Baltigo
Dragon had been waiting for some time in the prepared conference room. This time they weren't meeting in Vegapunk's laboratory, so Rowan appeared directly at the location where he had left his Flying Thunder God kunai.
"I've already heard about what happened at Marine Headquarters."
Dragon said,
"The Marines allowing the incident to spread throughout their ranks wasn't outside your expectations, Sir."
Rowan shot him a glance.
"Since when did you learn how to flatter people?"
"Let's get to the point."
"Did you explain everything to Vegapunk?"
"The most important objective of this trip is the giant mechanical soldier in Mary Geoise."
"If that massive thing can't be teleported then my only option will be to use levitation to send it high into the sky, possibly all the way to the stratosphere."
"That method is far too slow."
"Only if I can use teleportation will I be able to take it away."
"Being discovered is inevitable."
"So if I can't escape by teleporting in the end I'll simply drop the big guy from the top of the Red Line, roughly six thousand meters down."
"Have Kuma receive it on the New World side."
Rowan paused before continuing.
"The truth is all we know so far is that this giant attacked Mary Geoise two hundred years ago."
"We still have no idea where it's actually being kept."
Dragon took out a tablet.
"A detector for large-scale energy signatures once Vegapunk learned about your plan, the research team worked overtime to build it."
"He said the processor is still too slow otherwise it would've been much easier to use."
He hesitated.
"But it's been two hundred years does that thing even still have any energy left?"
Dragon sounded doubtful.
"The doctor believes so."
"According to the records from Ohara the energy source inside it possesses a certain degree of regeneration and that's exactly why we need it."
"An inexhaustible energy source is the foundation of the Revolutionary Army's future."
Rowan accepted the tablet.
After reading the operating instructions, he quickly figured out how to use the foolproof device.
Still could the machine's power source really require Nika's Drums of Liberation to restart?
After thinking for a moment, Rowan stored it away.
"After this trip to Mary Geoise we can begin infiltrating the Marine bases in the two regions neighboring G-5."
"Once I'm officially listed as an Admiral Candidate I'll have command authority over three regions, including G-5."
"In other words if we handle it correctly those bases can gradually become Revolutionary Army strongholds."
The detailed operational planning lasted nearly an hour.
They also discussed Nomi's exposure in West Blue.
Because so many matters required long discussions, Rowan had needed to come in person.
After retrieving the Rooster Talisman, Rowan left Baldigo and returned directly to his residence at Marine Headquarters.
At that moment his Shadow Clone was talking with G-5 Base over the Den Den Mushi.
After all, Tashigi, Smoker, and the Marines stationed there didn't know that his trip to Mary Geoise was merely a performance.
He wasn't actually being taken away for punishment or imprisonment in Impel Down.
"Don't worry, Tashigi."
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku already said everything's fine."
"The higher-ups have to consider the Marines' feelings too."
"Mm."
"I'll be back very soon."
"After all little Tashigi is waiting for me..."
Poof!
What had begun as a perfectly normal conversation suddenly took a very questionable turn.
Rowan immediately dispelled the Shadow Clone before it could say anything worse.
Fortunately, a Den Den Mushi only mimicked voices rather than projecting images, so there was no risk of exposing anything.
"Vice Admiral..."
Before the other side could finish speaking.
"Go to bed early."
Glancing at the darkening sky outside, Rowan hung up the Den Den Mushi.
He silently made up his mind.
From now on, Shadow Clones were forbidden from answering phone calls.
If the Den Den Mushi ever evolved into one that transmitted video he'd be exposed on the spot.
Two days later, at the No. 2 Passage elevator leading to the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, Rowan, wearing the Marine coat emblazoned with the word Justice, arrived to find Spandine already waiting at the entrance.
At the elevator entrance, CP agents were checking identification and verifying everyone's credentials.
Only after completing a long series of tedious procedures did Rowan and Spandine board the elevator together and begin ascending toward the enormous staircase of Passage No. 2.
Inside the transparent glass cabin, as they slowly rose, they could see the first half of the Grand Line below them.
By the time they reached an altitude of two thousand meters, Marineford and Enies Lobby were also visible in the distance.
"So it's just a formality, yet it still requires an entry permit."
"Even Marine credentials have to be prepared."
"The procedures just to visit Mary Geoise are ridiculously complicated."
Spandine glanced around the interior of the glass cabin. After confirming there were no surveillance Den Den Mushi, he replied,
"Mary Geoise wasn't guarded this heavily in the past."
"After all, no one on this sea was foolish enough to come here and attack the Celestial Dragon nobles."
"But you know what happened."
"Three World Nobles were killed on Sabaody and even the trap they prepared a few years ago failed."
"Seastone still couldn't negate that guy's ability!"
Fear was evident in Spandine's voice.
"Do you know what that means?"
"It means that the Revolutionary Army's Cloaked Man could kill a few Celestial Dragons here in Mary Geoise and then teleport away before reinforcements arrived."
"Even the Cloaked Man couldn't do what you're describing."
Rowan shook his head slightly.
"The Teleport-Teleport Fruit's ability didn't just appear recently."
"In eight hundred years the Elders have naturally developed ways to protect the World Nobles."
Spandine smiled.
"That's what I like most about talking with you."
"That's why we've always worked together so well."
"As for Mary Geoise there really is something here specifically designed to deal with the Cloaked Man."
Those words immediately caught Rowan's interest, though he kept his expression perfectly natural.
"This is the Holy Land the center of all authority."
"Even the Revolutionary Army's Cloaked Man only dared attack Celestial Dragons on Sabaody."
"He wouldn't dare come here."
Apparently eager to show off a little, Spandine said,
"I don't actually know what it is..."
"But if that guy ever came here he wouldn't be able to leave so easily."
He changed the subject.
"Anyway, I've been investigating the Revolutionary Army."
"Those rats hiding in the gutters just keep playing hide-and-seek with us."
At that point, Spandine made his first offer of mutual cooperation.
"Once your file is officially upgraded to Admiral Candidate, your clearance within Marine Intelligence will also increase."
"When that happens help me see whether they have any useful information."
"No problem."
Rowan agreed immediately.
"Though Marine Intelligence is nowhere near as capable as your organization."
"If those rats are determined to stay hidden I doubt the Marines have found much."
Spandine waved dismissively.
"It's not that we haven't caught any of them."
"The problem is their mouths are too damn tight."
"It's almost impossible to extract any useful information."
"Some of them would rather kill themselves."
"The CP is currently searching for a Devil Fruit capable of reading memories."
"If you come across any information, let me know."
Rowan narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded.
"All right."
"No problem."
Spandine suddenly shivered.
Looking around, he muttered,
"Is the ventilation in this thing a little too strong?"
"Why's it suddenly so cold?"
Rowan turned to look outside the glass cabin.
They had already passed through the clouds.
Of course it felt cold.
Even though Rowan was suppressing his emotions, the immense gap between the two of them meant that merely entertaining a single thought was enough for Spandine's instincts to sense danger.
Throughout the Revolutionary Army's infiltration and expansion many members had already lost their lives.
Quite a few, in fact.
Their organization had grown too large.
Once the Five Elders began taking the Revolutionary Army seriously, the CP agencies and even the Marines naturally intensified their efforts as well.
That was also one of the reasons Rowan no longer wanted to provoke the World Government unnecessarily.
His conversation during the Flevance incident, where he had explicitly stated he wouldn't come to Mary Geoise, had been motivated by this as well.
As the Revolutionary Army's headquarters, Baltigo remained known to only a handful of people, mostly the Army Commanders, their deputies, and the researchers permanently stationed there.
However, the CP had already begun focusing on Devil Fruits capable of reading memories. Given that, Rowan needed to come up with a countermeasure.
Besides it would be best if this mission could be completed without anyone noticing.
The Red Line stood roughly 10,000 meters high, so the elevator took quite a while to reach the enormous staircase at the entrance.
During the ride, Rowan casually chatted with Spandine, even saying that if a Devil Fruit with memory-reading abilities ever surfaced, he would gladly help obtain it.
With Rowan now possessing strength worthy of an Admiral Candidate, those words no longer sounded arrogant, and Spandine was very pleased with his attitude.
Having earned the approval of the World Government's upper echelon, Spandine knew that as long as nothing unexpected happened, Rowan's future would, at the very least, end with one of the Three Admirals.
This investment was absolutely worth it.
Ding!
The elevator doors opened.
Rowan and Spandine stepped out to find two squads of guards standing watch beside the massive staircase. Their identities and credentials were checked once again. Even Spandine himself had to go through verification before they were finally allowed to proceed.
"These stairs are ridiculously tall."
Looking at the staircase rising at roughly a forty-five-degree angle, Rowan remarked,
"Climbing something like this it naturally gives people the feeling they're about to stand before gods."
Spandine replied,
"You'll be coming here often in the future."
"You'll get used to it."
After entering Mary Geoise, they reached the automatic escalators powered by slaves.
Without hesitation, both Rowan and Spandine stepped aboard, letting the moving walkway carry them upward.
"You know what this thing is, don't you?"
"Of course."
"The slaves who refuse to obey, or the ones the Celestial Dragons have discarded..."
"They're recycled underneath this thing."
"It saves us the trouble of walking."
Rowan spoke as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"When you possess power, you should naturally enjoy privilege."
"This is actually pretty convenient."
"Say if I become Fleet Admiral someday would it count as overstepping my authority if I installed one of these in Marineford?"
Spandine had only intended to test him.
Instead, he found that the man beside him seemed even more enthusiastic than he was.
Slaves weren't exactly cheap.
A single slave sold on the Sabaody Archipelago wasn't expensive by their standards.
But keeping something like this running continuously?
It consumed, on average, one slave every ten days.
Who could afford that?
"Forget that idea."
"Unless you want to be removed from office on your second day as Fleet Admiral."
"Those Marines and their hypocritical sense of justice would never allow something like this to exist at Marineford."
As he spoke, Spandine deliberately bounced up and down on the escalator.
"And believe it or not just from me hopping like that some unlucky bastard underneath might've gotten caught in the gears."
"It's an expensive machine."
Rowan's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
The two continued chatting casually as they approached their destination.
In reality the moment Rowan entered Mary Geoise, he had already noticed something was wrong.
All of the Flying Thunder God spatial markers he had scattered throughout the world could no longer be sensed after crossing the boundary.
Yet nothing about his body felt unusual.
In fact, the instant he stepped inside, Rowan had quietly tested it by taking half a step backward.
The moment he crossed back over the boundary the Flying Thunder God Technique worked normally again.
Along the way, there were guards everywhere.
Surveillance Den Den Mushi had also been installed in nearly every corner.
Rowan only observed them from the corner of his eye.
Inside, however, he couldn't help but complain.
With security this tight how was Fisher Tiger supposed to infiltrate Mary Geoise a year later and free so many slaves?
Even sneaking in unnoticed just to release the slaves should've been impossible.
Wait wasn't Mary Geoise only this heavily fortified because of his own actions?
He'd really made things difficult for someone else.
If that was the case three years from now, Fisher Tiger probably wouldn't even be able to escape after getting in.
Let alone escape only to climb back up later and cause even more chaos.
Smack.
A sharp crack of a whip echoed through the air.
Spandine quickly grabbed Rowan and pulled him down onto one knee at the side of the road.
Moments later, a Celestial Dragon slowly passed by, riding atop a red-skinned Fish-Man.
After glancing at them, he snorted.
"Oh, it's Spandine."
"I quite liked the present you gave me last time."
"But it died."
"It made me sad for quite a while."
Keeping his head lowered, Spandine answered respectfully,
"Most honored Saint Martaz, if you've grown tired of this Fish-Man as well, this humble servant will find an even more satisfactory toy for you next time."
Saint Martaz smiled.
"Then it's settled."
"If you fail to satisfy me you'll be disobeying a Celestial Dragon's orders."
Crack!
The whip lashed down again.
The Fish-Man, already covered in scars.
Fisher Tiger had the chain around his neck violently yanked.
Suppressing both his pain and humiliation, he continued crawling across the ground.
Four CP agents walked alongside him, serving as the Celestial Dragon's personal guards.
"Hurry up, you stupid fish!"
"When I get a new slave, I'll throw you away."
"Useless slaves that get abandoned deserve only to die!"
"If it weren't for that bastard I'd still be on the Sabaody Archipelago personally picking out slaves I like!"
As if remembering something, Saint Martaz turned to Spandine.
"How much longer will your CP need before you catch that disgusting rat?"
"We haven't been to Sabaody for such a long time."
"I want to personally choose my twenty-third wife, Spandine."
Cold sweat immediately appeared on Spandine's forehead.
He could only assure the Celestial Dragon that they had already made some progress and that good news would arrive soon.
Inside his glass bubble helmet, Saint Martaz sniffled loudly.
Satisfied with the answer, he said he expected even better news next time.
Only after the Celestial Dragon riding Fisher Tiger disappeared into the distance did Spandine wipe the sweat from his brow.
"...Looks like I'd better come here less often in the future."
Rowan quietly asked,
"If the investigation isn't going well, then yes, you probably should."
"But it seems the Celestial Dragons truly hate the Revolutionary Army's Cloaked Man."
Keeping his voice low, Spandine glanced around before replying,
"The first Celestial Dragon the Cloaked Man killed was Saint Samit."
"His corpse was brought back to Mary Geoise."
"The condition it was in terrified everyone."
"The most important part is that bastard still hasn't been caught."
Soon, the two arrived at their destination.
At just the right moment, Rowan said,
"...I'm a little nervous."
"Is there somewhere I can use the restroom?"
Spandine stared at him in disbelief.
"Can't you use Life Return?"
"You're about to become an Admiral Candidate, for crying out loud!"
"Can you stop being so vulgar?"
Rowan shot him a look.
"What do you mean vulgar?"
"When you're out on missions with CP0, do you use Life Return to absorb your own urine?"
"Or are you saying you can eat without ever taking a dump?"
"...Wait."
"You don't actually know Life Return, do you?"
The corner of Spandine's eye twitched.
"Go. Hurry up."
"We've got another half hour before the meeting."
"The audience itself only lasts ten minutes."
"And whatever you do don't end up with diarrhea again, got it?"
He then assigned one of the guards to escort Rowan to the restroom.
After entering, Rowan first checked every corner.
There were no surveillance Den Den Mushi.
The entire reason he'd used this excuse to briefly leave everyone's sight was because a restroom was the safest place to do so.
After all no matter how twisted they were, neither the Celestial Dragons nor the CP officers monitoring the castle would be insane enough to install surveillance there.
Besides the Celestial Dragons themselves didn't know Life Return.
They still needed to eat, drink, use the toilet, and live like everyone else.
What loyal CP dog would dare spy on a Celestial Dragon's bare backside?
That would take suicidal courage.
Barely thirty seconds later, Rowan emerged from the restroom.
After rejoining Spandine, the two entered a meeting room and quietly waited.
Once inside, casual conversation was no longer an option.
The moment he stepped through the door, Spandine subtly glanced at a surveillance Den Den Mushi mounted nearby before discreetly signaling Rowan with his eyes.
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