There was no need for them to intervene at all, especially Charlotte Snack—he was one of the Four Sweet Commanders.
Having him lead the team to deal with a mere Rear Admiral was truly overkill.
Seeing Broye and Custard's relentless persistence, Snack couldn't help but smile wryly.
"Fine, I'll tell you," he said, pausing briefly before continuing. "You know about Kaido's Artificial Devil Fruits, right?"
Broye and Custard both nodded in unison.
After all, Kaido's Artificial Devil Fruit army was quite famous in the New World. But what did that have to do with anything? Their faces showed clear confusion.
Snack explained, "Mother received intelligence that Kaido obtained these Artificial Devil Fruits from the underworld, and the source is likely Doflamingo. So, Mother wants to use this opportunity to establish a connection with him. That way, we can gather the information she wants—like whether there are Paramecia-type Artificial Devil Fruits... and where Kaido's 'Giants' come from."
"Paramecia-type Artificial Devil Fruits? Giants?" Broye and Custard's pupils contracted sharply.
Paramecia Devil Fruits and giants were Mother's greatest obsessions.
Now, they finally understood.
The two exchanged a glance, with Custard reacting particularly quickly.
"Just as Mother is obsessed with Paramecia types, the Beasts Pirates are equally obsessed with Zoan types. So, Kaido will definitely send someone to kill that Marine as well. After all, if Doflamingo reached out to us, he must have contacted Kaido too. If he promised us two Paramecia types, he'd likely offer Kaido two or even more Zoan types."
"The person Kaido sends might also be handling the Artificial Devil Fruit transaction. If that's the case... we could track the trader through Kaido's envoy. That way, we can confirm whether Doflamingo is really the one supplying the Beasts Pirates with Artificial Devil Fruits."
Broye caught on as well. "That's why you were sent. After all, whoever Kaido assigns to handle the Artificial Devil Fruit trade must be formidable. Your presence... is to deal with that person."
Snack nodded in agreement.
Although these two groups had already set their sights on Lancelot, it wasn't an immediate concern—they hadn't encountered him yet.
...
The problem Lancelot faced now was that, aboard the warship, he suddenly felt watched.
It was a sensation of imminent danger—like being targeted by a sniper from afar or stalked by an assassin.
A prickling feeling ran down his spine.
Yet, Lancelot's expression remained unchanged as he subtly scanned his surroundings, finding nothing amiss.
This made him frown slightly.
"Master..."
Just then, Baby-5 approached with a tray of drinks, picking up a glass and offering it to him.
"Here's the Blue Blaze Whiskey you asked for earlier."
Lancelot instinctively reached out to take it, but his gaze immediately fell upon Baby-5.
It had to be said—a beauty in a maid outfit was truly eye-catching. Even seeing her every day never grew tiresome.
Even now, Lancelot couldn't help but sneak a few glances.
Of course, he wasn't the type to lose all reason the moment lust took over.
As long as that prickling sensation of being watched persisted, forget Baby-5—even if the Pirate Empress herself showed up, he'd remain in sage mode.
Yet, as he looked at Baby-5, an idea to lure out the hidden observer sparked in Lancelot's mind.
Though he wasn't sure if it would work, it was better than doing nothing.
So, Lancelot immediately put on a lust-drunk expression, stretching out his hand with a hint of lewdness.
He gently patted Baby-5's ass.
Whoosh...
Baby-5's face flushed instantly.
Though she and Lancelot were already intimately familiar with each other, that was always behind closed doors, under the cover of night.
But now? In broad daylight... on the deck, practically in public—how could she not feel shy?
By then, Lancelot had already wrapped an arm around her slender waist, stroking it gently.
His gaze then shifted to the widow Lise, his eyes turning unmistakably suggestive.
Seeing this, Lise's cheeks also tinted pink.
But right now, she was doing her utmost to perform because she wanted to secure a Devil Fruit for her son, Johnson.
Although Lancelot's Devil Fruits were all in her possession, she wouldn't dare secretly use one for Johnson.
Her only path was to curry favor with Lancelot to achieve her goal.
Thus, under Lancelot's gaze, Lise didn't even wait for him to speak before perceptively stepping forward, pliantly nestling into his embrace.
She and Baby-5 now flanked him on either side.
"Hahaha..."
Lancelot couldn't help but laugh.
Embracing beauty on both sides... with fragrant jade filling his arms—what in life could be more splendid than this?
With Baby-5 and Lise in his arms, Lancelot strode into the ship's cabin.
The moment he entered, his expression shifted slightly
That prickling sensation of being watched was still there.
However, now that he was inside the cabin, he was naturally shielded by walls that blocked the line of sight.
Under these circumstances, a sniper couldn't possibly still have him in their crosshairs.
He couldn't help but mutter inwardly, 'So, we can rule out a sniper. That leaves only... an assassin?'
But even if it were an assassin, how could they lock onto him through the warship's walls?
Observation Haki?
Yet his own Observation Haki couldn't detect this hidden presence at all!
Did that mean this hidden observer's Observation Haki far surpassed his own?
If so, he truly needed to be cautious.
He wasn't afraid for himself, but the warship held more than just him.
This made the urgency to uncover the hidden presence even greater.
So, following his planned course of action, he led Baby-5 and Lise to his room's doorway.
"Hahaha..."
Lancelot burst into hearty laughter, his face brimming with triumph.
Then, he scooped up both Baby-5 and Lise, swiftly carried them inside, and closed the door.
"Aah... ah... ah..."
Before long, suggestive sounds emerged from the room, sparking wild imaginations.
At this moment, a figure appeared outside the door.
He stood there speechless, wearing an utterly dumbfounded expression.
After a long while, he couldn't help but mutter under his breath.
"Beast... I knew you were a lustful bastard, but I never imagined you'd sink to such depths. Engaging in daytime debauchery is one thing, but a threesome at that... The key point is how harmoniously the two women are getting along... This is... this is... this is practically a role model for our kind!"
"If you weren't the target, I'd genuinely want to befriend you. If nothing else, we'd have to thoroughly discuss this particular interest of yours."
"Huff..."
The man took a deep breath, trying to calm his unsettled emotions.
Then, he simply closed his eyes.
His Observation Haki was already operating at its maximum capacity, penetrating through the door to sense the situation inside the room.
"Huh?"
The man immediately let out a surprised exclamation.
Within the room, he could only detect two people.
"What's going on here?"
Confusion flickered in the eyes of the man outside.
His Observation Haki had never failed him before... if it sensed two people, then there were two people.
Absolutely no mistake about it.
But three people had clearly entered just moments ago!
How could there only be two now? One had vanished into thin air.
What in the world was happening?
'No... this isn't right...'
Suddenly remembering something, the man's expression drastically changed.
"There's absolutely no way there are only two people in that room."
After all, the moans were still ongoing!
If there were really only two women in the room, would they be making sounds like that?
Absolutely impossible.
Therefore, that Rear Admiral must still be inside the room.
Which mean... that Rear Admiral had used some method to block his Observation Haki.
If this were truly the case, then this was seriously impressive.
Indeed, with a bounty of so many Berries plus two Devil Fruits, how could his strength possibly be lacking?
So what should he do now?
Charge in directly?
If he couldn't even locate the person, how could he eliminate the target immediately upon entering?
And if he failed to take out the target in the first moment, then he might be the one getting eliminated instead—definitely not an outcome he wanted to see.
Even ants cling to life, let alone humans!
"Wait..."
But waiting was undoubtedly torturous for anyone.
Especially while listening to a live performance like this.
Any man would feel his blood racing with excitement.
Particularly a vigorous young man like himself... Five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes.
That would be an average man's capability...
But there are always exceptions.
Like himself—when having fun with his woman, he lasted about half an hour... no... around ten minutes...
But how long had this guy been going now?
Thirty-five minutes, forty-five minutes... After one hour, then two hours.
Now the third hour was nearly over.
The battle situation inside the room remained just as intense as ever.
Listening in, he heard both women's voices had gone hoarse from screaming.
He was completely broken.
He had truly reached his breaking point.
They were both men, so how could the gap between them be this enormous!
...
Finally, after three hours, Baby-5 and Lise's voices became completely hoarse, unable to scream any longer...
This kind of work that involved only shouting without movement was actually more exhausting than the physical activity itself.
Meanwhile, Lancelot, who was inside Lise's body, speak to her, "The timing is about right now. Use your ability to bring Baby-5 in as well."
"Alright!"
Lise activated her ability and drew Baby-5 inside.
"Huh…"
Outside, the assassin was dumbfounded once again.
He sensed that yet another person had disappeared from the room.
At this point, he truly couldn't hold back any longer.
Gritting his teeth, he thought, 'I'll take a risk today.'
'Let's see if this room can actually swallow people whole? One after another, they keep vanishing…'
Immediately, his entire body transform into a shadow, merging into the tiny patch of darkness cast by the doorframe away from the light.
Then, he slipped through the narrow gap beneath the door.
When he saw that only Lise remained in the room, he was utterly stunned.
Despite his youth, ever since he gained the power of the Paramecia-type Shadow-Shadow Fruit, he had worked as an assassin—or you could say, a killer.
From the moment he started in this line of work until now, every mission he had taken on had never failed.
But now… he suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.
'Retreat…'
A killer's principle is to strike once and, if unsuccessful, flee a thousand miles away.
And he had always adhered to this principle.
But this time, he didn't.
Because the temptation was too great…
The bounty from the underworld didn't even catch his eye.
Having been in this business for over a decade, he had already amassed enough wealth.
But Devil Fruits—they weren't something you could necessarily buy just because you had Berries.
Although he was already a Devil Fruit Ability User, his daughter wasn't.
And his daughter had inherited his mediocrity—whether in swordsmanship, physical combat, or marksmanship, she was just average.
So, if he wanted her to become a powerhouse like him, there was only one path: for her to eat a Devil Fruit, just as he had, and become a Devil Fruit User.
However, he failed to notice that on Lise's chest, there was a very, very small door.
From within the door, a head poked out, observing everything in the room.
And it had already locked onto him.
"Well, well…"
This person was naturally Lancelot, who now wore a look of surprise on his face.
A Paramecia Shadow-Shadow Fruit Ability User?
No!
The Paramecia Shadow-Shadow Fruit was in his possession.
There couldn't be a second one… So, this must be either a superior or an inferior version of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit?
But when had he offended such an Ability User?
Or who sent him?
Those guys from the Holy Land?
Or Doflamingo?
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