A fierce naval battle had just concluded near Franxx's Island in the New World.
The fleet of the Whitebeard Pirates' Fourth Division had successfully annihilated the escort ships of a commercial fleet consisting of over a dozen vessels and had taken the remaining merchant ships captive.
The commander of the Fourth Division, Thatch, was dressed like a chef.
In fact, he was the Whitebeard Pirates' exclusive chef, renowned for his exceptional culinary skills. At the same time, he was also a capable swordsman, perhaps because swordsmen and chefs both use knives, allowing some degree of mutual understanding.
Kicking open the cargo hold of one of the merchant ships, Thatch peered inside. He used the blade of his knife to pierce a burlap sack, and a fine, sand-like substance spilled out.
Thatch frowned, stepped forward, felt the "sand," and then brought it to his nose to smell it. His expression shifted to one of pleasant surprise, and after tasting a bit, he confirmed, "Top-grade spices!"
As a chef, this was his area of expertise!
Being a pirate didn't just mean robbing gold, jewels, and cash to make a living. In most cases, pirates robbed cargo. Without a doubt, these top-grade spices were extremely valuable and high-quality goods. The entire hold of this ship appeared to be packed with them.
If they were sent to the black market, even if the value was halved, they would still bring in billions of Beri.
And this was just one ship!
"This merchant fleet must be swimming in money, hehehe. Hurry up and ask, did the intelligence from the Second Division mention whether the entire ship full of gold was found? Don't tell me it was sunk during the sea battle just now! Whoever sank it, go down and salvage the damn ship!" Thatch cursed as he ordered his subordinates to get to work.
Soon enough, a large quantity of gold was indeed discovered on another ship.
It seemed the intelligence given by Lucci wasn't completely useless.
Flipping open a treasure chest, Thatch grabbed a handful of gold coins, examined them, and then laughed, saying, "Top-grade color, high gold content. Are even counterfeiters this meticulous these days? Hahahaha..."
That's right, as a professional robber, Thatch could tell at a glance that all these gold Berries were privately minted. Some lucky person likely discovered a gold mine on some mysterious island. Since the extracted gold couldn't be traded directly as bars, most privately operated black gold mines had a counterfeit coin production line to mint the gold directly into Berry for circulation in the market.
However, even though these "fake" Berry lacked the World Bank coding from Mariejois, their actual gold content was no worse than genuine Berry. As a result, they were widely circulated internationally and recognized by the black market, making the profit potential huge.
What Thatch didn't know was that the gold on the merchant ships he just plundered actually came from the Amway Group. Of course, the Berry was also minted by the Amway Group itself. The Marines had several islands with gold mines developed in the Calm Belt. The gold ore, mined by a large amount of pirate labor, was melted down and shipped ship-by-ship to an Amway Group minting island in the New World.
From there, the gleaming gold Berry would quickly circulate, converting into real value and providing a transfusion of wealth back to Marineford, the Marine Headquarters.
Naturally, this merchant fleet was not affiliated with the Amway Group, nor would robbing it anger the Amway Group. Otherwise, Thatch wouldn't have been so brazen as to rob them clean. After all, the Amway Group was backed by both Mariejois and the White Hunter, Smoker, one of the Yonko. Messing with their goods in the New World was very dangerous.
Last time, Charlotte Linlin had caused the infamous Throne War that ultimately partitioned the New World's balance of power, all because she robbed Smoker's cargo!
This particular merchant fleet was just one of the Amway Group's many partners. They had purchased a batch of privately minted gold Berry from the Amway Group, intending to transport them to Franxx's Island for exchange in the black market for other goods. They just didn't expect to be robbed by Thatch.
"Commander, there's another ship full of military hardware! All the newest repeating rifles!" a subordinate rushed into the cabin where Thatch was playing with the gold Berry and reported.
"Spices, gold, firearms... we hit the jackpot," Thatch said in high spirits. He then instructed, "The lot of you, hurry up and tally the profits! The intelligence came from the Second Division, so don't forget to cut them a thirty percent share as per the rules."
"Understood, Commander!" the pirate subordinate replied, also ecstatic.
This was undoubtedly a massive haul.
Just as Thatch was preparing to leave the cargo hold, he noticed a small chest in the corner, a different size from the other treasure chests.
"A Devil Fruit?" Thatch guessed what it was with a single glance at the box. People on the high seas were generally accustomed to using this type of small chest to transport Devil Fruits.
Taking a few steps forward, he grabbed the box and forcefully snapped the lock. Rudely prying the box open and looking inside, a smile appeared in Thatch's eyes. "It really is a Devil Fruit..."
Contrary to Lucci's guess, Thatch was not aware that the ship was transporting the Dark-Dark Fruit, which was a known, publicly priced bounty item. Thus, his first thought wasn't of the Dark-Dark Fruit. For a pirate robbing a merchant ship, occasionally stumbling upon a Devil Fruit was a normal stroke of luck.
Thatch didn't dwell on any potential connections, simply smacked his lips and said, "I'll take it back and have Teach check what its ability is..."
Just like in the original story, he didn't even think about asking the captives what kind of Devil Fruit it was before putting it away.
If Teach were here, he would be unable to contain the ambition he had hidden for over a decade or two, because, without a doubt, this was the Dark-Dark Fruit that multiple factions were searching for!
Meanwhile, in the Franxx's Island district.
Donquixote Doflamingo's expression was incredibly grim, and his rage was brewing.
"I just arrived at Franxx's Island, and the next thing you tell me is that the Dark-Dark Fruit has met with an accident?" Doflamingo asked, fire in his eyes, staring at Diamante.
Diamante was helpless. He hadn't received the cargo yet, and the problem hadn't occurred on his watch. Could he be blamed?
He explained with some embarrassment, "It was the Whitebeard Pirates. I did receive a request for assistance from the Black Rose Merchant Group and sent a fleet to support them. However, the Black Rose Merchant Group has gone silent, and our fleet couldn't have arrived so quickly. Therefore, it's basically confirmed that the Whitebeard Pirates stole the goods, including the Dark-Dark Fruit."
After a slight pause, he added, "This should just be an accident. The Whitebeard Pirates' Fourth Division fleet has been cruising in the surrounding waters recently. I believe they just happened to run into them."
"Accident or a long-planned scheme, you will get the Dark-Dark Fruit back for me! Damn it, do you have any idea what choice I made for this thing!?" Doflamingo raged.
The hell of it was, because of the Dark-Dark Fruit, he had aggressively pulled a fast one on Crocodile, directly refusing the summons of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Now, the process for stripping him, Donquixote Doflamingo, of his Warlord title was probably already being drafted in Mariejois.
Now he was banking on the Dark-Dark Fruit to win the "favor" of Diarmuid and get this powerful figure to back him up.
Yet, the damn Dark-Dark Fruit was right in front of him and got stolen?!
And by the Whitebeard Pirates, of all people?!
However, Doflamingo was now on the verge of going berserk. After scolding Diamante, he flung the window open and declared, "Whether it's the Whitebeard Pirates, Kaido, or Charlotte Linlin, these damn bastards can rob anything else, but they absolutely cannot rob the Dark-Dark Fruit! I'm more mobile; perhaps I can still make it in time!"
As soon as he finished speaking, regardless of the surprised and cautionary looks from Diamante and Monet, Doflamingo immediately utilized his special talent as 'Heavenly Yaksha.' Using his strings to latch onto the clouds, he moved as if leaping through the air, disappearing into the sky at an incredible speed.
"What do we do about this?" Diamante asked, staring blankly out the window.
Monet adjusted her plain glasses with a sigh of resignation. "What can we do? Hurry up and assemble a pursuit squad to provide backup for Young Master!"
"Right, right!" Diamante quickly responded, coming back to his senses.
Soon, the pursuit fleet flying the Donquixote Family flag sailed out of the port.
A battle for the Dark-Dark Fruit seemed poised to erupt at any moment.
And all of this was simply the result of a single remark from Diarmuid. He wasn't even very clear on everything that was happening here.
This was the advantage granted by power and status.
Relying on such power, status, and even strength, countless people would always crave his favor, rushing forward to try and win his appreciation...
That's why some say power is the sweetest of sweet wines.
Before long, Thatch had contacted Lucci.
Speaking of which, Thatch, Lucci, Teach... The Whitebeard Pirates seemed to have an unusually high number of 'oddities' like them.
"Oh? Lucci, I really have you to thank for the intelligence this time. Otherwise, I would have missed this big fish. Do you know how much I've roughly tallied so far? I've robbed at least two hundred billion Berries this time! Even if I trade it at a discount, it'll still be over a hundred billion! Oh, and there's a Devil Fruit too..." Thatch said excitedly.
Of course, a hundred billion Berry sounded like a lot, but in reality, for the scale of the entire Whitebeard Pirates, it wasn't particularly astounding. Whitebeard's crew included dozens of captains, each maintaining their own fleet. The fact that Newgate could lead men to directly confront a hundred thousand Marine elites at Marineford proves that he had at least tens of thousands of elite pirates under his command. All these people needed to be fed through plunder.
On the other side, Lucci glanced at Teach, whose breathing was already growing heavy beside him, and then asked with a smile, "Is that so? Congratulations then. Don't forget to cut us a share of the profit."
"Don't worry, a full thirty percent. The Second Division won't be shorted," Thatch said generously. After all, the Second Division only provided the intelligence; the Fourth Division was the one who personally fought the battle. Giving a thirty percent profit share was actually quite good.
"Where are you now? Teach-senpai and I are also heading toward the Franxx's Island waters. Shall we meet up? Teach says he hasn't seen you in a long time and misses you..." Lucci said with another smile.
Thatch didn't think much of it, as pirates roaming everywhere was a normal occurrence. So, he said directly, "Alright then. Did Teach bring the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia? It would be great if he could take a look and tell me what ability this one has. Let's set a course and meet up, hahaha! We should celebrate this haul with a banquet; I'll personally cook you all a feast!"
Soon, the two sides exchanged location information, confirmed their future course, and hung up the Den Den Mushi.
Lucci looked at the excited Teach and then said, "It seems Thatch was a bit careless. He didn't even bother to ask the captives what the ability was..."
"Zehahahaha! I knew it! That guy is so careless, and the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia is right here with me. He'll definitely come to me first to confirm the ability. That will be the moment for me to seize the Dark-Dark Fruit!" Teach roared with laughter.
"Seize... is it?" Lucci softly murmured, then a strange smile played on the corner of his lips as he followed up, "Yes, that will be the moment to seize the Dark-Dark Fruit..."