Pirates on Rocks' Ship 996

However, after waiting for a day, the men sent by Frank sent word that they had found nothing at the scene. They even went diving to the underwater island, but still found nothing.

This made Reina somewhat uneasy.

"First mate, what do we do? They've vanished without a trace!" Frank asked anxiously.

“Something’s strange!” Reina frowned. “Dr. Vegapunk is certain that his clone, Desire, has been destroyed because the locator on Desire is no longer working! But they haven’t found a single clue! Did the enemy take the body after killing Desire?”

"This..." Frank also sensed that something was wrong.

If it weren't for the bodies of the Whitebeard Pirates members, it could be said that they were eaten by sea monsters or large fish. However, Vegapunk is a robot, and after he dies, he's just a pile of scrap metal. Neither fish nor sea monsters would be interested in his body, and the enemy wouldn't be able to take such a thing away!

But now they can't even find Vegapunk Desire's body, which is a bit strange!

“Go and inform Olga that I plan to go and take a look myself! Also, tell the captain to have Laco or Marco return to oversee Xuan Yue Island!” Reina thought for a moment and then said in a deep voice, “Furthermore, don’t stop the construction of the defense system on Xuan Yue Island! I have a feeling that someone is targeting us, and maybe Dr. Assie is just the beginning!”

"Yes, First Mate!" Frank replied with a straight expression and a nod.

Soon after, Olga and Perona arrived at Reina's side.

"Let's go see who... dares to attack our Whitebeard Pirates!" Reina said, standing up as he saw Olga and Perona approaching.

Olga's spirits lifted upon hearing this, and she asked, "You have news of my father?"

Reina shook his head and said, "Not yet, but I'm planning to go check it out myself. Do you want me to go?"

"Yes!" Olga said firmly.

Reina nodded, and without further ado, led the two directly to the port, where Hard Shell was already waiting.

With the help of the hard shell and the slippery thing, Reina and his team could move freely in the ocean, which was very important for the search operation.

Not long after Reina set off, Marco returned to Crescent Moon Island. He already knew what had happened from Whitebeard, but he still asked Frank about it when he saw him.

"So, Reina has already set off to investigate over there?" Marco asked, frowning.

"Yes, the vice-captain believes this is a malicious incident targeting our Whitebeard Pirates. He's telling us to be constantly vigilant, as they might attack our Xuan Yue Island. That's why he had my father call you back!" Frank nodded and replied.

"I see. Double the patrol forces around the area, day and night. Activate the defense system immediately upon any discovery!" Marco nodded and said, "Also, send the small sky island into the air to monitor the surrounding area. Notify me immediately if any ships approach!"

"Yes, Captain Marco!" Frank nodded solemnly, then turned to relay the order.

Meanwhile, the Surveillance Eagle, which had already arrived at the scene, shared the view with Reina. From the air, the sea appeared quite calm, as if nothing had actually happened.

However, Reina didn't care and directly ordered the Surveillance Eagle to start patrolling the surrounding area with that spot as the center to see if they could find any clues.

Olga remained quite silent throughout the journey, rarely speaking.

Reina knew Olga was worried about Dr. Assie, so he didn't bother her, but Perona seemed a little bored.

Olga wouldn't talk to her, and she didn't dare chat with Reina, so she could only play with the dolls by herself out of boredom.

Fortunately, the journey was not long, so they arrived at their destination quickly.

Once they arrived at the destination, Olga seemed to perk up and followed Reina in the hard-shell vehicle to search for clues.

"This won't do. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. We won't find anything useful!" After searching all day, Perona was getting impatient because they had absolutely no clues.

The feedback from Surveillance Eagle was the same; it also found no clues.

However, Olga did not seem to give up. While Reina and Perona rested, she still wanted to continue searching, but Reina forced her to rest.

The next morning, Olga woke Reina, hoping to continue the search.

But Reina shook his head and refused.

“Do you remember those rabbitfish we encountered here before?” Reina asked softly.

"You think it was those rabbitfish that did it?" Olga frowned and said, "With Captain Namur's strength, those rabbitfish couldn't possibly have done it!"

“That’s right, but they may have seen something!” Reina said in a deep voice, “Let’s find them first today, and then have Liu Liu question them to see if we can get any information!”

“Okay!” Olga nodded immediately in response.

Finding the rabbitfish was easy, since this was their lair. However, once they found them, Liuliu and Hardshell couldn't communicate with them at all. Although they were both sea creatures, they were different species and used different language systems, so they couldn't communicate with each other.

Left with no other option, Reina had to contact Naga to ask where she was.

He had already practiced with the Naga when he set off from Xuan Yue Island, since searching for things in the sea would inevitably involve the merfolk.

So Reina specifically contacted Naga, hoping she could come as soon as possible.

However, Fishman Island is quite far from here, so it will take some time for the Naga to get here. Reina had no choice but to continue searching for clues in the surrounding area while riding the hard shell.

"Why don't we go in and take a look? Maybe the Doctor and the others encountered the enemy inside. If that's the case, there might be some clues inside!" Perona couldn't help but say as they passed by the ruins.

Chapter 1192 Speculation

Because of Perona's reminder, Reina and Olga also turned their attention to the ruins.

What she said made a lot of sense. If the doctor and his team were ambushed in the ruins, they could very well have been wiped out without warning.

So the three of them went directly to the ruins to investigate, hoping to find some clues.

"This is it!" After entering the ruins, the three of them quickly found a clue.

"They really were lying in ambush inside the ruins!" Olga said with a look of hatred as she looked at the signs of battle. "Who was it?"

Reina carefully examined the signs of battle around him, but his doubts only deepened.

First of all, this place is still some distance from the Golden Palace, which means that Dr. Assie and his group arrived not long after the other party entered the ruins.

But if that's the case, didn't Dr. Assie and his team spot the other ship?

Furthermore, Reina came looking for them because he had a treasure map, so how did they find them? By the time they arrived, Luffy and the others should have already left. Without guidance, a small island at the bottom of the sea would almost never be discovered.

Judging from the traces at the scene of the battle, Dr. Asie was probably ambushed, which led to his complete defeat. Moreover, the opponent was not weak. Otherwise, with Namur present, even if it was a sneak attack, it would be difficult to cause them to collapse completely in one move.

After examining the signs of battle at the scene, Reina's last shred of hope vanished, for he found no trace of anyone escaping. Dr. Assie and Captain Namur must have been captured by the enemy.

“Let’s continue exploring further in!” Reina said in a deep voice after inspecting the battle.

Olga and Perona nodded in agreement; they also wanted to see if the other side continued to advance after capturing Dr. Assie.

As for the Golden Palace, Reina was not worried.

Because when he left, he had already taken the dismantled golden treasure chest with him. Without the golden treasure chest, it would be impossible to control the golden palace using the stone tablet.

The group stopped at the entrance of the Golden Palace, as there was no need to explore it, as the Golden Palace would automatically revert to its original state.

“It seems our previous guess was wrong!” Reina sighed and said, “They had obviously already been in, so… they were just about to leave when they ran into the Doctor coming in?”

“But that doesn’t make sense! It wasn’t an encounter battle there before. If they encountered the Doctor when they left, then there would definitely have been an encounter battle! And if they explored the Golden Palace, they couldn’t have been unharmed, right?” Perona shook her head and said.

Reina nodded, agreeing with Perona. These were all suspicious points. Even if the other party had found this place through a treasure map, these signs of battle indicated that things were definitely not simple.

Olga, on the other hand, was somewhat agitated and unable to think clearly, only able to listen to Reina and Perona's analysis.

"Who exactly kidnapped that idiot father?" Olga asked, pursing her lips.

"You two go back there and search again, see if the doctor left any clues for us. Now that we've found the place of the battle, that's a good start. The enemy didn't clean up the battlefield, so..."

Reina stopped mid-sentence, then turned and walked toward the scene of the battle he had discovered earlier.

Olga and Perona exchanged glances, somewhat puzzled, but quickly followed Reina.

When Reina arrived at the location, he immediately frowned and began to examine it.

"Did you discover something?" Olga asked expectantly.

“Vegapunk previously said that the signal from his clone Desire disappeared, and he didn’t receive any messages from Desire either, which means Desire was destroyed immediately!” Reina pointed to the scene and said, “But look, there are no Desire parts left here!”

Olga and Perona were both puzzled. What did this mean?

“Look, the enemy didn’t clean up the area where the battle took place. That means they attacked Dr. Assie and the others even though they knew they were from the Whitebeard Pirates, and they weren’t afraid of us finding out!” Reina continued in a deep voice, “But there’s not a trace of Vegapunk Desire! This means… Vegapunk Desire was probably controlled by them immediately, and their ability to send signals was blocked without harming them!”

"Are they coming for us?" Olga said, a cold glint in her eyes.

“That’s right. Without special preparation, it’s impossible for the other side to control Vegapunk Desire immediately, or even prevent him from sending signals!” Reina felt a little irritated. This meant that there was a spy within the Whitebeard Pirates, and that the spy held a high position.

Not many people knew that Dr. Assie was here. Although the captains and captains knew, they didn't have the specific coordinates. They only heard about it from Reina after he returned.

The only people who actually know the coordinates here are those who set off with Dr. Asie, the Straw Hat crew, and Naga.

However, neither the Straw Hat crew nor Naga knew the exact time Dr. Asie set off or arrived.

Based on this calculation, Reina narrowed down the suspect to those who had accompanied Dr. Assie.

Among Dr. Asie's group, only three people truly have the authority to speak: Dr. Asie himself, Captain Namur of the 8th Division, and Vegapunk's desire for clones.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that someone among those who came with them leaked their whereabouts.

However, the organization that could infiltrate the Whitebeard Pirates must not be a small group; it is most likely a force that is hostile to them.

"The World Government, the Navy, the Coast Guard... as well as extraterrestrial visitors and the Red-Haired Pirates!" Reina immediately listed his targets in his mind.

The World Government and the Navy are the most likely candidates. The Coast Guard and the Red-Haired Pirates don't have any direct conflicts with them right now, so it's unlikely they would do something like that. As for extraterrestrial visitors, although they have the ability to secretly send small groups of troops to penetrate the front lines, there is currently no intelligence to suggest that they can plant spies in other forces, so they can only be considered as a backup option.

After careful consideration, Reina narrowed his focus down to the World Government and the Navy, or more likely, the World Government, since they were the only ones most adept at this kind of thing.

Chapter 1193 Reina's Suspicion

After listening to Reina's analysis, Olga and Perona both nodded in agreement, finding it very reasonable.

"So what do we do now? Go to the World Government to demand our people back?" In Olga's view, the World Government was the one who usually did this kind of thing.

Reina squinted and said, "Now it depends on what the World Government wants to do. They captured our people, either to blackmail us, or... to publicly execute them! But either way, they can't possibly execute them privately!"

"Damn the World Government, how dare they attack us!" Perona said indignantly.

"Alright, now that we have a target, things are much easier. Let's go up there first and contact Frank to see if they've received any messages from the World Government!" Reina breathed a sigh of relief and said, "In short... if they dare to touch our people, they'll pay the price!"

With the clue, Reina no longer needed to go to the stone tablet as he had originally planned, and instead took Olga and Perona back to the sea in the hard-shell vehicle.

After returning to the sea, Reina immediately contacted Xuan Yue Island.

"Frank, keep an eye on the movements of the World Government and the Navy. Dr. Assie has most likely been captured by them!" After contacting Frank, Reina didn't waste any words and said directly.

"Yes, I understand!" Frank nodded in reply.

"Also... keep a close watch on Vegapunk without letting him find out. If he notices anything amiss... take him into custody immediately!" After thinking for a moment, Reina whispered again.

"Huh?" Frank was startled and asked hesitantly, "First mate, could it be...?"

“I’m not sure yet, so don’t alert them!” Reina said softly.