This gave Ren plenty of confidence to start running his money-devouring beast and lottery draws.
The one who went with Nojiko was Baccarat, who was still trying to Awaken her Luck-Luck Fruit.
Work in that area had begun shortly after the Dressrosa incident.
At present, it had already entered its final stages.
Nami remained aboard the Judgment, ready to recharge Ren at any moment while also drawing her own nautical charts.
The people of the Revolutionary Army had catered exactly to her interests and handed over a large pile of sea charts they had drawn themselves.
For Nami, who wanted to draw a map of the entire world, this was something she simply could not refuse.
Accompanying her were Vivi and a group of angels.
It was worth mentioning that because Nami was so busy, after Ren returned here, the person he saw most often was Vivi.
Punk Hazard Island above the sky island was being guarded by Zoro.
This swordsman, whose strength was second only to Ren's, was the island's guarantee against the outbreak of its many unstable factors.
For example, Sky Lord Nola, Sugar, Monet, Caesar, Bakkin, and Law, who had only just been packed up and sent over.
A portion of the angels were stationed there as well.
The projects being carried out there included artificial Devil Fruits, replication of Lunarian talents, research and development of the Kingdom of Death, and so on.
Robin was also there, handling coordination across every field.
As Crocodile's former secretary and the person who had contributed the most to Baroque Works' growth and expansion, her capabilities were beyond question.
The scope of the matters under her responsibility was also the broadest.
Contact with Stussy, communication and exchanges with the Revolutionary Army, communication and exchanges with Tesoro, preliminary preparations for various plans, news from the sea, calming internal personnel, and more.
For example, Cavendish and Urouge becoming Warlords of the Sea.
The follow-up communication on that side was being handled by Robin.
According to her report, Cavendish had become somewhat carried away, but fortunately, he still remembered the debt of having his life saved.
However, considering the worst-case scenario, Robin believed Cavendish was not suitable to be absorbed into the core team.
Urouge's performance, on the other hand, had been very good. He basically did whatever he was told and never asked anything.
According to the plan, Robin borrowed Kuma's power and delivered two scrolls to them—the same kind that had appeared during Dressrosa.
She also arranged what the two of them would need to do during the Marineford War.
Or, for another example, the arrangements regarding the defeated Perona.
This Perona, who had been brought back by Zoro, held a very special position within the team.
Simply put, she was a test subject.
Perona had quite a few Devil Fruit abilities, but in practice, the only one considered useful was her Negative Hollow.
For instance, Robin often "accidentally saw" it.
Zoro would go to Perona with a grave expression to temper and train himself, only to end up kneeling in all kinds of positions inside a small room.
Then he would say things like, "I'm sorry. I should never have been born into this world."
At times like that, Perona would laugh especially loudly, but every time, Zoro would frighten her into tears with a single look.
Occasionally, there would even be situations where Zoro held a blade to her neck and threatened her not to tell anyone.
Honestly, everyone already knew about it anyway.
In any case, Perona's Negative Hollow, a near-rule-based Devil Fruit ability that did not deal much actual damage, was the best method for members of the team to test their Haki level.
The only one who had never embarrassed himself was Ren.
After all, he had just finished fighting Kaido at the time. Later, when he tried it once, the result was that he completely ignored the Negative Hollow.
Moreover, Perona had another useful ability.
Her astral projection.
"If you don't go, we'll kill you, okay?"
Aboard the Judgment, inside the lowest-level operation preparation room.
Vivi revealed a black-bellied smile as she shook the remote control button in her hand, looking at the girl before her, who had just been delivered by the angels and was shivering all over from the cold.
The team's testing device—Perona.
It was not just Zoro. Vivi herself had also made quite a few ugly displays under the effect of Negative Hollow.
So naturally, there was a bit of malice mixed in.
"I-I know! Stop shaking that thing!"
Perona's little face crumpled as though she was about to cry. Then she slumped limply to the ground.
Her soul left her body, passed through the wall, and departed from the airspace where the Judgment was located, heading down toward the sea below.
There was a tiny dot on the surface of the sea. As the distance steadily closed,
If one's eyesight were good enough, one would discover that it was an extremely massive three-masted sailing ship.
Its bow was shaped like a whale, and its long, slender hull could accommodate thousands of people.
This gigantic ship had only one name—
The Moby Dick!
If that was not famous enough, it could be described another way.
The warship and flagship of one of the Four Emperors—Whitebeard, Edward Newgate!
'...A Four Emperor. Why do I have to go meet an existence like that?!'
Perona's spirit swallowed. The only thing accompanying her was a single Shikigami holding a letter.
She truly wanted to turn around and leave, but her body, wearing an explosive collar, was still aboard the Judgment.
'Forget it. I'll just hope that Ren guy's promise is real. As long as I finish this supposedly not-dangerous-at-all letter delivery, he'll promote me from defeated captive to D-Class Personnel.
'I don't know what D-Class Personnel means, but at least it has to be better than wearing an explosive collar, right...?'
Perona began to descend while recalling her own experiences.
It had already been some time since she was brought from Thriller Bark to this place.
As a defeated captive, she had lived for a while in a way that could not really be called good, but could not really be called bad either.
Although Moria was, to her, almost like a father.
It was that monster-like man who had picked her up when she was young and raised her.
But in the face of an overwhelming disparity, Perona could only think first about how to survive, not about avenging Moria.
The distance drew closer and closer.
Perona could already see an old man lying on a chair below on the big ship, resting with his eyes closed.
However, compared to the large number of people described in the intelligence,
There were not many people on the Moby Dick right now.
"So strange... Where is that Whitebeard? It's too far. I can't see clearly..."
Perona muttered as she tried to move closer.
Then her entire body froze. A terrifying pressure erupted upward from below in her spirit's perception.
She was clearly in a spiritual state that physical attacks could not touch.
And yet, it felt as though a mountain had slammed down onto her body. In an instant, she lost control of herself.
The Shikigami beside her twisted, shattered, and perished on the spot.
Perona, tears and snot streaming down her face, grabbed the letter and shouted desperately while falling rapidly.
"I'm here to deliver a letter! I don't mean any harm!"
Bzz—!
The terrifying pressure receded like a tide.
When Perona recovered her senses, she had already landed on the deck of the Moby Dick.
A man who looked like he had a pineapple head frowned as he stared at her. Behind Pineapple Head,
An unimaginably enormous giant sat reclining in a chair, a crescent-shaped white mustache curving upward on his face.
Transparent tubes were inserted into his bare chest and arms, seemingly injecting some kind of medicine.
After Perona trembled for a while,
Whitebeard, who had just released his Conqueror's Haki, opened his eyes.
"Brat, what do you want?"
"To... to deliver a letter. A letter from my master to you."
Perona worked hard to complete her sentence. "It's about Ace's life, and the war that's about to happen.
"There's something in the letter that proves his qualifications. Once you read it, you'll understand its weight."
After saying that, she held out the envelope, not daring to move in the slightest.
"Pops..."
Marco looked at Whitebeard, whose breathing was somewhat labored, worry flashing through his eyes.
"Read it. I'd like to see who still dares to interfere in this matter after the Marines lost twenty-three surveillance ships."
Marco took the letter.
First, he opened it directly and examined it. Then his expression changed abruptly, but his movements were not slow as he displayed it for Whitebeard to see.
"...Truly an unexpected person. Are brats these days all so reckless about the consequences?"
Edward Newgate's expression changed for the first time.
Even with his current condition and breadth of experience, he felt shaken when he saw what was inside the letter.
In truth, there was nothing especially complicated.
There were only a few photographs concerning the Celestial Dragons, the name of a location—Raijin Island in the New World—and a single sentence.
"I'll be waiting for you here, Whitebeard."
The signature at the end was Ren!
"Th-That person also said he hopes to see only Whitebeard and Marco, because someone in your crew has a problem.
"And there isn't much time left. Marine Headquarters has already begun summoning the Warlords."
Perona forced herself to add that sentence under the pressure, scalp tingling. If not for what had just happened, she would already have run away.
Heaven only knew how Ren's so-called absolute safety, spiritual body immunity to damage, and so on would turn into something like that!
"Trying to sow discord?"
Marco's eyes turned cold as he displayed the contents.
"I-I don't know."
Perona's little face crumpled as though she was about to cry, her entire body trembling.
"Go on, brat."
Whitebeard lifted his head, his gaze seeming to fall on a position above the sky.
As though receiving amnesty, Perona fled.
"Pops,"
Marco said hesitantly, "could it be a trap?"
"I—am Whitebeard!"
Edward Newgate suddenly stood up, his towering body like a small mountain, bringing an endless sense of pressure.
"Let's go and see what scheme this junior brat is playing at."
While Whitebeard began taking action because of the invitation, the Whitebeard Pirates' movements also became increasingly obvious.
The Marines were clearly extremely wary of this and began making all kinds of preparations.
All kinds of factors were shifting, making the outbreak of the Marineford War inevitable.
A large-scale war was visibly about to appear.
Under such circumstances, tracking down the two Celestial Dragons who had been abducted became an even more difficult matter.
Not to mention, the method used to take them away had been direct high-altitude launching.
At this moment, the mobility of the Paw-Paw Fruit was revealed in full.
The two missing Celestial Dragons were both moving across an ultra-long distance at an altitude ordinary people could not see.
The most crucial point was that
Kuma was currently in a state of being forgotten by the world.
Aside from the few people whose memories had been preserved, the world had no impression of him at all.
Even those he had once helped were the same.
The difficulty of tracking them rose once more.
Secondly, there were the Celestial Dragons' special status and habits.
They despised things belonging to lesser people. Devices such as surveillance equipment and positioning trackers were almost impossible to install on Celestial Dragons.
The only thing the World Government could do was implement security precautions.
As for miraculous things like Devil Fruit abilities...
(End of Chapter)