I'm Not Interested in Devil Fruits

The Kuja Pirate group was well-known to the officers attending the meeting at Headquarters. However, it was precisely because they knew about the group that they understood how troublesome and formidable this pirate force was.

Amazon Lily Island was located in the Calm Belt, a special sea area that was naturally easy to defend and hard to attack. Before Dr. Vegapunk's new battleship research had yielded results, the Marines had little way to deal with this pirate nation hiding in the Calm Belt. 

Even with the new battleships in hand, launching a major attack on a nation in the Calm Belt would be a highly risky move.

On Amazon Lily Island, everyone was a warrior, and the martial atmosphere was intense. Most of their warriors possessed Haki, making them a significant threat to Marine soldiers, who had no advantage in combat. 

Sending Admiral-level forces to directly assault Amazon Lily Island wasn't realistic either. Firstly, not every Admiral could cross the Calm Belt. For instance, this generation's Admiral Sengoku did not have the ability to safely traverse the Calm Belt. 

Devil Fruit powers like those of Borsalino, who could easily fly between two points, were rare. Even though other Logia users like Sakazuki couldn't cross the sea easily, Kuzan could freeze the sea to walk on it. But in the Calm Belt, with its giant Sea King nests, walking on the sea was highly dangerous.

The competitive environment in the nation of women meant that every generation of the "Snake Princess" could be considered a world-class fighter. While Sengoku might be able to use Geppo to travel long distances, he wasn't particularly skilled at it, and by the time he arrived at Kuja, his stamina would be depleted. 

Alone, facing the Snake Princess and the warriors of Amazon Lily Island, the result would be predictable...

Sending multiple Admirals to invade Amazon Lily Island would be a blow to the Marines' dignity. Even if they succeeded, it would not be particularly glamorous. If they failed, the consequences would be too heavy to bear. 

With only three Admirals in total, one had to stay at Marineford to protect Headquarters, and one had to be on standby to serve the Celestial Dragons. Therefore, normally, only one Admiral could be sent to deal with pirates at any given time.

This was also why powerful officers like Kuzan, Borsalino, and Sakazuki, who had strength comparable to Admirals, were kept in the position of Vice Admirals.

In conclusion, the Kuja Pirate group was a special force that gave the Marines a massive headache. The damage they could inflict was within a tolerable range compared to the uncontrollable costs the Marines would face in retaliation.

"There are two important things to note," Colonel Brannew said. "According to information from four years ago from the Grand Line branch, the leader of the Kuja Pirate group at the time was a golden-haired woman, their Snake Princess. But today, four years later, when they appear in South Blue, the golden-haired Snake Princess is nowhere to be seen... Instead, it is this black-haired young woman."

Brannew paused for a moment, and even though the photo showed only the blurry outline of the black-haired woman, her beauty was striking.

"Based on information gathered from the public, it seems that this black-haired woman is the new leader of the Kuja Pirate group... It is reasonable to suspect that the golden-haired Snake Princess has abdicated."

At the conference table, a Rear Admiral furrowed his brow and asked, "But wasn't their Snake Princess still quite young? Why would she step down?"

A middle-aged Marine officer, slightly older, pondered and said, "If I remember correctly... The previous Snake Princess, well, she's now likely the second-to-last one, disappeared unexpectedly at the peak of her youth, and was replaced by the golden-haired Snake Princess..."

Was there some sort of internal conflict in the Kuja nation? Or perhaps there were hidden circumstances surrounding the Snake Princess? Was the Snake Princess's strength gained by sacrificing her life?

The attending Marine officers discussed briefly.

"The other point is this person." Brannew pointed at the photo on the tactical board. Next to the black-haired woman's beautiful silhouette was a side profile of a tall man with black hair, and he pressed down hard on the photo.

"This man. Based on information from Marine branches across South Blue, this man... is a member of the Kuja Pirate group."

The officers were stunned. A man, a member of the Kuja Pirate group?

"No one knows how he managed it, but the intelligence department believes the least likely yet most probable explanation is that this man is the lover of the new Snake Princess," Brannew said gravely. "In any case, he is a member of the Kuja group and is close to this black-haired woman, who is suspected to be the new Snake Princess. More importantly— he is incredibly powerful! A year ago, Colonel Augat from South Blue was dispatched to the region and had his arms broken by this man! Although Augat claims it was a result of carelessness, I suspect that his defeat was not as simple as that."

Some of the officers, who knew Colonel Augat, nodded knowingly. Everyone knew what kind of person Augat was.

They were more than aware that, with his Dog-Dog Fruit wolf form, Augat was cautious and cunning. It was hard to believe that he would have been easily ambushed and had his arms broken... He was more likely to be the one ambushing others!

"Being able to defeat Colonel Augat so easily... this man is no ordinary person!" A Marine Rear Admiral said with a serious expression on his face.

"Colonel Augat's Zoan-type Devil Fruit is quite powerful!" A Marine Colonel, looking worried, said, "Although Zoan users are often underestimated... the stamina and restoration power they possess make it hard to believe he would be easily defeated!" He flipped through the report, shaking his head.

Everyone agreed that this mysterious man in the pirate group was a rare and formidable fighter.

So, the question arose: such a strong person couldn't have just appeared out of nowhere, right?

It was said that on Amazon Lily Island, only girls were born, which meant that this man was most likely not a native of Amazon Lily Island in the Calm Belt. So who was he?

Such a powerful figure surely wasn't some unknown person in the past!

"Seems like you all have figured it out... We've reviewed a lot of information about male pirates under thirty. Considering this man likely lived on Amazon Lily Island in the Calm Belt for a while, we specifically looked into targets who had disappeared in recent years... We found two individuals."

Brannew took out another set of materials and pinned two more bounty notices to the tactical board.

The Marine officers at the table looked in unison at the board.

Brannew had pinned two Bounty Notices under the sketch portraits, which read:

Jolyne Cujoh, Bounty: 120 Million Berries!

Chopper Giorno, Bounty: 150 Million Berries!

(End Of Chapter)

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