One Piece: Reborn in God's Valley

That afternoon, since the club and the surrounding buildings were still under reconstruction, the entire pirate crew remained aboard the Blackthorn. 

Thankfully, the ship was wide and spacious, with more than enough rooms for everyone to find a place to rest.

Puru... Puru...

Inside the captain's quarters, the Den Den Mushi in front of Ashen began ringing. It was Abbas's.

"This is Ashen. Who's calling?"

Ashen picked up the Den Den Mushi at a leisurely pace. 

In truth, he had already predicted who it might be, if someone was calling Abbas's line, it had to be the World Government or the Marines.

"This is Sengoku."

The Den Den Mushi shifted to Sengoku's stern, serious expression.

"Oh my, oh my…. Admiral Sengoku himself. What an incredible honor."

Ashen was genuinely surprised. He had expected someone high-ranking to reach out, but he hadn't thought Sengoku would personally make the call.

"Enough with the jokes. Ashen, you know exactly why I'm contacting you.

Ulysses is a senior CP0 agent, he has connections to the Celestial Dragons. You'd better release him."

Sengoku cut straight to the point, already irritated by Ashen's tone.

"Hahaha. Don't make me laugh. You think I'll just let him go because you say so? You Marines are still as shameless as ever, just like the old days.

If this is your idea of negotiation, then don't blame me. Who knows, tomorrow's headlines might be something you really don't want to see."

Ashen couldn't care less about Sengoku's threats and ended the call without hesitation.

If the Marines had contacted him first, it meant they wanted to negotiate. Trying to get something for nothing? Not happening.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, the Den Den Mushi rang again.

"Name your price, Helgrave."

This time, Sengoku didn't waste words. He never expected his threats to work on Ashen anyway, that was just to test the man's attitude. 

Since Ashen wanted sincerity, Sengoku would now speak plainly.

"Five Devil Fruits and three tons of seastone."

Ashen opened with an outrageous demand.

"Impossible. Don't even think about it. Do you think the Marines are made of money? The most you'll get is one Devil Fruit.

As for the seastone, even though Wano remains closed off, we can scrape together two tons at most. No more."

Ashen had named a sky high price, so naturally, Sengoku tried to knock it back down.

"Two tons of seastone is fine. As for the Devil Fruits, make it two. In exchange, none of you, including the World Government, bothers me for one year.

And please stop pretending that you're broke. This whole thing, wasn't it the Government that asked you to come talk to me? I don't believe the Marines are footing the bill."

Ashen knew it was time to close the deal, so he laid out his final conditions.

"Hmph. The Marines arresting pirates is justice. I have no reason to stop justice from being served. 

As for the Devil Fruits and seastone, someone will contact you soon. But you'd better guarantee Ulysses's safety."

Sengoku's words were self-righteous, but internally he was feeling helpless.

They were already stretched thin dealing with powerhouses like Whitebeard, Shiki, and Roger. 

Though those men didn't cause chaos like Douglas Bullet, the Marines simply didn't have the bandwidth to handle any more threats.

After all, they didn't have the support of Vegapunk's technology or the balance the Seven Warlords once provided. 

Even with Garp and Sengoku's strength, there were far too few top-tier fighters.

"Don't worry. As long as you don't try anything funny, Ulysses won't be harmed. Oh right. Want Abbas back too? I'll throw him in for just one Devil Fruit."

Ashen's voice broke Sengoku's train of thought.

"Go to hell, Ashen."

At Marineford, passing officers and soldiers all glanced curiously toward Sengoku's office, baffled by why their usually calm leader had suddenly erupted in rage.

…

Aboard the Blackthorn, Ashen set down the Den Den Mushi. He turned and left the captain's quarters, descending to a storage room below deck.

With a flick of his hand, he lit a oil lantern. A massive black ice block stood revealed in the center of the room, inside it, Ulysses was frozen solid.

Ashen had agreed to the negotiation and to handing Ulysses over, but his true goal was infiltration, planting someone deep within the World Government.

Their intelligence network was the most vast and intricate in the pirate world. 

Having someone on the inside constantly feeding information would be an enormous advantage for the Helgrave Pirates.

Just look at the future Revolutionary Army. Why did Kuma obey the Government so willingly, even going as far as to become Vegapunk's test subject? The reason was obvious.

And Ulysses, as a senior agent of the Government's highest intelligence unit, held knowledge far beyond what Kuma ever did.

That was why Ashen had extorted the Marines and the Government, not just for profit, but to allay any suspicion.

If he had handed over Ulysses too easily, they would've found it suspicious, especially after Abbas's betrayal.

"Heh heh. If the World Government ever finds out they paid a fortune to buy back one of my clones... I wonder what their faces would look like?"

Ashen chuckled at the amusing thought.

Shaking off his little fantasy, he activated his Devil Fruit power and began crafting a second clone.

With the experience of making Abbas, the process went much more smoothly this time.

…

A little over ten days later, the Fernando Club had been fully rebuilt, and the once-quiet Gangster Island had returned to its bustling, noisy state.

At the port, a massive Marine warship was docked.

On the shore, the Helgrave Pirates were negotiating with a Marine officer, a vice admiral leading the exchange.

"Captain, it checks out, two Devil Fruits, and nearly two tons of seastone," Salles reported after inspecting the cargo.

"Then hand over Ulysses, Helgrave."

The vice admiral's expression was grim. As a Marine Headquarters officer, having to travel all this way just to make a deal with pirates, it was a disgrace. 

He couldn't help but curse the World Government. Why did they always dump this kind of dirty work on the Marines?

"Relax. I'm not like the Marines, I don't use shady tactics."

Ashen kicked something coffin-sized toward the Marines. It landed with a crash, knocking over a few soldiers.

"Vice Admiral, he's in the ice block. That's Ulysses."

A Marine stepped forward, compared the face inside to a photo, then reported back.

"Hmph. Get him onboard. Set sail."

The vice admiral had no intention of lingering. Any longer, and he might lose control and attack, even if he couldn't win.

"Don't forget to thank Sengoku for me."

Ashen shouted as the last Marines boarded the ship.

"Damn you pirate..."

The warship slowly pulled away from the dock.

"Ahahahahaha…."

Laughter from the Helgrave Pirates echoed across the port.