Chapter 353: The Scapegoat King, I

Su Xiao sat on the roof smoking. On the opposite roof, the Straw Hat Pirates stood in a row. Several CP9 agents were holding Luo Bin and Franky on a landing of the Judicial Tower, the two sides in a standoff.

Franky had already regained his freedom, but with several CP9 agents beside him, there was no possibility of escape.

Given the current progression of the situation, it was only a matter of time before the Pluton blueprints on Franky were discovered.

Franky was hesitating; he was trapped, and the chance of escape was slim.

"Mr. Tom, please forgive me."

Franky took a deep breath, placed his hand on his lower back, and silently opened the combination lock there.

Just as he prepared to take out the Pluton blueprints, the tactile sensation in his hand felt wrong. Franky's expression froze, his face filled with disbelief.

"This is impossible, absolutely impossible."

Ignoring the risk of exposure, Franky leaned back. A book slid out from the combination lock on his lower back. The cover was glossy, featuring a scantily clad woman—and it was in color!

This was a magazine. Franky didn't recognize the words on it, but it was definitely not the Pluton blueprints.

On the cover of the magazine in Franky's hand, it clearly read: "Playboy!"

Su Xiao had obtained this item from opening a Scarlet Card. He had previously considered leaving an alchemy bomb inside Franky, but upon second thought, if the bomb were discovered before the decisive battle, the CP department would surely guess the Pluton blueprints were in his hands. It wasn't worth the risk.

Being discovered after the decisive battle didn't matter; that was inevitable. The Straw Hat Pirates would hold off CP9, but it definitely wouldn't do before the battle, as that would lead to being attacked from both sides.

Franky stared blankly at the *Playboy* in his hand and flipped it open. Although the woman in the magazine had a great figure and bold poses, Franky had no heart to look at them.

"This isn't right. Where are the blueprints? Where are they?"

Franky kept repeating this. The blueprints he had guarded for years had vanished without a trace.

Thinking rapidly, Franky recalled the time he was unconscious on the Sea Train. The blueprints must have been lost then. He had been under constant surveillance and couldn't check them; otherwise, he would have discovered it sooner.

Franky's face turned ashen, his eyes vacant.

"Hey, what are you holding in your hand?"

Spandam walked up quickly. Upon seeing the magazine in Franky's hand, Spandam's eyes lit up, and he snatched it away.

After flipping through a few pages, Spandam wore a lewd grin, his eyes squinting. He rolled the magazine into a tube and tucked it into his coat, intending to "critique" it after the war ended.

"The Pluton blueprints... are gone."

Franky murmured. Beside him, Lucci frowned. He had noticed when the other party took out the magazine, but after seeing the content, Lucci hadn't paid it any mind.

"What did you say?"

Lucci grabbed Franky by the shoulder.

"The Pluton blueprints... are gone."

Franky repeated it. His heart was filled with fear. Although it wasn't good for the Pluton blueprints to fall into the World Government's hands, that wasn't the worst-case scenario.

Once the Pluton blueprints fell into the hands of those with ulterior motives, the consequences would be unimaginable, just like a nuclear bomb falling into the hands of a terrorist organization.

Hearing Franky's repetition, Lucci's pupils constricted.

"Cutty Flam, we've reached this point, and you still want to try and muddle through?"

Clearly, Lucci did not believe Franky's claim.

"I'm not lying. The Pluton blueprints are really gone. I've always carried them with me, right here."

Franky pointed to his lower back. Lucci and the others stepped forward to inspect it.

"Kaku, is he telling the truth?"

Kaku observed Franky's facial expressions with intense focus.

"There is an eighty percent chance he is telling the truth."

Hearing Kaku's answer, the expressions of the CP9 members were not pleasant.

"You infiltrated for five years, and in the end, you lost the Pluton blueprints?"

Jabra of CP9 spoke up. He was cunning, with a face resembling a jackal, and possessed the Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Wolf.

Jabra's questioning left Lucci and the others speechless. This was indeed their responsibility. Lucci and Kalifa both thought of one person simultaneously; the blueprints were likely in that person's hands.

"In other words, I won't be getting the Pluton blueprints?"

Spandam's expression gradually turned ferocious. His chance for promotion and wealth was slipping away before his eyes.

Su Xiao, on the top floor of the Judicial Tower, saw the scene below and knew the timing was about right. He had already been exposed, unless Lucci and Kalifa were idiots.

His gaze shifted to Luffy. He wasn't sure if the boy could become the Pirate King, but he was about to become the Scapegoat King.

Su Xiao raised his left arm, and the Boundary Line beneath his wrist sprang out.

*Ding! * The hook nailed into a concrete pillar on the opposite roof. Su Xiao clamped Xiang Bubu Wang under one arm, tightened the Boundary Line, and swung toward the opposite side.

*Zzzzz~. *

Smoke rose from the Boundary Line's spool. Su Xiao felt a chill in his heart while flying in mid-air; the hook might slip due to the weight, as Xiang Bubu Wang, that idiot, had gained quite a bit of weight recently.

Landing safely on the concrete pillar, Su Xiao jumped onto the roof where the Straw Hat Pirates were located. The Straw Hat Pirates looked at him with vigilance.

"No need to be nervous. I have no interest in fighting you for now, and I'm even going to give you a 'big gift'."

Su Xiao took out an old book and tossed it toward the Straw Hat Pirates.

*Thud. * The book fell onto the roof. The Straw Hat Pirates didn't pick it up.

Franky, on the Judicial Tower, stared wide-eyed. Wasn't that the Pluton blueprints?

Noticing Franky's abnormality, Lucci looked at the old book from afar.

"That must be the Pluton blueprints. Sure enough, they were in that guy's hands. Why would he hand the blueprints to the Straw Hat Pirates?"

Lucci stared at Su Xiao's back; he still didn't understand what Su Xiao was trying to do.

Su Xiao picked up the Scarlet Card on the roof and looked up at Luffy and the others.

"What, you don't want the gift I gave you? This thing is something even the World Government covets."

Su Xiao chuckled, leaped, and jumped into the hole in the roof. There were still Scarlet Cards he hadn't picked up on the drawbridge below.

The Pluton blueprints he gave the Straw Hat Pirates were fake, but not entirely.

Su Xiao had torn off the paper from both sides of the Pluton blueprints and created a counterfeit version.

As long as they weren't top-tier craftsmen, they wouldn't be able to tell the blueprints were fake. Sixty percent of the content was real, while the remaining forty percent was fabricated by him. It was impossible to build Pluton with these blueprints.

The Straw Hat Pirates were bewildered. The book in front of them seemed very important, which could be seen from the fiery gazes of CP9.

"Straw Hat boy, you must protect those blueprints! Never let them fall into the World Government's hands!"

Franky shouted. This time, the CP9 members were even more certain that those were the Pluton blueprints.

Luffy picked up the book from the ground and clutched it in his hand. His gaze shifted to Luo Bin.

"Luo Bin, we're here to save you."

Ignoring the process of Luffy saving Luo Bin for now, Su Xiao collected the Scarlet Cards on the drawbridge and headed straight for the front island.

The moment Franky discovered the blueprints were missing, the fact that they were in Su Xiao's hands was effectively exposed.

The CP9 members weren't fools. Previously on the Sea Train, everyone except Su Xiao was from the CP department; if they were to suspect anyone, it would be Su Xiao first.

Su Xiao was satisfied with having hidden it until now. He simply stopped hiding and directly "passed the buck" to the Straw Hat Pirates. ===== CHAPTER 354 =====