Chapter 285: Nika's Traces, You Call This Harmony?
The news that Admiral Yoshiichi Tsugumi had entered the East China Sea spread rapidly as newspapers were distributed.
The people who paid the most attention to this matter were, of course, the pirates active in the East China Sea. Therefore, this piece of news quickly spread among the pirate circles in the East China Sea.
On the Red Force, he had just been woken up by his companions. He was holding a newspaper in his hand. After carefully examining it, a serious expression appeared on his face.
"Tsugikoku Yoriichi."
"Why would a guy like this come here?"
"Is there something here that is attracting him?"
"I haven't heard of any revolutionary army active in the East China Sea, nor have I heard of any major pirates appearing in the East China Sea!"
After thinking for a while, Shanks scratched his head, his tone a little emotional and confused. For a moment, he couldn't figure out the purpose of Yoriichi Tsugakuni's coming to the East China Sea.
"Boss, do you think he could be..."
"Coming for you!?"
Jesus looked at Shanks, touched his chin, and guessed.
It has been several years since the Red Hair Pirates were established. Jesus has not been on the ship for long, but he also knows that Shanks was once an apprentice crew member on the Pirate King's ship.
If there is anything in a place like the East China Sea that can attract the admirals of the navy, then Shanks, a former crew member of One Piece, is a very likely candidate.
And unfortunately, during this period, their Red Hair Pirates also caused some trouble, and the bounty on their captain Shanks has reached 30 million.
In Jesus's opinion, a bounty of this magnitude was already quite "large", and it was natural that it would attract the attention of the navy.
"Come for me?"
“That’s impossible.”
Shanks smacked his lips in surprise when he heard that. He hesitated for a moment before shaking his head and denying it.
He didn't think that a pirate group of his level would attract Yoshiichi Tsugakuni to attack personally.
And if the World Government and the Navy really wanted to deal with me, they wouldn't have waited until now.
Yes, his current bounty is 30 million, but so what?
For Yoshiichi Tsugikuni, he probably wouldn't even look at a pirate with a bounty of 30 million.
If the navy wanted to hunt him down because he was a member of a pirate group, they should have increased the intensity of the hunt significantly in the early years and would not have waited until now. After all, his whereabouts had already been exposed long ago.
After pondering for a long time, Shanks smiled brightly and said in a relaxed tone:
"No matter what Tsugikuni Yoriichi's purpose is, it's a blessing in disguise, and it's a disaster that can't be avoided."
"Let's just continue our own journey!"
“Hahahahahaha!”
Shanks, who grew up on Roger's ship, did inherit some of Roger's personality traits in some ways, and his way of thinking is also in line with Roger's.
Focusing on the life in front of you is more important than anything else.
"Welcome General Tsugumi Yuichi to our East China Sea 044th Branch for guidance!"
On a sunny afternoon, Tsugikuni Yoshiichi's warship, the Dawn, docked at the coast of the Moorish Kingdom in the East China Sea.
The Kingdom of Moors is a small kingdom in the East China Sea, with a population of nearly 100,000.
The Moorish Kingdom has excellent natural conditions, with beautiful mountains and rivers and a pleasant environment. Towns are built on the mountains, with their backs against the mountains and facing the sea.
Due to the climate, agriculture on the island is underdeveloped, and most of the country's daily necessities need to be imported from other islands.
The economy of the entire kingdom basically relies on the support of the tourism industry.
The unique economic structure has also created unique homestay habits.
The people of this country do not directly engage in agricultural labor, but basically make money by serving foreign travelers in areas such as food and accommodation, travel, hunting guides, sea hunting, etc.
If we have to find a similar place in the real world, I'm afraid the Aegean Sea on the Greek peninsula is exactly similar to this place.
The 044th Naval Branch is a naval branch stationed on this island. The entire naval branch has only more than a hundred people, and the person who leads the branch is a lieutenant colonel named Rudy.
Rudy was wearing a school officer's uniform and a navy-style peaked cap on his head. He was tall and thin, with two spears on his waist, which seemed to be his weapons.
At this time, Lieutenant Colonel Rudy led the navy of all branches and stood on the beach in front of the naval port, shouting loudly to Jiguo Yuanyi who was walking down the wooden ladder.
As soon as he finished speaking, the two teams of navy behind him saluted Ji Guoyuan in unison, and then the coastal defense artillery of the military port base in the distance actually fired a shell directly into the air. After exploding in the air, it turned into fireworks that fell down from the sky.
Even on a sunny day, the colors of the fireworks can be vaguely seen.
If something like this were played at night, it would surely be extremely gorgeous and beautiful.
“Huh?”
"It's a big deal."
When Tsugumi Yoshiichi got off the boat, Mihawk, Kuma and others followed behind him.
Mihawk stepped on the sand, looked up at the sky, and couldn't help but murmur softly.
Upon hearing this, Ji Guoyuan took a quick look at Rudy, then walked up to Lieutenant Colonel Rudy, a faint smile on his face, and spoke first:
"Thank you for your trouble, Lieutenant Colonel Rudy."
"Coastal defense artillery can also be used to launch fireworks. I've never thought of or tried this before."
"You really opened my eyes."
Hearing Ji Guoyuan's praise, Rudy first showed a bright smile on his face, but then he also tasted something wrong. He immediately put away his smile, straightened his body, subconsciously bowed to Ji Guoyuan, and said loudly:
"I'm so sorry!"
After saying that, he seemed to think that this was not enough, and actually bowed respectfully to Jigoku Yoshiichi.
“.”
Yuichiro Tsugikuni was a little confused by Rudy's "combo". It was the first time he saw a navy with such a "craftsman spirit".
This smooth little combo surprised even Yunyi.
"Relax, Commander Rudy."
"Don't be so nervous."
"I'm not here to cause you any trouble. Why are you making such a big fuss?"
"Besides, you're the leader of the 044th Marine Branch here. Saluting is fine, but what's with the bowing?"
"Why don't I remember that we have this kind of etiquette in the navy?"
Jiguo Yuanyi lowered his head slightly to look at Rudy who was bowing, put his hand on the other's shoulder, and spoke softly.
Hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Rudy not only did not stand up, but instead lowered his body a little, and let out a low growl from his throat:
"I'm truly sorry, General Tsugikoku-Yoichi."
Yuichiro was a little confused by Rudy. He looked up at the other navy officers of the 044th branch and saw that their faces were solemn and there was nothing unusual.
Seeing this, Yunyi didn't think much about it, patted Rudy's shoulder and said:
"Let's go to the office and talk business."
"I have something to confirm with you."
As he spoke, Jiguo Yuanyi led a group of navy officers towards the naval base not far away.
Upon hearing this, Rudy quickly stood up, looked at the backs of Jiguo Yuanyi and others, breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly waved to his subordinates, and quickly followed Jiguo Yuanyi.
Under Rudy's leadership, Jiguo Yuanyi and his group arrived at Rudy's lieutenant colonel office in a few minutes.
This is a small room of about 20 square meters. The room is divided into two parts. The front is the office and the back is the bedroom. The two spaces are connected by a small corridor.
The office is very simply decorated. Apart from a desk, a sofa, a coffee table and a bookcase, there is nothing else.
There were many books on the bookshelf. Ji Guoyuan strategically scanned them and saw some familiar books, such as "The Contributions of the Celestial Dragons" and "World History".
These books are neatly stacked on Rudy's bookshelf, with even bookmarks sticking out between the pages.
There was no strange smell in the room, but instead there was a faint woody scent of furniture. It seemed that Lieutenant Colonel Rudy was a self-disciplined naval lieutenant colonel.
There are actually not many such people in the naval branches of the four seas. Because the navy has to fight pirates all year round, the pressure on ordinary navy is very, very great.
The ways men relieve stress are nothing more than cigarettes and alcohol. There are actually quite a few sailors who have the habit of smoking and drinking.
Moreover, ordinary thin cigarettes cannot satisfy the navy at all. If conditions permit, the navy will choose stronger cigars.
The same goes for alcohol. Either you don't drink it, or if you do, you drink a lot.
Even excellent navy officers like Zephyr and Kuzan, who have strong self-control, like to drink.
If this is the case with the generals of the headquarters, it is even more so with the navy around the world.
Grassroots naval personnel may not have the necessary conditions, but there are relatively few people who can maintain self-control even after reaching the rank of captain.
After Ji Guoyuan entered the office and took a quick look around the room, his impression of Lieutenant Colonel Rudy changed slightly.
Although he doesn't look like he has bones, at least his lifestyle is not flawed.
"General, please take a seat. All leaders of this department, please take a seat!"
"I'll make you some tea."
Lieutenant Colonel Rudy diligently dusted off the non-existent dust on the sofa and spoke to Ji Guoyuan and others.
In addition to Yuichiro Tsugikuni, Ferrand and Xiong also came to the office.
As for Mihawk, he had no interest in the Nika Fruit. After getting off the boat, he took Irene and Robin to stroll around the town.
Abel stayed on the warship. He had been wearing shackles on his hands. Although Tsugikuni Yoriichi had asked him to help him remove the shackles, Abel refused.
He seemed to feel that having shackles on his hands made his mind calmer.
Tsugikuni Yoshiichi didn't say much about this, but having his hands and feet shackled was too conspicuous after all. When Abel was in the South China Sea, he basically never left the naval base, and after leaving the South China Sea, he almost never left the warship.
"Lieutenant Colonel Rudy, you're welcome."
"I have something to ask you."
"A large auction was held in the Moorish Kingdom some time ago."
“The auction attracted quite a lot of people.”
"The grand finale of the auction is a devil fruit."
"I just want to confirm with you whether the devil fruit you sold is this one?"
Yuichiro Tsugikuni didn't keep Rudy in suspense and directly took out a piece of A4 paper from his arms. On the paper, there was a hand-drawn pattern of a devil fruit, which was exactly the appearance of the rubber fruit.
Although it is a sketch drawn with pencil, it is not colored.
However, when Lieutenant Colonel Rudy saw the painting in Ji Guoyuan's hand, he immediately recognized it, nodded quickly, and confirmed:
"Yes! It's a devil fruit that looks like this."
When Yunyi heard Rudy nod in confirmation, he nodded slightly. When the bear behind him heard this, he immediately clenched his fists and his face looked a little excited.
"Who is the buyer?"
The intelligence network under Ji Guoyuanyi had limited information, and the information about the rubber fruit was only noticed by his subordinates when they picked up the auction brochure by chance.
I'm not sure about the finer details.
The reason why Yunyi came to Rudy, a navy, to ask questions was because he got a piece of news that the people in charge of patrolling and guarding the auction at that time were not the organizers of the auction, but the navy!
"this"
Hearing Ji Guoyuan's question, Rudy immediately hesitated. Seeing his expression, Ji Guoyuan raised his eyes and glanced at him, his eyes becoming deeper.
"General, I'm really not sure who this buyer is."
"I know there's an auction going on."
"But I didn't attend that auction, and I learned about it through other channels."
As he spoke, Rudy seemed to have thought of something. He hurried to the desk and began to rummage through a pile of documents.
Not long after, he pulled out a booklet, hurried over to Yunyi's side, and handed it to Yunyi, while explaining:
"You know, I'm just a lieutenant colonel in a branch."
"How could I possibly be qualified to participate in something like an auction?"
"I can't afford any of that."
"But the auction house did send me an invitation and auction list."
"But I was busy with military duties and didn't dare to leave my post, so I didn't go."
As he spoke, Rudy carefully glanced at Tsugikoku Yoshiichi's expression and asked quietly:
"General, is there something wrong with this devil fruit? Is it something extraordinary?"
Jiguo Yuanyi took the booklet and answered casually:
"It's not something very powerful. It's a parahuman rubber fruit. If you eat it, you can turn into rubber."
"We have some experiments in this department and need the help of someone with this ability."
"I happened to be on vacation in the East China Sea, so I was entrusted with this task."
"You may not know this, but I'm actually from Donghai."
As Tsuchikuni Yuichiro spoke, he had already opened the auction brochure handed to him by Rudy, but after only turning a few pages, Tsuchikuni Yuichiro's face darkened.
However, Rudy, who was standing beside him, seemed to have something on his mind. After hearing Tsugikuni Yoriichi's answer, his expression was obviously much more relaxed. He did not notice Yoriichi's expression. When he heard Yoriichi say "Actually, he is from the East China Sea", Rudy said with a smile:
"I only heard some rumors that the general was from the East China Sea, but I didn't expect it to be true."
"Thanks to you, the East China Sea has its current prosperity and harmony!"
After Rudy finished his compliment, he raised his head slightly and looked at Yuichiro Tsugakuten. He saw Yuichiro Tsugakuten staring at him. His handsome face was calm, but the terrifying oppressive feeling conveyed in Yuichiro Tsugakuten's eyes made Rudy hold his breath.
"General, what's wrong with you?"
Ji Guoyuan raised the auction brochure in his hand and said coldly:
“It’s quite prosperous.”
"But you call this harmony?"
"Don't you take justice too seriously?"
On the page of Ji Guoyuan's handbook was a photo of a young girl. The girl was beautiful, wearing a long white dress and a white veil on her head, looking like a bride.
Below the girl's photo is a brief introduction:
Lot 3
Slave: Newly-married Lisa
【Starting price: 600,000 Baileys】
(End of this chapter)
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