Just as the G-5 Branch had fallen into wild celebration because of the arrival of the mermaids, and Ain had begun major construction to build Renzo's "Mermaid Garden".
Several days' voyage away from the G-5 branch, in a relatively calm stretch of sea in the New World.
Three G-5 ships disguised as large merchant vessels were forcing their way through the waves at full speed.
The waterline of these three ships was abnormally low.
It was as if what they carried wasn't cargo… but an entire mountain range.
Inside the captain's cabin of the leading flagship, a burly man with a savage face and half a cigar in his mouth stared fixedly at the sea chart on the table.
He was the G-5 Branch lieutenant commander, "Iron Fang" Harlock.
Harlock was one of the few people in G-5 who truly understood navigation and logistics.
Because of that, the S-Class mission of secretly transporting gold from the Skypiea had been entrusted to him.
"Lieutenant Commander! We've entered the Calm Belt simulation route! In two more days we can bypass Big Mom's surveillance zone and reach the G-5 supply point!"
A helmsman shouted excitedly.
"Shut up, you idiot!"
Harlock slapped the back of the helmsman's head and cursed.
"Until the gold is safely stored in the vault, keep that damned crow mouth of yours shut! Do you know what's on this ship? This is a gold mountain! Lord Renzo's gold mountain!"
He blew out a cloud of thick smoke, his eyes turning extremely vicious.
"If even the slightest thing goes wrong," he growled, "none of us will return to G-5. We might as well sink ourselves somewhere in the sea and feed the fish! G-5 doesn't keep useless trash!"
"Y-Yes, sir!!"
The crew was so frightened by the shout that they worked even harder.
Harlock scratched his head irritably.
The pressure on him was enormous.
This batch of gold had been brought down from Skypiea.
'Its value was enough to ensure the G-5 branch didn't have to worry about military funding for the next fifty years!'
'What terrifying wealth was this?!'
Over the course of this month, half the gold of the Golden City was gradually being transported back to the base.
To maintain secrecy, Rear Admiral Ain had specifically ordered them to disguise themselves as a merchant convoy, travel in batches, and take the most remote routes back.
But even so, Harrock felt like he was running naked while carrying a mountain of gold on his back.
The New World never lacked wolves drawn by the scent of blood and money.
"Report!!"
Suddenly, a shrill scream came from the lookout tower!
"Ship at the eleven-o'clock direction!!"
Harrock's heart sank heavily!
"What kind of ships?! Pirates?! What flag are they flying?!"
"I... I don't know!!"
The lookout's voice trembled. "That ship... that ship... is golden!!"
"What the hell do you mean, golden?! Get a clear look..."
Before Harrock could finish his sentence, he had already rushed to the deck.
There, to the left front of their fleet, a massive, luxurious, entirely gold-plated giant vessel, shaped like a moving opera house, was brutally cutting across their course at an unbelievable speed!
This ship was too fast and too bright.
Sunlight scattered off it, reflecting a dazzling, hypnotic light.
It flew no pirate flag; instead, hanging at the figurehead position was a huge, gleaming, golden five-pointed star.
"Gulp", Harlock swallowed hard.
He recognized that symbol.
In the New World, only one force dared to be this flamboyant and extravagant.
"It's… the ship of the Golden Emperor. Gild Tesoro!!"
"Everyone to battle stations! Turn the cannons!"
Harlock roared hysterically.
"Escort ships! Get up there and block them!!"
But it was already too late.
The golden giant ship gave them no time to react.
Like an elegant yet ruthless noble, it rammed its hard, gilded bow straight into the side of Harlock's flagship.
BOOM!!!
The massive impact instantly sent the G-5 flagship out of control.
Marines tumbled across the deck.
"Don't fire!"
A lazy male voice, sounding half-asleep, came through a loudspeaker.
On the golden deck opposite them, several figures slowly emerged.
At the front stood a tall, sexy woman wearing a bunny-girl outfit, her fiery red hair blazing like flames.
She played with a golden casino chip in her hand, a "lucky" smile on her face.
She was one of Tesoro's executives,
Baccarat, the woman who controlled luck.
Beside her stood a man in a black suit, wearing sunglasses, his body long and thin like a noodle, giving off a creepy "hee-hee-hee" laugh as he examined the G-5 ships.
He was Tesoro's security chief.
Tanaka, the user of the Through-Through Fruit.
"A Marine… merchant ship?"
Baccarat laughed lazily.
"Your luck is really terrible. Out on this sea… you ran into us."
"Bastards!!"
Harlock clutched his bleeding forehead and roared.
"Who the hell are you?! How dare you attack ships of the World Government!!"
"The World Government?"
Baccarat looked as if she'd heard a huge joke.
"Stop pretending, Lieutenant Commander. Your ships are sitting this deep in the water, and your route is so strange… You're not carrying goods. You're carrying gold, aren't you? We can already smell it."
Harlock's heart sank to the bottom.
They had been exposed.
From the very beginning, they knew.
This was a precision robbery targeting them specifically.
"Miss Baccarat, don't waste time talking."
Mr. Tanaka laughed eerily as his body began wriggling across the deck like liquid.
"Time is precious. Lord Tesoro is waiting for our tribute. I'll go inside… and check the cargo."
Whoosh!
Tanaka's noodle-like body ignored the laws of physics and passed straight through the steel hull of the flagship, entering the ship's interior.
"Stop him!!" Harlock roared.
"Ah, I suggest you don't move."
Baccarat casually tossed the golden chip into the air.
"You've heard of my ability, right? The Lucky-Lucky Fruit…"
"Anyone I touch has their luck absorbed by me. And now…"
She pointed lightly.
"I've taken away… the luck of your entire ship."
"Fire! Fire!!"
The G-5 marines tried to counterattack and aimed their cannons.
BOOM!
A cannon fired.
But the shell traced a strange arc in mid-air and perfectly… fell into the sea, without even making a splash.
"How is that possible?!"
BOOM! BOOM!
Two more cannons fired.
One exploded immediately, while the other shell… struck their own escort ship.
"Waaaahhh!!"
"What kind of cursed power is this?!"
The G-5 Marines instantly fell into panic.
Their guns either jammed or misfired.
When they charged forward, they either tripped on flat ground or got tangled with their own comrades.
Without luck, they could barely even stand steadily.
"Hee-hee-hee… found it!"
Tanaka's voice echoed from inside the ship.
Suddenly, a huge hole tore open in the bottom of the flagship!
CLANG!
Golden light!
Blinding golden light poured out from the hole!
Countless gold bars, goblets, and golden artifacts were pushed out by Tanaka's ability like a waterfall of gold!
"NO!!!!"
Harlock screamed in despair.
"Beautiful work, Mr. Tanaka."
Baccarat smiled.
Under the golden giant ship, countless mechanical arms extended out, frantically salvaging the gold falling into the sea.
This was the most efficient zero-cost shopping spree imaginable.
"Bastards!!"
Harlock's eyes turned bloodshot as he drew his saber and charged at Baccarat.
"I'll kill you all!!"
BANG!
A gunshot rang out.
Harlock's knee was hit.
He screamed and collapsed to the ground.
The shooter was one of Baccarat's guards.
"Lieutenant Commander, don't be so impulsive."
Baccarat slowly walked to the kneeling Harlock and lightly kicked his face with her high heel.
"You… you're all dead!!"
Harlock clutched his bleeding knee and roared with all his strength:
"Do you know… whose gold you just stole?!"
"Whose? The World Government's? Or the Celestial Dragons'?" Baccarat sneered.
"This!"
Harlock raised his head, his brutal face filled with mad pride and threat.
"This belongs to G-5 Branch! To Admiral Haiiroyo!!"
"You bastards!!"
He roared, "You could have robbed anyone, but you had to steal Lord Haiiroyo's gold!"
"He'll sink this trash ship of yours, along with your Golden Emperor, to the bottom of the Mariana Trench to feed the fish!!"
"You're dead!!"
He thought that the name Haiiroyo, which terrified countless pirates in the New World, would at least make them afraid.
But, "Oh?"
Baccarat's smile froze for a second.
She exchanged a glance with Tanaka, who had just emerged from the sea.
"Haiiroyo… Renzo?"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
After a moment of silence, Baccarat burst into even louder laughter.
"Hahaha… I'm dying! Mr. Tanaka, did you hear that? He's using that lazy admiral to scare us!"
"Hee-hee-hee…"
Tanaka laughed strangely.
"What an… ignorant marine."
"You… you…" Harlock was stunned. They weren't afraid?
"Afraid? Why would we be afraid?"
Baccarat stopped laughing and looked down at him with pity and mockery.
"Of course we know that gold belongs to Renzo. We've been secretly watching you for a long time."
"Then why would you still-"
"So what?!"
Baccarat cut him off coldly.
"Lieutenant Commander, you've misunderstood something."
"We robbed you."
"We ran."
"And we are anonymous."
"You tell Renzo it was the Golden Emperor who robbed you? Where's the evidence?"
She pointed to her ship.
"Are we flying Lord Tesoro's flag? No. It's just a golden star."
"Did we admit our identity? No. We're just unlucky travelers passing by."
"Renzo is strong. Very strong. Terrifying, even."
Tanaka added coldly:
"But he's lazy."
"Hee-hee-hee… the entire sea knows he can't be bothered to move. For this batch of gold without a culprit, would he really go through the trouble of coming after us?"
"By the time he decides to move, we'll have already melted the gold into the fountains of the Golden City!"
"He won't find us."
"And even if he suspects us, he'll have no evidence."
"And without evidence… that man will never leave his comfortable chair."
Baccarat and Tanaka had analyzed Renzo's personality perfectly.
That was the confidence behind their robbery.
Steal it.
Run away.
Deny everything.
That lazy admiral would never chase them across the world for such a "small matter."
"No… no… Lord Renzo he…"
Harlock wanted to argue, but found he had nothing to say.
Because everything they said… seemed true.
Lord Renzo really was lazy…
"Well then, looks like we've taken enough gold."
Baccarat glanced at the fully loaded mechanical arms and smiled with satisfaction.
"Lieutenant Commander, thank you for your generosity. Keep this broken ship as a souvenir."
"Set sail! Return!!"
The golden giant ship roared to life.
It didn't even bother destroying the two remaining escort ships.
With a hold full of gold, it disappeared rapidly over the horizon.
Leaving behind three wrecked G-5 ships and a ship full of ashen-faced marines.
Harlock knelt on the deck as the sea wind blew.
In his hand he tightly gripped a bullet, the golden bullet that had just shattered his knee.
"Ah… ah… AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"
"TESORO!!!!!"
Despair, rage, and the terror of the punishment to come swallowed the G-5 lieutenant commander whole.
He knew.
This time… the situation had become huge.
....
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu