**Chapter 12: For Justice, I Am Willing to Face Danger! (Shocking)**
On the sea, aboard the Detention Squad's warship.
Inside the room, Loy still had a look of pleasant surprise on his face.
"Five hundred million Beli, enough for me to strengthen a top-tier Logia Type Devil Fruit to V2."
"And the Dragon-Dragon Fruit: Wind God Pterodactyl Form. This is a huge gain."
He looked at the brand new Devil Fruit displayed on the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia's light screen, muttering to himself.
Yes, he was very satisfied with the results of his first illegal operation.
The five hundred million Beli income was enough for him to perform his first Devil Fruit strengthening.
In this regard, Loy's target was a Logia Type Devil Fruit.
Because he had long coveted the elementalization ability of Logia Type Devil Fruits — even if a V2-level Logia Type Devil Fruit only possessed partial elementalization, it would still be enough for him to rampage through the first half of the Grand Line.
As for the Wind God Pterodactyl Devil Fruit, that was an even greater unexpected harvest.
Coincidentally, he knew of a similar Devil Fruit.
That would be one of the Four Emperors who now reigns over the seas, the Grand Line's top lecturer, "Wildfire" King, one of the Beast Pirates' All-Stars under Kaido.
This great Pirate, with a bounty of 1.39 billion Beli, uses the 'Dragon-Dragon Fruit: Pteranodon Form'.
And the Devil Fruit Loy obtained was clearly of the same type as the other party's.
"Although a large part of King's combat power comes from his identity as a Lunarian survivor, there's no doubt that the Dragon-Dragon Fruit's unique powerful physique and vitality, combined with the Pterodactyl's flight ability and high mobility, makes this Wind God Pterodactyl Devil Fruit a small treasure among Zoan Types!"
"Especially for me, it holds even greater significance."
Loy was very clear about this point.
If it had been before, obtaining this Devil Fruit would have made him happy, but not this excited.
But now, the situation was different.
Because at this moment, Loy already had an extremely daring plan in mind.
"Alabasta Island."
Loy whispered the unfamiliar name: "The Heavenly Tribute of the Nismal Kingdom, should be an extremely exaggerated amount, right?"
That's right.
After realizing that Alabasta Island was the storage location for the Heavenly Tribute, Loy inevitably started to formulate an idea.
One must know, as the 'tribute' offered to the Celestial Dragons every year, the value of the Heavenly Tribute was an extremely exaggerated amount.
For a superpower like Alabasta, which lacks neither territory nor resources, it's said that they annually pay a staggering ten billion Beli in Heavenly Tribute.
Of course, concerning such enormous wealth, the World Government naturally had sufficient security measures for the 'Heavenly Tribute'.
Firstly, the transportation route of the Heavenly Tribute was a top secret for every nation, normally almost unknown to anyone.
Secondly, the Heavenly Tribute of each nation was guarded by specialized government officials and Marine generals, and the transportation location was the Calm Belt, where the surrounding sea area would be under strict martial law, forbidding other ships from entering.
Thirdly, any criminal attempting to forcefully seize the Heavenly Tribute would be regarded as an enemy of the World Government, and all the wealth of the Heavenly Tribute bore a special 'Celestial Dragon's Hoofprint' as a mark. Once used by anyone, they would be hunted down by the World Government and pursued by the Marines.
Therefore, in recent decades, incidents of plundering the Heavenly Tribute have been extremely rare.
The only one who succeeded wasn't even after the Heavenly Tribute itself.
But for Loy, he couldn't remain indifferent to this.
He already knew the storage location of the Heavenly Tribute.
He wasn't afraid of being wanted by the World Government — after all, it would only be his sliced Clones that were wanted.
Moreover, and more crucially, after obtaining the Wind God Pterodactyl Devil Fruit, the martial law in the surrounding sea area was no longer a problem for him.
"I'm going for it!"
Loy had already made up his mind — he was going for it!
But the only problem now was...
"The abilities of the sliced Clone must be refreshed through physical contact with the main body."
"I must meet the Clone again — the abilities he currently possesses are not enough to seize the Heavenly Tribute."
Loy reached this conclusion in his mind.
But clearly, this was not easy — after a night of sailing, he was now hundreds of nautical miles away from Marster Port. It was impossible to cover such a long distance with Moonwalk.
But Loy was not impatient; he just waited quietly.
Because if he wasn't mistaken, the opportunity to return to Marster Port would come very soon.
And soon.
"Commander! Commander!"
Hans's voice came from outside the door.
"What is it?"
Then, Loy thought to himself, 'Just as expected.'
"It's a contact from Marine Headquarters, it's Vice Admiral Bilos."
"Oh?"
Loy let out a sound of understanding, then opened the door.
Indeed, Hans was holding a Den Den Mushi that was making a 'puru-puru' sound.
So, Loy naturally took the Den Den Mushi: "Hello? Old man, it's me."
Then, he heard Vice Admiral Bilos's deep voice: "Loy, how far are you from G-51 Marine Branch now?"
"About 700 nautical miles, I guess?"
Loy frowned, and softly asked, "What happened?"
"Shortly after you left, something happened at G-51 Marine Branch."
Vice Admiral Bilos's tone was very serious: "Branch manager Colonel Aspert was killed while on duty, and the Nismal Kingdom's royal steward and guards were all killed as well."
"What!?"
Loy frowned again, saying with a shocked voice, "Something like this actually happened?"
"According to the Marines' report, a criminal stole a merchant ship from the Nismal Kingdom, diverting most of the Marines' forces — but just as the Marines were about to catch him, he deliberately ignited the ship's fuel and sank into the sea with the ship."
"When the Marines returned to the Marine Branch, they discovered Colonel Aspert's body."
Vice Admiral Bilos said in a deep voice: "Loy, you understand what this means, right?"
What did it mean?
It meant Aran, that kid, did a great job.
Loy muttered to himself.
That's right — what Vice Admiral Bilos was talking about was exactly one of the things Loy had entrusted Aran to do.
In order to infiltrate the Marine Branch, he needed Aran to steal that merchant ship, divert most of the Marine forces' attention for him, and simultaneously provoke Steward Mantel and Colonel Aspert to head to the treasure storage location.
And as a sliced Devil Fruit Ability User, Aran only needed to abandon his Clone at the very end to complete this perfect diversion!
Now it seemed that Aran had perfectly completed the mission Loy had assigned him.
But clearly, Vice Admiral Bilos didn't know what Loy was thinking at the moment.
At this point, without waiting for Loy to answer, he directly gave his conclusion: "This was a premeditated attack; the criminal who stole the merchant ship was merely a pawn..."
He paused his words here.
When Loy heard this, he said without hesitation, "Commander, I request to return to Marster Port immediately — less than a day has passed since the attack, and the criminals are very likely still there. Someone is needed to direct the search."
"Furthermore, according to your description — I believe the criminal I am escorting likely has a significant connection to this attack, so I will have Hans and the others continue escorting him back to Marine Headquarters. I will take an emergency launch back to Marster Port by myself!"
He spoke with a face full of noble righteousness, under the shocked and adoring gazes of Hans and Far.
Let alone them, even Vice Admiral Bilos on the other end of the Den Den Mushi was silent at this moment.
In fact, this was also the intention of the Marine Headquarters' higher-ups.
This attack was extremely vicious, and the perpetrators were very likely still near Marster Port.
With Colonel Aspert killed while on duty, G-51 Marine Branch urgently needed someone who could take charge of the overall situation.
And in the nearby sea area, the closest Marine officer to Marster Port with the highest rank was Loy.
But...
"Loy, you should understand — the enemy is definitely not simple."
"If you go back now, it will be very dangerous."
His voice was very heavy.
Thus, the other Marines on the warship all showed worried expressions.
They also understood — criminals daring enough to attack a Marine Branch and kill a Marine Colonel and a royal steward of a World Government Member Nation were absolutely vicious and heinous individuals.
But...
"For Justice, I am willing to face danger!"
They only heard Loy's righteous and awe-inspiring reply.
Consequently, the eyes of the Marines were almost moist with emotion.
And Vice Admiral Bilos, upon hearing this, also said, "In that case... then go."
"This time, after you return to Marine Headquarters, I will report your merits."
After speaking, he fell silent for a moment.
Then, he softly spoke.
"For Justice."
(Author's note: Please support with continued reading! [meaning, dear readers, please try not to drop the book]. Continued readership is the most important data during the new book period, so I'm specifically asking for it.)
(Author's note: Also, regarding the update schedule for this book, it will be updated daily at 8 PM sharp.)
(end of chapter)