"What!?"
Shiki's face paled in shock, and his body suddenly lost control, falling toward the sea surface.
Shiki only felt a ringing in his ears. The cold snort from the Sea King seemed to summon an invisible giant hand, forcefully slapping him out of the sky.
"What kind of ability is this!?"
Shiki's expression turned horrified. His Devil Fruit ability seemed to instantly vanish—no, more accurately, he suddenly forgot how to control his own powers. His mind went blank, and he plummeted straight into the sea.
Just as he was about to hit the water, he suddenly snapped out of it, quickly stopping his fall. He then awkwardly floated on the surface of the sea.
His eyes darted around with suspicion and confusion, looking at the Sea King. His face turned very ugly.
Compared to the other top-tier officer, the Archangel, the Sea King seemed even more powerful...
A cold snort and a surge of dragon might struck him unprepared—he was hit without warning!
Compared to him, the few officers standing on the wooden plank earlier weren't so lucky. Three of them fell off the plank with a splash, plunging into the sea.
Darros was even shouting and splashing wildly, body sinking uncontrollably.
"Help me! I'm a Devil Fruit user!"
He desperately called for help, and a swimming officer grabbed him and pulled him out.
The Empress, standing nearby, raised her eyebrows and inwardly thought: "He's become stronger after not seeing him for a while!"
At least, Vladimir's control over his own dragon might had become more refined. The old Sea King definitely couldn't do this before.
This discovery made the Empress feel quite conflicted—she felt like she was now less capable of fighting this stupid dragon.
Vladimir was not interested in her thoughts. He calmly looked at Shiki and asked, "How did you find me?"
Hearing this, Shiki hadn't spoken yet, but Darros, just rescued, chuckled and said, "I'm a Direction Fruit user. As long as I ask in my mind, 'Where can I find the Phantom Organization members,' my fruit ability will tell me the correct direction."
"Such an unreliable ability—can it succeed one in five times?" another officer who had just saved him couldn't help but complain.
"Didn't it succeed this time?!" Darros replied unhappily.
He relied on this ability to escape death many times, turning misfortune into luck.
However, this ability has significant limitations. He can only use it after meeting someone from the Phantom Organization. Only then can he activate this skill, which he only learned after encountering the Archangel on Cake Island.
Only Darros knows the specific conditions for using it, and he's never told anyone.
Hearing his explanation, Vladimir paused slightly. "The Direction Fruit… I see. I've seen it on Doflamingo's bounty poster!"
Thinking to himself, he said, "The captain doesn't have time to see you. If you have something to say, just tell me."
He could somewhat guess Shiki's intentions, and he also had a good idea—he planned to take advantage of this to trick the Navy.
"Hahaha…" Shiki grinned. "I know you guys have intel on ancient weapons. I'm willing to pay a high price to buy it."
"Ancient weapons?!"
On the pirate ship, the Empress was stunned. She of course knew about such things—there were only scattered records in the ancient books of the Queen's Kingdom. They described something deadly enough to destroy the world.
"Hahaha…"
Vladimir chuckled softly. "You think I don't know about the trade between the Archangel and the Navy? The Navy paid hush money. We, the Phantom Organization, don't break our promises. You can go now. I do know, but I won't sell it to you."
Shiki frowned. How did the Archangel manage to strike a deal with the Navy, and why did the Sea King know about it?
He thought, at first, that the other members of the Phantom Organization didn't know about the hush money, and he could use some time advantage to buy it first. But now, that plan seemed to have failed.
Just as he was pondering, Vladimir's voice rang out again: "Although I won't sell it to you, I can tell you some 'insignificant' intel. Recently, the Navy has been very active in the Seven Water Capital. There might be some secret treasure there."
Hearing this, Shiki was stunned, then burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, I like you guys! Thanks for the insignificant intel!"
He waved his hand and immediately flew into the sky.
The three officers exchanged glances and could only sit on their flying wooden plank and retreat together.
They arrived so quickly, and left just as fast—within a moment, the huge flying ship disappeared into the clouds.
Watching them go, Vladimir shook his head. "Idiot."
The Seven Water Capital is rumored to contain the blueprints of the ancient weapon, Pluto, which he definitely knew about.
The reason he warned Shiki was to cause trouble for the Navy.
As the Phantom Organization grows stronger and reveals more formidable strength, the Navy will become increasingly anxious.
Either they initiate a world conscription to expand their forces and recruit powerful experts, or they focus on ancient weapons, among which Pluto is the most likely to fall into their hands.
Pluto is a super battleship, said to be capable of sinking an island with a single shot, currently sleeping somewhere in the world.
"Just the blueprints—what use are they? Building a super battleship from scratch would take decades, if not more," Vladimir shook his head. Shiki knew nothing, yet he happily helped him be a pawn…
Plus, the blueprints are written in ancient script—whether he can read them is another matter.
The Navy might understand if they get them, but Shiki, nine times out of ten, is blind as a bat.
"The World Government has always hoped to obtain Pluto to end the Pirate Era. According to the normal timeline, they could succeed in about ten years—unfortunately, they met Monkey D. Luffy,"
Vladimir's thoughts raced. He kept pondering, "But now, they might accelerate their pace. I need to find time to cause some trouble."
He doesn't need the ancient weapon himself, but he doesn't want others to get it either.
Shiki going to stir up trouble, the Navy will surely have a way to handle it. When the time comes, he'll have to personally destroy those blueprints.
Shaking his head, Vladimir temporarily set this aside.
He transformed into a streak of light, shooting onto the deck of the Kuja Pirates.
"Since we've met, just give me some good food. I'm hungry too," Vladimir, in his true form, strode onto the deck confidently, as if he were in his own home.
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