Pirate: I was just slacking off, do you really think I'm bad?

Standing on the ship developed by Vegapunk, Garp and Kuzan were both somewhat shocked.

They've had ships like this that don't need wind power to propel them, but the main reason they still dare not enter the Calm Belt is because of the Sea Kings.

But now, the seastone steamships designed by Vegapunk can freely navigate within the doldrums.

The seastone embedded in its base can shield the senses of Sea Kings, thus allowing passage through the Calm Belt. "Vice Admiral Garp, with this technology, the Navy will be able to freely connect the Grand Line and the four seas through the Calm Belt."

Young Kuzan spoke with great excitement. Garp glanced at Vegapunk, who was deep in thought behind him, and was also deeply moved.

As a veteran naval officer, he deeply understood how terrifying it would be if the navy could freely mobilize its forces through the doldrums.

As Kuzan said, if the navy on the Grand Line could be closely linked with the navy of the four seas, then the navy would grow into a true behemoth.

It can concentrate its superior forces in any sea area to eliminate opposing forces.

Instead of the current situation where the four seas and the Grand Line are separated and cannot support each other in case of any problems.

Alright, Headquarters understands Dr. Vegapunk's value better than the two of us do, and I also believe Dr. Vegapunk can bring more technologies that will give the Navy an advantage.

Garp patted Kuzan on the shoulder, and the two remained silent.

In an unnamed area of ​​the North Sea, an enormous military aircraft is sailing towards the Grand Line. On the deck's sun loungers, a slender figure lies lazily, his right hand behind his head and his left hand holding a Den Den Mushi (a type of Den Den Mushi) while answering a phone call.

"Hmm, you mean the people headquarters sent this time are Garp and Kuzan?"

"Vegapunk's files and personnel have been taken away, right? Okay, okay."

"Repair up the base, then seal it off and wait for us to come and move our stuff."

Brubrubru.

After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Raleigh patted his forehead and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

Those bigwigs in the World Government don't they ever think about why Vegapunk, who hadn't been discovered for so long, was only revealed after the research was completed?

Without Vegapunk's tacit approval, the CPO organization, even with fish-man blood, would probably have been torn to shreds the moment they landed.

Vegapunk being taken away by the Navy isn't necessarily a bad thing at the moment.

Raleigh himself knew that Vegapunk was indeed a top scientist, but science also required a lot of human, material and financial investment.

As things stand, Raleigh is not capable of providing Vegapunk with the conditions he needs.

Even if there were any, Raleigh's actions would be noticed by the World Government. But it would be different if Vegapunk entered the Marine Headquarters' research institute. In the eyes of the Five Elders, who are in power in the World Government, and the Marine Headquarters admirals, Vegapunk became "one of their own".

Without their permission, Vegapunk could only live inside the research institute and could not go out.

In this state, Vegapunk is often seen as posing no threat by those who consider themselves superior and in power. Instead, they try their best to meet all the demands that Vegapunk makes.

And this is the plan devised by Raleigh and Vegapunk – the "Great Change of the Day" scheme, which can also be understood as "using someone else's resources to achieve one's own goals."

With the help of the World Government, let's lay the golden eggs that belong to Raleigh and Vegapunk.

All we need to do is hand over some not-so-advanced weapons technology to the World Government. After all, what the World Government wants isn't advanced technology, but stability.

In their view, a scientist who, when left to roam freely, can develop technologies hundreds of years more advanced than those held by the World Government, is far more threatening than a pirate captain.

Even if a pirate captain controls the New World and has countless powerful followers, he is still not considered a threat by the World Government.

Just like the Rocks Pirates who unified the New World, the World Government defeated the arrogant Rocks without using its own resources, relying solely on the assistance of Marine admirals and a group of pirates.

Although this included the defection of some captains under Rocks' command, there is no doubt that every era has its overlords like Rocks.

However, once they are dealt with by the World Government or die, they are quickly erased from people's memories.

"Go, Dr. Vegapunk. I hope you can develop the Pacifista in the Marine Headquarters laboratory as soon as possible."

Vegapunk's technology is undeniable, and among them, Raleigh's favorite is the Pacifista.

These are mechanical creatures created by Vegapunk based on the abilities of bears. Although they have the disadvantages of being slow and having fixed moves for skilled fighters.

However, such robots are simply divine weapons for dealing with pirates with bounties of several thousand cubic meters.

It's important to understand that even without his super-evolution, Luffy and his crew didn't have much of an advantage against the Pacifistas.

However, while the pacifist is very enjoyable to use, it also has significant drawbacks.

money!

Developing this kind of thing is extremely expensive!

Even though Raleigh handed over the Pacifistas' operational principles and general blueprints to Vegapunk, it only solved Vegapunk's workload for one month.

However, Vegapunk assured Raleigh that he would request the creation of pacifists as soon as he entered the World Government, although finding Kuma was still quite difficult.

It may be some time before I have a chance to get close to a bear.

Vegapunk also had alternative candidates, including the naval hero Garp.

Vegapunk believes that Garp may possess exceptional genetic talent, giving him a very strong ability to enhance his Armament Haki.

If you create a Pacifista model based on Garp, it may not have the skills of a bear, but it will have a stronger tendency in physical combat and Haki.

Currently, the world is facing a major headache regarding Logia-type Devil Fruit users. Creating a Pacifista with top-tier Armament Haki would be an excellent option. Based on current calculations, each sea area within the world only needs three Pacifistas to handle daily combat.

If it were Roger who sparked the Age of Exploration, Raleigh estimated that seven Pacifistas would be enough to handle it. If he could produce more Pacifistas, Raleigh would pack up the rest and send them to Loguetown to suppress anyone trying to enter Reverse Mountain.

Raleigh had complete faith in Vegapunk, as long as he had enough funds for his research.

Then everyone in the world would be shocked by Vegapunk's level of skill. However, with Vegapunk gone, Raleigh has also benefited from the whale fall.

His assistant is now on a large ship heading to the island where Vegapunk was taken away. The devices that are inconvenient to take with them and the excessive amount of data have become the spoils that Raleigh has picked up.

Sengoku and Garp, don't think I don't know you two were plotting against me behind my back.

Raleigh clenched his fist at the air.

If this matter really needed to be dealt with, there was no need for Garp and Kuzan to make the difficult journey from headquarters; Raleigh could have handled it himself.

The reason why Garp and Kuzan were chosen instead of Raleigh to solve the problem was naturally to give Kuzan more credit.

After all, Raleigh wasn't part of his faction. Through his interactions with Raleigh, Sengoku realized that this kid didn't belong to any faction and wanted to create his own. Sengoku's attitude then subtly shifted.

As the saying goes, the best way to deal with a person who is exceptionally talented but whose abilities are uncertain is to promote one of your own.

There are three admirals in the navy when the position is full.

Sora and Sengoku have chosen a few individuals who have already demonstrated exceptional talent: Sakazuki, Borsalino, Kuzan, and Raleigh.

Of these people, Sakazuki and Borsalino are a given; as long as they don't die prematurely, becoming generals is a certainty. As for Kuzan and Raleigh, it's really hard to say right now.

Although Kuzan's talent and strength are slightly better than Raleigh's, everyone knows perfectly well what kind of attitude Raleigh has.

If Raleigh had put in a little more effort, he could very well have replaced Kuzan as the general.

Kuzan, on the other hand, would be stuck at the rank of lieutenant general for life. Actually, Raleigh sometimes really wanted to yell at the officers at headquarters:

Who cares about your general positions? I'm going to be a lieutenant general for life.

However, Raleigh was afraid that if he shouted it out, he would be seen as crazy.

Although Raleigh had expressed his opinion on Sengoku's arrangements, he did not object. It was simply that if Sakazuki and Borsalino did not firmly side with Sengoku's faction, then it would be Kuzan, who was on his side, who would be promoted.

Before Raleigh came along, Kuzan was a sure thing to go up there, but now things are a bit difficult.

That would only mean reducing Raleigh's presence and assigning many important tasks to Kuzan.

Indeed, no matter the world, reaching the top always comes down to navigating social dynamics.

Raleigh uttered a sigh, then put on the blindfold and began to daydream.

Daydreaming during work hours is worth 500 points for slacking off.

One month later, in a mysterious sea area on the Grand Line.

The navy, which discovered anomalies on the ship, salvaged some ship debris.

"Commander Raleigh, we've discovered some ship debris."

Several naval soldiers handed the fragments they were holding to Raleigh.

The officer said that this did not look like a modern pirate ship.

Hans examined the fragments carefully before him, then spoke to Raleigh.

Hans is right, I feel these fragments are at least a hundred years old.

"Oh no, it should be two hundred years."

Beck also picked up a fragment and said that when Beck and Hans were training at the original naval base, they had studied these ship traces extensively. Hans gently rubbed the ship fragment in his hand, and the fragment shattered and fell to the ground like snowflakes.

"Lord Raleigh, I estimate this is at least three hundred years old; it wouldn't have such a loose structure."

Lord Raleigh, we've discovered what appears to be a person in that place.

The naval soldiers on the watchtower hurriedly reported to Raleigh on deck.

After hearing what the naval soldier said, Raleigh used his Observation Haki to scan the entire sea area.

Although the sea area was vast, based on the direction of the naval soldiers, Raleigh quickly sensed a relatively weak life form.

He doesn't look like a pirate, because pirates aren't this weak.

Raleigh muttered to himself.

Lord Raleigh, there are more ship debris in that direction, shall we go and take a look?

"Okay, let's take a look."

Raleigh nodded, indicating to the Marine Admiral to ascend in that direction.

As the warship approached, the small figure tightly covered his mouth.

He was afraid that his loud breathing would give him away. He was unaware that the navy soldiers and Raleigh had already spotted him, though Raleigh wasn't particularly mischievous.

He felt that as long as no one in this sea area attacked him first, he would not make contact with them.

The warship quickly passed by the place where the little boy was hiding without stopping.

The boy sighed softly as he watched the warship hurry past him.

Raleigh arrived at the large pile of ship debris and looked at the sea with great curiosity.

Hans and Beck, who had been preparing for some time, had already gone into the water to retrieve the items.

Lord Raleigh, look what we've found! This is the flag of a small kingdom from a long, long time ago.

This flag represents a kingdom in the East China Sea. When I was little, my family told me stories about this kingdom.

But I remember that this kingdom disappeared from history 200 years ago.

Raleigh took the flag from his hand and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "Could this ship be from 200 years ago?"

"That's very likely, Commander Raleigh."

Hans suddenly popped out from under the ship, holding a golden object, and shouted loudly.

"Lord Raleigh, look what I've found!"

"It's a piece of gold that's worth a fortune!"

Upon hearing about gold, everyone on the ship erupted in excitement.

The little boy had noticed this scene as well, and he was very excited when he saw the gold in his hand.

Could this be the golden land our ancestors spoke of?

Raleigh noticed the boy's unusual behavior, but he didn't think much of it, because many people would be very excited to encounter such gold.

He had already mistaken the little boy hiding behind him for a scavenger at sea.

"Hey, kid, come out here."

I've been studying this for a long time.

Hiding behind the boat won't help.

It's obvious you want this, right?

Raleigh tossed the gold artifacts in his hand around, trying to entice the little boy behind him.

After listening to Raleigh's words, the little boy slowly moved his figure out from behind the boat.

He spoke with some trepidation;

"My lord, I'm just picking up some things here."

"I have no intention of coveting your gold."

Raleigh could tell from the little boy's eyes that he truly had no intention of coveting the gold.

However, the little boy's eyes also seemed to show a great familiarity with gold objects.