Rocks Band: I have 48 Imperial Arms.

"Better than nothing."

Locke waved his hand dismissively, looking rather bored.

He didn't really take one or two Devil Fruits seriously.

A person's perspective.

Historically, growth has always been driven by strength!

"Our current strength..."

Locke murmured to himself, then said after a moment of contemplation, "General Emperor level! Ordinary General Emperor level experts, unless they flee before even getting close, are basically already beyond our grasp!"

The death of Fingri!

It wasn't just the material gains that Locke and his team received;

It was also a test and assessment of one's own capabilities.

Emperor-level strength!

Moreover, among the Emperor-level generals, he is quite strong!

If you're dealing with a general of average strength, once they catch you, you can almost certainly kill them.

Locke has now acquired the basic strength to kill a general!

No longer relying on Akame's Imperial Arms [Muramasame] to take a risky approach, using a cursed poison method that can kill with a single blow.

It was a real, head-on confrontation.

Being able to take down and kill the opponent is undoubtedly a leap forward.

Finally, I don't have to go through what I did before.

When encountering a powerful expert at the Emperor level, one has to take all sorts of detours, set up ambushes in advance, be terrified, and come up with a whole bunch of unnecessary tricks. Although all of them were successful, Locke didn't want to keep walking a tightrope indefinitely.

If you walk the night too often, you're bound to encounter a ghost!

this time!

Finally, we have real strength, and it's no longer a pipe dream relying on tricks!

This also means that Noxus is no longer a rootless duckweed, but has the power to truly compete with the sea!

"The Moonshadow Pirates' strength... should be approaching that of the Yonko crews of later generations..."

Locke whispered.

Even a weakened version of the Yonko crew is still a Yonko crew. The core members that Fingrey painstakingly built up are no weaker than those of the Yonko crew. As for himself, his strength may have declined due to old age, but in terms of speed, after developing the Shadow Dimension and sacrificing his pirates, he is absolutely the best among the Four Emperors!

Even so, Locke still managed to kill him.

Noxus's strength is now beyond doubt!

"Given the momentum they're building, the news of the great pirate Finger dying in Noxus should soon be making headlines and becoming common knowledge in the North Sea."

Locke frowned slightly.

·· ······Requesting 0 flowers ······

It seems that news reports have already captured the shocking scene of various countries in the North Sea region sitting on the ground in disbelief.

"So~"

"Shouldn't we keep up the good work?"

"Should we send troops directly to sweep across the North Sea and completely conquer it, bringing it under our control?"

Leonai clenched his fists, his fighting spirit burning brightly.

Taking over territory and such.

She knows it very well!

This is our old profession. Although there are some differences in size, they should all be roughly the same.

"Do not--"

Locke's calm voice poured cold water on Leone.

shook his head.

Under the deliberate guidance of Najenda and Esdeath, Locke has also grown a lot.

At least……

He could see through some obvious schemes clearly.

...[' ..... 0

The things Fingri said on his deathbed were most likely true; there was no need to lie to him about it.

Seele's Imperial Arms characteristics also confirm this.

and so……

He really came here to hand out points.

And the person who could drive this great pirate to do such a great thing at any cost.

Do we still need to guess?

I have no other choice but the World Government.

"They really have a lot of tricks up their sleeves."

Locke smacked his lips, picked up the glass of red wine beside him, and took a small sip.

The sweetness of the grapes and the mellow aroma of the wine created a chemical reaction on the tip of the tongue, while a dark and brilliance flickered in his eyes, filled with murderous intent.

"Your Highness is right."

"We can't act rashly like this."

Najenda nodded, clearly understanding the core message, and said in agreement, "We have nothing to do with the Moonshadow Pirates. Fingrey's attack is definitely closely related to the World Government."

"A publicity stunt! They want to create a huge stir, to have Fingeri's defeat solidify the previous rumors. This will make Noxus the target of everyone's anger... pushing them to the position of Lox, making the various member states and forces wary, and pushing them even further towards their side, thus maintaining stability..."

"Although we successfully killed the intruders, we also fell into their trap."

"Even if it turns out to be a fake show, the world government won't lose anything."

The face beneath the brim of the hat showed a hint of disgust.

Najendan has a keen understanding of these intricacies; no wonder she comes from an upper-class background.

Only the world where Fingri was injured achieved six.

Chapter 211: Unleash the monster that will destroy the world!

“Those maggots of the sea are probably hoping we make a bigger commotion right now…it might even accelerate our conquest of the North Sea, and they might come and contribute to our efforts.”

"If we lead a large army to sweep across the land, we will fall right into their hands."

Esdeath's face was cold.

The best strategy is to subdue the enemy without fighting!

She was definitely not a fool to be able to hold the position of Grand General of the Empire.

Predictably so.

Once the Noxian army sweeps across the land, they will surely conquer everything with ease. Even the Navy, that dog, will be restrained by the World Government and dare not bare its teeth at Noxus.

but……

This way, it's easy to reach the top of Beihai.

But in the end, it was just a puppet put forward by the other side, without a clean world forged through bloodshed, and under the explicit and implicit restrictions of the World Government.

Noxus's control over the North Sea may not even be as strong as that of the Germa 66 Kingdom, which controls the North Sea through various covert means such as the economy, politics, weapons, and population.

This kind of puppet regime is definitely not what Locke wants.

"Noxus's development... is still too slow..."

Locke shook his head.

He focused all his efforts on improving his own strength, and Noxus's national strength became a weakness.

His current situation is somewhat similar to Big Mom's Tales of Hollows; his strength is basically dependent on his own existence. Trying to swallow the entire North Blue in one go would make him too vulnerable to being targeted by spies.

Such a drastic move as Noxus swallowing an elephant can only be achieved through endless slaughter. A regime that tries to peacefully evolve will never succeed. Given Noxus's current size, it is impossible for it to peacefully swallow up the North Sea.

It's way too early.

This!

This is precisely why the world government is creating such a huge buzz without worrying about the backlash.

"what?"

"Are we just going to let this go unchecked?"

"Are we just going to abandon Beihai altogether?"