I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

Many years ago, in God Valley Castle, Saint Charmaco, due to an obsessive-compulsive disorder attack, revealed the location of the tenth treasure room, and was then beaten up by the other Celestial Dragons in anger.

During the struggle, the Celestial Dragon badge belonging to Saint Charmaco fell to the ground and rolled to the man's feet, where he picked it up.

That man is... Rocks!

"This badge should have ended up in Rocks' possession, but after Rocks died, the badge wasn't found on his body..."

Phoenix sat at her desk, on which lay the World Government's documents documenting the God Valley Incident.

The files concerning God Valley are classified, but as a Celestial Dragon and a witness to the events of that year, I am entitled to access them.

From the documents, she could get a glimpse into all aspects of the events of that year.

The Celestial Dragons didn't take the loss of the small badge seriously at the time. After all, what they lost that day was the treasures of ten treasure rooms, plus the entire Valley of the Gods; compared to that, a small badge was nothing.

"But... how did the badge end up in Sieg's hands after Lox's?"

This question lingered in her mind, and she carefully read through the documents for a long time before finding something unusual.

"On the day of the Battle of God Valley, the infamous Impaler Dracula appeared."

"This is the last time in history that Dracula the Impaler appeared, but in the God Valley Incident he seemed to be just an insignificant supporting character, only appearing later in the event and leaving with Whitebeard."

"But just a few days later, a theft occurred at the Holy Land. Sig must have used this badge to sneak into the family treasury..."

Phoenix Palace discovered the problem.

As is widely known, Sigurd is in league with Dracula.

The infamous Dracula didn't cause any trouble in God Valley; instead, he played a minor, insignificant role, and this was Dracula's last appearance...

"Perhaps Dracula obtained the badge from Lox and immediately gave it to Sieg afterward..."

Based on the information they had, Phoenix Palace came to this conclusion, which seemed highly probable.

But some doubts remained in her mind, unresolved...

..........

On the same day.

CP0 agent Stussy arrives at Marineford, the Marine Headquarters, by ship. Carrying a bounty from a Celestial Dragon family, she knocks on the door of Admiral Higuma's residence.

Chapter 1103 The Summit 2-3

Higuma's living room.

Stussy sat on the sofa with her legs crossed, picked up her teacup and took a sip. Her every move made her look more like a graceful and noble lady than a CP0 agent.

"Then, Admiral Higuma, this is the reward for Operation Fall Mountain Island."

Stussy pointed to the mountain of Pele banknotes beside him and smiled slightly:

"Actually, this money should have been shared between you and Borsalino. You deserve more credit and should receive 3.2 billion Berries."

"However, the Phineas Palace of the Charmaco Saint Family is very satisfied with your help in recovering the family treasure, so they secretly rounded it up."

"There are a total of... five billion Berries here."

While speaking, Stussy's light blue eyes kept glancing at Higuma, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

She knew that Higuma's identity was suspicious... After all, the fake identity of "Naval Branch Officer Higuma" was created by CP0's Stussy.

In such a chaotic era, forging an identity is not a difficult task for a veteran CP0 member like Stussy.

The reason why Higuma's true identity has not been exposed so far is because Stussy's fabricated clean identity, combined with Luffy's fabricated memories, cleared him of suspicion when he first came into contact with the Navy, thus deceiving Sengoku, Zephyr, and others.

As for using the outlaw Zhang Sanka to cover up the communication, thus adding a second layer of security, that happened after the Impel Down war.

"Well then, the matter is settled, and I will take my leave now. Thank you for your hospitality."

Stussy stood up, ready to leave, but was stopped by Higuma.

"Wait, actually I have something else important to do..."

"Ain, go outside and keep watch for me. I have something important to discuss, and I don't want anyone to disturb us."

Higuma glanced around. He was in his living room at the moment, and his Observation Haki didn't detect anyone secretly watching him.

However, just to be on the safe side, I still had Ain keep watch outside.

Ain frowned slightly.

Two days ago, Higuma had a secret meeting with Vegapunk, and now he's going to have a closed-door meeting with a beautiful CP0 female agent? And he's even asking her to keep watch?

Isn't that going too far?

"Then you and Auntie can talk slowly." Ain walked out of the hall, closed the door tightly, and waited outside the courtyard.

Stussy glanced at Higuma indifferently, seemingly sensing his intention.

"No one's watching... As CP0, I wouldn't make such a mistake."

So, just say what's on your mind.

Stussy's words came to an abrupt halt. Before her eyes, the Sun Bear's appearance rapidly changed, reverting to Sieg's likeness, looking at her with a half-smile.

"Higuma is an avatar I created using my abilities; it's like another version of myself," Higuma explained.

With a flash of his hand, a small box appeared out of thin air.

This ability to conjure things out of thin air... is indeed Sieg's ability.

“Just as I thought…” Stussy nodded in understanding.

Sieg wasn't afraid to reveal his identity in front of Stussy.

If Stussy, as a spy within a spy, wanted to expose his identity, the best time to do so would be after the Battle of Los Angeles, when Sieg was captured.

By then, forget about the 5 billion yuan bonus that's about to be in hand; he'll be gone too.

"It's not good for us to have a long private talk, so I'll keep it short."

Sig opened the box in his hand, and inside lay a fruit with strange spiral patterns on its surface—a Devil Fruit.

“This Devil Fruit is the Door-Door Fruit,” Higuma said.

Stussy then showed a look of shock.

She had seen many Devil Fruits, but this was the Devil Fruit ability of Admiral Dol... This kind of space-time type Devil Fruit was undoubtedly one of the most overpowered fruits.

Higuma continued to explain, "The Door-Door Fruit is a powerful fruit. If you develop the fruit to the point where you can open doors in the air, it's practically an invincible fruit for escaping. Ordinary attacks simply can't touch you."

In the original work, CP9's Bruno used his Door-Door Fruit to perform a lot of fancy moves, but in the end, he still relied on the Six Powers to win. Of course, Bruno's mission at that time was to stop Luffy's progress and prevent him from escaping by opening doors in thin air; otherwise, Luffy probably wouldn't have been able to stop him either.

“Stusi, your identity is complicated. Staying in CP0 for so long is like venturing into a tiger's den... the danger level is very high. If what you've done is exposed, you'll die immediately,” Higuma continued.

"But as long as you develop your ability to open doors in the air, you can be sure of your life."

"You intend to hand over this Door-Door Fruit to me?" Stussy stared straight at Sun Bear, his pale blue eyes as deep as the sea.

"Not bad." Higuma twitched the corners of his mouth, revealing a faint smile:

"My physical body is still in Impel Down."

"If you can master the ability to open doors in the air, Impel Down won't be able to stop you."

"At that time, please save my life."

Stussy gave Higuma a deep look, her red lips curving slightly upwards.

"Okay." She glanced at Rixiong one last time, said nothing more, and turned to leave.

The bear turned its back, and its appearance changed once again to the KING face.

He didn't want to escape from prison and confront Garp head-on. If no one came to his rescue... then he would create the conditions and build up a powerful ally to rely on.

.................

Night had fallen, and the lighthouse on the shore of Marineford illuminated the sea as a dog-headed warship broke through the waves and entered the harbor.

"Vice Admiral Garp is back..." The navy personnel on the shore saluted.

Garp disembarked from the warship, ignoring the sailors who saluted him. His expression was unusually serious, devoid of his usual playful demeanor, as he strode towards the marshal's office.

He pushed open the door, and there were already Sengoku, Zefu, and Tsuru waiting at the long table in the office.

Garp asked in a low voice, "What happened, Sengoku? You sent Aokiji to Impel Down to relieve me, and then you sent me back for a short meeting?"

"And if it's an important meeting, why aren't all the people here?"

"With you included, we're all complete." Sengoku glanced at Garp:

"Although it is an important small meeting, it is not a formal combat meeting, so there is no need to make a big fuss about it to avoid leaks."

“Nana, start.”

Sengoku looked at Garp and said, word by word:

"Ace's background has been investigated; he is Roger's son."

Garp's burly body trembled slightly, then he said loudly:

"No, Ace is my grandson!"

"Garp!" Sengoku's voice rose two octaves:

"Now that things have come to this, do you really think you can hide your little tricks from us forever?"

"The fact that a naval hero secretly raised Roger's son..."

Garp remained silent and found a seat to sit down.

The atmosphere in the office suddenly became heavy.

“Then I’ll be frank,” said Sengoku.

"One month from now, I have decided to publicly execute the notorious criminals Fire Fist Ace and Mountain Bandit King Higuma at Marineford Plaza, Marine Headquarters!"

"The Navy will announce this news in two weeks, giving us a month to prepare for the upcoming war,"

Karp remained silent.

On his way there, he had already somewhat anticipated the situation.

In fact, a month was already longer than he had imagined; he still had a month to spend with Ace.