When Magnus woke, he finally learned the truth.

The Marines had already withdrawn from Elbaf half a year ago.

It had been an inevitable choice.

At first, the giants of Elbaf had been utterly unable to resist the Navy's surprise assault. But once King Harald was rescued, the weaker giants began to train, and in under a month they'd formed a sizeable militia.

Then, over the following five months, the giants used their intimate knowledge of Elbaf's terrain to launch constant raids on the Marines. Led by Harald himself — whose strength rivaled that of an admiral — they inflicted massive losses on the Navy and CP0.

So, six months later…

The World Government declared that Elbaf was no longer worth conquering, withdrew their forces, and the giants retook their homeland.

But that didn't mean the World Government had gained nothing from this operation.

The biggest prize was the Adam wood.

In just six months, the Adam wood harvested from Elbaf was worth several times the Heavenly Tribute they collected in an entire year.

The price?

A hostile non-member nation, and the deaths of some elite Marines and intelligence agents.

Human lives? Never as important as money.

In fact, for the World Government — which already sought to keep the Navy from growing too powerful — weakening the Navy only made them easier to control.

For eight centuries now, that colossal entity had looked down on the world, equal and uncaring.

'Still a long road ahead…'

Magnus sat up, feeling the pain deep in his body. Worse than the battle at Sphinx.

At Sphinx, he'd only been exhausted — the injuries weren't serious.

But this time, facing three top-tier enemies, his stamina was spent and his body battered.

Yet the rewards from this campaign were immense.

[The Elbaf Campaign — the second large-scale war initiated by the World Government since the Sphinx Campaign. Compared to Sphinx, the Elbaf operation used a leaner, decapitation-focused strategy, nearly pushing the giants to extinction.]

[Many future legendary pirates participated in this battle. And your contribution was indelible.]

[You may now claim intelligence of medium danger level — including, but not limited to, the location of a Poneglyph, the whereabouts of a Devil Fruit, or the position of a specific individual. In addition, you've acquired a new Paramecia-type Devil Fruit, and your cellular vitality has improved.]

By now Magnus understood: his system never issued missions. It only rewarded him after key battles.

Counting the two previous ones, he now held three Paramecia fruits:

The Gura Gura no Mi (Tremor-Tremor Fruit).The Uta Uta no Mi (Song-Song Fruit).

And now…

The Horu Horu no Mi (Hormone-Hormone Fruit)!

Yes — the very same fruit Ivankov of the Kamabakka Kingdom would one day eat, able to turn a man into a woman and vice versa, one of the most… unique powers in the world.

But in truth —

The Hormone Fruit's greatest value lay in its ability to unlock a person's potential. Even someone at death's door could be forced to keep living by a shot of healing hormones.

If eaten by a top-notch doctor, it could rival even the Chiyu Chiyu no Mi (Heal-Heal Fruit), which restored anything at the cost of the user's own lifespan.

The Hormone Fruit merely forced the injured to draw on their own potential.

Just this fruit alone made the campaign worth it.

And then there was the other reward…

"A Poneglyph? A Devil Fruit? A person's location?"

He wasn't too worried about the Poneglyphs — but he wouldn't mind learning more about the world's greatest secret either.

As for Devil Fruits, there were plenty of top-tier ones he could think of — each enough to create an admiral-class fighter given proper training.

And people…

Roger. Shiki. Kaido. The future three Marine admirals…

All unpolished gems waiting to shine.

Though Kaido was probably still a newborn, and the admirals weren't even born yet — Roger and Shiki might already be at sea.

But for now, there was a piece of information even more valuable to the White Wolf Pirates.

The location of Pure Gold.

The mysterious material that could delay cellular aging — with no known upper limit. A little girl had remained the same age for two centuries thanks to it.

Just that fact alone was enough to drive the whole world mad.

Even Magnus wasn't immune to its allure.

A medium-danger clue meant you needed at least a great pirate's strength to come back alive. A high-danger one meant you needed admiral-level strength.

Did that lanternfish that swallowed Pure Gold really have admiral-level power?

"I want the location of Pure Gold!"

He didn't hesitate. Hesitation would be an insult to such a treasure.

Besides — his ship was full of old, sick, and injured people waiting for it to save them.

Ding~

The system chimed in his head. Text scrolled before his eyes.

[Pure Gold is currently located in the middle section of the Grand Line, in the Calm Belt at a depth of 8,000 meters below sea level. Coordinates are dynamic; this information will be updated in real time.]

At first, seeing this made Magnus's spirits soar.

But then his expression fell.

"What kind of goddamn place is that? I'm a Devil Fruit user — how the hell am I supposed to enter the Calm Belt and dive 8,000 meters to hunt a lanternfish?"

Thankfully, the fish wasn't always fixed in place. If it appeared in any waters outside the Calm Belt, he could take it down and retrieve the Pure Gold.

And he still had two non-fruit users on his crew.

Just as he was thinking this, a commotion broke out outside his room.

"Magnus-san is injured! Once he wakes up, we need to give him medicine first!"

"No way — Captain's a Zoan user! As soon as he wakes up, the first thing he needs is food! He'll heal faster if he eats!"

"Let me in first!"

"No, me first!"

Then —

The door slammed open, and Tengetsu and Ripley stormed in together.

Seeing him awake, they both shouted at once:

"Captain, do you want medicine first, or food first?"

Huh?

Why not both?

(End of Chapter)

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