One Piece: Starting as a Marine Lieutenant, I Slack Off and Get Stronger

After storing the two Devil Fruits in his system space, Karl closed his eyes, lay down on the soft sofa, and pretended to doze off, pondering how to deal with Teach.

The simplest way would be to follow the plot and let Sachi "accidentally" obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit, thereby causing Teach to turn against him.

In this way, Karl would neither expose himself nor cause a butterfly effect.

But if that's the case, wouldn't he be just handing Devil Fruits to Teach? Working himself to the bone for no extra benefit, Karl wasn't about to do that.

......

"How did things go?"

Bakara smiled slightly: "Boss, don't you trust me to handle things?"

"That's true. Remember, make sure Karl and his men have fun and enjoy themselves. As long as they don't win by too much, we can accept it, understand?"

Bakara nodded slightly: "Understood."

"By the way, go and inform that naval hero later, tell him that the items have been inventoried, and bring him to me to make the trade."

"clear."

Baccarat turned and left, the sound of her high heels echoing clearly in the empty room.

"Knock knock knock!"

Carl opened his eyes and mumbled sleepily, "Come in."

Bakara pushed open the door and saw that Karl seemed to have just woken up. She said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Mr. Karl, I didn't know you were sleeping."

Carl waved his hand: "It's nothing, I just woke up. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"It's already dinnertime. Would you like to eat out, or have it delivered?"

Carl scratched his head: "Hmm... let's go out to eat!" Then Carl took out a Den Den Mushi.

"Nelson, it's me."

Nelson, who was holding the bunny girl, shuddered and said seriously, "Sir, has something happened?"

"No need for so much trouble. Just let everyone know to go to... Hey, where's your dining area?" "On the 4th floor."

"Oh, did you hear that? Tell everyone to gather on the 4th floor and say I'm treating everyone to dinner!"

"Yes!"

After hanging up the phone, Nelson glanced at the clock towering above him and scratched his head, muttering, "Time flies!"

"Brothers! Hold on! The commander is treating us to dinner. Meet on the fourth floor. Anyone who's even a second late will face serious consequences!!!"

The naval officers and soldiers who were playing in this area hurriedly began to organize themselves and assemble.

......

After finishing the meal, Nelson left with his group, probably because he hadn't had enough fun yet.

Nonsense, if you're winning big, who wouldn't want to keep playing? How much salary can you earn as a navy officer?

Karl, led by Bakara, arrived at the so-called "Golden Emperor's Vault." Tesoro seemed to have been waiting for a long time, and greeted Karl as soon as he arrived.

"Good evening, Your Excellency Karl. Your gold has been counted, and its total value is 646.478 billion Berries. I'll just give you 650 billion Berries directly. What do you think?"

This price would allow Tezzolo to earn around 5%-20%, since Karl's gold is all antiques. Selling it as art would be much more valuable than simply selling it as gold, although the turnover is slower.

Anyway, if Karl isn't satisfied, he's willing to pay more or even lose money; he has to take this batch of gold.

Only in this way can the price of gold remain stable, allowing him to control the gold supply in the entire world.

Some people might wonder, isn't Tesoro a user of the Gold-Gold Fruit? If he wants gold, why doesn't he just make it himself? Why spend money to buy it?

Yes, Tesoro can indeed mass-produce gold, but he cannot create it out of thin air. He can only use gold as a medium to assimilate objects and turn them into gold. Moreover, this gold will revert to its original form once it gets wet.

"Okay, here's the money!"

Upon hearing this, Tezzolo was stunned. No, such a large transaction was being handled so hastily?

"you sure?"

Carl grinned. "Haha, it's just a little money, why be so stingy? Don't you think so?"

Money is secondary; what matters is perspective. Once you broaden your perspective, money will naturally follow. Listen for the applause.

"Mr. Karl, you are truly generous! Speaking of which, your gold seems to be antiques from over 400 years ago, and it is somewhat related to the legendary land of gold—the Shandora civilization. Could it be that you have found the legendary land of gold?"

Karl gave a thumbs up: "Good eye, you noticed that. Not bad, all this gold was found in Gold Country. Besides these, there's a whole lot more, but it's just inconvenient to bring it here."

Tesoro gasped in shock. Good heavens, it was all free! No wonder he was so generous; he'd thought he'd been ripped off. Turns out, he was the clown!

Even Bakala couldn't help but swallow hard. There was still a whole bunch left that hadn't been brought over? If they had brought them all, wouldn't they have been able to empty the BOSS's coffers?

"Well, Mr. Karl is really... lucky!"

While saying this, Tesoro was inwardly screaming, "Why, why, why is Karl a Marine, and a Marine hero at that? Otherwise, all the gold would eventually belong to him."

Karl waved his hand dismissively: "Let's not talk about that. Where's my money?"

Tezzolo took a deep breath, regulated his breathing, took out the key, and opened the vault door.

Kakakka~

A room filled with gold and jewels appeared before Karl, with stacks of banknotes neatly arranged in the corridors. It was visually striking, but only slightly so.

After all, the largest denomination of Pelé is 5000 Pelés, so 650 billion isn't actually that much; it's just a few small mountains high.

If the largest denomination of Pele was 100, it probably wouldn't fit in the entire vault.

Chapter 192 The mystery of identity

Seeing Karl's expressionless face, Tesoro's opinion of Karl immediately rose another notch.

Gold is gold, and most people who have been to the City of Gold will get used to it, but the impact of a huge number of Pele is not something that everyone can withstand.

This kind of person is too difficult to deal with.

If he wanted to win over a politician or a naval officer, he would simply use money, status (exchange of benefits), or women as his means.

But none of this seemed to be of any use to Carl.

A money offensive? They found Shandora's treasure and gained wealth that ordinary people couldn't earn even after tens of thousands of years of hard work.

A trade of interests? He's a naval hero, wielding great power, a prominent figure wherever he goes, an object of respect. Why bother with such things?

Temptation with women? He's the world's most handsome man, does he lack women? Even if he were to pay tens of millions of Pelés, there would be plenty of women wanting to sleep with him. Why would he need to send someone to seduce him?

Hey! Karl had something to say: How will you know if you don't try?

Carl yawned: "Oh, so all my money is here?"

Tesoro nodded, "That's right, they're all here. Would you like to take a count?"

"no need."

Karl waved his hand, slowly walked to the vicinity of the money pile, and with a wave of his hand, the mountain-like pile of Berries disappeared, followed by the next pile. In just a few breaths, all 650 billion Berries were collected into Karl's system space, leaving only an empty load-bearing frame in the treasury.

"Gulp~" Tesoro swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He had wanted to ask Karl when he took out the gold earlier, what kind of ability was so magical that it could store and retrieve items out of thin air?

Then, Tesoro gave Baccarat a wink. The two, who had worked together for many years, had a great understanding. Baccarat instantly understood what the BOSS meant and walked to Karl's side with a smile.

"That's amazing, Mr. Carl! How did you do that?"

Karl smiled slightly: "You mean this?"

A pile of Pele appeared out of thin air on the ground and then vanished instantly.

Bakara looked at Karl with "admiration" and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, this is it!"

"Miss Bakara, your abilities are quite good. If you have time, develop your Devil Fruit abilities more, and you will find a brand new door opening up for you."

Carl didn't seem to answer, but he also seemed to have answered.

In short, these words, once they reached Tesoro's ears, basically confirmed to him that this was Karl's Devil Fruit ability, and that it was developed later.

This made him somewhat tempted. Since landing in Golden City, he had neglected his development capabilities. He only used a few things most often now, which he had acquired through hard work during his "struggle period".

Perhaps it's time for him to improve his skills?

No, no, forget it. For him now, money is everything. Money can control everything. Money is power!

Bakara, standing to the side, nodded thoughtfully, though it was unclear whether she was genuinely agreeing or simply trying to please Karl.

"It's getting late, so I won't bother you any longer. Goodbye!"

Tezzolo quickly said, "You're too kind, Bakara. What are you waiting for? Hurry up and take Mr. Karl back to rest."

......

VIP room.

No sooner had Bakara left than Carl's Den Den Mushi rang.

"Karl, I am from the Warring States period. Have you reached the Golden City yet?"

"Of course, that world noble should be having a great time! What's wrong?"

Sengoku's voice suddenly became very soft: "Is there anyone around you, or a Den Den Mushi (snail phone) listening in?"

"Don't worry, I'm in the VIP room. I've already checked everything, and there's no problem. Marshal Zhan Guo, please speak freely!"