Seeing her two sisters about to attack Obito, the Empress quickly stopped them and said, "Give him the Devil Fruits!"
Hearing this, Sandersonia and Marigold's expressions changed, and they both looked at the Empress, confused.
"Give them to him! I have agreed to cooperate with him."
Sandersonia and Marigold looked at each other, their faces filled with bewilderment.
"But, Elder Sister... he knows our secret."
Hearing this, the Empress bit her lower lip, finding it hard to speak.
"I know what I'm doing!"
Helpless, Sandersonia and Marigold had no choice but to hand over the two Devil Fruits they had brought to Obito.
With a warp in space, the two Devil Fruits were sucked into Obito's Kamui dimension.
The Empress glanced at Obito, still unsure of what exactly his ability was.
"These are all Zoan Devil Fruits. Usually, when I go out to sea, I mostly find Zoan types. Paramecia types are rare, and Logia types are even less likely to be found."
"It doesn't matter. The type of Devil Fruit is not important, as long as it's a Devil Fruit."
"Alright then. In that case, please leave... After the Admiral appears and you have fulfilled my request, I will naturally give you another Devil Fruit."
"Don't be naive, woman. Since this is our first cooperation, I don't trust you much. Pay one Devil Fruit upfront, and then we will act," Obito said calmly.
"Otherwise, how do I know if you have the Devil Fruit now? What if, when we fulfill the request, you can't produce the Devil Fruit?"
The Empress's expression turned stern.
"Do you think I would lie to you?"
"Don't be so arrogant, woman. You don't have the right to choose."
The Empress looked at the Mangekyō Sharingan in Obito's single eye-hole, her gaze avoiding his slightly.
With her weakness in the other party's hands, the Empress was truly worried. After a moment, she made a concession.
"But I also can't be sure if you will take the Devil Fruit and not fulfill the request?"
"You can only trust me. Do you... have any other choice?"
Hearing this, the Empress took a deep breath, her chest heaving, looking somewhat angry.
"Fine, I understand. Sandersonia, go get another Devil Fruit for him."
"Sister, do we really have to do this?"
Sandersonia was worried and whispered in the Empress's ear.
"Devil Fruits are rare to begin with. We sold one before, and the stock we've collected in recent years is almost gone. We originally planned to sell them on the black market... If this continues, we won't be able to support the citizens' livelihoods."
Zoan Devil Fruits were something the Empress had a chance of encountering when she went out to plunder, but they were still hard to come by. Over the years, they had accumulated some stock, but they were usually sold to subsidize the country's expenses.
"It doesn't matter. I know what I'm doing. At worst, we'll just go out to sea again soon!"
Meanwhile.
Drum Kingdom.
With Wapol stepping down and the Hero-King forcefully taking the throne, Drum Kingdom welcomed a period of prosperity in the short term.
After all, the doctors had returned, and the citizens could enjoy medical treatment, solving a major problem.
Of course, politically, this country had many more problems, which Rex naturally didn't know about.
Anyway, he was only staying here for a while, and the Hero-King didn't plan to manage these things.
At this time, Dalton suddenly found the Hero-King and said, "Great Hero-King, Your Majesty, a pirate ship has been spotted approaching the port!"
"A pirate ship?"
Hearing this, the Hero-King was interested.
"Yes, that pirate flag... it looks like... the Red Hair Pirates!"
As he spoke, Dalton's voice trembled slightly.
He had encountered too many big shots recently, which made him uneasy.
The Hero-King was already heaven-defyingly powerful. But now, one of the Four Emperors was approaching. What kind of sins had Drum Kingdom committed to go through all this?
"Oh? The Red Hair Pirates are here?"
A look of shock flashed in the Hero-King's ruby eyes.
But thinking about it, it seemed reasonable.
This was nine years before Luffy set sail. At that time, Shanks happened to be leaving the East Blue and preparing to return to the New World. In terms of time, it should be around this period.
He didn't expect to pass through Drum Kingdom and run into the Hero-King.
"I didn't expect to run into one of the Four Emperors. Interesting. But no need to pay them any mind... They should leave after a short stay."
With that, the Hero-King stood up, took a step, turned into a wisp of golden smoke, and disappeared in front of Dalton.
Seeing this, Dalton sighed and muttered, "I hope no more accidents happen... This country can't bear too much upheaval."
At this moment.
A huge pirate ship slowly docked at the port, dropped anchor, and stopped by the shore.
Red-Hair slowly walked down from the ship and asked, "Where have we arrived?"
"This seems to be Drum Kingdom."
"Oh? That great medical nation?"
"Seems like it," a crew member replied.
"What? Is Boss interested in this country?"
"Don't you think that looks suspicious?"
Red-Hair looked up into the distance.
Amidst the wind and snow, a huge mountain peak could be vaguely seen.
However, that mountain peak was in a state of semi-destruction, twisted into a strange shape.