The night over Whole Cake Island was sweet but tinged with a slight gloom.
A breeze blew across the sea, carrying with it a wisp of dark clouds that lightly veiled the crescent moon.
Inside his room, Arest suddenly opened his eyes, waking up. He left his bed and walked to the window.
Pushing the window open, he glanced at the scene outside.
The castle guards on night patrol were groups of toy soldiers, and of course, these toy soldiers had been given souls by Big Mom. It seemed that Big Mom used her soul powers on all sorts of strange things—on toys, plants, trees, even kitchenware and food. Though it all looked somewhat childish, the fact that these objects had souls and personalities meant the island was under constant surveillance and vigilance.
No one could easily escape from this island, and similarly, no one could approach it without permission…
Arest’s gaze shifted toward a storage building on the west side of the castle. He had already confirmed that this was the Cake Workshop, where the wedding cake for tomorrow’s party was being kept.
Retracting his gaze, Arest returned to his room, fetched a large bucket, and filled it with water. He rolled up the sleeve of his left arm and rested his wrist over the bucket.
Without any expression, Arest extended his right hand and made a swift cut on his left wrist, using his fingernail to break the skin.
Blood began flowing uncontrollably from his wrist, dripping into the bucket with a faint sound, quickly turning the water a deep red.“Not enough…” Arest muttered to himself softly, continuing to let his blood drip into the water.
Only after a considerable amount of blood had fallen did Arest decide it was sufficient. He pressed down on the wound, retrieved some bandages, and wrapped his wrist carefully.
Then, he turned back to the bucket, now filled with a mixture of water and his own blood.
“500cc… Blood Angel, rise…” Arest said, stretching his hand out over the surface of the water. Immediately, the blood-red water began to stir on its own. It first gathered into a single mass, then slowly wobbled and shifted, taking the form of a bald, humanoid figure that stood up out of the bucket.
This was Arest’s awakened Blood-Blood Fruit ability, allowing him to create a puppet made entirely from his own blood.
This ability could only be activated using Arest’s own blood—using someone else’s blood wouldn’t work. These blood puppets had a specific trait: the more of his own blood Arest infused into them, the more agile and powerful they became. In fact, they could even gain a degree of intelligence, allowing them to move independently and shapeshift at will.
Arest could, in theory, create a puppet entirely from his own blood, making it almost indistinguishable from a real person. However, doing so would require a massive amount of blood, which Arest couldn’t afford to lose. That’s why he chose to mix his blood with water when creating these puppets.
Devil Fruit users’ powers are affected by seawater, primarily due to the salt content. Freshwater, which lacks salt, has a much weaker impact on them. This is why Devil Fruit users can take showers or soak in partial baths without issue. By dissolving his blood into freshwater, Arest could still control it, albeit to a limited extent.
This time, he didn’t need his puppet to be incredibly strong; as long as it could move and be controlled, that was enough.
Under Arest’s control, the entity he named the “Blood Angel” began shifting and transforming. After a considerable amount of time, it finally took on the appearance of a person.
It was dressed in a sleeveless coat, with a sword hanging at its waist, bandages and bells wrapped around its right wrist, and a bear-ear hat on its head. A ponytail hung behind its head—the spitting image of Ian!
However, the puppet could only mimic Ian’s general appearance. Upon closer inspection, one would notice that the details, such as its face, were quite vague.
But that was enough for Arest. In the cover of night, no one would be able to tell the difference.
Under Arest’s command, the puppet, which closely resembled Ian, jumped out of the window. Moving silently through the night, it leaped across rooftops and finally arrived atop the warehouse where the wedding cake was stored.
The wedding cake had been completed three days prior, and while there were still guards around the warehouse, they were significantly more relaxed.
After all, everyone believed that no one would dare target the wedding cake.
Unfortunately for them, they could never have predicted that Arest, a priest trusted by Big Mom herself, had set his sights on it.
Yes, using the blood puppet disguised as Ian, Arest intended to sabotage the wedding cake. In his eyes, today’s conflict between Ian and the Big Mom Pirates had already caused a rift. All it needed was a small push, and the relationship between Ian and the Big Mom Pirates could be completely severed.
Everyone knew how much Big Mom valued the wedding cake. By targeting the cake, Arest was hitting a crucial point. Just imagine, when the wedding cake for tomorrow’s event is destroyed and the “culprit”—Ian—happens to be spotted, then…
Just as Arest was controlling the puppet and preparing to sneak into the warehouse, a sudden voice behind him interrupted, “If I were you, I wouldn’t do that!”
Startled, Arest quickly turned around, only to find a beautiful woman had somehow appeared in his room without him noticing!
The woman, wearing a lady’s hat, was none other than Stussy, the Queen of the Pleasure District. She stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the closed door, smiling sweetly at Arest.
Without hesitation, Arest flicked his wrist, causing the wound on his left hand to reopen. A stream of blood shot out, forming into a dagger that flew toward Stussy.
Although Arest had seen Stussy once when they first landed on the island, he had no idea of her secret identity, assuming she was part of Big Mom’s crew. Instantly, he resolved to kill her.
However, as the blood dagger, full of momentum, flew towards her, Stussy calmly raised a finger. With a swift move, she fired a Shigan (Finger Pistol), knocking the dagger off course. The dagger embedded itself in the door beside her head with a thud, sinking in all the way to the hilt. Before Arest could charge at her, she quickly whispered, “Stop! Admiral Arest, I’m with the World Government!”
Arest halted abruptly, glaring at Stussy with suspicion.
“Don’t doubt it—I’m an agent of the World Government’s secret intelligence unit, CP0,” Stussy whispered. “Even though you’ve requested the World Government not to reveal your identity for now, we intelligence officers are not part of that confidentiality.”
These words undeniably confirmed Stussy’s identity, and Arest no longer doubted her. He pulled a chair over and sat down, re-bandaging his wrist while sneering, “I’ve heard about CP agents before, but I never thought you’d be so pervasive, even infiltrating the ranks of a Yonko.”
“CP0 is completely different from the other CP units!” Stussy replied. “From the moment your ship sailed toward Cake Island, I was informed about you. The World Government ordered me to cooperate with your actions, and I just found an opportunity to come to your room.”
“Alright, it seems you already know what I intend to do!” Arest nodded. “But why are you stopping me?”
“Considering how much Big Mom is looking forward to the wedding cake, if you were to destroy it and frame Ian, it could indeed cause chaos,” Stussy explained, spreading her hands. “But don’t forget, we are also guests at tomorrow’s tea party. If there’s no wedding cake and Big Mom’s eating disorder is triggered, we might also suffer the consequences.”
Stussy walked over to Arest’s bed and sat down, leaning her hands back on the sheets, crossing her long legs beneath her short skirt. “I’ve got a better target in mind. Want to hear it?”
“What target?” Arest asked.
“The Poneglyphs!” Stussy said. “According to CP0 intelligence, it’s confirmed that Big Mom has several Poneglyphs in her possession, and one of them is the extremely important red Road Poneglyph. It’s stored in the basement right now. If Big Mom found out that Ian was after her collection, what do you think she would do?”
Arest pondered for a moment and asked with some doubt, “But if it’s something so important, surely the security around it must be extremely tight, right?”
“That’s not a problem!” Stussy chuckled softly. “Because today, I happened to discover that someone new arrived on the island—and he was brought here by Ian himself. The former Navy scientist, M. Caesar Clown, the Gas-Gas Fruit user. If I’m not mistaken, his abilities allow him to produce sleep-inducing gas, doesn’t it?”
“Since he was brought by Ian, do you think he would cooperate with us?” Arest asked with a frown.
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