Although Edward Weevil was subdued, Aokiji’s expression suddenly turned grim.

He had clearly seen Tesoro’s maneuver; the gold emerged from Edward Weevil’s body itself. Aokiji was aware of Tesoro’s Gold-Gold Fruit powers, knowing he could manipulate gold but could not create it out of thin air.

So, where did the gold on Edward Weevil come from? Was it something Tesoro had planted on him long ago, or…

With his rich battle experience, Aokiji immediately recalled the glittering golden dust that fell down on them as they entered the port. He elementally transformed his body and inspected it closely, indeed finding traces of the gold dust already infiltrating his body.

Aokiji realized that it wasn’t just him affected; Smoker, Kuina, and Tashigi must have also been contaminated by the gold dust.

In other words, if Tesoro wished, he could manipulate this gold at any time to trap them…

Without revealing his thoughts, Aokiji tried to expel the gold dust from his body. He managed to do so, suggesting Smoker might be able to as well, but Kuina and Tashigi would not be able to.

The feeling of being under someone else’s control was not pleasant. However, Aokiji now faced a more pressing issue: if Tesoro had set such a trap at the port, did it mean that Dragon was also affected?

If Dragon had entered through that port, then the gold dust would be in his body too. With Tesoro’s unique ability to sense gold, he might soon locate Dragon!

Clearly, Tesoro appearing with the government officials indicated his intention to help the World Government capture Dragon. If he used his power to control gold and managed to subdue Dragon like he did Edward Weevil, Dragon would indeed fall into the hands of the World Government…

Aokiji was unsure of Dragon’s current strength and whether he could break free from Tesoro’s control. However, if Dragon couldn’t escape and was captured, the situation could spiral into a disaster. The World Government would definitely execute Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army. To rescue him, the entire network of hidden Revolutionary Army members across the world would emerge and launch an all-out attack against the World Government. Any World Government allied nation with embedded Revolutionary Army members would face immediate and severe turmoil.

At that time, the whole world would erupt in an even larger war! One that would be far more terrifying than the war between the Navy and the Whitebeard Pirates…

No! This can’t happen! This must be stopped. The Navy hasn’t yet recovered from the shadow of the failed war with the Whitebeard Pirates. If an even larger war breaks out now, the Navy’s entire foundation will be utterly destroyed!

Dragon and his Revolutionary Army are indeed very dangerous, and it’s understandable that the World Government urgently wants to eliminate them. But this absolutely can’t happen now!

Aokiji glanced at the World Government officials trying to move Edward Weevil and Bakkin, as well as Tesoro standing nearby, pondering what to do.

If he acted directly to stop them here, Tesoro would surely intervene. Aokiji and Smoker could handle themselves, but Guina and Tashigi might be controlled and used as leverage against him. If they got hurt in any way, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

The success rate of this plan was too low; he needed another strategy.

Right, Ian!

Aokiji suddenly remembered that Ian was also in the Golden City. Maybe he could find him and see if he had any ideas.

With this in mind, Aokiji turned and left with Smoker and the others.

After so many years in the Navy, Aokiji’s subconscious still resisted the idea of opposing the Navy and the World Government. Thinking of Ian at this moment was perhaps his way of finding a solution without directly confronting them…

Well, to put it bluntly, he was still lazy…

Meanwhile, in his hotel room, Ian heard a knock on the door.

Thinking it was Robin or Enel returning, Ian didn’t pay much attention. With a baby bottle in his mouth, he got up to open the door.

To Ian’s surprise, the person knocking wasn’t Robin or the others, but a beautiful girl with purple hair and a stunning figure…

The girl leaned seductively against the doorframe, about to greet Ian, but froze when she saw the baby bottle in his mouth!

Ian was also taken aback. The baby bottle in his mouth was actually an item he had just acquired while refreshing the exclusive item shop.

It was the “Demon King’s Bottle” from “Beelzebub,” supposedly containing royal family milk powder…

Quite a peculiar exclusive item, right? Curious, Ian wanted to test if the milk powder inside was drinkable, but he didn’t expect a stranger to knock on his door.

So, Ian felt a bit awkward and, to ease the embarrassment, he calmly put the bottle behind his back and said with a stern face, “Miss, I didn’t order any special services!”

This statement immediately made Carina furious. She was now a super popular singer in the Golden City, and she couldn’t believe someone mistook her for offering special services…

Fortunately, Ian saw her about to explode and pretended to suddenly remember, “Oh, it’s you, you’re the singer working under Tesoro, right?”

Ian’s quick thinking managed to defuse the awkward situation in no time.

This allowed Carina to breathe a sigh of relief. At least this infamous Black Dragon Ian recognized her, otherwise, she wouldn’t have known how to continue the conversation. Holding back her earlier annoyance, she smiled and said, “Lord Ian, won’t you invite me in to sit?”

Ian peeked out into the hallway and saw that Carina was indeed alone. He stepped aside and let her in.

After closing the door, Ian watched as Carina lazily sat on the sofa, her enticing figure partially visible under her light clothing. With a strange look on his face, he asked, “Tesoro didn’t send you here, did he?”

Ian misunderstood, thinking that Tesoro, finding Baccarat ineffective, decided to send another woman to use the beauty trap on him.

Unexpectedly, Carina smiled elegantly and said, “Lord Ian, I am not one of Tesoro’s subordinates.”

“Oh!?” Ian’s interest was piqued. He remembered that Carina was once a colleague of Nami, a treasure thief. She sought him out and claimed not to be Tesoro’s subordinate. Could it be that she intended to team up with him to steal from Tesoro’s treasury?

Sure enough, Carina smiled and said, “I heard that you exchanged gold with Tesoro for a huge sum of 20 billion Berries, is that true?”

“Yes!” Ian sat down opposite her, handed her a drink, and nodded in acknowledgment.

“Twenty billion Berries is a lot, but do you know? That amount is just a drop in the bucket for Tesoro!” Carina said. “Not to mention the gold, he has 500 billion Berries in cash!”

“Five hundred billion, that’s a lot indeed!” Ian took a sip of his drink with a smile. “But what does that have to do with me?”

“How about teaming up with me for a big score?” Carina propped herself up, one hand on the coffee table, resting her chin on her palm as she looked at Ian. “I’ll tell you the location of the treasury. Once you get the loot, just give me 10% of it!”

Ian glanced at the ample cleavage under her dress, thinking to himself that it was quite substantial, comparable to Reiju and Robin. However, he didn’t trust Carina’s words at all. If he really agreed to team up with her, she might turn around and sell him out while he was attacking Tesoro’s treasury.

Carina, the treasure thief, was indeed very cunning…

So Ian didn’t answer her question directly. Instead, he asked her, “I didn’t expect you to be lurking by his side with this in mind… But, aren’t you afraid of being discovered by Tesoro coming to me?”

Carina giggled, “He doesn’t have time to bother with me now. The revolutionary leader Dragon has appeared here, in the Golden City. He and the World Government are busy searching the city for that mysterious revolutionary, so disappearing for a while won’t raise his suspicion…”

However, just as she finished speaking, she saw Ian staring at her with wide eyes!

“What did you just say!? Dragon is here!?”

Otaku_Senpai

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Super Card System! the best novel in the universe If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!⏬⏬⏬⏬⏬⏬

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