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"Lord Beltz, how did you get here?" Kuma asked again.
"Flew over," Beltz surveyed the massive Church.
Actually, the Wandenreich had many Church-like structures, but this one, built by the Buccaneer tribe, was defined by its sheer size.
"Did you run into any Marines on the way? Sir, you are wanted now."
"Oh?" Beltz paused; he really hadn't expected to be wanted.
After all, most people who had seen him were already dead; others couldn't possibly draw an accurate portrait after just one meeting, could they?
However, once Kuma presented the wanted poster, he understood.
The poster didn't show Beltz's appearance, but rather a Blue Dragon.
He was wanted with a bounty of three hundred and sixty million berries.
His first bounty was this high primarily because he had killed a Celestial Dragon and stolen a massive amount of treasure from the World Government.
"They're really stingy."
Beltz dismissed it upon seeing the amount. "The treasure I took from them is a hundred times more valuable than this reward."
Every Treasure Chest from God Valley was worth a billion!
He had acquired a huge pile of chests, and they were all still inside the shadow of that Treasure Land!
He wasn't afraid of anyone pursuing him; if danger arose, he could just return to the world of Bleach, so there was nothing to worry about.
"Right."
Beltz looked around again. "Shanks and Shamrock are both here, right?"
"Yes, they are both sleeping," Ginny nodded. "Do you want to see them, Lord?"
"Since they are sleeping, I shouldn't disturb them. You two have worked hard; even though you are still children, you have to take care of two infants."
"It's nothing, it feels more like a home, doesn't it?" Ginny giggled.
"Alright then, I'll take my leave for now. I'll come visit you again after some time."
After staying at Kuma's Church for a while, Beltz prepared to leave.
Hearing Beltz was leaving, Ginny asked with some confusion, "Eh, Lord Beltz is leaving again?"
"Yes, but only temporarily. I plan to stay in the Sorbet Kingdom for a while next."
"Oh..." Ginny nodded, seeming to understand only half of it. "You're going out to sea, right?"
"Something like that. Well then... goodbye. Next time I visit, I'll check on those two children again."
Beltz said goodbye to Ginny and Kuma, and after walking out of the Church, he vanished.
"Such a magical ability, disappearing all of a sudden," Ginny couldn't help but remark. "It's just like when Kuma uses his ability."
"Much stronger than mine," Kuma stated. "Disappearing without any warning, Lord Beltz must be an envoy from the heavens."
"Yes, at least... he has saved us, saved many people, hasn't he?" Ginny agreed.
"You're back?"
As soon as Beltz returned to the Wandenreich, he saw Liltotto lying on his bed.
"Lady Liltotto, why are you here in my room?" Beltz sighed in relief when he saw it was Liltotto.
"Can't I come?"
Liltotto jumped off the bed. "Didn't you say you'd reach the Sorbet Kingdom today?"
"I did arrive, and I chatted with a friend for a bit before returning," Beltz replied. "Flying for too long is tiring. Lady Liltotto, if you wanted to go over there, we can go next time."
"Fine, I didn't come here to go there this time."
Liltotto said flatly. "I wanted to discuss something with you."
"What is it?"
"You want to become a Sternritter, right? Currently, the chances are slim."
Beltz nodded; he wanted to siphon some of Yhwach's power, and he wasn't afraid of Auswählen later on anyway.
But the Sternritter ranks were currently saturated, fully occupied.
"I can help you eliminate them," Liltotto stated directly. "With the Mirror-Mirror Fruit's ability, getting rid of them is as easy as flipping my hand."
Through mirrors, she could enter their rooms while they slept and swallow them whole.
No one could possibly react to such tactics.
With Liltotto's strength, the vast majority of Sternritter would not be able to counter her sneak attack.
Still, to casually suggest killing her own comrades, this woman was ruthless.
Of course, there was no true camaraderie among the Sternritter; constant infighting was the norm.
"Won't that arouse suspicion?" Beltz wondered. "What if you get discovered?"
"Then don't get discovered, is that not enough?" Liltotto seemed completely unafraid.
In their view, if you died, it meant your skill was insufficient; who was there to blame?
The Sternritter banned internal fighting, but as long as the fighting wasn't discovered, what did it matter?
Ultimately, the four words 'banning internal fighting' were so ridiculous they almost made one laugh.
"Th-that makes a lot of sense..."
Beltz was actually persuaded by Liltotto's logic.
Was this the concept that doing bad things without being discovered was equivalent to not doing them at all?
However, after some thought, he still felt this plan was too risky.
"I have a better idea."
Inspired by Liltotto's suggestion, Beltz also came up with a plan.
"What is it?"
"I need Giselle's ability."
"Giselle...?" Liltotto thought about Giselle Gewelle's power.
Giselle Gewelle was the 'Z' of the Sternritter, meaning Zombie.
Her ability was simple: using her blood to control others, even the dead!
The deceased would rise to fight for her!
Liltotto was also intelligent; hearing Beltz's suggestion, she immediately grasped his objective.
"You want Giselle to control some powerhouse from another world? And then cause chaos in the Empire?"
"Exactly. That way, it will have absolutely nothing to do with us," Beltz laughed. "No one will be able to trace anything back to us."
Find the corpse of a powerhouse from One Piece, let Giselle control it, and have that powerhouse wreak havoc in the Wandenreich, killing a few Sternritter.
Once Sternritter positions were vacated, he would have a chance to move up.
However... he needed to consider carefully who to use.
It seemed... it had to be someone from Wano.
In Wano, there was the corpse of the legendary swordsman, Ryuma of the Shimotsuki Family.
Later, this corpse, along with the Black Blade Shusui, was stolen by Moria and taken to Thriller Bark.
Ryuma's strength was undeniable, as he was the legendary great swordsman of the past, the one capable of forging a Black Blade.
The only question was whether a corpse dead for nearly four hundred years could still be 'resurrected' and controlled by Giselle, and how much combat power it would retain.
Sigh, he had left God Valley too early back then.
If he had stayed a little longer, perhaps he could have witnessed the battle between Imu and those top-tier powerhouses, and maybe even managed to take Rocks's corpse.
If he could secretly take Rocks's corpse and then have Giselle control it, that would certainly be powerful.
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