Black learned of Akainu's promotion from the newspaper the next day.
From the perspective of the Celestial Dragons, Sakazuki was already the most suitable candidate for the World Government.
The Marines' slogan of justice had influenced and infected many people.
Because of that, when those same people encountered tasks that were not so just, they would become confused or hesitate.
Some even openly rebelled, like Monkey D. Dragon.
Only Sakazuki would carry out orders with absolute thoroughness.
You only needed him to strike at pirates, and he would obey everything else without question…
After breakfast, Black returned alone to his room, preparing to sort through the ability cards he had recently obtained.
At the moment, seven of the ten slots in the System Space's card storage area were empty.
The remaining three cards were: Adult Stage Shiki, Adult Stage Red Earl, and Elderly Akainu.
Black could already defeat them now, but he wanted to wait until his strength improved further until he could deal with them more easily before challenging them again.
During these months at sea, Black had also accumulated several ability cards
Physical Fitness
Swordsman-Level Swordsmanship ×2
Master Swordsman-Level Swordsmanship
Zoan-type Devil Fruit: Bug-Bug Fruit, Scorpion Form
Black thought for a moment and applied the Physical Fitness and Master Swordsman-Level Swordsmanship cards to himself.
Even if Mandy used another Master Swordsman-Level Swordsmanship card, she still would not be able to break through to the level of a true Great Swordsman.
Koala possessed far greater talent in martial arts than in swordsmanship.
Black did not intend to cultivate her into a copy of Kizaru.
Instead, he planned for Koala to follow a path similar to Kuzan's combining martial arts with Devil Fruit abilities.
As for the two Swordsman-level ability cards, giving them to anyone now would not result in significant improvement.
Black planned to give them to Stella and Rami later so that they would at least possess a bit of self-defense ability.
At that moment, Stella knocked on the door from outside.
"Your Highness, the CP agents are here."
"Hm?"
Black was slightly surprised, but he still walked out of the room.
When he arrived in the hall, he saw two CP agents standing there, each carrying a person on their shoulders.
When they saw Black appear, both immediately saluted respectfully.
Black waved his hand.
"What's the situation with these two?"
The older agent handed the unconscious person he was carrying to the younger one, then stepped forward and knelt on one knee.
"Saint Black, the Zoan-type Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Peregrine Falcon user, and the Zoan-type Turtle-Turtle Fruit, Model: Tortoise user that you ordered us to find have both been located."
"Oh?"
Only then did Black recall the mission he had assigned to CP earlier.
It had only been a few months from locating the targets, defeating them, and transporting them back to the Holy Land.
CP's efficiency was quite impressive.
Indeed, as long as he did not rely on them to deal with powerful pirates, assigning smaller tasks to CP was very convenient.
Black turned his gaze toward the two people the younger agent was carrying.
Their clothes were torn and ragged, their heads drooping, their consciousness barely present.
Sea-Prism Stone handcuffs were locked around their wrists, and iron collars hung around their necks.
"You've done well."
Black casually offered praise.
The two CP agents instantly looked thrilled, as if they had received a tremendous reward.
Seeing this, Black could not help sighing inwardly again.
The World Government's eight hundred years of rule had clearly not been wasted at the very least, their methods of indoctrination were remarkably effective.
Black waved his hand, calling several slaves over to drag the two men away and lock them inside the prison.
Then he dismissed the CP agents.
After instructing Stella not to allow anyone to disturb him, Black quickly headed toward the prison.
At the moment, there were only three prisoners inside: two Zoan users and one awakened ability user.
This time, Black did not waste any words.
After removing their handcuffs, he directly slapped the corresponding ability cards onto their bodies…
When Black finally emerged from the prison, excitement was written all over his face.
Sure enough, just as he had suspected
Ability cards had an extremely high probability of awakening a Devil Fruit user's powers.
Although he only had three examples so far, it was already enough to confirm that identical ability cards could awaken a user's ability.
Black could not help thinking about the Devil Fruits currently stored in his possession.
The Suke Suke no Mi (Invisible Fruit), the Horo Horo no Mi (Ghost-Ghost Fruit), the Mera Mera no Mi (Flame-Flame Fruit), the Goro Goro no Mi (Rumble-Rumble Fruit), and the Batto Batto no Mi, Model: Vampire.
Naturally, Black preferred the Vampire Fruit the most.
Not only was it a Mythical Zoan that enhanced nearly every aspect of the user's body, but it also granted a form of extended longevity.
However, he had no intention of eating a Devil Fruit yet.
At the very least, he would wait until the card space produced a Vampire Fruit ability card.
"Next, I need to test what kind of results three ability cards can produce."
Black did not kill the two new prisoners.
He planned to use them again for experiments once he obtained another Peregrine Falcon or Tortoise ability card.
When he returned to the courtyard, he saw Mandy practicing swordsmanship and walked toward her.
Mandy noticed his presence immediately.
Her movements suddenly became slightly stiff.
Ever since yesterday's events, Mandy had been acting a little strange.
Her expression remained cold and calm as always, yet occasionally she would drift into silent thought.
Black found it amusing and could not resist teasing her.
"Mandy, come to my room tonight."
Mandy's face instantly flushed red.
Her longsword nearly slipped from her hand.
Lowering her head slightly, she softly replied,
"…Mm."
Time gradually moved forward.
Soon, the year reached 1502 in the Sea Circle Calendar.
On that day, Black received an astonishing piece of news
Rosward had been turned into a woman in West Blue!!!
"Puhahaha!"
After hearing the news, Black burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Originally, he had thought Rosward would simply be beaten up by Dragon.
After all, fathers beating fathers and sons beating sons the inherited grudges Oda loved so much.
He had also imagined Rosward being slapped flying by Bartholomew Kuma or even killed by the Revolutionary Army.
But he never expected Emporio Ivankov to be so creative.
So what should Rosward be called from now on?
Rosward Palace? Roseward Palace? Lady Rosward?
"Hahahahaha!"
Thinking about it made Black laugh even harder.
Even better, every time Rosward's name was mentioned in the future, it would remind the World Government of the Revolutionary Army.
This time the Gorosei definitely wouldn't forget, right?
…
On the Marine side, however, no one felt like laughing.
Well… except for Garp.
Everyone else looked extremely serious.
Sengoku's forehead bulged with veins.
"Garp! Shut up! That's the son you raised!"
"Hahaha! Isn't this great?"
Garp replied while munching on senbei.
"Anyway, Celestial Dragons already dress like clowns!"
Sengoku ignored the stubborn old man and instead slapped a photograph onto the table.
The other officers glanced at it, each struggling to hold back their laughter.
In the photo, the feminized Rosward was standing in front of a mirror, trying on a dress.
Sengoku's eyelid twitched.
He pressed his hand firmly on the photograph.
"The World Government demands that the Marines respond immediately!"
"We are to arrest those saboteurs who call themselves the Revolutionary Army and bring Rosward… Palace… Saint back!"
Borsalino leaned lazily in his chair and spread his hands.
"Ooh, that sounds troublesome That noble seems pretty satisfied with the new look"
Tsuru added calmly from the side.
"This incident is considered blasphemy against the bloodline of the 'Creators.' The Gorosei have ordered us to 'handle it discreetly.'"
"Oh dear…"
Kuzan scratched the back of his head.
"So we quietly bring the person back and pretend nothing happened?"
"That won't work either!"
Sengoku turned his gaze toward Sakazuki, who had only recently been promoted to Admiral.
"The World Government demands that the Admiral immediately mobilize and completely crush Monkey D. Dragon's group."
"If the news spreads, the Government will announce publicly that the Celestial Dragon voluntarily participated in a fashion experiment."
Garp suddenly raised his hand.
"Can I apply to observe? I want to see how Akainu convinces 'her' to wear the bubble helmet again."
An enraged Sengoku punched Garp flying across the room.
"Meeting adjourned!"