Chapter 17: The Zodiac! Promoted to Major!
To Roy's surprise, just as Hina had suggested, he received a message from Vice Admiral Viroth wanting to see him as soon as he got back to his quarters.
When Roy arrived at the office, he found the usually laid-back Vice Admiral was, for once, looking uncharacteristically serious.
"Roy, kid. You're back?"
"Yes, sir. I haven't had a chance to debrief," Roy nodded. "My apologies. I wasn't able to find any trace of the attacker at Master Port..."
He said the obligatory words. He was in charge of the search for 'Yuji,' so it would be a cold day in hell before they 'found' anything.
"It's fine. Not finding him might even be a good thing," Viroth said, waving his hand. "This whole thing... the situation is far more complicated than we first thought."
"Oh?" Roy feigned curiosity. "What's going on?"
"Sit down. This is one of the things I called you here to talk about," Viroth said grimly. "You and your men were involved in the Master Port incident... so I have to tell you what we've found."
"Oh?" Roy looked even more 'curious.' "I'm listening."
"First, about the attacker who stole the Celestial Tribute."
Viroth spoke in a low tone, picking up something from his desk and showing it to Roy.
Roy saw it.
"A bounty poster?"
It was. Unusually, there was no photograph in the center, only a sketch. It showed a tall figure with scales on his neck, wearing a rooster mask.
And on the poster, written in bold:
[WANTED]
[DEAD OR ALIVE]
[YUJI]
[170,000,000 BERRIES]
"One hundred and seventy million Berries!?"
The number genuinely surprised Roy. This was a first-time bounty.
Even two of the current Four Emperors—Big Mom and Kaido—had received initial bounties of only 50 million and 70 million, respectively.
170 million was a shocking figure.
"It couldn't be helped," Viroth shook his head. "After all, this guy stole a massive amount of Celestial Tribute. The pressure from the World Government and the Nice-Mayer Kingdom is immense."
He sighed. "Besides, according to Commodore Lanley, who has regained consciousness, the target possesses overwhelming power. He has the characteristics of a Zoan fruit, and can transform into an extremely large, ancient pterosaur."
"Beyond that, Lanley believes the target is likely a Mythical Zoan user—because the attacker used an ability similar to elementalization."
"Luckily for us, the attacker seemed to underestimate him. Although he pierced Lanley's abdomen, he didn't kill him. That's how we got all this information, including his name... 'Yuji'."
He spoke the name.
"Headquarters is investigating, but we haven't found any records of a Devil Fruit like that."
"But if it's true, and he's a Mythical Zoan user... he's worth every bit of that bounty on the fruit's power alone."
Roy nodded, as if this all made sense.
Then, he asked, "A Mythical Zoan? Isn't that the rarest and most powerful type? And... Yuji. That doesn't sound like a real name, does it?"
"It's not!"
Viroth's expression grew even heavier. "And that's the second thing I need to tell you."
"That prisoner you brought back from Master Port... after interrogation, he revealed some... startling things."
"Including... an organization."
At this, Roy's eyes flashed with 'shock.'
"An organization?"
"Yes. According to him, he's an outer-circle member of an organization. He doesn't know the specifics, but he knows its name..."
Viroth said the words, one by one.
"The Zodiac."
"According to his intel, this organization has twelve top executives and one supreme leader."
"And 'Yuji' is the codename for one of those twelve executives."
Roy shot up from his seat, his voice full of shock. "What!? Something like that exists!?"
While he was putting on his Oscar-worthy performance, he was thinking to himself:
'That kid, Alan, is pretty reliable.'
This was, of course, no surprise to Roy. Because every single part of this... was orchestrated by him.
He had given Alan two tasks. First, use a clone to hijack the merchant ship and create a diversion.
Second, "confess" this exact 'intel' to the Marines.
The reason was simple. Roy knew that to get the Berries he needed, he would be using his Slice-Clones constantly. This was the first heist, but it wouldn't be the last.
And anything that exists, leaves a trace.
To protect his real identity, Roy had to muddy the waters.
The murkier the water, the easier it is to fish.
He had a plan: invent an organization. A non-existent, but soon-to-be-famous, powerful organization.
He would shift all the World Government's attention onto it, hiding his own existence. A 'mysterious organization' that has been moving in the shadows, planning some grand conspiracy, was a much better scapegoat than a bunch of nameless, powerful individuals popping up one after another.
This was his first test. He'd let the Lieutenant Colonel escape and intentionally left Lanley alive, all to feed this information to the Marines.
Judging by the 170-million-Berry bounty and Viroth's grim face... his plan was a resounding success.
Viroth was still talking.
"The Criminal Investigation Division is gathering intel, but so far, nothing."
"They want a detailed copy of your investigation report from Master Port. And... I need to warn you..."
He looked Roy dead in the eye. "That kid, Alan, will be sent to Level 5 of Impel Down. From now on, you will not mention him or this intel to anyone."
"Until we can prove this 'Zodiac' organization exists... all information regarding this case is classified."
"Sir!"
Roy had no objections. He wasn't surprised. 'Yuji' alone wasn't enough to make the Marines truly believe 'The Zodiac' existed. He'd already planned for that.
But just as Roy thought the meeting was over, Viroth's tone changed.
"Aside from that, I have two more things to tell you."
"First, regarding your mission. I've already commended you to Fleet Admiral Sengoku."
As he spoke, he pulled something from his desk drawer.
Roy recognized it immediately: the shoulder pauldrons of a Field Officer.
"The higher-ups believe your actions, voluntarily taking command at Master Port, were extremely brave. And the intelligence provided by the prisoner you captured was critical."
"Therefore... as of today..."
"You are... Major Roy!"