One Piece: Rayquaza of the Beasts Pirates

The artificial Blue Dragon Fruit, originally deemed a failure, turned out to be just a matter of color?!

This is an utter mockery of the intelligence of world governments!

If it weren't for the fact that Vegapunk's existence was related to higher priority projects like "Mother's Flame," he would have immediately ordered the execution of the scientist who dared to deceive the World Government.

He suppressed his anger and added, "Kane, you should understand the strategic value of this technology. A mere empty promise to give up the Poneglyphs is far from enough to exchange for it."

"is it?"

Kane chuckled: "What if... we add two admirals, making five vice admirals? Oh, and your loyal lackeys, CP0. Is that a substantial enough bargaining chip?"

As he spoke, he casually waved to the pile of prisoners: "Come on, guys, say hello."

Feeling deeply humiliated, the naval officers naturally refused to cooperate, turning their heads away, clenching their teeth, and remaining silent.

Kane didn't care; as long as the Five Elders knew, that was enough.

As expected, there was an even longer silence on the other end of the Den Den Mushi, as Satan Saint temporarily muted the call.

"Splash—!"

In the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, within the Chamber of Power, Saint Satan suddenly swung his arm, sweeping all the documents on the coffee table in front of him to the ground with a jarring sound.

"Bastards! Idiots! A bunch of useless trash!!"

He could no longer maintain his usual composure, and his anger erupted: "Two admirals! Five vice admirals! Such a force was completely wiped out, and even captured in one fell swoop! A disgrace! What are the navy doing?!"

Nassshuro said in a deep voice, "Alright, getting angry now won't help. The most urgent thing is to deal with the deal with Kane."

Woqiuli Sheng chimed in, "Let's get them out of there first."

In any case, admirals are rare high-end combatants. Even with the resources of the World Government, it is impossible to assemble more than a few combatants of this level.

Losing even one of them would be a major loss for the Navy and the World Government.

Compared to the Admirals, artificial Devil Fruit technology is a minor detail.

Peter Saint worriedly said, "What if Kane gets the technology and successfully replicates his fruit? Judging from the current information, it is at least a top-tier mythical beast that is no less than, and may even surpass, the Azure Dragon Fruit."

A shadow crossed the eyes of the five elders.

This is indeed a risk that cannot be ignored.

Instead, Satan, having vented his anger, regained his composure and dispelled his colleagues' doubts: "Technology is technology, but replicating a Devil Fruit is no easy task. Don't forget, it took Vegapunk twenty years and countless resources to create an artificial Azure Dragon Fruit?"

"It's not just a technical issue; luck also played a significant role."

"Would we give that bastard Kane that much time?"

Satan smiled knowingly, his tone radiating an air of absolute confidence.

He was a scientific defense god, whose understanding of science and technology was far deeper than that of his colleagues, and he naturally understood the difficulties involved.

Most importantly, the inventor of this technology, Vegapunk, is in their hands.

As long as Vegapunk holds onto power, the World Government will forever remain synonymous with cutting-edge technology.

Now, under their urging, Vegapunk is already researching how to replicate Paramecia-type Devil Fruit abilities.

"Besides, who says we have to give him the latest and most complete technical information?"

Satan Saint's lips curled into a shrewd smile: "Let's 'update' the technical data to the day the artificial Azure Dragon Fruit was created. As for subsequent improvements, optimizations, and even lessons learned from failures... I think Kane will have to figure that out himself."

Upon hearing this, the other four Elders in the Power Chamber were taken aback at first, then revealed knowing, cold, and mocking smiles on their faces.

Trading a seemingly complete but actually censored set of technical data for a large number of top-tier combatants and temporarily stabilizing Kane is indeed a worthwhile deal.

A deep, meaningful laugh echoed through the room.

Jie Jie Jie...

Chapter 161 Trading

After a period of suppressed silence, the answer Kane wanted finally came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi.

"...Okay. We agree to your request."

Satan's voice sounded like it was being squeezed out from between his teeth, "When will you release them?"

"Don't rush. I have one more small request."

Kane casually flicked non-existent dust off his fingernail, his tone as relaxed as if he were talking about the weather.

"Kane! Don't go too far!"

Satan Saint's voice suddenly rose, filled with barely suppressed rage: "Do you really think you can blackmail the World Government with these few prisoners without any limits?! Stop this now!"

Do they really think the Five Elders have no temper?

An invisible pressure seemed to permeate through the Den Den Mushi (snail phone), and the air on the deck seemed to freeze.

"Relax, relax, it's really just a small request, nothing more than a small favor for you."

Kane, still in that infuriatingly leisurely tone, said, "I have a few friends who were accidentally invited to Impel Down by the Navy. I hope the World Government will let them off the hook."

“Ha…” Saint Satan was almost laughing out of anger.

Asking their world government for people? And asking for "several" of them?

Should I send you Impel Down?

Just as he was about to retort sharply, Peter Saint spoke first: "Name. We need to assess their level of threat to the World Government."

Upon hearing this, Kane smiled with satisfaction.

See, even the Five Elders aren't completely devoid of human relationships.

“No problem.” He readily rattled off the names: “Dongli, Brogy, Cassie, and Oimo.”

He was prepared to force his way into Impel Down to rescue the people, but the admirals personally "delivered the goods to his door," giving him a perfect opportunity to solve the problem.

Misfortune may be a blessing in disguise; this is true.

As for whether or not to bury the naval prisoners alive here, he hadn't even considered it.

The admirals are indeed the navy's top combat force. Losing two of them at once is enough to severely damage the navy's strength and reduce its combat power.

But this is far from shaking the foundation of the World Government—not to mention the CP organization and the Knights of God, as long as Im lives, the World Government will never collapse.

On the contrary, such extreme behavior will only thoroughly enrage the other party and provoke a desperate counterattack.

Even the Five Elders, including Gaim, intervened.

The time is far from ripe.

Before he possesses absolute power enough to overturn everything, he still has to play along with the World Government.

The purpose of negotiating terms was twofold: first, to enhance their own strength, and second, to prove to the Five Elders that they had no intention of "rebellion."

There was a noticeable pause on the other end of the phone. The Five Elders quickly retrieved the names from their memories—the four giants that the Navy had recently captured.

“Kane, your circle of friends… is quite extensive,” Satan said in a deep voice.

He never expected that Kane would quietly reach out to the giants and even successfully connect with the captain of the Giant Warrior Pirates.

The Den Den Mushi's sound was temporarily muted again.

Within the power struggle, Satan Saint looked at his colleague: "An exchange?"

He wasn't concerned about the fighting strength of a few giants—sending a general would be enough to suppress them. The key was whether Kane could smoothly gain the friendship of the giants.

The other four members of the Five Elders quickly exchanged glances.

"exchange."

Nassshurou spoke succinctly, slamming his longsword on the ground, "Even if we refuse, Kane can use our detention of the Elbaf warriors to his advantage, even going so far as to go to Elbaf and play the 'rescuer' in exchange for the friendship and support of the entire Giant Kingdom. That would be even worse."

“Agreed,” Woqiulisheng interjected, “but this is the final line! He must be made clearly informed that the World Government will not tolerate endless extortion! This is the final condition!”

After reaching a consensus, Satan reconnected the communication and announced their decision to Kane.

"Tsk, you're so rich, can't you be a little more generous?"

Kane clicked his tongue in slight regret, but seeing that Satan was about to explode, he decided to call it quits and chuckled, "Fine, what can I say, I was too generous. Deal!"

"Then release them immediately!" Satan Saint's voice was as cold as ice.

"Ha, do you think I'm an idiot? Even kidnappers know to hand over the person and the goods when they're demanding ransom."

Kane, not one to mince words, retorted without hesitation: "Five days from now, I want to see everyone and all the complete data at the location I specify. Otherwise..."

He drawled out his words, threateningly saying, "I'll have to 'deal with' a few less important people on my side. After all, too many prisoners take up a lot of space."

"Five days? That's impossible! That's too long..."

Satan instinctively wanted to refute, trying to buy more time to maneuver.

However, before the word "tight" could be uttered, a crisp busy tone came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi.

Kane actually hung up on him first.

"Outrageous! Absolutely...outrageous!!"

Satan's face flushed red instantly, and his chest heaved violently.

He's always the one who hangs up on others; no one has ever dared to hang up on him before he's finished speaking!

Extreme anger caused him to exert force with his palm, and with a "crack", the sturdy sofa armrest was crushed to pieces by his force!

"Calm down, Saint Satan."

Peter Saint shook his head slightly: "He's already done things like capturing a naval admiral and negotiating with us face-to-face, so what's a phone call?"

A cold glint flashed in Woqiuli's eyes as he suggested, "We can't be completely passive. We must prepare for both possibilities."

"Let Kizaru be in charge of escorting the Titans and the data. Time is of the essence, and only his speed can ensure their timely arrival. At the same time, give him a secret order—if any opportunity arises on the scene, take down Kane on the spot at all costs!"

"agree!"

I second that!

The Five Elders felt no remorse for this kind of superficial transaction that involved sabotaging others behind their backs.

If Kane hadn't been so tight on the timeline, they would have even considered mobilizing the Knights of God to join forces with the navy and lay a trap.

On the Liekong Seat.