After a long time, a twisted yet relieved smile slowly appeared on Redfield's pale and proud face.
"To think such an interesting monster would appear in the Marines..."
He struggled, leaning on his broken umbrella handle to stand up. Though he was wobbly, his spine remained straight.
"Ten years in exchange for immortality..."
"This deal is a bargain."
[Ding! Detected that the host not only released a legendary pirate without authorization but also reached a filthy dark deal with him, attempting to artificially create a monster-level combatant with eternal life!]
[This behavior seriously violates the highest principles of the "Marine Justice Code" and may even lead to a huge deviation in the future timeline!]
[Obtained Violation Points: 100,000!]
[Violation Points: 501,800]
Listening to the cold mechanical congratulations in his mind, the smile on the corner of Tatsuki's lips was three times more evil than Redfield's.
He strode forward, grabbed Redfield's blood-stained hand, and shook it vigorously.
"Welcome to the G-5 family, Redfield. From today on, you are our base's specially appointed 'off-staff personnel'."
"Additionally, since you've joined, pay your entry fee first."
Tatsuki spread his palm, looking completely natural. "Your ship is gone, but I see those gem rings on your hand are quite valuable. Let's use them to offset part of the interest first."
Redfield: "..."
Sakazuki: "..."
At this moment, Redfield, a legend, developed deep doubts about his next ten years.
—
Having dealt with Redfield, Tatsuki looked around.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but devastation.
The G-5 Branch, which was originally the gateway to the New World, was now a pile of fragmented construction debris, along with those twelve brand-new warships. Half of it sank silently into the pitch-black seabed, while the other half was frozen atop the vast ice field created by Kuzan.
"Ara ara... this is going to be a problem."
Kuzan scratched his fluffy curly hair, looking at the massive ice field he had personally created, his face full of distress.
"Now we don't even have a place to drink tea. Our salaries will probably be docked until the next century, right?" Borsalino pushed up his sunglasses, sighing in his uniquely lewd tone.
Sakazuki had a dark expression.
The base was gone, and the warships were gone.
How was he supposed to carry out his Absolute Justice on this sea of sin?
The G-5 soldiers, like a group of abandoned orphans, stood blankly on the endless ice, looking at each other in bewilderment.
Their home was gone.
What was more important than their home being gone... was that the toll booth that could pay them and let them live like human beings in the New World was gone.
"Bastard!!!"
An earth-shattering roar made the entire ice field tremble.
Tatsuki's eyes were bloodshot, and his whole body emitted a terrifying, tyrannical aura.
It wasn't battle intent.
It wasn't killing intent.
It was... heartache from the deepest part of his soul.
That was the 'New World's Number One Toll Booth' he had worked so hard to establish. It was his maritime money-printing machine. It was his future private vault.
And it was just gone like that?!
What was the difference between this and burning money right in front of his face?!
"Tatsuki, calm down, it's just a base..." Kuzan wanted to step forward and offer a few words of advice.
"Shut up!"
"This isn't a base!"
"This is money! It's my money! It's all of our money!"
Tatsuki pointed at the ruins, roaring in grief and indignation, "Do you know how much 'Justice Maintenance Tax' we missed out on during this day and night of fighting?!"
"One hundred million?! Or one billion?!"
Sakazuki: "..."
Kuzan: "..."
Borsalino: "..."
Looking at the frenzied Tatsuki, the three of them wisely chose to remain silent.
After venting for a while, Tatsuki's breathing gradually calmed down, but the fierce light in his eyes grew even more intense.
"It seems it's time to find a new home."
Tatsuki had someone bring a huge sea chart of the New World and spread it on the ice.
"Where to?" Sakazuki walked over with a grim face. "The territory in the New World has long been carved up by those great pirates. Stepping foot anywhere will only trigger an all-out war."
"War?"
Tatsuki let out a cold laugh, his long fingers slowly tracing across the cold sea chart.
"Sakazuki, you need to understand one thing. We are the war."
His finger finally stopped at a point.
It was a deserted island that didn't even have a name on the chart, located a hundred nautical miles further into the New World from the original site of the G-5 Branch.
"Right here." Tatsuki's fingertip pressed down firmly.
The three leaned in.
"Punk Hazard?" Kuzan raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a deserted island with no magnetic field? There's nothing there but a bunch of primitive jungles."
"It doesn't have anything now, but that doesn't mean it won't later."
In Tatsuki's eyes, a light called ambition flickered. Only he knew how important a strategic heart this godforsaken island would be in the future.
It guarded several key routes at the entrance of the New World, it would be the World Government's future research base, and most importantly... it had no magnetic field, was naturally hidden, and it was far enough from Mary Geoise and far enough from Marineford.
"Build a base here?" Borsalino rubbed his chin, his eyes narrowing slightly behind his lenses. "That sounds like it would cost a lot of money."
At the mention of money, the heroic atmosphere from a moment ago instantly collapsed.
The expression on Tatsuki's face froze.
He remembered the fifty billion Berries he had gotten from the Germa treasury. Originally, he intended to use this money as secret funds to purchase Devil Fruits on the black market to arm his direct troops.
But if he were to build from the ground up on a godforsaken place like Punk Hazard, and build it into a war fortress that would break two of Roger's teeth if he came...
Fifty billion?
That was a drop in the bucket.
The maintenance fee for Marineford alone was millions of Berries a year, let alone building a super fortress from scratch that could house tens of thousands of elites.
He also had to buy equipment, conduct research, poach Vegapunk, and raise private soldiers.
Money!
It was still goddamn money!