Because Doldo refused to allow the kingdom’s army to cooperate with the Cipher Pol agents and the Marines, the Marines and Cipher Pol found themselves short-handed in investigating the matter.
Most of the Marines were busy escorting pirates, and even though Cormac could divert some forces to assist the World Government’s Cipher Pol agents, it was still little more than a drop in the bucket.
Dressrosa was not a small place. Once these personnel were spread out, their efforts were like searching for a needle in the sea, and most of them failed to turn up any useful information.
“Sir, a suspicious individual has been spotted… but…”
A small number of agents did manage to discover traces of Amphitrite. Even dressed as a bandage freak and with the flames on her back extinguished, the wings behind her still could not be concealed.
Although wings could also be some sort of ornament, encountering such a target meant it had to be investigated as a priority.
“But what?”
On the ring-shaped stone wall on the outskirts of Dressrosa, a CP0 agent wearing a strange-looking mask sat there, gazing down at the city below.
“There’s a pirate by the target’s side…”
“A single pirate made you afraid to act? How did your instructor ever let you graduate?”
“Sir, that pirate… is the daughter of that ‘vampire’… should we still proceed?”
Hearing this, the CP0 agent on the other end of the line seemed to freeze for a moment. He hadn’t expected a Lunarian to drag something like this into it.
No matter which department of the World Government it was—even if the Knights of God were sent—they wouldn’t want to face Nereus.
Even if they possessed an undying ability, they still couldn’t defeat him, and having their bodies destroyed over and over again was hardly a pleasant experience.
“Is he himself there?”
“His whereabouts haven’t been found yet…”
“Report the location. All personnel are to move there immediately. Confirm whether the target is a Lunarian. If the information is accurate, commence the operation at all costs. After capturing the target, withdraw immediately.”
“Sir, this is a bustling urban area of an affiliated nation…”
He understood perfectly what his superior meant by “at all costs.” Whether it was Marine lives, agent lives, or the lives of innocent civilians, none of them mattered in the face of the mission.
As long as the objective could be achieved, even total annihilation was acceptable.
“So what if it’s an affiliated nation? It wasn’t the World Government begging them to join, it’s these affiliated nations that need the World Government’s protection. As long as the government’s objectives are met, none of that matters.
If it’s not our target, withdraw immediately and return to Mariejois.”
Since Nereus wasn’t there, as long as they moved fast enough and brought the target back to the Holy Land before he could react, no matter how strong he was, he couldn’t possibly storm Mariejois, could he?
He remembered clearly that Nereus had become a king a few months ago. A king ought to stay in his own country; this was the understanding that the affiliated nations of the seas had given this CP0 agent.
When it came to missions, Cipher Pol agents were always bold—bold enough to meddle in Yonko battles, the sort who would say “it’s just a Yonko” and charge right in.
Such reckless behavior was nothing special to them. In the minds of these brainwashed agents, the interests of the World Government had long outweighed their own lives.
They carried out their duties even more earnestly than some Celestial Dragons.
“As long as we move fast enough, it should be doable… let’s hope that guy isn’t nearby.”
Saying this, the CP0 agent stood up, preparing to join the operation himself. But at that moment, a hand landed on his shoulder.
“Congratulations, your dream’s come true. I really am not over there~”
The voice was extremely warm, yet it made this CP0 agent feel as if he had fallen into an icy abyss.
He had no idea how the other person had come to his side. If that hand hadn’t rested on his shoulder, he wouldn’t even have realized there was someone else beside him.
Nereus indeed wasn’t over by Nanamo’s side; he was right here, next to him. Even Hermes could sense that something was off about those people, so naturally the lookouts Nereus had left on the ship could as well.
The moment the World Government and Marine ships docked, he had already received the report and set his sights on that CP0 agent.
“When did you—”
“While you were busy issuing orders to the others. What a pity, this is Dressrosa. If you’d been a bit smarter and ordered them to withdraw the moment you heard my name, you might have survived.”
After all, this was an old friend’s country. If those Cipher Pol people had shown some sense and pretended they hadn’t seen anything, Nereus could have refrained from making a move against them.
But with things as they were now…
As if casually greeting a friend, once he finished that exchange, Nereus walked off into the distance, while the CP0 agent made no attempt to stop him.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, or didn’t dare to; it was that he couldn’t.
At some point, a massive hole had appeared in his chest, and the heart that should have been beating there was now in Nereus’s hand.
As the strongest muscle in the body, it was still struggling to beat, yet it could no longer supply blood to its former owner. That blood instead flowed along a bizarre pattern and into Nereus’s body.
When the CP0 agent’s corpse fell into the sea, the lingering scent of blood attracted some Fighting Fish still prowling the nearby waters, and it quickly vanished from the world.
Meanwhile, on Nanamo and Amphitrite’s side, the number of Cipher Pol agents continued to increase. It seemed their forces had finished assembling, then they directly launched an attack on Amphitrite.
To determine whether she was a Lunarian, all they had to do was go by racial traits. In that case, simply tearing apart the bandages on her body would suffice.
As for attacking the wrong person…
So what? If it was a mistake, it was a mistake.
Most Cipher Pol agents wouldn’t care about such things. Rob Lucci, in particular, could directly kill hundreds of hostages captured by pirates, leaving the pirates with no hostages to use.
In a sense, Lucci was ahead of the times—after all, in the “Ultimate Hostage” era, he had already secured an unassailable position. [TN: Don’t know what the author is talking about here.]
Let the hostages know that the one coming to rescue them was Rob Lucci, and they’d probably switch sides in minutes and join forces with their kidnappers.
“These guys really don’t give a damn… let’s withdraw first. Don’t fight them here.”
After blocking the enemy’s attack, Nanamo didn’t counter. Instead, she had Hermes transform into a flying carpet and carried the group up into the air.
She was afraid that losing control of the battle’s aftermath would affect the people of Dressrosa. These agents weren’t CP9, but ordinary agents from other branches; only some of them had mastered a bit of Rokushiki.
As a result, only a few used Geppo to give chase, while the rest pursued on foot below.
The once-bustling streets were thrown into considerable chaos. After a bout of pursuit, the Cipher Pol agents on the ground ran into Dressrosa’s kingdom army.
However, these kingdom troops weren’t there to assist them; they were there to arrest them.
This wasn’t King Riku’s order. These Cipher Pol agents were dressed in plain clothes, and after causing a disturbance in the marketplace, the civilians had mistaken them for pirates, leading to this situation…
You can read ahead upto 25 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.
Become a Patron!