Chapter 61: The Heavenly Gold Plan
"Did you come to this island for recruit training?" Vergo asked.
Axel paused for a moment, weighing whether the question carried another hidden snare, before replying, "More or less. I just didn't expect to run into you here."
That part was true.
If he had known Vergo would be on this island, Axel would never have come. He had survived only because he could lie fast and lie well, but even so, he had just offended the Donquixote Family for no reason at all. The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Didn't the Young Master tell you?" Vergo asked again.
Logically, given Doflamingo's style, everything should already have been arranged.
Axel smoothly built another lie on top of the first. "I don't have a Den Den Mushi. You know how it is. A recruit carrying one would stand out too much, so there's no safe way to contact me. But what exactly is the plan this time? And why are you here in person? The risk of exposure is way too high."
He deliberately exaggerated the last part, making himself sound like a subordinate shocked by Vergo's recklessness.
Vergo showed no suspicion.
"This is all part of the Young Master's plan," he said. "Your training on this island and my presence here were both arranged in advance."
"A plan?" Axel repeated.
"To seize the Heavenly Gold."
The moment those words left Vergo's mouth, Axel understood.
Everything clicked into place.
From the scraps of information he knew, the timing matched the period when the Seven Warlords system was being established. Officially, Doflamingo later became one of the Seven Warlords after negotiations with the World Government. But officially was one thing. Reality was another.
So this was it.
The Heavenly Gold.
Doflamingo had used it as part of a deal with the World Government.
That also explained why CP intelligence had pointed Zephyr's recruit training toward this island in the first place. This entire situation was most likely a staged operation, a joint performance between Doflamingo and the World Government.
Axel's thoughts raced.
Vergo was probably the Marine officer assigned to escort the Heavenly Gold through this region. The dead Marine lying in that cabin could be used later as part of the cover story. A request for reinforcements, a battlefield death, a brave officer leaving his route to save others. Once the sequence was arranged properly, the truth could be buried under a mountain of official reports.
The recruits had been brought here for practical training not because this island truly mattered, but because they could serve as witnesses. If they saw pirates here, then later testimony would be simple to manufacture. Vergo could claim he had diverted from escort duty only because he had discovered pirate activity threatening Marine trainees. That would give him both a reason to leave his post and a righteous image.
Then, once he was gone, the Heavenly Gold would be stolen.
The Marines would lose it.
And they would have no one to blame but "misfortune."
After all, how could they punish a Marine officer who had abandoned his route only to rescue fellow Marines from pirates? Not without making themselves look ridiculous.
It was still only Axel's inference, but the structure was already there.
Now he just needed Vergo's next words to confirm it.
Vergo said, "I was in charge of escorting the Heavenly Gold through this sea. I passed the route information to the Young Master. All we need now is time."
"Time..." Axel murmured, putting on a look of dawning realization. "No wonder the pirates on this island were behaving so strangely. They were only stalling."
Now Bandrewyn's behavior made sense.
Why had he let his subordinates kill each other over buried treasure without intervening?
Why had he seemed so indifferent?
Because none of them mattered.
Bandrewyn had already sold them out. Their role was to cause noise, delay the recruits, and keep attention fixed on this island. Once that was done, they were nothing more than disposable pieces. Whether they were captured by the Marines or butchered later by Vergo made no difference.
Axel glanced at Bandrewyn.
Vergo would most likely kill him. It fit too neatly. From the way Vergo later rose through the Marines, Axel knew the man understood appearances. Killing a pirate leader in revenge for fallen Marines would make him look upright and loyal. Men would admire him for it. Superiors would trust him even more.
That kind of image was exactly the sort of thing that could keep a spy buried in the Marines for years.
"Did you really think someone like that was qualified to cooperate with us?" Vergo said with flat disdain. "At best, he was just a tool for the Family."
A loud clang came from inside the cabin.
Bandrewyn bolted.
He had understood everything.
From Vergo's tone alone, he realized what he had always been to them: expendable. He did not hesitate. He turned and fled at once.
Shave.
Vergo vanished and appeared in front of him in an instant.
Bandrewyn tried to stop, lost his balance, and stumbled hard to the ground. Ignoring the pain, he looked up, panic written all over his face.
Vergo stood over him, expression unchanged.
"Since you know this much," he said calmly, "I can't let you leave."
Bandrewyn's face twisted in terror. He clung to the last thread of hope and blurted out, "Lord Vergo, this wasn't the agreement! You said that once this was done, I'd be allowed to join the Donquixote Family—"
He never finished.
Vergo's finger shot forward.
Finger Pistol.
It pierced straight through Bandrewyn's heart.
Blood burst from the wound. Bandrewyn's body went rigid, then slack. Confusion, anger, despair, disbelief—all of it froze on his face as he collapsed to the ground.
Vergo did not even blink.
Watching the man die, Axel did not waste time on pity. He simply asked, "So he was worthless?"
Vergo replied, "He died a day or two earlier than expected. That's all. His value had already been exhausted. If you hadn't arrived, he would have been disposed of soon anyway."
Axel nodded, then asked the question that actually mattered to him.
"But is the Heavenly Gold really that easy to steal?"
It was wealth gathered from multiple nations, tribute meant for the Celestial Dragons. Even a fraction of it would be staggering. Something like that should have been fought over endlessly by pirates across the seas. And yet, as far as Axel knew, nobody but Doflamingo had managed to lay hands on it.
Vergo gave him a sidelong glance.
"It isn't easy," he said. "Both sides simply need a suitable excuse. Otherwise, do you think the Heavenly Gold would be so simple to take?"
He continued in the same even tone.
"This time, aside from me, the World Government didn't dispatch any real specialists to guard it. That alone is enough to show they've tacitly approved the deal."
And that was the answer.
Normally, the Heavenly Gold was nearly impossible to seize for two reasons.
First, secrecy. Pirates rarely knew its route.
Second, protection. The Marines guarded it, and the World Government could reinforce it at any time.
But this time, both safeguards had been deliberately broken.
Vergo had leaked the route to Doflamingo.
And the World Government had intentionally left the escort weak.
Once those two things happened together, stealing it was no longer difficult.
It was inevitable.
.....
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