After all, Whitebeard's might dominated the New World. How could he possibly allow someone else to become Pirate King and stand above him?
That was why the fourth Road Poneglyph had to be in Whitebeard's possession. He was keeping it under his control so no one else could obtain it.
And after Whitebeard's death, Blackbeard, the one most familiar with Whitebeard's territory and the one who aspired to the Pirate King's throne, would naturally get his hands on that Road Poneglyph.
As for the tournament three years ago, Catarina Devon ultimately relied on the power of her Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Nine Tailed Fox to edge out Crocodile.
However, it was later said that while she was carrying the Snake-Snake Fruit, Model: Yamata no Orochi on the road, she was ambushed by the Marines. She was defeated and captured, and the Snake-Snake Fruit, Model: Yamata no Orochi in her possession vanished without a trace.
As for Crocodile, since he had actually lost the match, how could he still have the face to go before the Thunder Emperor and ask for anything?
So, filled with unwillingness, he left Raijin Island alone.
As for the Marines and the World Government, they regarded the Thunder God Pirates as a grave threat. They planted quite a few spies throughout the Raijin Sea and the New World.
In order to deal with Roy, they were even willing to secretly use certain underworld transactions to send supplies to the Big Mom Pirates, using them to restrain the Thunder God Pirates.
Tom and his two apprentices, meanwhile, were living very happily on Raijin Island.
Aside from being responsible for the Raijin's daily maintenance, they also rebuilt Tom's Workers, which became highly respected in the island's ship-repair and shipbuilding industry.
And because Tom was always by their side, personally teaching them, Cutty Flam and Iceburg's shipbuilding skills progressed rapidly.
Roy did not go back on his word either. He found Tom a great deal of useful information for building the sea train.
Kokoro-baa-san also came through the underwater Fish-Man Island and brought her family back to Tom.
Speaking of Fish-Man Island, Queen Otohime and King Neptune were extremely grateful to Roy.
Over these three years, they had lived very happily on Punk Hazard—no, on the current Fish-Man Island.
Especially when they bathed beneath true sunlight rather than the sunlight brought down by the Sunlight Tree Eve, they felt moved from the bottom of their hearts.
Because of this, more and more Fish-Men joined the Thunder God Pirates, becoming a large fighting force.
And because the Thunder God Pirates had long been famous, they also attracted many people who wanted to join.
Regular crewmen were still acceptable, but as for subordinate captains and the like, after passing through examinations conducted by Tamago and the others, those who could truly be accepted by the Thunder God Pirates were few and far between.
They were the world's number-one pirate crew now, so their standards for the quality of their subordinates were extremely high.
The old Fish-Man Island deep beneath the sea had already completely become a toll checkpoint. Although most pirates chose to pay Berries, some Devil Fruits were still collected.
And because of this checkpoint, the Thunder God Pirates' finances had always remained very abundant.
Therefore, through Kuma's introductions, Laffitte became acquainted with Dragon and secretly provided him with financial support.
Allowing the Revolutionary Army to grow stronger and restrain the World Government was exactly what Laffitte wanted to see.
Dragon was also very pleased with the support. The two of them became firm allies who trusted each other.
Aside from administrative matters, everyone's strength was also steadily rising.
Daz Bonez and Chalcis could spar with Mihawk. Gin, Burgess, and Jinbe could spar with King and Queen.
While developing their respective abilities, they also cultivated Haki. Their strength had gradually become worthy of their positions as division commanders.
In any case, the Thunder God Pirates already dominated the New World. As long as they did not cross the line and court death—for example, by killing one of Whitebeard's sons—life like this was actually quite peaceful.
Whitebeard was busy taking in sons, and Charlotte Linlin was busy giving birth to children, so the waves of the sea were, for the most part, not especially turbulent.
Aside from a few reckless fools who did not understand how terrifying the situation was and caused trouble at the Fish-Man Island sea-route checkpoint, most matters were quickly settled by Kasta and Chalcis.
As a result, Blackbeard, who had recently joined the Thunder God Pirates, sadly discovered that because no one was causing trouble, he had not earned much merit either, causing his contribution score to accumulate abnormally slowly.
However, he was quite enthusiastic about escorting the Devil Fruits paid by pirates at the underwater Fish-Man Island checkpoint back to Raijin Island.
While he was at it, he could identify whether there were any traces of the Dark-Dark Fruit among them. Although he was disappointed again and again, he never tired of it.
After all, he was now part of the world's strongest pirate crew. If the Thunder Emperor wanted to overthrow the World Government, then even if he was not the final victor, he could at least share in the spoils, right?
If he could not find the Dark-Dark Fruit even in the Thunder God Pirates, then that would truly mean his fate was simply like this.
Over these three years, aside from Laffitte and the others disturbing Roy for urgent matters, Roy spent the rest of his time training seriously.
However, the path to achieving Super Saiyan 3 was somewhat difficult.
In Dragon Ball, Vegeta trained persistently for seven years and still did not reach the realm of Super Saiyan 3.
As for Son Goku, he had been in the afterlife, where he could exchange ideas with numerous martial arts masters, and even then, it took him seven years to barely break through to Super Saiyan 3.
From this, one could see just how difficult it was to break through to Super Saiyan 3.
Even with Roy's talent, it still took him a full three years to barely succeed.
After successfully reaching the realm of Super Saiyan 3, Roy, who had sat in seclusion for years, finally felt the urge to move after so much stillness and could not help wanting to go out for a walk.
"A World Government spy was caught?" Roy looked at Laffitte. "Can't you handle a minor matter like that yourselves? Why do you need to ask me?"
Over these years, Roy knew that the World Government had constantly planted spies and agents on Raijin Island.
However, whenever those agents were caught, were they not usually handed over to Delro and the others to be dealt with directly?
Why had they come specifically to report this one to him?
"Yohohoho, Captain, this agent is different. This one is a CP0 agent."
Laffitte spoke with a smile, and a strange gleam flashed in his eyes.
"A CP0 agent? So what? It's not as if you haven't killed them before."
"But this one is different, Captain. This agent's identity is very special."
Roy stared carefully at Laffitte. Laffitte looked completely open and composed.
"Since you say he's special, then I'll see just how special this agent is. I'll meet him."
"Yohohohoho, Captain, trust me. You absolutely won't be disappointed."
(End of Chapter)
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