Chapter 88: Who Do You Think You Are? A Bankrupt Plan
"My main mission is to escort pirates. I need to hand over this matter to the King of Dressrosa first."
"Fair enough. I'll have the CP agents investigate quietly, trying not to attract their attention. Since you're going to see the King anyway, you might as well ask him to mobilize the Royal Army to help us with this.
These Royal Army soldiers are more familiar with Dressrosa's terrain. If there really is a Lunarian hiding on this island, they might actually be able to find them."
Up until now, they only felt that a suspected Lunarian was hiding on this island and planned to conduct a search first.
The agents on the ship took off their suits one after another, changing into ordinary clothes before landing on Dressrosa.
Those black suits could better indicate their identity, but they would also expose their profession, so they wouldn't wear them during covert investigations.
Sometimes, to achieve certain goals, it wasn't unheard of to go undercover for several years.
While these agents entered Dressrosa in batches, the Marine Vice Admiral leading the team had also arrived at Dressrosa's Royal Palace, completed the handover of those pirate prisoners with Dold, and paid the due bounties.
"King Riku, there is a matter that requires Dressrosa's assistance."
"What matter?"
"We received news that a Lunarian has reportedly appeared on this island. Please dispatch the Royal Army to help us search the entire country to confirm whether a Lunarian really is on the island."
Hearing the other party say this, Dold's expression didn't change, but he immediately thought of the "mummy girl" beside Nereus.
He knew his old friend often did such things. Dressrosa even sheltered some homeless people.
It really wasn't strange for Nereus to take in people from minority races.
"Are you certain?"
"Not certain. It's just a suspicion, which is why we need assistance..."
"Is that so? I refuse."
"What did you say?"
"I said I refuse to help you, Vice Admiral Cormac. Asking me to mobilize the entire Royal Army to disturb the lives of my citizens for an unconfirmed piece of news—I will not agree to such a thing."
"King Riku, that is a race wanted by the World Government. By doing this, you are..."
"If you have an order from the World Government, or sufficiently confirmed news, I can indeed help you. But to use the Royal Army for a vague possibility... Vice Admiral Cormac, please don't mistake your position.
A Marine Vice Admiral has no authority to command the King of a member nation."
There were over 170 member nations in the World Government. These 170-plus Kings basically represented the voice of the world. The fifty Kings with the right to participate in the Reverie held even higher status.
The Celestial Dragons, those World Nobles, indeed looked down on ordinary Kings, but Marine officers had no right to command them; instead, they were supposed to protect the safety of these Kings.
Dold's reason was valid. Even though Cormac was dissatisfied, he could do nothing about it.
After all, he couldn't produce an order from the World Government. If he made a big fuss, neither Marine Headquarters nor Mary Geoise would support him.
"I don't care what you do, but don't affect Dressrosa. Otherwise, I will go to Mary Geoise to file a complaint against you."
"I understand, King Riku..."
Cormac took a deep breath, then withdrew from the palace.
"Captain of the Guard, go find Scarlett. Tell her it's not peaceful outside, ask her to stop playing outside for now and come back early."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
As the Marines left the palace, Dold arranged for someone to notify Scarlett. Currently, Scarlett was playing with Nanamo. He believed the other party would understand the meaning behind his message.
As for why he didn't call, Dold worried the Marines possessed black Transponder Snails for wiretapping. Some things were better not brought out into the open.
Yes, it wasn't unacceptable for member nations to have contact with pirates; it was even an unspoken rule.
It wasn't strange for a powerful nation to privately support a group of pirates.
The Kano Country had multiple naval forces (Suigun) under its command, including the Happo Navy and the Niho Navy. Chinjao, the leader of the Happo Navy, was even directly wanted by the World Government, yet it didn't affect his freedom of movement.
Even after being defeated by Garp, he wasn't arrested like an ordinary pirate. His son could even appear at the Reverie as a guard.
It was just that such things shouldn't be made too conspicuous. As long as there was no evidence like phone recordings, excuses could be found easily.
...
Before long, after King Riku's Captain of the Guard hurried away from the King's Plateau to find Scarlett, Hermes also discovered some small problems.
"Princess Nanamo, something's wrong. Those people are acting strange. They don't look like merchants; they look like they're searching for something.
And these people seem to have ideas about us... no, about Amphe."
Do not underestimate paranoia. For such patients, even a subconsciously passing glance would arouse their suspicion, let alone gazes that inherently carried special purposes.
"CP agents?"
When it came to stress responses in this regard, Amphelite was actually more severe. Hermes only felt there might be such a situation, while Amphelite was truly facing this problem.
She subconsciously reached for the long sword at her waist but was stopped by Nanamo.
"Sister Amphe, don't get excited yet. With your disguise, if they aren't sure of your identity, they won't attack directly in public. This is the territory of a member nation.
Wait for me to contact Papa; this is easy to solve."
At the same time, the Captain of the Royal Guard also brought the message here.
"What a pity. Let's end our play here for today, Scarlett. Next time we meet, I'll bring you a proper gift."
"That coral tree is quite nice."
"Ahem... As long as you like it. I'm leaving first~"
Turning around to leave, Nanamo's expression became gloomy, even gritting her teeth slightly.
"Don't let me find out... who tipped off the World Government..."
Nanamo wasn't worried about safety. Nereus was with them just now, at most separated by a street's distance. They could definitely handle this situation.
The problem was, her plan of "black eating black" (robbing the robbers/profiting from the enemy) had gone bankrupt.
It was unclear how many people were on the island; maybe some ordinary person was an agent in disguise.
As long as those people weren't blind, if someone noticed Nereus or herself following beside Amphelite, then Amphelite's situation would be very clear.
Once the World Government realized Amphelite was now by Nereus's side, they definitely wouldn't invest more manpower and energy on her in the future.
In that case, how was she supposed to fleece the World Government?
Let alone multiple times, she probably couldn't even pull it off once.
Looking at it this way, unless Amphelite was promoted to become her stepmother and then popped out a younger brother or sister... Only with a Lunarian of unknown identity like that would it be possible to execute her plan.
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