an unexpectedly huge gain.
Coincidentally, he knew of a similar fruit.
That was the 'Drought' King, one of the All-Stars under 'Kaido of the Beasts', one of the Four Emperors who currently ruled the seas and the Grand Line's number one gold-medal lecturer.
This great pirate with a bounty of 1.39 billion Belly had consumed the 'Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Model: Pteranodon'.
And the fruit Roy had obtained was clearly of the same type as his.
"Although a large part of King's combat power comes from his status as a Lunarian survivor, there's no doubt... the powerful physique and vitality unique to the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, combined with the Pteranodon's flight ability and high mobility, this Pteranodon fruit is a top-tier item even among Zoan types!"
"Especially for me, it's even more significant."
Roy was very clear on this point.
If it were before, obtaining this fruit would have made him happy, but not this excited.
But now, the situation was different.
Because at this moment, Roy already had an extremely bold plan in his mind.
"Arashit Island."
Roy whispered the name of this port. "Heavenly Gold... with the Nismael Kingdom's financial resources, it should be an extremely exaggerated amount, right?"
That's right.
After realizing that Arashit Island was the storage location for the Heavenly Gold, a thought had inevitably formed in Roy's mind.
One must know that as the annual 'tribute' offered to the Celestial Dragons, the value of the Heavenly Gold was an incredibly exaggerated figure.
A superpower like Alabasta, which lacked neither land nor resources, was said to submit a full ten billion in Heavenly Gold each year.
Of course, with such a huge amount of wealth at stake, the World Government naturally had sufficient security measures for the 'Heavenly Gold'.
First, the location of the Heavenly Gold's transport was a top secret for each country and was almost never known to others.
Second, each country's Heavenly Gold had dedicated government and Marine generals responsible for its escort. The transport route was in the Calm Belt, and the nearby sea areas would be under martial law, with no other ships allowed to enter.
Third, any criminal who attempted to seize the Heavenly Gold would be regarded as an enemy of the World Government, and all the treasures of the Heavenly Gold had a special 'Hoof of the Celestial Dragon' mark. Once used, the person would be wanted by the World Government and hunted by the Marines.
Therefore, in the past few decades, incidents of plundering the Heavenly Gold have been extremely rare.
The only one who succeeded was not even after the Heavenly Gold itself.
But for Roy, he couldn't help but be tempted.
He already knew the storage location of the Heavenly Gold.
He wasn't afraid of being wanted by the World Government—after all, it would only be his Slice Clone that was wanted.
And more importantly, after obtaining the Pteranodon fruit, the martial law in the surrounding sea areas was no longer a problem for him.
"I'll do it!"
Roy had already made up his mind—he was going to do this job!
But the only problem now was...
"The Slice Clone's ability must be refreshed by the main body's touch."
"I have to meet the clone again—his current abilities are not enough to seize the Heavenly Gold."
Roy came to this conclusion in his mind.
But it was obviously not easy to do—after a night of sailing, he was now hundreds of nautical miles away from Master Port. It was impossible to cross such a long distance with Moonwalk.
But Roy was not anxious, just waiting quietly.
Because if he wasn't mistaken, the opportunity to return to Master Port would come soon.
And soon enough...
"Sir! Sir!"
Hans's voice came from outside the door.
"What is it?"
So, Roy thought to himself, as expected.
"It's a communication from Headquarters, from Vice Admiral Byros."
"Oh?"
Roy said "oh," then opened the door.
As expected, Hans was holding a 'Buru Buru' sounding Transponder Snail.
So, Roy naturally took the Transponder Snail. "Hello? Old man, it's me."
Then, he heard Vice Admiral Byros's low voice. "Roy, my boy, how far are you from the G-51 Branch now?"
"About 700 nautical miles?" Roy frowned and said softly, "What's wrong?"
"Not long after you left, something happened at the G-51 Branch."
Vice Admiral Byros's tone was very serious. "The branch commander, Captain Aster, was killed in the line of duty, and that royal steward and his guards from the Nismael Kingdom were also all killed."
"What!?"
Roy's frown deepened, and he said in a shocked voice, "How could such a thing happen?"
"According to the marines' report, a criminal took the Nismael Kingdom's merchant ship and drew away most of the marine forces. And just as the marines were about to catch him, he deliberately ignited the fuel on the ship and sank into the sea with it."
"When the marines returned to the branch, they found Captain Aster's body."
Vice Admiral Byros said in a deep voice, "Roy, my boy, you understand what this means, right?"
What did it mean?
It meant that kid Alan did a good job.
Roy thought to himself.
That's right—what Vice Admiral Byros was talking about now was one of the things Roy had asked Alan to do.
In order to infiltrate the Marine branch, he needed Alan to take the merchant ship to attract the attention of most of the marine forces, while also provoking Steward Mantar and Captain Aster to go to the place where the treasure was stored.
And as a user of the Slice-Slice Fruit, Alan only needed to sacrifice that clone of his at the end to complete this perfect diversion!
It seemed now that Alan had perfectly completed the task Roy had given him.
But it was clear that Vice Admiral Byros did not know what Roy was thinking at this moment.
Without waiting for Roy's reply, he directly gave his conclusion. "This was a premeditated attack. The criminal who took the merchant ship was just a pawn..."
He paused here.
And hearing this, Roy said without hesitation, "Sir, I request to return to Master Port immediately—it's been less than a day since the attack, the criminal is likely still there... Someone is needed there to command the search."
"In addition, according to what you said—I believe the criminal I am escorting is very likely related to this attack, so I will have Hans and the others continue to escort him back to headquarters. I will return to Master Port alone on an emergency barge!"
He said this with a face full of righteousness, under the shocked and admiring gazes of Hans and Fal.
And it wasn't just them; even Vice Admiral Byros on the other end of the Transponder Snail was silent for a moment.
In fact, this was also the intention of the headquarters' higher-ups.
This attack was extremely vicious, and the criminal was likely still near Master Port.
With Captain Aster killed in the line of duty, the G-51 Branch urgently needed someone to take charge.
And in the nearby sea, the highest-ranking Marine officer closest to Master Port was Roy.
But...
"Roy, my boy, you should understand—the enemy is definitely not simple."
"If you go back now... it will be very dangerous."
His voice was very heavy.
So, the other marines on the warship also showed worried expressions.
They also understood—a criminal who had the guts to attack a Marine branch and kill a Marine Captain and a royal steward of a World Government member nation was definitely a vicious and desperate character.
But...
"For the sake of justice, I am willing to face danger!"
They only heard Roy's righteous reply.
And so, the marines' eyes were almost moist.
After hearing this, Vice Admiral Byros also said, "In that case... then you go."
"When you return to headquarters this time, this old man will commend you for your merits."
After saying that, he was silent for another moment.
Then, he said softly.
"For justice."