Chapter 143: Back on the Wanted List (Seeking Recommendations, Monthly Votes, and Subscriptions)

Faced with the infinitely wealthy Princess Reiju, Buffon truly had no other options left. He could only change the subject and said, "Call Hogback over; I have a life-saving item to hand over to both of you."

After Reiju summoned Hogback, Buffon led the two of them into the small walk-in freezer within his laboratory.

Hogback knew that everything stored inside consisted of special zombies personally crafted by Buffon. Previously, the shadowless body of Tyrant had also been placed there by Buffon to facilitate his "research."

However, what Buffon wanted to show the two today was not Tyrant, but the corpse of the World Noble, Saint Kamael.

Reiju did not find this surprising at all, whereas Hogback immediately grew intrigued.

"Fufus! Fufus! Fufus! Buffon, what's the point of keeping this corpse? You mentioned using this corpse to save our lives—don't tell me you expect the World Government to actually raid us, and we'll trade this corpse with the Celestial Dragons?"

Without answering directly, Buffon looked at Reiju, sensing that she could probably guess a thing or two.

Sure enough, before Buffon could even open his mouth, Reiju spoke up, "Captain Buffon, are you planning to completely turn this Celestial Dragon into a genuine zombie?"

Buffon nodded and replied, "Exactly. Once this fellow is turned into a zombie, if he were to somehow appear elsewhere on the seas and spread various rumors, I believe the World Government would find it quite a headache."

Hearing this, Hogback stared blankly at Buffon, completely failing to anticipate that Buffon could come up with such a scheme.

To begin with, the vast majority of pirates and commoners in this world undoubtedly despised the existence of the Celestial Dragons.

With Buffon's current surgical stitching craftsmanship, combined with a few minor supplementary methods, ordinary people would find it exceedingly difficult to tell that this was a zombie.

If they could indeed find someone to carry this zombie around the world to spread rumors, it would certainly scatter a significant portion of the World Government's attention.

"Captain Buffon, are you implying that if the World Government comes to suppress us, we can send this zombie directly to Marine Headquarters..."

Before he could finish, Reiju excitedly interrupted, "Straight to Marineford! I believe the other Celestial Dragons and this fellow's family would undoubtedly be willing to trade using certain conditions."

Buffon nodded and continued, "However, the shadow for this fellow must be chosen with utmost care; a single careless mistake could easily backfire."

Hearing this, Hogback said with a solemn expression, "Furthermore, this person's original body must remain under our control. Otherwise, if the Marines discover the truth, I believe the World Government is capable of doing anything to erase the existence of this zombie."

Listening to Hogback's words, Buffon fell into deep contemplation. This issue indeed required serious consideration.

Otherwise, just as Hogback had said, the World Government might stop at nothing to eliminate the zombie.

Filtering through candidates according to this logic, the most suitable options were naturally their own trusted people.

However, right now, the number of individuals on the Juventus whom Buffon could completely trust could be counted on one hand, and none of them seemed quite right for the role.

Moreover, Buffon's Shadow-Shadow Fruit abilities were truly not meant to be known by too many people.

"Discuss it between yourselves and let me know when you reach a conclusion." With that, Buffon handed a shadow box directly to Hogback.

This was what Gecko Moria had Perona leave behind for him. Inside, alongside Bellamy's shadow, were a few other miscellaneous shadows.

Though Buffon wasn't particularly fond of them, having something was better than having nothing, and Buffon trusted that Hogback would be able to make a selection among them.

After arranging the tasks on the island, Buffon called upon the two of them, preparing to have Laboon transport them to Marine G-2 Branch.

Just as Buffon and the two were about to enter Laboon's interior, Baggio rushed after them and said to Buffon, "I'm going with you. I know Impel Down better than you do."

"But Bon Clay can only disguise two people!" Buffon actually had wanted to bring Baggio along initially; Bon Clay's disguise limit was currently just two people other than himself.

"Can't Absalom make people invisible? Once we cross the gates of Impel Down, I won't need any disguise, and neither any person nor Den Den Mushi monitor will be able to detect me."

Hearing this, Buffon was left speechless!

In fact, he himself could use the Door-Door Fruit to enter directly, but these abilities could not be exposed just yet.

"Why do you want to follow along?" Zombies generally obeyed their masters' every command without question, but Baggio was clearly an exception. Yet, while he marched to the beat of his own drum, he never caused any unnecessary trouble for Buffon either!

"To fight Magellan!" Baggio threw out yet another reason that left Buffon utterly speechless!

Buffon nodded. "Fine, then let's go! But don't you go causing chaos once we get inside Impel Down!"

Whether Baggio had taken the words to heart or not, he walked straight into Laboon's interior without looking back.

...

Meanwhile, on an unnamed island near Water 7, the seven members of CP9 were roasting wild beasts they had hunted outside during the night inside a cave on the island.

Living a nocturnal existence where they could only hide by day and live in darkness made the group feel utterly aggrieved and humiliated.

"Lucci, do you think Buffon possesses the ability to acquire Devil Fruit powers at will?" Kalifa had been reviewing the failure at Enies Lobby over the past few days.

They had previously anticipated countless possibilities, yet they simply had never factored Buffon into their calculations.

And it was precisely this oversight that cost them the entire game. This taste of defeat was far more painful than becoming prisoners.

Lucci chewed a mouthful of roasted meat and said coldly, "Hard to say. Perhaps Moria's ability allows him to manufacture some special tools."

The reason Lucci arrived at this judgment was entirely because previous reports concerning Buffon repeatedly mentioned that his combat prowess in the water rivaled that of the Fish-Men.

Moreover, this information had been personally confirmed by the Admirals Kizaru and Aokiji, meaning it was absolutely infallible.

Kalifa reluctantly accepted this explanation, then continued, "What are our next steps?"

Suffering a total defeat at the hands of Buffon alone had temporarily drained the former arrogance of these CP9 members. Only Lucci and Kalifa maintained their original mindset, while the others lived entirely like walking corpses.

"Let's wait until Hatori returns before deciding. Spandamm that piece of trash bears undeniable blame for this failure, and the World Government should make some adjustments. CP9 cannot be disbanded, especially at a special moment like this. It's just inconvenient for us to operate during the daytime; we haven't completely lost our combat capability!"

Hearing Lucci's words, Kalifa nodded, taking it as agreement with his assessment.

Half a day later, the pigeon Hatori finally returned carrying a slip of paper. Lucci inspected the contents before throwing it directly into the campfire to burn.

He stood up and said to the five listless individuals, "If you still want to keep living, snap out of it and find a way to hijack a ship and get out to sea. The orders from above have arrived!"

...

Two days later, Laboon transported the group near the G-2 Branch.

According to Absalom's Vivre Card, he had clearly already infiltrated the base.

Sneaking aboard a supply ship, the group managed to smuggle themselves inside as well.

Bon Clay casually knocked out a Marine, disguised himself as the soldier, and started searching for Absalom within the base using the Vivre Card.

Eventually, the direction of the Vivre Card pointed toward the room of a female Marine officer.

Faced with this somewhat unexpected development, Bon Clay hatched a plan.

She knocked on the door, and after confirming there was "no one" inside, she transformed directly into Perona and pushed the door open.

Sure enough, the moment she stepped inside, Absalom's voice came from the empty air: "Perona? No, you're Bon Clay!"

Only then did Bon Clay say with slight annoyance, "Absalom-boy, when are you going to break this habit of yours? If you get caught here, how do you expect us to rescue you?"

Faced with Bon Clay's reprimand, Absalom retorted directly, "Get out quickly! If *you* get caught, that's what will blow our cover instantly!"

With that, he materialized his form, pointed at the documents on the table inside, and said, "I came here to gather intelligence!"

Hearing this explanation, Bon Clay realized she had wronged Absalom.

After apologizing, she informed Absalom of where the rest of the group was hiding, then transformed once more and sneaked out of the room.

Half an hour later, Absalom emerged, bringing along a list.

This list contained the names of the pirates scheduled to be transported to Impel Down this time around.

Buffon looked it over; he hadn't heard of a single name on the list, but Absalom knew them.

After Absalom provided a detailed introduction to each of them, Buffon decided it would be safest to disguise themselves as Marines.

Sticking to the previous plan, Bon Clay, Betty, and Buffon disguised themselves directly as Marines, while Baggio followed Absalom, turning invisible to stay hidden.

After waiting for two days, the five of them boarded the approaching warship alongside the escorting Marines.

The moment Buffon caught sight of the officer in command of the warship, a subtle, unnoticeable smile curved the corner of his lips.

"Ran into an old acquaintance again!"

If the plot held true, there were bound to be familiar faces among the prisoners escorted on this ship as well.

Sneaking into the brig in the hold, the group looked inside. As expected, Crocodile, Mr. 1, and Mr. 3 were locked inside the prison cells wearing Seastone handcuffs and prisoner uniforms.

Seeing this, Bon Clay almost couldn't restrain herself from going up to greet them, but Buffon pulled her back quietly.

Meanwhile, Absalom went around the ship gathering information.

He didn't find out much about Impel Down, but he did manage to sneak back the latest issue of the newspaper.

Buffon opened it, and the front page splashed the details of the Enies Lobby incident.

The Juventus Pirates took full responsibility for the entire Enies Lobby incident, with the stated motive being the rescue of the Devil's Child, Dark Robin.

The reasons for triggering the Buster Call were likewise entirely attributed to the Juventus crew.

Furthermore, the report provided a vivid account of Jaguar D. Saul's defection and escape from the Marines years ago.

Consequently, the main figures who had shown their faces during the day's battle were all slapped with bounties!

Nico Robin: 198,000,000 Berries.

Jaguar D. Saul: 120,000,000 Berries.

Perona: 99,000,000 Berries.

Bon Clay: 111,000,000 Berries.

Finally came Buffon, whose photograph showed him fighting in mid-air wearing a Germa 66 combat suit.

"Castle" Buffon: 567,000,000 Berries.

Buffon had expected to see some news regarding Gecko Moria, but the paper didn't mention a single word about him.

After reading it, Buffon let out a cold laugh and remarked, "Looks like Saint Kamael's life wasn't worth all that much after all."

With that, Buffon stood up and set the paper ablaze with a flick of his finger, burning it entirely to ashes.

He pulled the brim of his Marine cap lower over his forehead, turned around, and left the group.

Since the commander of this ship was an "old acquaintance," it might be worth paying a visit; perhaps he could harvest some useful intel.

After all, Buffon wasn't clear on the current Marine deployments, and gaining prior knowledge would allow him to prepare more thoroughly.

He had previously arranged for Absalom to go, but that coward clearly harbored deep trauma regarding Hina and refused to get anywhere near her, leaving Buffon to handle it himself.

Buffon found a random excuse to enter Hina's office. Seeing her smoking a cigarette while reading the newspaper, Buffon reported, "Commander Hina, I believe Mr. 3's security clearance level should be increased. Once his ability breaks him free from the Seastone handcuffs..."

Before Buffon could finish, Hina interrupted directly, "What is your name?"

"Commander, my name is Neuer."

Hearing this unfamiliar name, Hina continued, "You're from the G-2 Branch?"

Buffon nodded. "Yes!"

"It seems you've studied Crocodile's crew to some extent. Thank you for your suggestion. However, you don't need to worry about this; arrangements will be made once we reach Impel Down."

Seeing that this person still hadn't left after she finished speaking, Hina lowered her sunglasses slightly and asked with mild curiosity, "Is there anything else?"

In a flash, Buffon moved behind Hina, gently tapped her shoulder with his right hand, and she immediately drifted into a deep sleep.

"Looks like the Dream-Dream Fruit's effect is truly quite impressive."

After knocking Hina out, Buffon set to work flipping through the documents on her desk.

The first few files were normal military reports concerning other pirates, which Buffon didn't care about.

However, the content of the final military report caught Buffon's attention.

It recorded recent traffic regarding transport ships entering and leaving Impel Down.

Ever since Strawberry's warship departed, the Marines had successively dispatched no fewer than five warships in that direction.

This frequency clearly contradicted the usual pattern of a transport ship being sent to Impel Down once every month or two.

This could only mean the Marines had other arrangements and deployments in place.

Moreover, the strangest detail was that the leader of one of those warships was actually Pacifista commander Sentomaru.

This indicated that the World Government had mobilized virtually every force at its disposal.

Sentomaru's Science Unit was exclusively responsible for the safety of Dr. Vegapunk.

Since he had been transferred here, the Pacifistas had likely arrived as well.

Buffon couldn't be certain of the current combat strength of the Pacifistas, but these emotionless engines of war would definitely be much harder to deal with than ordinary prison guards.

Furthermore, this move revealed, to varying degrees, the World Government's attitude toward Buffon.

There was a high probability that after capturing Buffon, they intended to have Sentomaru escort him back directly.

"It seems they eventually figured out the uniqueness in me after all," Buffon muttered to himself.

Such an arrangement indeed aligned better with the World Government's interests than simply killing Buffon outright.

Saint Kamael's death was already an established fact, so killing Buffon would amount to nothing more than venting anger and seeking revenge.

That didn't serve the interests of the surviving Celestial Dragons.

Extracting the secrets hidden within Buffon that they didn't yet understand—that was the course of action that maximized their profits.

With this thought, Buffon put down the documents and quietly slipped out of Hina's office.

He instinctively felt that given Hina's current rank, acquiring these military reports was about her limit; anything deeper was simply beyond what her clearance allowed her to know.