Chapter 170: Infiltration
"What now?"
Tom looked down at Blueno, who lay unconscious on the floor, and frowned. Leaving him there was clearly a problem. Once he woke up, a man with the ability to open doors anywhere would be difficult to contain.
Axel glanced at Tom, then answered with complete indifference.
"Whatever."
Tom's brow twitched.
There it was again.
No matter the situation, this kid always managed to say something that made people wonder whether he was joking, thinking ten steps ahead, or simply being annoying.
"You're just going to leave him here?"
"Search him," Axel said. "He should have a pair of cuffs on him."
Tom crouched down and searched Blueno's body. Sure enough, he soon found a pair of handcuffs wrapped tightly in cloth.
"Huh." Tom lifted them up. "How did you know he had these? And what are they?"
"Seastone cuffs." Axel glanced at them. "After that brief clash with their leader last time, they must have figured out I was an ability user. Those were probably meant for me. They wrapped them up so they wouldn't accidentally touch themselves with them during combat."
Seastone possessed the same properties as the sea. To Devil Fruit users, it was a natural enemy. Once touched by it, their strength would be drained and their abilities suppressed.
Unfortunately for them, it was useless against Axel.
He was not a Devil Fruit user.
If someone really tried to use Seastone to restrain him, the look on their face when he broke free would probably be worth seeing.
Tom had also heard of Seastone before. It could suppress ability users, and if embedded in the hull of a ship, it could even help ward off Sea Kings. Its uses were extensive, whether for combat or shipbuilding.
The problem was that the technology was almost entirely monopolized by the World Government.
Tom cuffed Blueno properly and dragged him aside, but he still looked puzzled.
"Why spare him?"
His meaning was obvious.
Why leave an enemy alive?
Tom disliked killing, but he was not naive. In this sea, mercy toward an enemy could easily become a rope around one's own neck.
"Why not spare him?" Axel asked back. "We haven't reached the point of openly turning against the World Government. Their goal is to confirm whether the Pluton blueprints were really destroyed. If their investigators get beaten up, that can still be explained as me having a bad temper and refusing to cooperate. With my current position in the Marines, they'll probably pretend it never happened."
Axel looked at Blueno.
"But if we kill him, that's different. That would be a slap to their face. It doesn't matter how much CP9 is worth to them. Once someone dies, they'll have to respond."
Tom stared at him for a while, then blurted out, "You humans really are troublesome."
Compared to Fish-Men, who were usually direct and hot-blooded, humans twisted everything into layers of calculation. If someone was an enemy, shouldn't they just be dealt with?
Axel sighed.
"You're not wrong. Humans are troublesome."
He had never liked this kind of convoluted maneuvering. Unfortunately, he was stuck in the middle of it. The world would not become simpler just because he disliked complicated things.
Tom crossed his arms. "Is everyone in this CP9 you mentioned as strong as him?"
Blueno's raw strength was not superior to Tom's. Judging by the force behind his movements, he was actually weaker in that regard. But his speed, skills, and strange Devil Fruit ability were dangerous enough to surprise even Tom.
"Blueno is around the middle among them," Axel said. "The strongest is Lucci, the one I told you about. He's far above the rest."
Compared with Lucci, Kaku, and Jabra, Blueno was not on the same level. Even so, his strength was enough to rank him above several others.
Tom's surprise was not because he thought he would lose to Blueno in strength. In pure physical power, Tom might surpass anyone in CP9. But battle was never decided by strength alone. Combat technique, speed, timing, and killing experience mattered just as much.
Tom was a shipwright.
A legendary one, yes, but still a shipwright who had dedicated his life to building ships.
"Why do I feel like you're praising your own strength?" Tom asked, amused. "You did say you gained the advantage against that Lucci fellow."
"I'm not joking," Axel said. "Among the seven CP9 members, five are Devil Fruit users."
Tom's expression grew more serious.
"Five?"
"Three Zoans. Rob Lucci has the Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Leopard. Kaku has the Ushi Ushi no Mi, Model: Giraffe. Jabra has the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Wolf. Then there are two Paramecia users: Blueno with the Doa Doa no Mi, and Kalifa with the Awa Awa no Mi. She's a Soap Human."
If Spandam's sword, which would later consume the Zou Zou no Mi, was included, then one small organization would have six ability users under its command.
That alone was enough to show how terrifying CP9's lineup was.
In the Great Pirate Era, a person's strength could often be judged by reputation, bounty, and Devil Fruit. There were exceptions, of course. Some monsters hid in obscurity, while some famous names were all noise and no substance.
But a Devil Fruit was still one of the clearest indicators of danger.
Five ability users in a seven-person team was not normal.
Tom's face grew grave, but the heaviness lasted only a moment before he burst into hearty laughter.
"Yahahaha! A man should face danger with his head held high. It's been a long time since I had a proper fight!"
"Old man," Axel cut in, "with that body of yours, you'd better be careful. If you throw out your back, I'm not taking care of you in your old age."
Tom's laughter stopped.
He coughed twice.
Even if this kid was his savior, that mouth of his was far too sharp.
Tom knew Axel was saying it to keep him away from the fight, but backing down was not his style. A man should stand tall and face what came.
Before he could reply, a wave of noise erupted outside the room.
The exercise had truly begun.
The two Marine factions had been holding grudges against each other for a long time. Now that they finally had an official excuse to clash, neither side showed any restraint.
The base turned chaotic in a matter of moments.
Wooden blades cracked against one another. Rubber bullets flew through the air. Marines shouted, cursed, and charged in groups. Some fought seriously. Some clearly treated the exercise as a chance to settle old scores. Others were simply swept up in the atmosphere and swung their weapons with more enthusiasm than technique.
The doctors became the busiest people in the base.
The weapons were nonlethal, but that did not mean the injuries were painless. Bruised faces, swollen arms, dislocated shoulders, and cracked ribs appeared one after another. The doctors carried their medical bags through the noisy battlefield, patching up one Marine after another while the fighters on both sides tacitly avoided dragging them into the chaos.
The real focus, however, was the battle between the officers.
The Enies Lobby side was led by Captain T-Bone, the Ship-Cutter.
His reputation was not empty. It was said that his sword slashes could cut through ships in a straight line, and from the moment he entered the field, San Faldo's officers were immediately pressured.
T-Bone charged forward with a grim face, swinging his wooden sword with the posture of a man holding a real blade. Even without steel, each strike carried frightening precision. Every movement was clean, direct, and disciplined.
The officers from San Faldo's base resisted with everything they had, but they were still forced back bit by bit.
At the same time, hidden beneath the loud and messy exercise, the remaining members of CP9 began their infiltration.
One by one, they slipped into the base in perfect order. Their movements were quiet, efficient, and practiced.
The brawl outside became the best cover.
While the Marines shouted and clashed in the open, CP9 moved through the shadows.
.....
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