The next day, the Goa Kingdom's royal family had already prepared the Heavenly Tribute payment.
Crate after crate of jewels and Beli were inspected before being loaded onto the transport ships. The sheer quantity involved, combined with the workload of collecting tribute from the entire East Blue, meant nobody had the time to examine every chest in detail.
The inspectors mainly focused on whether the valuables were genuine and whether the amount of Beli was correct.
For so many years, no one on the seas had ever dared set their sights on the Heavenly Tribute.
Although Navalta had analyzed Rowan's abilities before, everyone knew that the cloaked man had only acted three times, all of them at Sabaody Archipelago and all of them targeting Celestial Dragons.
That had become an ingrained assumption.
Soon, the CP agents completed their inspection.
The five escort ships departed from the harbor of the Goa Kingdom and headed toward the next collection point.
Five days later, the convoy began its journey toward the Red Line.
According to Chameleon's information, once they reached the special passage at the Red Line, World Government Army forces stationed above would take over the escort mission.
At this moment, Chameleon was somewhat nervous.
After all, the great man who controlled his soul could completely pinpoint the location of the tribute convoy through a single spatial marker.
That inevitably reduced Chameleon's value.
Because of that, he had become increasingly eager to prove his usefulness.
"Relax."
Rowan patted Chameleon on the shoulder.
"The timing and the standard route map are extremely important. After all, I had no idea when Goa Kingdom would actually submit its Heavenly Tribute."
Chameleon finally relaxed and bowed slightly.
"When should we make our move, sir? We're already very far from Foosha Village. Even if Garp wanted to get here as quickly as possible, it would still take him three or four days."
Roger, standing nearby, also spoke.
"That old bastard doesn't like the Celestial Dragons either. Since he's not an Admiral, he can choose to ignore things."
"And with three or four days of travel between us, that old man can't fly."
Ginny seemed unable to hide her excitement.
"The children back home are all waiting to be fed. These fat sheep are just waiting to be thrown into the pot."
Kuma smiled as well.
"Taking from the people and using it for the people. That's the best outcome."
Hearing that, Rowan stood up and placed a hand on Ginny's shoulder and another on Kuma's.
The five of them formed a single group.
The next moment, they vanished from the small boat.
"How much longer until we reach the special passage?"
Aboard the escort warship, Navalta held a telescope and scanned the surrounding sea.
He had been doing this constantly over the past few days.
Although no enemies had appeared, he had felt increasingly uneasy.
Ever since he had advanced his Observation Haki to the level of Future Sight, this sensation had appeared several times before.
And every single time, it had involved a threat to his life.
Had someone actually set their sights on the Heavenly Tribute?
How could that be?
Even the most vicious pirates of the New World should understand how dangerous this treasure was.
To Mariejois, the pirates scattered across the seas were nothing more than insignificant pests.
Their continued existence only had value because they were allowed to exist.
"Sir, one more day until arrival."
Navalta remained silent for a moment before giving an order.
"Have everyone increase their vigilance."
"Understood."
The officer left to relay the command.
When he returned, however, he still looked puzzled.
"Surely no idiot would actually try to rob the Heavenly Tribute after all these years..."
Before he could finish speaking, Navalta's pupils suddenly contracted.
In the next instant, he drew his sword.
The blade had already become a permanent Black Blade through years of Armament Haki refinement.
"Ha!"
A flash of cold light descended.
Bang!
A sword sheath appeared out of nowhere.
Bringing four people with him, Rowan suddenly materialized and said in a deep voice,
"Move."
Kuma swung his hand backward.
With a single push, Roger, Chameleon, and Ginny were sent flying toward the surrounding transport ships.
The appearance of the paw-shaped air bubbles immediately alarmed Navalta.
"The Revolutionary Army! The Cloaked Man!"
Rowan slowly raised his head.
Behind the mask, his gaze met Navalta's.
"Congratulations."
"You got it right."
"All the sins of this world shall be reduced to ashes."
"Ryūjin Jakka."
After speaking the release command, Rowan drew the Asauchi from its sheath.
Scorching flames erupted from the blade, causing the surrounding temperature to rise drastically.
Even the wooden deck of the ship began to spark, on the verge of igniting at any moment.
"Bastard!"
Navalta's black blade came crashing down.
The tremendous force split apart the flames as it collided head-on with Rowan's fiery sword.
Boom!
At a core temperature of six thousand degrees, the point where the two weapons met began to show signs of melting.
Armament Haki's defensive power was not invincible.
Even "top-tier" mastery of both Haki types was only relative.
In Rowan's memories, even Vergo's full-body Armament Haki had been effortlessly sliced apart by Law.
Bang!
The overwhelming force sent Rowan flying backward.
Just like during his battle with Kaido, his weakness was obvious.
A spatial marker slithered across the deck.
However, just as it was about to climb onto Navalta's body, the CP0 agent abruptly retreated and avoided it.
"Spatial markers?"
"What a pity, Cloaked Man."
"Under my Observation Haki, your teleportation ability is completely useless."
Rowan frowned and flicked his wrist.
Six kunai shot through the air.
Ha!
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Navalta's black blade flashed repeatedly, knocking every single kunai into the sea.
His eyes never left Rowan.
"Your abilities have already been analyzed countless times by CP and the Marines."
"Did you really think I'd allow your markers to land on me?"
So they had been specifically preparing for him.
Rowan had expected as much.
But this meant that in future battles against the Marines and the World Government, it would become far more difficult to force opponents into situations where they had no choice but to endure Ryūjin Jakka's blazing attacks.
The thought flashed through his mind in an instant.
Then Rowan charged forward.
His blade swept out, and flames engulfed several nearby CP agents.
Whoosh!
There was no suspense whatsoever.
The agents lacked the Observation Haki necessary to evade him.
Their internal organs were severed and incinerated almost instantly.
"Spread out!"
Navalta roared as he retreated.
The bow of the ship had already caught fire, turning into a sea of flames.
Beneath his mask, Rowan frowned.
This was the problem with plans.
You could calculate nearly everything, only to overlook something obvious.
In this case, it was Ryūjin Jakka's terrifying temperature.
If this dragged on much longer, the ship itself would burn to ashes and sink into the sea.
And if the Beli turned into charcoal, it wouldn't be worth anything.
"You're good at dodging."
Rowan looked directly at Navalta.
"But do you think everyone else can dodge as well as you?"
The moment he finished speaking, Rowan charged toward the surrounding CP agents.
"Scatter!"
"Fight him!"
"Kill him!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets rained toward him.
But wherever the flames passed, no one could withstand Rowan's attacks.
Compared to Navalta's top-tier dual Haki mastery, the CP agents escorting the tribute were only around the level of fighters from the first half of the Grand Line.
The blazing sword swept through them.
Even when they attempted to block with their own blades, weapons that had not become Black Blades quickly began to melt under the relentless heat.
The moment Ryūjin Jakka's slash approached, the surging flames followed immediately behind.
Under such circumstances, the victim's internal organs would be reduced to charcoal instantly.
There were no exceptions.
"AAAAAHHHH!!!"
Amid a furious scream, one of the agents collapsed after his entire body ignited.
The destruction inside his body was so complete that he never even felt the pain of burning.
Of course, once his soul was dragged into the prison, he would experience a far more extreme kind of suffering.
"Bastard!"
As one subordinate after another was cut down, Navalta still refused to directly engage Rowan head-on.
During the battle at Sabaody Archipelago, one of CP0's hidden assassination specialists had been slain.
Even Marine Headquarters' candidate Admiral, Borsalino, had not dared set foot on the battlefield.
It was obvious that the flames coating that blade had already reached a level his current Armament Haki could not withstand.
At this moment, Navalta was extremely irritated.
Word from above had already reported that a breakthrough had been achieved a month ago in the development of a new heat-resistant material.
Unfortunately, practical equipment based on that technology had not yet been completed.
If he possessed gear capable of resisting those flames, then Rowan's physical strength and Haki were clearly inferior to his own.
Both their earlier clash and the World Government's analysis of the Cloaked Man confirmed this.
Soon, every CP agent aboard the ship had been wiped out.
Ryūjin Jakka's Shikai was released.
The blazing inferno consuming the vessel was reabsorbed into the Zanpakutō.
Holding the sealed Asauchi once more, Rowan coated the blade with Armament Haki while his Observation Haki remained firmly locked onto Navalta.
"Growth through battle."
That was what Rowan had once told Smoker and Tashigi at G-5.
For himself, however, things were different.
His spirit and physical attributes could be enhanced directly through attribute cards, so he had never truly relied on fighting to grow stronger.
But now...
Perhaps it was worth trying.
Seeing the flames withdrawn, Navalta's tense expression relaxed slightly.
"Without the flames from that sword, you're no match for me."
"And that fiery state requires you to recite that phrase first, doesn't it?"
He cautiously stepped forward.
"Changing appearances. Teleportation. Flames. Even ice."
"Every one of your abilities has been analyzed and discussed countless times by both CP and the Marines."
"As for your teleportation, it requires coordinates."
"Those coordinates can be attached to weapons similar to darts, or directly marked onto an opponent during combat."
"With limitations like that, your ability is troublesome, but not difficult to counter."
"At the very least, my Observation Haki is the perfect counter."
The instant he finished speaking, Navalta accelerated.
Bang!
Their blades collided.
Even though Rowan had been prepared, the tremendous force still shook him.
At the same time, Navalta withdrew his blade and slashed horizontally.
Yet before the strike could land, he suddenly retreated.
A coordinate marker flashed briefly across the deck.
"Fast reaction."
Rowan slightly raised his head and returned the Asauchi to its sheath.
Seeing this, Navalta did not believe Rowan intended to stop fighting.
His eyes remained filled with vigilance.
"Fighting someone like you means never relaxing for even a moment."
"If I hadn't seen the image of you disappearing one second into the future, I might not have avoided that."
After speaking, Navalta continued probing.
"Although Seastone doesn't seem effective against you..."
"Your teleportation markers can still be erased by sufficiently powerful Armament Haki, can't they?"
Rowan tightened his grip on the sword hilt.
"You can guess."
The moment the words left his mouth a burst of Conqueror's Haki exploded outward and converged onto the Asauchi.
This was a technique that required no Shikai.
A strike focused entirely on achieving unmatched instantaneous speed.
Drawing Slash.
Clang!
The gleam of the blade flashed by.
In an instant, Rowan appeared directly in front of Navalta.
Boom!
A section of the deck and part of the stern were sliced clean off.
The slash continued onward, carving through the sea itself, raising a wall of water before it crashed back down into the ocean.
Splash!
Seawater surged upward and rained across the deck.
Having already seen the attack through Future Sight and dodged in advance, Navalta's heart pounded violently.
If he had failed to evade that strike, he would not have been able to block it.
True, his Armament Haki was superior.
But extreme speed produced extreme power.
The explosive force behind that attack had already exceeded the critical threshold.
"You really are good at dodging."
"No..."
Rowan corrected himself as he returned the Asauchi to its sheath.
"You saw the image of yourself being cut in half beforehand. That's why you managed to avoid it."
Drawing Slash was also one of Ryūjin Jakka's techniques.
At his current level of swordsmanship, however, Rowan could only perform it from the draw.
He could not yet use it freely after the blade had already been unsheathed.
For now, he was merely copying the technique's form.
Navalta continued maintaining his Observation Haki.
But after witnessing Rowan's methods, he no longer dared to launch a reckless assault.
The Cloaked Man had already revealed more than ten different abilities.
Who knew how many more remained hidden?
"You understand what you're doing, don't you, Cloaked Man?!"
Navalta shouted.
"The Heavenly Tribute belongs to the World Nobles!"
"Do you really want the World Government to hunt you down until your death?!"
"Heh."
A quiet laugh escaped Rowan.
"How stupid do you have to be to say something like that?"
"I've already got three of those pieces of trash on my kill count."
"You think the garbage in Mariejois would've left me alive until now if they were actually capable of dealing with me?"
The deck exploded beneath his feet.
Conqueror's Haki surged into the blade once more.
Drawing Slash!
Clang!
The slash swept forward.
One of the ship's masts was severed cleanly.
Yet the attack was avoided again.
Rowan let out a sigh.
This was why certain abilities weren't necessarily useful for winning battles.
But when it came to staying alive, they were first-rate.
Just like the Flying Thunder God technique after being specifically countered.
Even if he couldn't place a marker on his opponent, he could still dodge attacks or escape whenever necessary.
The current battle was far from what Rowan wanted.
This wasn't a contest of strength.
It was a contest of patience.
Abandoning the draw stance, Rowan wrapped Conqueror's Haki around his blade and charged forward.
Bang!
Their weapons collided.
The deck shattered beneath them.
Thanks to Future Sight, Navalta repeatedly exploited openings in Rowan's attacks.
Yet each time he attempted to capitalize, Rowan used the markers hidden inside the treasure chests beneath the deck to teleport away.
Then he would leap back out through the collapsing floorboards and launch another assault.
"Out of tricks, Cloaked Man?"
"Shut up, idiot!"
Flashes of steel streaked across the deck.
For the moment, neither side possessed a decisive finishing move.
Meanwhile, aboard the other four transport ships, Kuma and the others immediately targeted the communication equipment the moment they boarded.
Every Den Den Mushi became their first objective.
Only after that did they begin dealing with the CP agents guarding the vessels.
Just as Chameleon had predicted, transport ships in East Blue rarely carried two top-tier fighters.
Sometimes they didn't even have one.
After all, for countless years, those who wanted to rob the Heavenly Tribute lacked the strength.
And those with the strength weren't foolish enough to try.
The cleanup proceeded smoothly.
Compared to the destruction Rowan was causing, their operations were practically surgical.
The ship Rowan was fighting on, however, was already close to sinking.
And this was only Ryūjin Jakka's Shikai state.
If he unleashed Bankai instead...
The temperature would be so terrifying that this entire stretch of ocean could be boiled dry after enough time.
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