The area near Mary Geoise is now under martial law, and any unidentified ships approaching are sunk on sight. The CP0 agent managed to seize a pirate ship, wisely changing its flag, but still faced an attack.
He didn't understand why, but every Radio Snail near him inexplicably malfunctioned, and one even died in his hand.
When he tried to signal with flags, the flagpole inexplicably broke, and when using sign language, unexpected sea fog appeared. Then, when he attempted a swift landing by abandoning ship, Akainu attacked.
The orders he received were to eliminate any suspicious vessels and ensure the absolute security of Mary Geoise, so his actions against the CP0 agent were completely in line with those orders.
...
"Mr. Tesoro, that guy is dead, the cause of death... I'm not sure about it."
The luck from the Luck-Luck Fruit is borrowed, although it can be consumed, if the original owner of the luck dies before it runs out, then the luck borrowed by Baccarat will also disappear.
She hadn't used the luck she plucked from that CP0 agent, yet the stored luck abruptly vanished. This could only mean one thing—the provider of the luck had already died.
The Luck-Luck Fruit, to some extent, follows a conservation principle; where someone is fortunate, someone else has to be unfortunate. Now that the unfortunate person is gone, the luck naturally also leaves.
She had attempted something similar before, but never at this magnitude. This level of ill-fate-induced death couldn't be achieved by a simple touch; long-term contact was required to accomplish this.
The practical application value in direct combat is low, but for assassinations, this ability is first-class useful.
The death of that CP0 agent left the World Government's subsequent investigation in disarray. While they couldn't believe Tesoro wasn't involved, it was indeed Akainu who ultimately caused the agent's death, and subsequent investigators found no clues.
If they had to give a reason, it was pure bad luck. They couldn't fathom someone being so incredibly unlucky.
If Tesoro truly orchestrated this, they'd want to invite him to teach them a thing or two; this was just about the perfect assassination.
Even seasoned CP0 agents wouldn't dare claim they could execute something so flawless.
Nobody knew what exactly happened at Tesoro's place, but the CP0 agent on Stella's side also vanished without a trace, acted upon by those two Dragonites.
Given the subsequent reactions, Tesoro was furious, and this led the World Government to slightly adjust its future plans in preparation for the changes ahead.
The Sea has been particularly turbulent lately, with numerous new pirate arrivals across the Four Seas, and the situation in the New World growing increasingly bizarre.
According to Navy intelligence, shortly after the meeting between Kaidou and Red Hair concluded, Red Hair seemed to be attempting contact with Whitebeard, leading to suspicions that these Sea Emperors were plotting some grand conspiracy.
In fact, it wasn't just the Navy; even Charlotte Linlin was a bit at a loss, as if what these three men were doing was excluding her entirely.
...
The external changes didn't affect the Four Emperors' headquarters.
Whitebeard's home remained as peaceful as ever, and Charlotte Linlin hadn't had an episode of anorexia nervosa lately. Nothing unruly had erupted on Cake Island, and Red Hair was holding his regular feasts, protecting his horde of old, weak, sick, and disabled pirate crews underneath him.
The changes within Wano Kuni weren't small either, for example, King and Drake were gradually taking over other tasks.
With Kozuki Hiyori's shift in mindset, the positions of Drake and King were starting to become somewhat redundant; nowadays, just one Greninja at the Flower Capital Palace was enough to handle things.
King hadn't shown up here for a while, which was for the best for Kozuki Hiyori, as King had terrorized her quite a bit in the past, with his mask being synonymous with terror to her.
Drake, however, didn't go out much, instead waiting for his delivery.
"Thank you, I'll treat you to something once you have some downtime."
Receiving the package delivered by Dragonite, Drake instinctively made a promise to treat, casually adding another entry into his ledger.
Her ledger was unique—where others only recorded past debts, Drake often listed those who planned to borrow as well, a kind of alternative advance mechanism.
Since Dragonite posts became prevalent within the Hundred Beasts, Drake's parcels became the most numerous, and that exclusive unlimited black card had helped her quite a lot, at least making her life much more comfortable.
This latest parcel contained a lot of camping gear, as she planned to go out for a vacation soon.
As an expert in debt, Drake seldom took time off because whenever she was idle, she'd spend. Taking too many vacations might disrupt the balance between borrowing and repaying, a situation only alleviated last time when she received a significant bonus from finding the plate.
Even though she wasn't one capable of saving money, she currently had a relatively affluent situation, planning to have some fun with little Kikunojo.
...
"Lady Hiyori, I must temporarily leave Wano Kuni for a while, please take care of your health."
Inside the Flower Capital Palace, Kikunojo was taking leave of Kozuki Hiyori. This was an initial agreement; Drake would take care of Kojiki Hiyori scaling the Holy Mountain, while Kikunojo provided some terms in return, though Drake had not yet cashed in, planning to use it at an appropriate place.
Recently, while no new tasks were on the horizon, she was planning a proper vacation to unwind, just timely spending the favor owed by Kikunojo, seeing this as an opportunity to strengthen their bond.
Two people going out alone inevitably encountered some interesting things.
"Go ahead; there's no need to report such minor matters to me."
The somewhat indifferent Kozuki Hiyori, reveling in the privileges of a General, responded offhandedly.
"Oh, by the way, here's something I've compiled for you. If you plan to go out and have fun, perhaps you could check it out beforehand."
After some thought, Kozuki Hiyori handed Kikunojo something resembling a travel guide. With her change in mindset, the Hundred Beasts had gradually expanded her latitude, allowing her to learn more about the outside world, including some famous tourist islands.
This was part of her plan to visit various places, though as a General of Wano Kuni, albeit no longer confined by the Hundred Beasts, traveling freely at will wasn't simple. Now, hearing Kikunojo was heading out, she simply let him experience it instead.
"Yes! Thank you for your concern; I'll pay attention to these places."
In his bones, he still retained a loyalty to the Kozuki, believing that this peculiar travel guide was already somewhat of a "lord's boon."
After packing his belongings, he was whisked away by Drake from Wano Kuni, beginning their special journey together...