Recruit Luffy at the start and build the strongest navy.

Chapter 61 Basic Operations!

Moonlight Moria!!

This is the target he is going to deal with this time.

One of the Navy's recent intelligence reports is about Moria, namely that traces of the Thriller Bark have been found near the Devil's Triangle.

According to Hogback's Vivre Card in the original work, Moria found Hogback twelve years ago, when he was already accompanied by Absalom and Perona. Afterwards, the group stationed themselves on Thriller Bark and continued to build their zombie army.

The twelve years ago here refers to the twelve years before Luffy and his crew entered the New World, as referenced in the original work.

Based on the timeline, it just so happens to be this year.

In other words, Moria and his group must have only recently entered the Devil's Triangle.

Moria has not yet become a Shichibukai, so there are no restrictions on attacking him.

The reason for choosing Moria as the mission target is simple: he is the easiest pirate to deal with among the famous pirates of this period.

There's no way around it; it's our first battle at sea, so we have to be a little more cautious and pick the weakest one!

Also, go find some treasures at Moria's place!

Eleven years ago, Moria fought Kaido and suffered a crushing defeat, losing all his crewmates.

This battle solidified his belief that "only by living can one truly lose!"

He then retreated to the West Sea, where he used his Shadow-Shadow Fruit powers on Thriller Bark to create a zombie army by injecting shadows into corpses.

Hogback was recruited because his medical skills could greatly help Moria build his zombie army, such as better processing and modifying corpses, thus further enhancing the strength of the zombie army.

Over the years, Moria had robbed countless tombs and stolen countless corpses, though not as many as in later generations, but still on a considerable scale.

I feel like Moria could actually be a king, the Tomb Raider King would be pretty good!

When Moria stole these corpses, he naturally didn't forget their burial goods as well.

There is a considerable amount of gold, silver, and many rare items.

For example, the national treasure of Wano Country, Shimotsuki Ryoma's sword - the famous sword Shusui!

Even among the 21 Great Grade Swords, it is the top-tier series.

This sword is a bit redundant for him; he's not a multi-sword style user, and one Purple Lightning is enough for him!

But it's quite useful for Zoro. Of his three swords, only the Snow White is a Great Grade Sword. The other two are Good Grade Swords that Kyle bought for him from the Marine Headquarters' inventory using Berries.

This doesn't mean that the Marine Headquarters doesn't have Great Grade Swords in its treasury; it's just that buying a Great Grade Sword requires not only Beli but also military merit, and not a small amount of military merit.

Kyle has never carried out a single mission, so naturally he has no military merits.

Therefore, we had no choice but to settle for second best and temporarily use two fine, sharp knives.

But this is much better than when Zoro first met Luffy in the original work. At that time, Zoro only had one great sword, Wado Ichimonji, and the other two swords were junk that he got from who-knows-where.

It shattered with just a couple of easy chops.

Even when I was in Loguetown, I was broke and could only afford the cheapest knife that cost 50,000 Berries.

Of course, it is precisely because of this that Zoro was able to obtain the cursed sword Sandai Kitetsu.

Although the Sandai Kitetsu was just a fast sword, it was used from Loguetown all the way to the final version, becoming the sword that accompanied Zoro for the second longest time.

Because of the plot involving the capture of the Sandai Kitetsu, I also got a free, sharp sword called Yukizuri—and the best part is, I didn't spend a single penny! That's the most important thing!!

Speaking of this, the Third Generation Kitetsu is in Loguetown, the Second Generation Kitetsu is in Wano Country, and the First Generation Kitetsu is in the hands of the Five Elders, Nasujuro.

Forget about the first generation Kitetsu for now, but we can start planning for the second generation Kitetsu.

ε=(´ο｀*))) Sigh!

As the team leader, he did his best for his teammates!

Generally speaking, he gives useful things to his team members first, and only helps them keep mundane things like gold and silver.

It's safer to store things like Treasure Trove in its system space!

Bang! !

Suddenly, a sound of objects colliding came from the side of the warship, immediately drawing everyone's attention.

Looking at the fishing rods laid out on the gunwale, Ace's eyes lit up as if a possibility had occurred to him, and he shouted excitedly:

"I caught a fish!!"

Before he finished speaking, he excitedly ran over there, picked up his fishing rod, and jerked it up sharply.

Then, the next moment, he didn't feel any weight at all. Due to the excessive force, Ace's body swayed back several steps.

"Eh!!"

Ace looked slightly bewildered.

Where's the fish?!

Why would there be that sound if there are no fish?

Ace, filled with doubt, approached the edge of the ship's railing, looked down, and then his eyes widened slightly before he shouted:

"Come quick, look! What is this?!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone gathered around and looked down.

"What's that? A wine barrel!!"

Zoro's voice carried a hint of excitement.

If someone is already an old drunkard at nineteen, then he must have been a little drunkard when he was a child.

So Zoro's throat inexplicably twitched whenever he heard the word "alcohol".

"Look, there's a flag stuck up there! Why are there flags on those wine barrels?"

Luffy pointed at the barrel and asked curiously.

"We'll know what happened once they're pulled out!"

Sabo spoke up.

He then flipped over the ship's side and jumped off. Just as he was about to hit the sea, he suddenly pulled out an enormous steel pipe from his back and slammed it into the sea.

boom!!

The sea surface was dented by the impact, followed by a burst of spray that propelled Sabo up and simultaneously carried the barrel up as well.

dong dong!

The two sounds of landing rang out almost simultaneously. Sabo casually half-squatted on the ground, with a wine barrel standing quietly beside him.

An aura of arrogance instantly spread!

(☆▽☆)！

Luffy's eyes instantly lit up with stars as he looked at Sabo and excitedly shouted:

"Sabo, the number one in the world!!"

Sabo, a faint smile on his face, slowly stood up, suppressing the smugness of being flattered, and said in a low voice:

"Basic procedure! Don't be ridiculous!!"

The air of pretentiousness is even stronger now.

"whispering sound!!"

Ace scoffed dismissively from the side and muttered:

"What are you pretending for? It's just getting the barrels up here, I could do that myself!!"

At the same time, he secretly resolved that next time he encountered a similar situation, he would definitely seize the opportunity and show off too!

"What on earth is this?!"

"It doesn't really look like a wine barrel!"

"Look, there are words on the flags!"

……