Chapter 19 - Puppeteer Part 3

-2 minutes later.

"Leonas…" Zephyr no longer had the various emotions mixed with his tone when he had spoken with Victor. Now, it sounded powerful. The voice deserving of a man whose name stood amongst the people at the world's pinnacle.

"Sir!" Leonas responded like a programmed robot.

"From now on, treat Victor as a colleague, and prepare an accommodation for him until I arrive. I approve him the rank of an Ensign, so prepare a set of uniforms-"

Victor had a dumbfounded expression, while thinking, "so soon? I was expecting this to happen only after meeting him in person. But just after a Transponder Snail conversation…? Does Zephyr care this much about that old man's son?"

He quickly shook the distraction out of his head before quickly cutting in, "That… Uncle, I want to claim a bounty before I officially become a marine. Earlier today, I brought the head of Black Anchor Pirates captain Yager, which should be worth 35 million. I want to buy a good sword, and… I am aware that marine officers cannot claim bounties… That the salary isn't-"

His interruption was interrupted, "I will get you a good sword, and you can keep the bounty money. But after that, you are a marine. Just as you said, marines cannot claim bounties, however instead, they get merit points."

Leonas was taken aback when he suddenly remembered the severed head Victor brought earlier. "You mean, that was him? The person who-"

"Yes," Victor intervened.

"I've already told uncle Zephyr... That I had eliminated the entire Black Anchor pirates group."

"Entir—… All of them?" He asked in disbelief.

Although Victor had proven to be a formidable pirate hunter, but, until today, he had only claimed bounties of low-level pirates.

Zephyr listening on the other side, who was now impatient to meet Victor, spoke suddenly, "Victor, I'll see you there in three weeks." He paused, before continuing with a bit of embarrassment, "And, I... I'm glad I have found you."

Hearing the words, Victor's earthly innocent subconscious felt a little bad. After all, he was an imposter. But at the same time, his heart felt a touch of warmth. He knew those words Zephyr let out were sincere.

"S-So am I… Uncle!" Victor responded by acting a bit of modesty and joy mixed with his voice.

The Transponder Snail hung-up before echoing a happy chuckle.

-Three weeks later.

Victor woke up from a good night's rest because of the many seaman energetically working with noisy equipment's outside. For the past three weeks, Leonas had worked his men's asses off by cleaning, repairing, and even renovating.

Today is the day Zephyr was expected to arrive and there was a feeling of anxiety in Victor's heart, that had now slowly built up for the past three weeks.

He knew, he was sure that his plan would work. In fact, he was relieved to have had the entire convincing drama over the Transponder Snail, and now, he had only the finale to look forward to. But alas, this is the One-Piece world, and so he prepared even for the worst.

With a heavy sigh, he got out of the bed, brushed teeth and cleaned himself up properly. He stood in front of a mirror looking at his bare upper body, a little over seven feet tall now, and full of lean muscles. He then commanded the nano suit to morph shape into his current usual attire. Black pants, black shoes, black-colored turtleneck shirt with its long sleeved rolled up to the elbows.

Walking to the door, he yawned, while thinking about the past few days.

These days, he had been getting along with the marine officers stationed at this base, and because he had spent most of his time as a soldier in the previous life, the whole blending in went extremely smooth. Moreover, the news about him joining the marines spread, — which in fact was done deliberately, — to the island's Kingdom.

To Victors astonishment, it resulted in the previous fearful faces around his presence to disappear, which once again reminded Victor of how much of a manipulative organization the World Government is. Just by joining the marines, the previous, — although exaggerated, — rumors about him seemed to have somehow been forgotten by everyone.

Or rather, the civilians trust for the World Government was simply too blind. After all, in the near future, they would even admire vicious pirate criminals dubbed "The Seven Warlords," simply because World Government announced they were now on their side.

"I must be smarter, orchestrate my pieces carefully, and get powerful enough before I create butterflies. I should avoid messing with the plot until I'm strong enough, and rather reap the knowledge's advantage. Only after the great age comes, only after the son of destiny starts hammering on the World Governments head, and only after I find out all their whole cards will I make my move. In the meantime, grow stronger, puppeteer what you can, spread your influence as much as you can to both sides."

=x=x=x=

The gentle, cool breeze of the sea enveloped a group of men who stood neatly in a line of two rows, behind the main jetty of Roshwan Kingdom's harbor. In front of the line stood a middle-aged man wearing a majestic attire and a golden crown, facing the sea where one could spot a large battleship, that was now making its way towards the island harbor.

Victor stood behind Leonas, who stood behind his majesty King Beer the V.

The battleship slowly made its way inside and docked right in front of them.

*Step* … *Step*

[Alert! Power level 92,659 detected in proximity. Advised caution.] Jaya's usual reminder rang. This had happened whenever Victor encountered a power level reading greater than him. Victor ignored, however a little startled. He did not expect Zephyr to be a full 10,000 units weaker than Sengoku. At the same time, he was once again fascinated about One-Piece world's people's physique.

Power levels near a hundred thousand generated purely from physique, whilst most creatures in the universe, like Saiyan's, do so more from their potential pure energy, rather than physique alone. After all, even Freeza, whose power level crossed over a hundred million, was sliced multiple times like a fruit, by future Trunk's sword.

But Victor is different. He now has a physical biology similar to this world's creatures, and at the same time possess Saiyans affinity for pure energy.

Victor had long confirmed if the people of this world had a natural affinity with pure energy like him, they would rank very high amongst the universe's species. In actual fact, they do, because a powerhouse of 100,000 is rare even amongst Freeza's forces.

The seamen who stood in line all had a few drops of cold sweat forming on their foreheads. Not out of fear, but nervousness and admiration. After all, this is the marine admiral whom they were about to meet. For them, Instructor or Admiral, the title never mattered. All they know is that this powerhouse was on their side.

*Step* … *Step*

With the sounds of footsteps getting louder, a large, muscular, tan-skinned man, standing around the height of over eight feet, with short purple hair walked down from the ships ladder. He did not were a typical justice coat like other admirals, reason being he no longer was one, but instead wore only a pink shirt with a polka-dotted tie under his purple suit, and dark-blue pants.

*Step* … *Step*