Arceus's Pirate Journey

At this time on the Grand Tesoro, Knight appeared just like an ordinary tourist, touring the Grand Tesoro, occasionally tapping on the walls with his fingers. Unlike those ordinary tourists, he knew the true nature of this place.

The current Grand Tesoro was completely different from the one on the original timeline, as Tesoro had not used the ability of the Gol-Gol Fruit and gambles to enslave others.

The core employees on the ship were from the Hundred Beasts Pirates. The remaining ordinary employees were recruited from all over the world, but positions like foremen were also retired personnel of the Hundred Beasts. Besides that, many shops on board were franchises.

If you want to open a store here, you must pay a hefty franchise fee and rent, and even a percentage of the revenue will be taken by Tesoro, not to mention taxes, which is a considerably large expenditure.

Even so, if you want to open a store on the Grand Tesoro, you even have to pull some strings and get a nod from officials of the World Government.

As a special grey economic center, the revenue generated here is enormous. Even if Tesoro takes the lion’s share, they can still earn a considerable amount of money from tourists from all over the world.

Those who can afford to travel here aren’t ordinary working-class individuals but mostly people who have already achieved financial freedom or at least are well-prepared to spend a lot of Belly.

In the crowd, Knight appeared very ordinary, looking like a regular tourist.

The previous action against Queen led to his team’s annihilation. Although he managed to fake his death and escape using his Fruit Ability, bringing back some fragments of Arceus Steel, 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

it wasn’t enough to offset the punishment for his mission failure, something CP Agents were already accustomed to. No matter how great their previous achievements, if the government’s interests suffer any loss, punishment is unavoidable.

Sometimes, those punished couldn’t even figure out why they were being penalized, with Who’s-Who being an example. He could never understand why an ordinary Devil Fruit could anger those above so much.

The cost of training a CP0 is substantial. With the annihilation of his team, Knight, as the captain, undoubtedly bore some responsibility. The intelligence matters concerning the Grand Tesoro were thus handed to him.

It seemed like a laid-back job but actually involved considerable risks, tangled with the infighting among the Heavenly Celestial Dragon families, facing the risks from the Hundred Beasts, and being very time-consuming.

The Grand Tesoro is called a ship, but it’s essentially a sea-borne city. Knight didn’t believe such a huge ship’s hull was hollow; there must be things hidden inside; he just hadn’t found the entrance.

At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary tourist city, but the ten-kilometer deck up and down was built like a maze, and he had seen the buildings on Grand Tesoro transform multiple times to facilitate various special activities.

This is also why the construction of the Grand Tesoro consumed a massive amount of time, with the deformable metal, Arceus Steel, also being used inside.

He had been here for a while and spent quite a bit, yet hadn’t achieved any significant results, and the Heavenly Celestial Dragon ordering him was starting to become a bit impatient.

Spending was inevitable; if one comes to a place of consumption without spending a penny, anyone would find it suspicious.

The Heavenly Celestial Dragons didn’t mind these expenditures but could not accept his wasteful spending of Belly.

"Damn Queen and the Hundred Beasts..."

Thinking of the root of his failure, Knight’s mood turned unfriendly. Just then, another firework blossomed in the sky, and at the highest point of the Grand Tesoro, Tesoro, along with his men, arrived on a high platform.

The screens on the ship switched their footage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here to bring you good news, the Grand Tesoro will randomly select some lucky individuals who will enjoy unprecedented special services throughout the next journey, completely free of charge!

Whomever gets the golden ticket will be the lucky one!"

Saying this, he had Baccarat release several balloons. As the balloons burst among the crowd, colorful tickets filled the sky. Nobody noticed Baccarat’s hands constantly emitting a faint glow.

The Luck-Luck Fruit’s ability had been activated, turning what appeared random here into a controlled event.

Knight had no intention of participating in such matters but intended to take advantage of the new event to infiltrate places not easily accessible at usual times. However, at that moment, a sea breeze blew, sending a golden ticket drifting with the wind, eventually landing on Knight’s head.

As soon as he took the item off his head, without even clearly seeing the ticket, several spotlights were directed at him.

"Congratulations to all the lucky ones! Oh, by the way, that ticket is made of pure gold, so please don’t wander off. The staff will soon guide you to the new area of visit."

Looking at the gold foil-like ticket in his hand and the envious gaze of the surrounding people, Knight, not wanting to draw attention, still followed the staff towards the Grand Tesoro’s main hall.

Since the plan was broken, he might as well see the new developments.

More than twenty people gathered together, and then the stage began to rise and fall. An independent lift appeared under each of them, taking them to different areas. As light and darkness alternated, Knight noticed that the people around him had all disappeared.

Though he felt uneasy, he hadn’t yet doubted anything, as he couldn’t think of any reasoning for his exposure. He hadn’t acted overtly, only appearing as an unclean tourist.

Initially thinking this was some special venue, a closer look revealed that he seemed to have arrived in a desert, surrounded by blinding sand.

"Is anyone here? What is going on here!"

Knight shouted to his surroundings while picking up a handful of sand, soon realizing that it was not yellow sand, but pure gold sand.

A sense of foreboding arose in his heart, but he took no action, still retaining his cover as an ordinary person who couldn’t utilize Moonwalk.

At that moment, the surrounding gold sand, as if controlled, gradually gathered together and enclosed everything around.

The gold sand slowly melted, eventually forming an opera-house-like environment made of gold, placing Knight in the very center of the stage, with Tesoro appearing in the spectator seats.

"Mr. Tesoro, is this the surprise you mentioned? It doesn’t seem very welcoming."

"If it were for ordinary tourists, it wouldn’t be like this, but haven’t you already crossed the line, Mr. Knight?"

All the gold sand was influenced by Tesoro’s ability. This Golden Theater was a special space he had prepared.