Chapter 49

Captain Kapu asked.

"Monkey D. Little Lufei!"

Dragon truthfully replied.

"Little Lufei?"

Captain Kapu raised his right hand and gently rubbed Little Lufei's chubby cheek, his eyes filled with tenderness.

He turned his head,

and looked at Lu En standing beside him, saying bluntly: "Come see your brother."

"Alright."

Lu En nodded.

With boundless anticipation, he walked over to the swaddled infant.

Looking down from above,

seeing the infant's chubby face and flailing limbs, Lu En couldn't help but smile with quiet emotion.

"Little Lufei…"

"We've finally met."

Raising his hands, he gently lifted the swaddled infant, his eyes slightly narrowing.

"Ee-yah ee-yah~"

Sensing his body lift into the air, Little Lufei kicked and waved his limbs in the swaddle, clearly delighted, his dark, round eyes blinking up at Lu En so close.

A rough initial estimate,

Little Lufei was about two months old.

Very light,

no bigger than a palm,

extremely small and frail.

"The future King Lufei!"

"My foolish, silly little brother…"

Lu En rubbed Little Lufei's chubby cheek, feeling the delicate, soft texture transmitted through his fingertips, his heart stirred with emotion.

Lu En held the swaddled Little Lufei, standing quietly beside the wall.

At this moment,

Dragon sat down in his chair, his eyes glinting as he looked toward Captain Kapu not far away, finally getting to the point: "Old man, I want to talk to you about something."

Hearing this,

Captain Kapu raised an eyebrow, surprised: "What is it? You actually have something to ask of me? That's unexpected."

If he remembered correctly,

this was the first time Dragon had ever made a request of him.

"I'd like to borrow Lu En for a while."

"Don't worry—I'll train him well, make him a top-tier powerhouse of the Grand Line."

"During this time, I'll guarantee his personal safety."

"What do you think?"

Dragon spoke with a smiling face.

Borrow him for a while?

That was merely an excuse.

If Lu En truly went to the Revolutionary Army…

it would be a one-way loan—never returned.

"Huh?!"

Captain Kapu's pupils shrank slightly, his expression turning grim.

Then,

he erupted in fury, glaring coldly at Dragon and bellowing: "What do you mean? You bastard, how dare you lay your hands on Lu En?!"

"Never!"

"Let me be clear with you, right here."

"Lu En will become an outstanding Marine! A pillar of the Marine Corps! And inherit my title—to become the hero of the new Marine era!"

"No matter what excuse you give, you won't take Lu En away!"

If it were any other request, Captain Kapu might have considered Dragon's status as his son.

But the problem…

Dragon's current demand struck directly at Captain Kapu's deepest taboo.

Lu En was Captain Kapu's taboo.

No one…

could ever turn Lu En astray!

"Old man, a prodigy who awakened Conqueror's Haki at age three—you know what that means! Such a monster shouldn't be wasted in the Marines!"

"Only by joining my Revolutionary Army can he find his true destiny."

"He deserves greater ambitions!"

"This world is the grandest stage for a prodigy like him to unleash his power."

Dragon continued speaking, utterly disregarding Captain Kapu's rage.

"You really did know about this matter."

"It seems…"

"Your Revolutionary Army truly leaves no crack unentered."

"Even within the Marines, you've already planted hidden pieces everywhere."

Captain Kapu snorted coldly, his eyes cold and hostile as he stared at Dragon.

It was not hard to guess—

The reason Dragon knew that Lu En had awakened his Conqueror's Haki at the age of three was surely because the Revolutionary Army had someone planted within Marine Headquarters.

Otherwise,

Dragon could not possibly know about this closely guarded secret that had only just occurred not long ago.

Furthermore,

Kapu had not spread this matter far and wide either, merely passing it along to his old friend Sengoku.

At most…

Sengoku would have informed his own direct superior, the current Fleet Admiral Kong, the user of the Iron Bone.

Then the question arises.

Even Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army, knows of this piece of news.

Does this mean…

Marine Headquarters has long since been riddled with rot, full of holes?

That hidden pieces of the Revolutionary Army are everywhere?

Kapu believed.

This was very likely!

"However, let this old man give you one piece of advice."

"Don't set your schemes and ambitions on this boy Lu En."

"Whatever you want to do, it's none of this old man's business, and I don't want to manage it either!"

Although this old man does not agree with your ideology, I have never once tried to stop you, and have even felt proud of you. But the prerequisite is—don't anger this old man! Don't touch the taboo in this old man's heart!

"This boy Lu En is not someone your Revolutionary Army can attempt to lay a finger on or scheme against."

"Otherwise, don't blame this old man for not having warned you."

Kapu's face was expressionless, his voice ice-cold.