To Roy's surprise.
After carrying his precious 'life source' back to his dormitory, he actually received a message from Vice Admiral Byros wanting to see him, just as Hina had said.
And when Roy curiously arrived at Vice Admiral Byros's office, he saw the usually unrestrained Vice Admiral looking at something on his desk with a rare, serious expression.
"Roy, my boy, you're back?"
"Yes, I haven't had a chance to report to you yet."
Roy nodded. "Sorry, I couldn't find any trace of the attacker at Master Port..."
He said the obvious—leading a search for 'Rooster' at Master Port, it would be a miracle if he found anything.
"It's alright. Not finding anything might be a good thing."
Vice Admiral Byros waved his hand upon hearing this. "This incident... the situation is far more complicated than we anticipated."
"Oh?"
Roy feigned curiosity. "What happened?"
"Have a seat first. This is one of the things I called you here to talk about."
Vice Admiral Byros said seriously, "You and your subordinates were also involved in this incident... so I must tell you some of the things we've discovered."
"Oh?"
Roy became even more 'curious'. "Tell me more."
"First, about the attacker who stole the Heavenly Gold."
Vice Admiral Byros said in a deep voice as he picked up something from his desk and showed it to Roy.
And then, Roy saw it.
"A wanted poster?"
It was a wanted poster.
The center of the wanted poster, unusually, had no photograph, but a drawing. The drawing showed a tall figure with dragon scales on his neck, wearing a rooster mask.
And on the wanted poster, it was written...
[WANTED]
[DEAD OR ALIVE]
[Rooster]
[Belly - 170,000,000]
"One hundred and seventy million Belly?"
This number greatly surprised Roy.
Because one must know, this was a first-time bounty.
And for a first-time bounty, even two of the current Four Emperors—Big Mom and Kaido—were only given bounties of 50,000,000 Belly and 70,000,000 Belly respectively.
The figure of one hundred and seventy million was truly astonishing.
"It can't be helped."
Vice Admiral Byros shook his head. "After all, this guy stole a huge amount of Heavenly Gold. The pressure from the World Government and the Nismael Kingdom is immense."
He sighed. "And, according to Lan Li, who has regained consciousness, the opponent had overwhelming power and the characteristics of a Zoan fruit, able to transform into an extremely huge ancient pterosaur."
"In addition, he believes the opponent is very likely a Mythical Zoan user—because the opponent used an ability similar to elementalization during the battle."
"Fortunately, the opponent seemed to have underestimated him. Although he pierced his abdomen with a powerful attack, he didn't manage to kill him. This is how we learned a great deal of information, including the opponent's name... 'Rooster'."
He pronounced the two somewhat awkward characters.
"Headquarters is conducting an investigation, but we haven't found any similar Devil Fruits yet."
"But if it's true as Lan Li said, that the opponent is a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit user, then just based on that fruit's ability alone, he's worth this bounty."
Hearing this, Roy seemed to find it a lot more reasonable.
But then, he asked with some 'hesitation', "A Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit! Isn't that the rarest and most powerful type of fruit? And... Rooster, that doesn't sound like a real name?"
"It's indeed not a real name!"
Upon hearing this, Vice Admiral Byros's expression became even more solemn. "This is the second piece of information I need to tell you."
"The criminal you brought back from Master Port, after interrogation by headquarters, he confessed many astonishing things."
"Among them... an organization."
As he said this, a look of 'surprise and doubt' flashed in Roy's eyes.
"An organization?"
"Yes... according to him, he comes from an organization and is a peripheral member of that organization."
"So he doesn't know the specific details. He only knows that the organization's name is—[Twelve Star Signs]."
Vice Admiral Byros pronounced these four words one by one.
"According to him, this organization has twelve high-ranking cadres and one supreme leader."
"And 'Rooster' is the codename of one of those twelve high-ranking cadres."
And so, Roy shot up from his seat and said in a shocked voice, "What!? How could this be!"
However, while displaying his Oscar-level acting skills, Roy thought to himself.
"That kid Alan is reliable after all."
That's right.
Roy was not in the least surprised by what Vice Admiral Byros was saying.
The reason was simple.
Because all of this was arranged by Roy.
He had previously asked Alan to do two things—the first was to use a clone to pilot the Nismael Kingdom's royal merchant ship away from the G-51 Branch port.
The second was to tell the Marines this 'intelligence' that Vice Admiral Byros was now relaying.
As for the reason, it was also very simple.
Roy knew very well—in order to obtain enough Belly, he would inevitably use the power of the 'Slice-Slice Fruit' to continuously create clones and earn Belly through various means.
This time, stealing the Heavenly Gold was only the first time, but it would definitely not be the last.
And wherever there is existence, there will inevitably be traces.
Therefore, to ensure that he himself was not discovered.
What Roy needed to do was to muddy the waters.
The murkier the water, the easier it would be for him to fish.
So, he had a plan long ago.
He would fabricate an organization—one that did not exist, but was destined to become famous in the future, a 'powerful organization'.
He would shift all the attention of the Marines and even the World Government to that organization, thereby concealing his own existence.
Compared to one nameless, powerful ability user after another popping up.
A 'mysterious organization' that had long existed in the shadows, plotting some conspiracy, would clearly make the World Government too busy to look elsewhere.
This Heavenly Gold robbery incident was his first attempt.
He let that Commander escape on Arashit Island and did not kill Commodore Lan Li, all in order to pass this information to the Marines.
And judging from the bounty situation and Vice Admiral Byros's current attitude—his plan was clearly very successful.
And at this moment, Vice Admiral Byros was still speaking.
"The Criminal Investigation Division is gathering intelligence about that organization, but so far they have found nothing."
He said in a deep voice.
"So they hope you can provide a detailed report on your search at Master Port, and at the same time, I need to remind you..."
He looked at Roy seriously. "That person named Alan will be imprisoned in the fifth level of Impel Down. You are not to mention any information about him in the future."
"Until the existence of that organization called 'Twelve Star Signs' is proven... all intelligence regarding this matter will be classified."
"Yes, sir!"
Roy, of course, had no objection.
He was not surprised by the Marines' judgment.
Just relying on one 'Rooster' was clearly not enough for the Marines to truly believe in the existence of the [Twelve Star Signs] organization.
And for this, he already had his next plan.
But what Roy didn't expect was.
Just when he thought everything was settled, Vice Admiral Byros's tone changed.
"In addition, I have two more things to tell you."
"The first is about your mission this time. I have already commended you to Sengoku."
As he spoke, he also took something out from his pocket.
And Roy could see at a glance that it was a shoulder insignia exclusive to commissioned officers of Commander rank or higher.
"The higher-ups believe that your initiative in taking on the role of temporary commander at Master Port was very brave, and the intelligence provided by the criminal you escorted back was also very important—so, from today onwards..."
"You are—Commander Roy!"