Chapter 97: The Five Elders: Arrange for Bane to Kill Luffy - Won't That Give Us the Fruit?
Soon, Saint Warcury pulled out several identical documents and distributed them to the other four Five Elders present.
"The Nika Fruit we've been searching for all these years - do we finally have news about it again?" Saint Nusjuro sighed as he took the document and began reading.
"Speaking of which, this really is quite a coincidence. It practically delivered itself to our doorstep," Saint Warcury said softly.
Earlier, due to Garp's capture of Ace, the Five Elders naturally had to pay attention to Garp's situation, so they dispatched people to secretly investigate the entire course and reasons behind this incident.
And this investigation yielded an unexpected bonus!
When Garp captured Ace and Teach in East Blue and was preparing to return, he suddenly discovered that his other grandson - Dragon's son - had also set sail as a pirate.
Since he happened to be in East Blue, specifically in Loguetown, Garp slightly delayed his return voyage, planning to also capture his other grandson and bring him back to headquarters for proper discipline.
This would normally be unremarkable, since his grandson hadn't caused any major incidents that would embarrass the World Government. As long as Garp stepped in, both the Marines and World Government could easily give him face, pretending not to know about his grandson's brief pirate career. Whether he joined the Marines in the future or whatever else, it didn't matter.
Even being Dragon's bloodline was fine - wasn't Garp still Dragon's father while remaining a Marine hero?
However, when intelligence about Garp's other grandson was submitted, Saint Warcury immediately couldn't sit still.
Good heavens - his grandson named Monkey D. Luffy was actually a Paramecia Gum-Gum Fruit user.
This immediately alarmed all Five Elders.
Others might not know the true nature of the Gum-Gum Fruit, but how could they not know?
Years ago, they had found the Gum-Gum Fruit in East Blue and arranged for CP agents to escort it, intending to transport this fruit to Holy Land Mary Geoise. Because this Gum-Gum Fruit was actually the Mythical Zoan Nika Fruit - an ability specifically designated by Lord Imu to be found.
But then complications arose. The CP agents inexplicably encountered the Red Hair Pirates in East Blue before they became a Yonko crew. The Red Hair Pirates attacked them and stole the damned Nika Fruit.
Afterward, the World Government closely monitored the Red Hair Pirates' situation, only to discover that the Gum-Gum Fruit had vanished. It hadn't been eaten by any Red Hair Pirates member, nor had they sold it. Despite searching everywhere, they couldn't find it.
The matter eventually went unresolved.
Now, the Nika Fruit had reappeared, falling into the hands of Garp's grandson, making him a Gum-Gum Fruit user.
And this intelligence had coincidentally come to the Five Elders' attention through their investigation of Garp's capture of Ace.
At this moment, they were discussing how to get the Nika Fruit - or rather, this fellow called Monkey D. Luffy - to Mary Geoise.
To complete this mission that Lord Imu had assigned years ago.
After reading this intelligence, each of the Five Elders wore strange expressions.
"This really is... Garp's family always manages to bring us different kinds of surprises," Saint Mars said with mixed emotions.
Garp himself was a Marine bigshot, his son was a rebel leader, his adopted grandson was Roger's bloodline and Whitebeard Pirates' heir, and his real grandson had eaten the damned Nika Fruit.
Simply incredible.
"Let's think about how to arrange this matter. Garp and the others don't know the importance and true nature of the Nika Fruit, which is actually our opportunity now," Saint Warcury said.
"Since the Nika Fruit has already been eaten, we can't easily move against this Luffy kid, lest this strange fruit respawn somewhere else and become difficult to find," Saint Saturn mused.
But halfway through his words, he suddenly froze, his face showing surprise: "Speaking of which, heaven is truly helping us! That fellow named Bane has been invited to Marine Headquarters by Sengoku, and previous intelligence investigations show he's a Logia Dark-Dark Fruit user. I think you all should be aware of the Dark-Dark Fruit's special powers, right?"
What perfect timing.
The Nika Fruit user was at Marine Headquarters, and the Dark-Dark Fruit user was also at Marine Headquarters.
They just needed to arrange for Bane to eliminate Luffy while securing that fruit and sending it to Mary Geoise - everything would be perfect.
The other Five Elders were quite intrigued by these words.
"That makes sense. Based on previous intelligence, this Bane does indeed seem interested in joining the Marines, and we can sense that his invitation to Marine Headquarters is actually to build connections within the Marines. This shows he has opportunistic thoughts and strong utilitarian motivations. Since he wants to find backing for himself, why not let us become his backing? Our power and status should be more worthy of his attention than the Marines, right? As long as he's willing to help us secure the Nika Fruit, we can promise him great rewards." Saint Peter, who had remained silent and appeared very composed, now offered this approach.
"Is that so?" Saint Nusjuro looked toward Saint Warcury, who had been paying closer attention to intelligence recently.
Saint Warcury nodded, confirming this assessment: "That's correct, that is indeed the situation. However, as far as I know, he has already established some rapport with Garp. That Ace and Teach were actually captured jointly by him, Garp, and a Marine Captain. His coming to Marine Headquarters was also influenced by Garp."
"I see," Saint Mars stroked his beard, looking somewhat troubled: "The Nika Fruit user is Garp's grandson, and this person has some relationship with Garp. This might be difficult to handle."
"What's difficult about it?" Saint Nusjuro sneered: "He's only met Garp once or twice at most. Could they really have developed some deep friendship so quickly? Didn't you just say this guy has strong opportunistic traits? That means he's very profit-oriented. As Peter suggested, promise him great rewards to work for us - there should be no problem. After this war ends, we can use his significant contributions as an excuse to invite him to Mary Geoise for a private conversation. I don't believe he won't be tempted!"
Saint Nusjuro's words made great sense. Bane had only met Garp once in Loguetown, with at most some additional interaction at headquarters afterward. What deep friendship could that establish?
He was completely someone who could be won over and bribed.
"Then the second difficulty still lies with Garp. If we do this, we'd undoubtedly be killing Garp's grandson. When Garp learns of this... it won't be easy to handle. After all, his grandson hasn't committed any heinous crimes. Garp will definitely be furious, which could cause great uncertainty within the Marines," Saint Mars said after some thought.
"So we must never get directly involved in this matter, and we cannot 'get our hands dirty,'" Saint Nusjuro sneered: "Everything will be done by that Bane fellow. After this matter concludes, we'll dispose of Bane, creating a situation where dead men tell no tales. We can even do some covert manipulation - as long as Garp doesn't discover the truth, even if he's furious, his anger won't be directed at us. We might even use this to guide and manipulate Garp..."
Truly worthy of being genuine political creatures - coldness was a fundamental trait of the Five Elders. They prioritized interests above all. Just moments ago they spoke of winning over Bane, and now they could immediately abandon him, even silencing him permanently.
Perhaps to them, someone like Bane who had struck it lucky was merely a chess piece they could use at will.
Useful when valuable, given a kind face - discarded immediately when worthless.
After Saint Nusjuro finished speaking, the Five Elders all began contemplating. After mulling it over, they felt his words were sound.
Conceptually, there were no issues. They just needed to carefully arrange the execution without any flaws, so this plan required thorough study.
Fortunately, there was no rush now. Garp had imprisoned his grandson at Marine Headquarters under strict guard. They could also arrange personnel to keep close watch as backup, preventing any accidents. Everything should wait until after this war to begin taking action.
This would prevent any mishaps during the battle with the Whitebeard Pirates, lest Garp create some unmanageable situation.
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