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

Chapter 228 Speculation

Karl whistled loudly, and a moment later, a "Gah!" sounded in the air.

"Giggle! (Coming, coming, don't rush me!)"

Karl reached out and caught Raven, introducing it to Chopper: "Its name is Raven, and it's also a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, but it's a little different from you. It was originally a knife."

A knife? So objects eat Devil Fruits too? Do they even know how awful Devil Fruits taste?

Chopper, bewildered, greeted Raven: "Hello, Mr. Raven, I'm Tony Tony Chopper."

"Gah gah gah? (We're all animals, how can you talk?)"

"Well, I couldn't speak human language at first either. In order to integrate into the human world, I learned to speak like them, but..."

"Gah gah! Gah ah ah! (Damn it! Fine, tell Karl to give me extra food. I'm having roast pork today!)"

Chopper nodded: "Oh, Mr. Carl, Raven said it wants to eat roast pork today."

"You'll get your share, stop talking nonsense and get your knife ready!"

"Hehehe... (You clearly have two more knives, sigh~ what can I do, I'm the only one favored! I really can't do anything with you...)"

Chopper gave Raven a strange look, and wisely refrained from translating.

Then, to Chopper's astonishment, the raven gradually transformed into a handsome longsword, its blade radiating an inexplicable aura that sent chills down one's spine.

Carl grasped the raven and waved it lightly toward the door in front of him—at least, to Chopper, it was just a light wave.

"Chopper, Ain, step back a little."

Without hesitation, Ain took a few steps back. Seeing that Chopper was still stunned, she decisively grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

With a creaking sound, the armory door slowly slid down.

With a loud bang, a cloud of snow mist filled the air.

Chopper was startled and quickly hid behind Ain's thighs, swallowing hard.

"Mr. Carl, that's amazing."

Ain smiled and said, "Of course, he's a naval hero, one of the most powerful naval forces in the world!"

"The world's... strongest! That's amazing! Does that mean Mr. Karl can defeat all the pirates?"

Ain paused for a moment, then answered affirmatively, "That's right. If Karl wants to, no one in this world can defeat him, and there's no pirate he can't beat."

"Amazing!"

It's surprising that the seemingly gentle and refined Mr. Karl is so strong; he truly deserves to be called a naval hero!

"Phew~ Ain, Chopper, come here, it should be alright now."

Karl was the first to enter the armory. He looked around and saw cannons, guns, and swords—all ordinary weapons that hadn't been used in a long time and were covered in a thick layer of dust.

"What? Did you find anything?"

Carl shook his head: "That's probably not what they're looking for. Let's check the treasure vault! Chopper, where's the treasure vault?"

"Uh, it should be over there. I'll take you there."

......

"This place has been completely emptied. It seems that the huge amount of gold and silver treasure that Nelson found on the Valpo ship was taken from here. There's nothing special about that money."

Ain asked in confusion, "If weapons and money aren't what the Blackbeard Pirates are looking for, then why did they invade Drum Island? And according to Ms. Kureha's description, they didn't plunder any supplies; they just came and left disappointed."

Carl stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, and said, "Do you think it's possible that they came here looking for someone?"

"Who are you looking for?"

"Walpo".

Ain was even more confused: "Walpo, why are we looking for him? Besides being the king of Drum Island, what else is special about him? Oh, I remember now, he's also an Ability User."

"According to intelligence provided by the intelligence department, Marshall D. Teach's hometown is very likely Drum Island. Is it possible that he has come to seek revenge on Wahlbo?"

"After all, this guy doesn't look like a good person. He might have bullied Teach when he was a kid."

In fact, although Karl said this, he secretly had a guess in his heart.

Otherwise, Teach would have had no reason to invade Drum Island.

To promote the pirate crew and gain fame?

Impossible. Pirates might indeed do great things to increase their bounty and fame, thereby attracting other pirates to join them. Blackbeard's invasion of Drum Island might have increased his fame to some extent, but is that really what he needs right now?

Don't forget, he's still on the run. The Whitebeard Pirates are searching for him all over the sea. Wouldn't that just expose him?

I heard Drum Island is a medical superpower, and you want to find a ship's doctor as a partner? That's even more impossible. Doc Q is enough; why would you need more?

Was it a deliberate entrapment to lure Ace over?

That's unlikely. Perhaps Blackbeard does have a plan to rise to fame by defeating powerful pirates. But Blackbeard has no idea who's chasing him, so why would he be fishing?

Furthermore, Blackbeard's target was not Ace in the first place, but Luffy, so why would he risk fishing for Ace?

Based on Carl's understanding of Teach, he was an out-and-out profit-driven individual. Since he dared to risk exposure to invade the Drum Kingdom, the Drum Kingdom must have had a reason that compelled him to come.

Just like how he killed his companion at Karl's request, even though he knew he might not get the Dark-Dark Fruit.

Then there is only one possibility: Teach came specifically to find Wapol or the Gluttony Fruit.

The reason Teach was able to eat multiple levels of Devil Fruits is that he may not be a single person at all, but rather a fusion of multiple individuals.

Karl vaguely remembered that Blackbeard had two sisters, but he didn't know why he was the only one left. Wapol's Glutton Factory just happened to have this ability to make people merge.

Once you think about it this way, the sequence of events becomes clear.

Blackbeard's two sisters did not die, but live on in his body in another way. Since one person can only eat one Devil Fruit, then three people can eat three Devil Fruits, right?

Teach likely knew this, or perhaps he had a suspicion he wanted to verify, which is why he wanted to find Wahlbo to see if he could mass-produce "monsters" like himself.

However, Wapol was very afraid of dying. Upon hearing the news of the pirate invasion, he ran away without hesitation, leaving Teach empty-handed.

"Karl, you look a little off. Did you discover something?"

Carl shook his head: "No, they're just some unsubstantiated speculations, nothing serious."

"Phew, since there are no clues, it seems we have no choice but to leave."

Chapter 229 The Loguetown Incident

Donghai, Rogge Town.

"Execution! The execution is about to begin!"

Zoro, who had just obtained the Sandai Kitetsu, was slightly taken aback. Execution? What execution? Who is to be executed?

"Buggy the Clown is going to execute Straw Hat Luffy!"

Usopp stared wide-eyed in disbelief and said, "Luffy's going to be executed? What on earth did that guy do?!"

Standing to the side, Nami sighed, rubbing her forehead, "That idiot!"

"Zoro, we'll go take a look. You guys can stay here! You guys go back to the ship first!"

Sanji and Zoro immediately ran towards the execution platform.

At this moment, the sky suddenly changed, and dark clouds quickly covered the town of Logue, a storm was brewing.

Bell tower.

"Admiral Smoker has already arranged for men to guard the Straw Hat crew's ship at the port. If they try to escape, we can destroy their ship immediately."

"However, the current situation seems a bit strange."

Smoker paused for a moment, then quickly picked up his binoculars and looked at the execution platform opposite him.

Buggy the Clown was standing on Luffy, gesturing wildly and saying something.

"What are they up to? Isn't that Bucky the Clown? The guy who always likes to hide actually dares to come to my turf?"

At this point, Smoker was also a little confused. Although he had never seen Luffy fight, he was still the grandson of Vice Admiral Garp, so his talent must be quite good. In addition, he was also a Devil Fruit user. How could he be subdued by that clown Buggy?

Is Straw Hat Luffy just all show and no substance, actually a complete coward?

"Major Admiral, we've investigated and found out. It's the Alvida Pirates and the Buggy Pirates. They've formed an alliance for some reason, which means there are three pirate crews in Loguetown now. Shall we make a move?"

Smoker waved his hand: "Don't panic. With me here, they can't escape. Just wait."

"Once Straw Hat Luffy's head is on the ground, immediately surround Buggy, Alvida, and their crew. Oh, and don't let the Straw Hat Pirates at the port escape either. Today, I'm going to wipe them all out!"

"Yes, Major General!"

On the execution platform.

Buggy let out a maniacal laugh: "Hahahaha, sinner, pirate Monkey D. Luffy, for your audacious offense against me, you shall be executed here in a magnificent manner!"

The pirates underground cheered, not forgetting how badly they had been beaten by Straw Hat Luffy.

Luffy, seemingly unaware of the gravity of the situation, watched the lively scene below with great interest and said, "Speaking of which, this is the first time I've ever seen an execution!"

Bucky was speechless: "You're the one who's going to be executed, you idiot!"