Chapter 173: The Revolutionary Army’s Visit
Dillon finished three cups of black beer, paid the bar tab exactly without any shortfall, then announced the temporary closure of Spider Bar. There was no choice; the bar’s signboard girl was off duty. Not only was the signboard missing, but most of the waitstaff had been taken away too. The shop owner alone couldn’t manage it.
Fortunately, the bar had only been open for a little over a month, and there weren’t too many regular customers, so this sudden closure wouldn’t have much impact.
Besides, the people in the bar weren’t relying on it for their livelihood anyway.
Spider Bar was just their personal hobby.
As former high-ranking agents of Baroque Works, now defected to Eckmond Kingdom, His Highness Elus certainly wouldn’t let this group idle away their days. Among the nine, eight were ability users, and there was also one Devil Fruit weapon.
Devil Fruit weapons were no longer rare for His Highness Elus.
However, among these eight ability users, a few had quite impressive abilities that, if used well, could provide him with significant assistance.
That’s right—this Spider Bar, which had opened not long ago on Sokachio Avenue, was the gathering place for the former high-ranking agents of Baroque Works.
Shop owner Bora, this busty woman whose codename in Baroque Works was Miss Doublefinger, was a Thorn-Thorn Fruit ability user; signboard girl Mikita, codename Miss Valentine’s Day, was a Weight-Weight Fruit ability user; the bar’s painter Marian, the underage girl with codename Miss Goldenweek, was an Emotion Fruit ability user······
Having come to the unfamiliar land of Eckmond Kingdom, the high-ranking agents of Baroque Works naturally banded together.
They had already learned on the way here what kind of dragon’s den and tiger’s lair the New World was.
Without banding together, survival here might not be possible.
————
“Your target this time is the Sassoon Pirates.” The fleet of over a dozen warships set sail, and in the flagship’s bridge, Dillon was explaining the mission details to the people in front of him. “The Sassoon Pirates have been roaming the New World for over two years and have always been sensible, never provoking enemies they couldn’t handle. But this time, who knows what got into them—they attacked our Eckmond Kingdom’s transport ship.”
“Your mission is to wipe out the Sassoon Pirates. If you can investigate the reason why they suddenly went mad and attacked the transport ship, that would be even better, but it’s not required. The top priority is still to exterminate this pirate crew.”
As he spoke, an adjutant distributed the prepared documents to everyone.
The participants in this operation were five people: former codename Mr. 1, Daz Bones, eater of the Chop-Chop Fruit, who could turn any part of his body into blades and carried a bounty as high as 75 million Beli; codename Mr. 2, the okama Bon Clay, Clone-Clone Fruit ability user, who could transform into anyone he had memorized, including their face, body, and voice, with a bounty of 32 million Beli;
Next was Mr. 3, Galdino, Wax-Wax Fruit ability user. His 24 million Beli bounty wasn’t high, but his ability was quite excellent.
And then Miss Valentine’s Day, Miss Mikita, whose Weight-Weight Fruit ability could change her own weight······ Her combat power was subtle, and how effectively this ability could be used depended entirely on the ability user’s skill. Unfortunately, Miss Mikita’s talent didn’t seem very high; her 7.5 million Beli bounty said it all.
In comparison, her former partner Mr. 5, now Spider Bar’s firefighter, the man whose real name was Berenice, had an easier-to-control fruit ability. He was a Bomb-Bomb Fruit ability user; any part of his body could explode, making it a fruit ability with extremely high practical combat power.
Even though Mr. Berenice hadn’t developed the potential of the Bomb-Bomb Fruit very well, his 10 million Beli bounty was truly regrettable.
Fortunately,
His fruit ability was easier to develop than the Weight-Weight Fruit.
After arriving in Eckmond Kingdom, this past month wasn’t spent just working at the bar every day. Besides relaxing at the bar, His Highness Elus had arranged for several older retired soldiers from the army to train these high-ranking agents whose skills were mediocre.
The retired soldiers, masters of Armament Haki, beat the high-ranking agents black and blue, making them deeply realize once again that losing to Dillon wasn’t because Dillon was too strong, but because they were too weak. In the New World, where Armament Haki was almost commonplace, without it or some special unique skill, it was hard to get by.
Girls like Miss Goldenweek who were well-liked were ultimately the minority.
Of course, the best training was actual combat, and this time it was live combat training.
“Listen up, the Sassoon Pirates aren’t very strong. Only two have bounties over 100 million, only three over 50 million, and the rest are all small fry. You’re small fry too, so it’s an even match, equally matched····· I hope you bring me good news, not bad news.”
“Bonis, Bon Clay, you two lead the teams. Figure out the details yourselves. I have another mission.” In the end, after naming Daz Bones and Bon Clay, Dillon washed his hands of it and became a hands-off boss.
Anyway,
With Daz Bones and Bon Clay there, even if their former boss Crocodile showed up, he wouldn’t get any advantage.
On the way back to Eckmond from Alabasta, Dillon had some free time and guided the most battle-hungry Daz Bones in training Armament Haki. As the well-deserved No. 1 among the group, Daz Bones had good talent and a deep foundation; it was just the environment in Alabasta that had limited his growth.
After Dillon’s appearance cleared the confusion from his path, Daz Bones spent a month and a half to finally break through and grasp Armament Haki. It was only initial mastery, and his application was still crude, but combined with his fruit ability, his combat power had risen dramatically.
And Bon Clay, this perverted okama was also something else. Just a week later than Daz Bones, he also grasped Armament Haki. Paired with his sharp and ruthless kicking techniques, his combat power was quite outstanding.
Besides,
This group was different from ordinary rookies. As high-ranking agents of Baroque Works, they didn’t lack combat experience; it was just that the overall environment had limited them, making their strength too poor. As long as their strength shortcomings were addressed, these guys could be put to good use.
“I hope you don’t disappoint His Highness’s expectations.”
After saying the last words, Dillon turned to handle another mission, leaving the space here to Bonis and the others.
“Sassoon Pirates, Captain ‘Poet’ Sassoon, bounty 120 million Beli. This is my prey.” Daz Bones pressed a bounty poster under his palm, thus opening the discussion.
————
Leaving aside the Spider Bar group’s pirate hunting situation, His Highness Elus received an unexpected guest in a secret villa outside the royal palace.
“······Transplant an arm? That’s not a simple matter.” His Highness Elus stared at the man in the dark green trench coat among the three sitting opposite him. “Your Excellency Dragon, according to what you said, Mr. Sabo’s arm has been completely incinerated. Transplanting someone else’s arm would likely affect Mr. Sabo’s future.”
Sitting opposite His Highness Elus were the Revolutionary Army leader Monkey D. Dragon, as well as rising stars Sabo and Koala.
However,
This rising star of the Revolutionary Army, Sabo, now had an empty right sleeve dangling at his side. He had lost his arm. To seize the Devil Child, he had taken Akainu’s Magma Fist head-on. In the end, though he managed to grab Nico Robin, he paid the heavy price of one arm.
This was no minor injury.
Without his dominant right arm, his proud Dragon Claw Fist, executed with only the left hand, had greatly reduced power. His full strength was now only two or three tenths of before. On this cruel sea where struggle was fierce, without strength, his so-called ideals and aspirations would become empty talk.
Even a monster like Zephyr had his combat power greatly diminished after losing one arm.
“I understand. Our Revolutionary Army has biologists too. I don’t fully grasp the issue of cell rejection, but I know arm transplants aren’t something that can be done casually.” Dragon’s attitude was composed.
“Since Your Excellency Dragon knows the difficulties involved but still made this request······ there must be another reason?” His Highness Elus picked up his cup, blew on it; the coffee milk in the cup was a bit hot. “If you have any ideas, just say them straight! For the sake of our past pleasant cooperation, as long as it’s within my capabilities, I’ll seriously consider it.”
“Your kingdom’s Artificial Dragon technology.”
An unrelated term that came out of Dragon’s mouth.
But His Highness Elus’s brow twitched slightly, faintly understanding the intent of these three from the Revolutionary Army. This was······ interesting!
Sure enough,
The next moment, Dragon’s words confirmed His Highness Elus’s guess.
“From our Revolutionary Army biologists’ analysis of the Artificial Dragon technology, your kingdom has reached an extremely high level in biotechnology, and your kingdom has an alliance with Jermma Kingdom. I wonder······ if your kingdom could use Sabo’s own cells to cultivate a new arm for him?”
After speaking, Dragon sat quietly, waiting.
Sabo sat beside him, eyes resolute, expression calm, but his left hand gripping his knee betrayed his tension. As for Koala······ she was even more nervous than the person involved, Sabo; her expectant expression was clear even to the blind from her erratic breathing.
His Highness Elus held his cup, eyes on the coffee milk inside.
But his thoughts had already wandered far away.
Dragon’s request······ he had thought of it before. After recruiting Miss Bakin, he had considered using artificial human cultivation technology to restore Zephyr’s severed arm, but Zephyr refused and chose to return to the Navy, openly using Navy technology to make himself a mechanical arm.
So His Highness Elus had temporarily shelved the idea.
“I can’t make any guarantees right now.”
His Highness Elus thought for a moment and didn’t reject Dragon’s request.
First, he had some interest in the idea himself, but Zephyr’s refusal left him without a suitable research subject. After all, the gap between people in this world was huge. Just looking at the resource difference in creating artificial humans from different people’s cells showed that healing limb defects for strong people was no easy task.
For experts at Zephyr’s level, even if a clone could be cultivated, whether it could reach Zephyr’s standard was unknown.
He looked at Dragon and said seriously: “I’ve considered what you mentioned before. If we could heal disabilities for warriors injured on the battlefield, it would undoubtedly be a good thing. However, I haven’t pushed forward related experimental research so far, so even my scientists probably couldn’t guarantee what could be achieved.”
“Mr. Sabo is young but already very strong. Even if the transplant succeeds······ it would still be hard to compare to the original arm. Of course, this is just my speculation; the specifics would need expert judgment. But given our cooperative relationship, some things need to be said upfront.”
“Your Highness Elus, please rest assured. I’ve prepared myself mentally for this. Even if it ultimately fails, I can accept it. This is my personal matter and absolutely won’t affect the cooperation between Eckmond Kingdom and our Revolutionary Army.” Sabo interrupted Dragon, his resolute will clear to anyone.
“Sabo.”
Koala’s eyes were full of unease and concern.
“Transplant failure doesn’t matter, but please ensure Sabo’s safety as much as possible. This isn’t a request from the Revolutionary Army leader, but a personal commission from Monkey D. Dragon. Your Highness Elus, I know this is rude, but I still have to shamelessly ask you to ensure Sabo’s safety.” Dragon lowered his head, sincerely making the request for his valued disciple.
“Mr. Dragon.”
“Teacher.”
This time, Sabo didn’t call him “Mr. Dragon” like Koala did, but with red eyes used the title “Teacher.”
“······Ah! You guys are making me feel like the villain here.” His Highness Elus smiled helplessly and teased himself. He looked at the three in front of him. “Rest assured! The danger isn’t that great. At worst, the transplant fails; it’s not that easy to die.”
“Moreover, compared to that, Mr. Dragon, advancing related experiments will disrupt the original research plans······”
The smile on His Highness Elus’s face was meaningful.
Eckmond Kingdom and the Revolutionary Army were partners.
And only partners; their relationship wasn’t close enough for His Highness Elus to provide free help.
“How about Devil Fruits? I personally have a few in my collection. If not enough······” Dragon fell into thought, pondering what reward would satisfy His Highness Elus.
