Chapter 05 : The Remnant of the Rock Pirates

Marineford, Aokiji's office.

"Doflamingo? There's something wrong with that guy's status, and the way he became a Shichibukai is also very suspicious. But these are all arranged by Mariejois." Aokiji shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't want to care too much. It is troublesome."

Dylan who sat in front of him glanced left and right, ignoring Kuzan's whining. "You've been promoted, Admiral Kuzan."

Aokiji scratched his head, and said helplessly, "I can't help it, the Grand Line is not peaceful now. Speaking of which, have you finished what you want to do?"

"It's done."

Dylan held out his hand. A ball of thunder gathered in his palm, "I just go and get a fruit."

The moment he saw the thunder light, Aokiji put away his lazy expression, "Thunder Fruit?" This Logia fruit is at the top of the Devil Fruit illustrated book, and Aokiji recognized it instantly.

"Yeah." Dylan nodded, "This is also my biggest goal of coming to Grand Line."

"You·······"

Aokiji's body straightened slightly from the backrest, but then collapsed again, "You can get it yourself, ah, Logia, I really envy you."

You also have a powerful logia fruit!

Although he thought so, Dylan still prefers the Thunder Fruit he has been waiting for a long time. After all, this fruit possesses flying ability and extremely high movement speed, and its lethality is also very powerful.

In addition, tempering his body with lightning can also continuously strengthen his body, so that he won't be completely suppressed by the sea and seastone like other ability users.

"You have nothing else to do when you come back this time?" Aokiji slumped on the sofa with some distress, "I don't have anyone here to help, and I have a lot of things myself. If you are free, do some tasks for me?"

Dylan nodded. "Okay, but I'm just a captain, so it would be hard to represent your name."

Honestly, a captain came forward to kill someone in Admiral's place? He would offend all the vice admirals under Kuzan's authority here!

"Military rank? Ah..." Aokiji scratched his hair, noticing the same problem. This is really not easy to deal with. Although the Marine internally is based on background and strength, officers at the general level still had to have value in actual combat exploits.

This is not the case after the Marineford War a few years later, when the Marine's top combat power has shrunk and the whole world has specially recruited troops.

"Yes!" Aokiji's eyes lit up, and after rummaging through the drawer, he took out a reward order, "You go and kill him, and I'll apply for the rank for you."

Dylan took the reward order and took a look.

"Blood Hook" Rhodes, offering a bounty - 550 million Baileys.

Ok? Is there such a character?

"Where did this guy come from? Why haven't I heard of it before?"

"Yeah... ah, you're still young, it's normal that you haven't heard of it, he was just a small character in a terrible pirate group a long time ago."

Terrible pirate group? Small character? Dylan rubbed his chin and re-examined the photo on the bounty. No matter how he looks at it, the man in the poster is fifty or sixty years old. At such an old age...

"Couldn't it be the guy from the Rocks ship?"

Aokiji widened his eyes. "You know the Rocks pirates? How old are you?"

It really is!?

That being said, he is indeed a small character. Compared to the other guys like Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Kaido, or Charlotte Linlin, he has never heard of this name before. But speaking of the rock pirates, somehow, his mind suddenly recalled one big name that would create a lot of ruckuses in the future.

Golden Lion... This guy is still hiding in the sky to study monsters, should I kill him in advance?

Normally, those devil fruit users are locked up instead of killed, which can effectively limit Devil Fruit's ability. If you catch the capable person and kill it, it will be like mera-mera fruit in the future. The fruit will appear in a random place, and it would be hard to monitor it. If any new pirates got a hint of the whereabouts of a powerful fruit and got a hand on it before the marine first.....

This situation is obviously not what the Marines and the World government want to see, especially on a powerful fruit that Golden Lion possesses right now.

Dylan shook his head, snapping himself from his thought.

'Forget it, let's put it aside for now, and look for it when I have time, and it won't be too late to kill him then. After all, I am still a captain now.'

"Where is he?" Dylan pointed to the brutal-looking man on the reward list, which should have been captured recently. Then Marines should also know his whereabouts.

"The last tracking was in Alabasta. You can go and have a look. If there is any new news, the headquarters will use the Den Den Mushi to notify you."

Alabasta? Isn't that Crocodile's base camp there? The current Crocodile should have challenged Whitebeard and failed to start looking for "Pluton".

"I'm leaving."

Dylan rolled up the reward order, put it in his trouser pocket and left.

In the office, after the sound of Dylan's footsteps disappeared, Aokiji pulled down the blindfold, and couldn't help but mutter lowly.

"How did he know where the Devil Fruit is? And the Rocks? That information is not something that could be found easily. This guy is really troublesome, forget it!"

······

In the first half of the Grand Line.

"Daifuku-niisan, who is that guy called Rhodes, why haven't I heard of him before? Mama actually thinks so much about him? She also specially asked me to come to the 'paradise' to pick him up at Toto Island."

With two balloon-like things on her shoulders, Charlotte Daifuku glanced at his younger brother beside him.

"Well...it's normal if you don't know, that's an old guy, he used to be in the same pirate group as Mama."

"Really?! Why haven't I heard of it?"

"Not here..."

Daifuku looked at the "paradise" which was much calmer than the New World.

"It's a ship from a long time ago. In terms of strength alone... no one is stronger than them."

…

Alabasta.

Unlike other areas in Alabasta, the Rainbase, just like its name, is moist and refreshing.

In the "Rain Banquet" casino, the tall welcome girl's eyes lit up when she looked at the tall and handsome Dylan. In addition to being tall and handsome, this man's suit, sword, and demeanor are indication that the man is obviously rich.

Several welcoming girls desperately showed their figures to Dylan, hoping that the man in front of him would choose himself as a company. Feeling their thirsty eyes, Dylan paused slightly, then looked around.

"You." Dylan pointed at one of the blondes. The blonde was overjoyed, and when she came to her side, she clamped Dylan's arms between the two clumps on her chest.

"Guest, how can I help you?"

After speaking, she straightened her back, which made Dylan feel friction on his arm.

"Woohahahahaha!!"

There was a wild laugh from the distant hall, and Dylan frowned. Sure enough, they are here too. On the sea, the one known for their intelligence capabilities is, of course, the "Big Mom Pirates", followed by Morgans and the "CP" organization.

However, the Marine's intelligence is just as powerful and has a wider reach.

Not long after Dylan left Marineford, a piece of detailed information about "Blood Hook" Rhodes was sent to him through the image worm. It includes the guy's hobbies and behavioral characteristics.

Gambling is one of them.

In the Rocks back then, this guy even lost his right hand because of a gamble.

"I'm overwhelmed!!!"

Rhodes, who rarely won a big victory, laughed and threw chips on the table. Seeing this, the others followed suit.

"Want to play again?" An equally arrogant voice came from across the table.

Dylan held a cigarette in his mouth crookedly, threw out a handful of chips, and when he saw Rhodes looking at him, he breathed out a puff of smoke provocatively.

"Huh?? Hahahahaha, let's start quickly then."

Rhodes licked his lips, "I will let you know that Master Rhodes' luck is always undefeated!"

ten minutes later.

The people standing behind Rhodes had all disappeared, but the young man opposite him was full of people standing behind him, with a stack of chips standing tall in front of him.

"Hey, are you out of money? It's really boring. When did the Rain Banquet start entertaining these poor ghosts?"

Does Dylan gamble? Of course not. But it is easy to control the direction of the dice with a small electric current. Just as Rhodes stood up and was about to leave, there was a burst of cheers behind him.

The young man was throwing the chips in front of him all over the place. "Come here, come here, these are... all from the uncle who lost his hand."

After speaking, the young man laughed, "Don't you all thank Uncle Broken Hand?"

The people around were stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter, "Thank you, Uncle Broken Hand!!"

As soon as Rhode's body froze, the pitch-black armament color was ready to cover the hook.

"No...no way!"

Rhodes swallowed. He managed to avoid the pursuit of Marine, and he should never be found again in this kind of place. As one of the members of the Rock Pirates, he knows how strong the marine is. Maybe even a man like the captain was defeated by Garp back then.

Although Newgate, Kaido, or even Linlin look formidable now, Rhodes knew that once they were really targeted by the Marines or the World government, there would definitely be no good results. Dylan in the distance sprinkled chips into the air and put a few chips with the highest face value in the palm of the blonde girl.

"This is to reward you. I hope you won't be here the next time you come." Dylan stood up and stopped the blond from trying to follow.

"Guest?"

The blond girl looked at the white-haired young man who walked out of the "Rain Banquet" gate and was a little lost for a while.

What's the meaning? Generally speaking, if the customer is satisfied with the service of the escort, don't they hope that they can continue to serve her next time? When Dylan walked out of the gate, the blonde's body shook slightly, and she looked at the gate with a complicated expression.

"What a gentle guest."

After finishing speaking, the blond woman tightly held the chip in her palm, raised her hand and straightened her neckline.

…

Outside Rainland City, Dylan stopped in his tracks.

"Hey, that iron hook has followed all the way, don't you want to do it?"

Rhode came out from behind the hill with a gloomy face, "You bastard, why did you deliberately lure me out?"

"Oh?" Dylan looked at the vigilant Rhodes in the distance and smiled, "HO~? You're quite cautious. Now that you know I'm leading you out, you dare to follow me?"

"Woo ho ho ha ha!"

Rhodes licked his lips habitually, "If it's Sengoku or Garp... No, even if it's guys like Aokiji or Sakazuki here, I would run away immediately. But you... " The armament color instantly covered the iron hook on his right hand, "I've never heard of your name!"

"What a coincidence."

The black armament color instantly covered the Shura scabbard.

"I also haven't heard of you in the original plot..."

······

"Daifuku-niisan! Not good!!"

On the periphery of Alabasta, a thin young man ran up to Charlotte Daifuku holding a small card with his fingertips.

"That guy's vivre card is burning! He's dying!"