Everyone present was momentarily dumbfounded.
They stared at the final sentence of the report in Sengoku’s hands.
All their doubts vanished without a trace.
They knew Lucas well enough to understand that if he was asking for more money to accomplish something, then he had definitely already accomplished it.
And now that he could openly and legitimately ask Sengoku for more money, didn’t that mean the matter was settled?
There was probably no one left who doubted it.
Akainu’s expression darkened slightly. He clenched his fists, yet, unusually, he didn’t say a word in protest.
When it came to the credibility of the title "Admiral Who Gets Paid More," even Akainu had evidently been thoroughly convinced.
Sengoku glanced at Akainu and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
This time, Akainu had rarely been willing to stand up for Lucas and set aside his pride to ask Aramaki to show him some consideration. That was already the greatest goodwill Akainu could offer.
If Aramaki’s "show of allegiance" had gone so far as to include tying up a Celestial Dragon, causing Akainu to lose face in front of Lucas as well, that would probably be anything but a good thing.
However, when Sengoku saw the Celestial Dragon bound up like a dumpling in the photograph, the muscles in his cheek twitched involuntarily.
Then he suddenly remembered something important and hurriedly asked,
"Lilan, you just said that Hina only reported that Lucas had someone escort the Celestial Dragon back. He hasn’t decided to return to Marine Headquarters yet?"
"I seem to remember that he currently has six and a half special combat forces aboard his ship."
"Don’t tell me he’s actually going to gather eight or ten of them just for the sake of the bounties."
"Why do I feel like my retirement fund is about to run out?"
"Tsuru, can you lend me some money?"
"Get lost!"
Tsuru glared at him before turning around and walking away.
Nevertheless, both she and Sengoku had visibly relaxed expressions after having been frowning so tightly for the past several days.
Ten Days Later — Calm Belt, Unnamed Waters
A Marine warship plowed through the waves.
All along its route, enormous Sea Kings lurked beneath the waters of the Calm Belt, waiting for prey.
Yet whenever one of them poked its head above the surface and saw the slender figure standing on the ship’s deck, it immediately turned around and fled as though it had seen a ghost.
Ten days had passed since the battle in the Sabaody Archipelago.
Yet even after ten days, everyone aboard still remembered the battle vividly.
Whenever they recalled how troublesome Aramaki was—despite Sengoku regarding him as possessing combat power comparable to an Admiral—they still couldn’t believe that the fanatical supporter of the Celestial Dragons had ultimately tied up a Celestial Dragon and boarded their ship.
"Hey, hey, Marine Admiral!"
Aramaki stood nearby with a leaf clenched between his teeth, cursing as he watched the Sea Kings turn around and flee.
"You’re scaring all the Sea Kings away like this! How am I supposed to replenish my nutrients?"
"Are you trying to prevent me from recovering so that I won’t be able to challenge you again?"
For the past several days, they had been drifting across the sea without touching even a patch of land.
As a result, Aramaki couldn’t take root in the earth and absorb nutrients to replenish what he had lost during the battle.
But for the sake of maintaining his image, Aramaki didn’t want to eat either.
For the moment, all he could do was stare helplessly at the fleeing Sea Kings.
"Heh heh, Brother Aramaki, you really do love pestering Admiral Lucas."
Fujitora approached Aramaki with his cane sword in hand and gave an awkward laugh.
"Are you still planning to take revenge for the Celestial Dragon?"
"Admiral Lucas agreed to your request as well, so what are you still worrying about?"
"Why not eat something first and recover some strength? That way, you’ll be in better shape when you challenge him again."
"However, as your ’big brother,’ let me remind you of something."
"Don’t underestimate Admiral Lucas. The fact that he can gather so many different kinds of people aboard his ship is enough to prove that he is no ordinary man."
"I’m just worried you’ll end up suffering another loss."
"I’ll suffer a loss?"
Aramaki glared at him.
"Hmph! Brother Fujitora, I only suffered a hidden setback."
"If he hadn’t suddenly used that strange method to temporarily sever my connection with my Devil Fruit powers, catching me off guard and exposing a fatal opening, he wouldn’t have won."
"From my perspective, the only thing impressive about him is that slash."
"Who says I can’t withstand it?"
Aramaki’s endless complaints echoed across the deck.
Lucas naturally paid no attention to the chatterbox.
Whether it’s a black cat or a white cat, as long as it can bring in money, it’s a lucky cat.
And Lucas was exceptionally tolerant toward his lucky cats.
Besides, Aramaki wasn’t entirely wrong.
The reason Lucas had been able to suppress the extraordinarily troublesome power of the Mori Mori no Mi was entirely because of Yami Sukehiro’s Dark Magic, specifically one of his techniques—Dark Moon.
Within a limited area, it could nullify all negative effects.
When deployed over a wider area, it could sever the connection between a Devil Fruit user and their Devil Fruit powers in an instant.
The duration of that effect was indeed extremely short.
But when used unexpectedly, it could completely reverse the course of a battle.
In a sense, this power was somewhat similar to the effect of Blackbeard’s Dark-Dark Fruit .
The difference was that Blackbeard had to activate it through his hand.
Lucas didn’t need to use his hands.
Naturally, that made his technique look just a little more impressive.
Still, the battles so far had merely been minor skirmishes.
Lucas understood perfectly well that the opponents he would soon have to face were Four Emperor-level monsters.
His current arsenal was still somewhat lacking.
Ding!
"Congratulations, Host. You have received a bounty of 180 million Berries."
The system’s ethereal notification suddenly rang out.
Lucas’s eyebrow rose.
He almost crushed the wine gourd in his hand from excitement.
Now that was a generous payout!
His previous bounty balance had been forty million Berries.
It had now instantly jumped to 220 million Berries.
Looking at the enormous increase, a smile slowly appeared on Lucas’s face.
He wondered what kind of heartbroken expression Sengoku was wearing right now.
Still, being able to obtain 180 million Berries in just over ten days made Lucas feel extremely fortunate that he had accepted the special combat force recruitment mission.
He also had the Five Elders and Donquixote Doflamingo to thank.
If he hadn’t squeezed another 30 million Berries out of Doflamingo and picked up another 10 million Berries from the Celestial Dragon, then with six and a half special combat forces aboard the ship, gathering enough Berries to upgrade the treasure chest to Platinum rank within a month would have been extremely difficult.
Originally, Lucas had only asked Sengoku to increase the reward for Aramaki joining the ship as a trial.
Unexpectedly, Sengoku had been unusually generous.
He had even rounded the reward upward, settling the payment for the special combat forces at seven people, for a total of 14 million Berries.
Now, with this unexpectedly substantial little fortune, Lucas couldn’t help but look toward the Platinum Treasure Chest waiting to be upgraded.
The opponents he would soon have to face would be at the level of the Four Emperors.
Lucas genuinely hoped that this time he could pull something spectacular—a true jackpot that would arm him to the teeth in advance.
At the very least, perhaps he could still get off work on time afterward.
"System, immediately upgrade the Gold Treasure Chest to a Platinum Treasure Chest."
"Ding! Please wait, Host."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. One hundred million Berries have been deducted. The Gold Treasure Chest has successfully been upgraded to a Platinum Treasure Chest."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have obtained one Platinum Treasure Chest Trial Version. Would you like to open it immediately?"
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