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Chapter 91 - Chapter 91: Business Is Booming

After blasting them all back, Rakuya clasped his hands behind his back, eyes cold.

"In ten days, bring me twenty-five Devil Fruits to trade for the hostages. If you do not, I start killing. Today is your warning."

He dissolved, water-body thinning into mist. What little liquid he left behind splashed to the ground with a hollow slap.

The Marines stood stunned.

"Fleet Admiral…"

"Get a doctor. His arm."

"Sir, hold on, I am calling a doctor now."

"I am fine," Steel Bone Kong said with a curt wave. The Government had more than a few old-timers capable of fitting him with an artificial arm. The priority was getting his people back from Rakuya.

Arrest Rakuya?

No.

Kong knew he had no real confidence of taking Rakuya down. If every vice admiral and admiral moved at once, they might hold their own, but even that was not a sure thing. The soundest course was to go to the Five Elders. If one of them took the field, the odds changed.

Catching Rakuya would take planning.

"Damn it. What is this stretch of days?" Kong's face darkened until it looked carved from slate. "First Rakuya, now this 'Flowing Cloud.' One calamity after another."

"Fleet Admiral, he gave us ten days. Where do we find that many Devil Fruits? Twenty-five is no small number even for us."

"Difficult or not, we will find them. I will report to the Five Elders. If it comes to it, one of them will move. Once we seize Rakuya, the family backing him will have to show itself."

Rakuya, meanwhile, was already gone from the ruins of the Holy Land.

Twenty-five Devil Fruits was not hard for Marine Headquarters. They had the manpower. It was a matter of time. Better to make the Marines hunt than to waste his own money buying them.

That was why he had given them a generous ten days.

If they failed him again, he would kill the hostages: Zephyr, Sengoku, Sakazuki, and Borsalino.

He could not kill the Five Elders yet. Admirals and vice admirals? Those he could.

With that settled, Rakuya spent two days idling his way around the world before drifting back down to Fish-Man Island.

The place was bustling, lively to the point of humming. Everywhere he looked, islanders filled the streets.

Pirates had already flooded in. The locals had gone from skittish to cordial in a matter of days, and the old fear was melting.

What Rakuya cared about most right now, though, was the profit on his new line of business.

Back in Ryugu Palace, he had Neptune summoned at once.

"My lord," Neptune said, bowing low. "What are your orders?"

"Two questions."

"Please ask."

"How is the 'beat-a-Celestial-Dragon' business?"

That was the key. If the venture was hot, the money would pour in. Raking in hundreds of millions in a day would be trivial.

"Flourishing, my lord. Many pirates hate the Celestial Dragons to the bone. In just two days business has exploded. Yesterday alone we cleared one hundred million berries and took in two Devil Fruits."

"Oh? Two fruits?"

Given the choice, Rakuya preferred fruits to cash. Fruits meant points. Points meant summons.

Good business. As expected.

"And the tunnel? Have ships been coming through?"

"Just as you foresaw. In two days, a flood of pirate ships has descended through the deep-sea passage. The world is in an uproar over the tunnel. They are calling you a god."

Rakuya nodded. That, too, he had anticipated.

"From now on, charge ten thousand berries per ship that uses the passage. All revenue goes to you to support the island."

"As you command." Neptune listened carefully and nodded. The man before him could no longer be called human. Monster hardly covered it.

"My lord, there is something I wish to ask." The king hesitated, clearly wrestling with it.

"Speak."

"Yes." He drew a breath. "Did you truly destroy the World Government? And raze the Holy Land?"

For something so vast to simply fall Neptune still felt as if he had woken in the wrong world. When had Fish-Man Island clung to such a mighty thigh?

"I did." Rakuya made no attempt to hide it. Neptune had witnessed enough to put it together anyway. The black cloak with red clouds had been his, the silhouette and sigil unmistakable.

"Then the one called 'Flowing Cloud' is you. And you are Flowing Cloud," Neptune said, swallowing.

"That is right. I am Flowing Cloud. And I am also the pirate with a ten-billion bounty the Government wants dead." He shrugged. "One more thing. From this point on, forget the name Rakuya. I will use only the title Flowing Cloud. Understood?"

"Do not worry, my lord. I have already instructed our people to forget your true name. To us you are Flowing Cloud, and only that." Neptune had anticipated the need for a mask and had already seen to it.

"I never imagined you truly toppled the Government. The pirates are shouting it from every port. You are the island's idol now."

"Is that so." Rakuya gave a rueful little laugh. He had not planned to be this conspicuous. If he set foot outside, the islanders would mob him with worship and a fair share of thrown embraces. That would be… inconvenient.

"Bring me the Devil Fruits we have collected. Use the rest of the money to expand the island."

"At once."

Neptune withdrew and returned a few minutes later with a chest in his arms.

"My lord, these are the fruits we have acquired these past few days."

Rakuya flipped the lid. Five Devil Fruits lay inside, gleaming with strange patterns.

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