Just as Noah and his crew finished gathering all the medical books they had come for, a group of five individuals appeared near their temporary camp. They wore black suits under white cloaks, moving with precision and purpose.
"Burgoo, are you sure these people are collecting medical books?" the tall leader of the group asked in a low voice.
The purple-haired woman next to him nodded. "I saw them at Drum Port, contacting some famous doctors and purchasing books from them."
"Good. While it's uncertain whether they're connected to Flevance, these people are acting suspiciously. They must be hiding something. We'll confront them and—"
"Oh? The dogs of the World Government really do have sharp noses, don't they?"
"What?!" The tall man's pupils shrank in alarm.
But before he could react, an overwhelming pressure descended upon them. Noah's Conqueror's Haki instantly paralyzed the group, crushing their will. In the same moment, Ari struck through a wormhole, his Armament Haki-infused fist slamming into the backs of their necks.
Ari grabbed the five and dragged them into the underground cavern beneath the camp.
Then he called for Mary, who began interrogating the CP6 agents one by one.
Although the CP agents were trained to be tight-lipped, Mary didn't need them to speak. She only needed to ask the right questions.
For example, when Mary inquired which division of CP they belonged to, they remained silent. But their thoughts betrayed them, and Mary's ability allowed her to glean their intentions from their subconscious reactions, extracting all the necessary information.
Once she had squeezed every piece of intelligence out of them, Mary executed the five agents and destroyed the evidence of their presence.
Noah flipped through the information they had gathered from the five CP6 agents.
"It seems the Five Elders still have some brains, though they appear woefully underprepared when dealing with the main crew. We shouldn't linger here. Ari, prepare to set sail for the Land of Fire."
"OK, big brother."
After erasing all traces of their camp, Noah and his crew moved to a hidden cove on Drum Island, where they released the Nautilus and swiftly set course for the Land of Fire.
Upon reaching the island, it didn't take long to find Prince Musshuru, the one who had been exiled. He was notorious for his arrogance and constant troublemaking, making his location easy to pinpoint.
Noah had no interest in conversation. He crushed Musshuru, knocking him out and sealing him like a dragon with a single strike. Afterward, they left just as quickly as they had arrived.
Not long after, Noah transformed Musshuru into a card apostle.
[Death: Musshuru (Mushroom-Mushroom Fruit)]
Along with the captive Vail from Jaya Island:
[Knight of Wands: Vail (Raptor-Raptor Fruit)]
With six card apostles now under his command, Noah could feel the Devil Fruit power within him approaching its awakened state.
Moreover, he discovered that the Major Arcana was the key. Even if he didn't complete the Minor Arcana, it wouldn't hinder the awakening of his Card-Card Fruit.
This realization brought Noah some relief.
After all, there were only 22 cards in the Major Arcana, while the Minor Arcana had a staggering 56 cards.
So far, he had created [Devil: Pan Barton (Swap-Swap Fruit)], [Emperor: Shiki (Float-Float Fruit)], and [Death: Musshuru (Mushroom-Mushroom Fruit)]. He only needed to collect the remaining 19 Major Arcana cards, and his Card-Card Fruit would fully awaken.
Of course, this didn't mean Noah would abandon the Minor Arcana. After all, the vast number of cards in the Minor Arcana could quickly bolster the mid-level strength of the Noah family.
For instance, the newly created Raptor Vail. After giving him a new face using the Swap-Swap Fruit, Noah sent him to station at Westcasis Island.
…
The Nautilus, cruising underwater, bypassed nearby Alabasta and instead crossed several sea routes to reach Broccoli Island, the sixth node on the second route of Paradise.
Noah wasn't particularly interested in the island itself, but he had his sights set on something else: Moon Island, located near Broccoli Island.
Moon Island was now an invisible island on modern sea charts, destroyed in a disaster 132 years ago.
From snippets of information collected in taverns, Noah had pieced together a likely scenario.
Among the islands wiped out in the Pirate World, only a small fraction were destroyed by pirates or wars. The vast majority were obliterated by the Celestial Dragons.
Especially islands like Moon Island, which had been destroyed by a "mysterious disaster." It was highly probable that the Celestial Dragons were responsible for its destruction.
After all, if an island were destroyed by pirates or rival nations, the World Government would have no reason to cover it up. They'd report it openly.
Two weeks later, on a clear afternoon.
The Nautilus finally located Moon Island, 196 kilometers northwest of Broccoli Island. The island had an autumn climate, with a desolate breeze sweeping through the ruins.
When Noah stepped onto the island, he noticed that many of the ancient structures were overgrown with vegetation, but their outlines still hinted at the prosperity that once existed here.
Due to the lack of human activity over the years, the local flora and fauna had reverted to their primitive state.
"This place isn't bad," Ari said, looking around the ruins with curiosity.
"It's a shame the elevation is too low. If the sea level rises by 100 meters in the future, this island will be completely submerged. Unless we move it to a sky island, but that wouldn't work for this one," Noah remarked.
Ari nodded in agreement, a little disappointed.
Moon Island couldn't be relocated to a sky island because many permanent Log Poses to the island were still circulating on the Grand Line, especially among the World Government. They undoubtedly had records of Moon Island's permanent Log Pose.
If they moved the island to the sky, the World Government could use those Log Poses to track it down.
Unless Joshua's Rumble-Rumble Fruit awakened and allowed them to alter the island's magnetic field, Noah wasn't willing to move any islands from the Grand Line to the sky carelessly.
Strolling through the ruins of a town known as Sleepy Town.
That's right. This was where Red Count had obtained his Vampire Fruit.
To find this location, the Distillery had infiltrated the royal library in Alabasta, combing through 800 years of historical records.
As a kingdom with a 4,000-year history and significant power, Alabasta had vast knowledge of the Grand Line, especially the Paradise section.
At the very least, Moon Island and Sleepy Town were no secrets.
Alabasta had comprehensive maps of the Paradise section.
It had taken the Distillery over four months, and with the help of Ari's Hole-Hole Fruit, they had dug a concealed cavern beneath the Alabasta palace, employing hundreds of people to copy the entire library's collection.
With the Alabasta royal library's information, the Noah family's understanding of the Grand Line had increased significantly.
Sleepy Town had been an accidental discovery.
Originally, the Distillery's goal in collecting the library's materials was to uncover the royal family's secret drug, Hero Water, as well as the mystery behind the rebirth of Devil Fruits in specific regions.