Inside the shipyard.
Sephilos crouched down and casually opened two wooden crates, taking a peek inside.
He found that one crate was filled with berries bills, about twenty million or so, and the other was filled with gold coins and jewelry. It was hard to estimate their value.
To make it easier to carry, he emptied a large hemp sack from the pirates' luggage and dumped all the bills and treasures into it.
After doing all this, he turned around and walked towards the black cloth bag, starting to rummage through the pile of fruits.
Suddenly!
Amid the rummaging, his hand touched a devil fruit with a gray skin covered in spiral patterns... Zoan-type: Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Wolf!
Sephilos glanced into the black cloth bag and found out what kind of fruit had transformed into this Devil Fruit.
It was actually a red apple...?
He had prepared a series of common fruits like bananas, red apples, green apples, oranges, tangerines... in the black cloth bag, but the fruit that finally turned into the devil fruit was the red apple...
To be honest, Sephilos initially just had the idea of giving it a try. Among the many pirates he had monitored using bats, he selected this pirate with a Zoan-type ability to conduct an experiment on the rebirth of the devil fruit.
In the world of Pirate King, once a devil fruit user dies, the devil fruit will randomly be reborn on a ripe fruit, and the reborn devil fruit, whether in appearance or ability, will be exactly the same as the original one, without the slightest difference!
Sephilos thought that the rebirth of the devil fruit should be controllable...
Whether it was the two devil fruits, The Jackal Fruit and the Falcon Fruit, passed down in the Alabasta Kingdom for 3000 years, or the fact that Caesar killed the gas slime that had eaten the Salamander Devil Fruit on Punk Hazard Island and the fruit was reborn on a nearby red apple.
These things all indicated that the rebirth of the devil fruit was controllable.
The prerequisite was to find the right kind of fruit needed for the devil fruit to be reborn...
Of course, Sephilos had only conducted one experiment, and it couldn't prove that the truth was indeed so.
The rebirth of this Zoan-type wolf - form devil fruit might just be his good luck, like a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse.
The brown - haired shipwright, seeing Sephilos using ropes to tie up the bodies of three wanted pirates, kindly asked:
"Um... Sir reward hunter, do you need us to give you a bubble cart?"
Hearing this, Sephilos was stunned for a moment, then he nodded and said:
"Thank you! I just need one."
After thinking about it, he took out one hundred thousand berries and gave them to the brown - haired shipwright, but the latter quickly refused, saying that it was all to thank him for saving their lives.
However, Sephilos forced the money into his hands, saying that it was the money for the bubble cart and the labor fee for helping him dispose of the pirates' bodies.
Seeing that they couldn't decline, the shipbuilders had to accept the money. Sephiroth then loaded the bodies onto the bubble cart, covered them with a white cloth, and left the shipyard with the Devil Fruit and treasures.
After walking a long distance, Sephiroth found a secluded grassy area and parked the bubble cart inside.
He split a black bat from his body and left it on the bubble cart as a guard.
Then, he transformed into a vampire, spread his wings, and soared into the sky with the Devil Fruit and treasures, flying towards the hotel where he was staying on Island 71.
After quickly hiding these valuables in his room, he returned to Island 52. Then he pushed the bubble cart and headed towards the Navy base on Island 60.
The Navy stationed here was not set up as an independent G - branch because it was relatively close to Marineford. It was still under the unified command of the Navy Headquarters...
As soon as Sephiroth arrived at the entrance of the Navy base, two sentry soldiers immediately raised their spears and aimed at him. As long as he made the slightest move, they would pull the trigger and shoot.
One of the naval soldiers took the lead in warning him:
"Stop! What do you want to do at the Navy base?"
At this time, Sephiroth was still wearing a black hooded cloak and a smirking mask, hiding his identity. He looked very suspicious.
"Guys in the Navy, don't be so excited! I'm just here to claim the bounty..."
As he spoke, Sephiroth gently pulled off the white cloth covering the cart, revealing the bodies of three bounty criminals.
Seeing this scene, the two naval soldiers relaxed a little, but that soldier still said warily:
"Sir, please take off your mask. We need to make sure you're not a bounty criminal before we can let you into the Navy base."
Hearing this, Sephiroth didn't say much. Instead, he gently removed the mask covering his face, revealing a handsome but somewhat pale and gloomy face. He also lifted the hood on his head, showing his short green hair.
In order not to be recognized when going to the Navy base to claim the bounty, Sephiroth had to ask Stella to help him with makeup and disguise, and even dye his hair green.
To make a living, sometimes you have to go with the flow (even dye your hair green).
It's all about making money! There's nothing shameful about it!
The two naval soldiers sized Sephiroth up and down. After confirming that he was not a bounty criminal, they opened the tightly - shut gate of the base and let him in with the cart.
"The place to confirm the identities of bounty criminals is in the room on the far right on the first floor of the office building."
"Okay, thanks for the reminder!"
Sephiroth nodded. To avoid causing more trouble, he didn't put the smirking mask back on. He just pushed the bubble cart, walked across the spacious playground, and passed by a group of naval soldiers who were training.
The ground of the naval base is different from that of other parts of the Sabaody Archipelago. There are signs of land reclamation, creating an entire piece of land. Obviously, the navy did this deliberately to reinforce the foundation, making it seem a bit out of place with the other islands of Sabaody.
Soon, he walked into the cold morgue and saw a fat captain wearing a white justice cape and black-framed glasses on his face.
Saphilos greeted the captain in front of him with a hoarse voice.
"Hello, I'm here to claim the bounty..."
"What's your name, kid?"
"Uh!?... Roronoa Zoro!"
"Okay, wait a moment while I verify the identities of the wanted criminals..."
Captain Luthiv, the fat guy, first pushed the glasses on his face and then picked up a thick stack of wanted posters on the office desk and started flipping through them against the three corpses.
"Bellou the Gray Wolf, 76 million berries... Post the Double - Gunner, 23 million berries... Harka the Iron Claw, 26 million berries... The total is 125 million berries.
Huh!? The total bounty amount exceeds 100 million berries. You need to get the signature of Vice - Admiral Kizaru..."
As he spoke, Luthiv picked up the Polaroid camera on the desktop, took three photos, quickly wrote a formal document, signed his name, stamped it, and attached three wanted posters.
"Sign your name here on the document, then go to the fifth floor, the second office on the left, and get Vice - Admiral Kizaru's signature.
With his signature, you can go directly to the first room on the left on the third floor, the finance department, to claim the bounty."
Saphilos casually wrote "Roronoa Zoro" on the document and subconsciously murmured:
"Ah! So troublesome..."
In his heart, he actually didn't really want to see Kizaru.
What would Kizaru think if he found out that a cadet from the military academy was out here making extra money during the holidays? Would he go and tell old man Zefa?
"No way around it. For bounties over 100 million berries, we need Vice - Admiral Kizaru's signature before the finance department can pay up..."
Luthiv first explained with a smile, then he picked up the three corpses one by one and put them into the special freezer for storing bodies.
At regular intervals, the Navy Headquarters conducts a unified inventory and collection of all the wanted criminals' corpses in the base. Then they transport these corpses back to their places of birth for public exposure to warn those planning to become pirates.
Saphilos took the three photos and the document and climbed to the fifth floor. He stood in front of the second room and gently knocked on the closed door.
"Ha~! Come in!"
A slightly lazy, yawning voice came from inside the room.
As soon as Saphilos pushed the door open, he saw a tall man wearing a white justice cape and a yellow suit. His face had a somewhat lecherous look, with a sleepy expression.
He leaned back on the office chair, with his feet propped up on the office desk.
This man is the supreme commander of the Navy base on Sabaody Archipelago, Vice Admiral Kizaru, one of the future Navy Admirals!
On the wall behind Kizaru in the room, there hangs a plaque that reads [Ambiguous Justice].
"Hello! Vice Admiral Kizaru, I'm here to claim the bounty..."
Sephiroth walked up to the desk with a calm and composed expression and handed over the documents for Kizaru to examine.
"Ha~! One hundred and twenty - five million berries in total, and there's even a pirate with a bounty of seventy - six million berries. That's so scary!"
Kizaru picked at his ear with his left hand while picking up the signature pen on the desk with his right, scribbling his signature and stamping the seal in two swift strokes.
"Alright, take the documents and go to the finance department to claim the bounty!"
As he said that, Kizaru let out a sleepy yawn and started dozing off in his office chair.
"..."
As expected of you, the King of Slacking off in the Navy... Sephiroth grumbled silently to himself, then turned around, closed the office door behind him, and headed to the finance department to claim the bounty.