"What person is that!"
The Celestial Dragon's guards immediately stepped forward, aiming their weapons at the woman who had suddenly appeared.
Swish swish swish～
The air carried the sound of something slicing through it. A large number of ice crystal needles shot out, instantly turning the guards into human pincushions.
Not a single scream was heard. All of the guards became ice sculptures.
Selibe: "I'm so excited. We're actually making a move against a World Noble."
"Maybe more than just one. What happens today will be enough to shake the entire world."
For today, Vane's team had prepared for a long time. He sought guidance from Rayleigh on the techniques of Ryuo and Conqueror's Haki. Now, he had initially mastered Ryuo that could destroy from the inside.
As for Conqueror's Haki, it still required time.
Various Devil Fruit abilities supported the plan. Unfortunately, they were missing the Calm-Calm Fruit. There was really no way around that. The Calm-Calm Fruit was far away in the North Blue. Its user was Corazon, Doflamingo's younger brother, Sengoku's adopted son, and a Marine spy.
He had also asked Caesar Clown, who had been researching corpses all this time, to make several somewhat dangerous chemical bombs. He didn't tell Caesar who those bombs were meant for. With Caesar's timid nature, he would never have agreed to make them otherwise.
Afterwards, even if Caesar feared him a bit, he would probably curse him in terror and anger at the same time.
Selibe controlled the Celestial Dragon, while Vane carried out the final mobilization for the main members of this operation.
Meowth, Sugar[Warp-Warp Fruit], Monet[Clear-Clear Fruit], Lena[Through-Through Fruit], Hakuza the Fish-Man, and Tesoro, who had already eaten the Gold-Gold Fruit.
These were the members going up to the Red Line. As for the combat powerhouse Moria, he did not bring him along. He knew they weren't going there to fight. That place was the dangerous Mary Geoise. Inside the nearby Pangaea Castle were the terrifying Five Elders and God's Knights.
If they got entangled for too long and drew them out, it would be disastrous.
"Our main objective is to rescue the slaves and search the Celestial Dragons' treasury."
The first target was the powerful slaves. With Hakuza there, the Fish-Men would follow him without hesitation. There were also the Mink Tribe and the Giant Tribe.
There were definitely Giants in Mary Geoise. And then there was the guaranteed grand prize—the three Hancock sisters.
After that came the Celestial Dragons' treasury. Any confirmed Devil Fruits had to be taken first.
"Captain, I can't wait to rescue my own people."
Over the past few days, Hakuza had personally witnessed Vane rescue more than thirty of his fellow Fish-Man. He was deeply convinced by Vane.
Those rescued Fish-Man also became one of tonight's reserve forces. They were positioned between the Thunder Fortress and several other coated ships, ready to provide support at any moment. Once the ships sank to the seabed, they would guard them.
With the help of the Fish-Men, the danger of diving would be greatly reduced.
"The Celestial Dragons' treasury～～"
Tesoro's eyes held both tension and excitement. His purpose in going up was to quickly amass wealth for Vane. He had eaten the Gold-Gold Fruit and could now control gold.
When the time came, with a mere wave of his hand, all the gold in the Celestial Dragons' treasury would automatically fly into Meowth's belly.
The efficiency couldn't be higher.
Selibe: "Vane, he said he knows the location of the treasury. He's most familiar with his own family's vault. There are indeed Devil Fruits inside—two of them."
It was completely normal for Saint Garlos' family treasury to contain two Devil Fruits. If there weren't any, Vane would have found that absurd.
"Then let's go. Let tonight's grand event begin."
Aside from Selibe, everyone else returned to Meowth's body. Two Ditto jumped out from inside Meowth and quickly transformed into the two dead guards on the ground, following the hypnotized Saint Garlos alongside Vane.
Selibe, meanwhile, pretended to be a beauty imprisoned by Saint Garlos.
Vane put on the iron armor of the canned-armor guard, the kind that fully concealed the face.
There was plenty of space inside for Meowth to hide. Cats are liquid, after all, so a narrow space didn't matter.
After night fell, the group—already having swapped identities—headed toward the Holy Land Mary Geoise.
Beneath the Red Line was a high-tech elevator that could transport many people up and down at once. If ordinary people wanted to go up, they would have to gather quite a group. Celestial Dragons didn't need to worry about such things.
"Saint Garlos! Welcome aboard."
The hypnotized Saint Garlos: "Hurry it up. I'm in a rush to go back and have fun with my slaves."
"Yes, yes."
The person in charge of the elevator didn't even dare raise his head. He was in this position because the previous man had foolishly glanced at the Celestial Dragon's thirteenth "wife" he was preparing to "marry."
He had been thrown into the sea.
The elevator slowly started and accelerated. Soon, they rapidly ascended along the wall of the Red Line.
They even passed through the lower cloud layer.
At such a height, it wasn't even that cold… In the pirate world, that was perfectly normal.
After passing through the clouds, the moon hung unobstructed in the sky, shining brightly. It truly felt like they had arrived at a heavenly palace.
After running for some time, the elevator gradually slowed down and finally stopped.
The buildings of the Holy Land Mary Geoise were visible to the naked eye.
There was a section of road in between that appeared to be under construction. Since it was late, work had stopped. It wasn't because the Celestial Dragons followed labor laws, but because the noise during construction was too loud and would disturb their rest. So work halted at night.
During the day, the slaves worked to the bone.
Vane recognized this road. Once completed, Celestial Dragons would stand on it, and the road would automatically move forward, transporting them from the elevator port into Mary Geoise without them taking a single step.
It looked like a high-tech conveyor belt, but in reality, the road beneath was hollow. Large numbers of slaves pulled the road surface forward from underneath.
Since it was still under construction, the Celestial Dragons had to walk for now—or have slaves carry them.
The road wasn't particularly long. If a strong fighter fled at full speed, it wouldn't take even a minute to get from Pangaea Castle to the elevator.
The group quickly entered Mary Geoise. Vane kept his Observation Haki activated in a very restrained manner, afraid of drawing attention from Pangaea Castle.
However, he soon noticed that the number of Celestial Dragons seemed fewer than expected.
At Saint Garlos' residence, after controlling him to dismiss a large number of servants, Selibe had Saint Garlos explain the reason.
The Celestial Dragons didn't stay in Mary Geoise all the time. Whenever it was time to collect the Heavenly Tribute, many of them would travel.
When the three kids—Sabo among them—went out to sea and were shelled by a Celestial Dragon, it had been under such circumstances.
So the current Mary Geoise was actually when the number of Celestial Dragons was at its lowest.