Chapter 279: Under Snail Shell Surveillance

“Krell, have you made sure all the suspicious people on the island are under watch?”

After Karl left, he went straight to find Krell—the steward in charge of the entire island’s day-to-day operations whenever Karl was gone.

Since Karl had announced that anyone could visit the island for the next seven days, tons of strangers arrived on Cake Island by ship, eager to sample island life. There were even plenty from the Giant Tribe.

Mixed in with the visitors were quite a few shady individuals. They didn’t seem the least bit interested in sightseeing—they just wandered all over, as if trying to scout out a map.

When Karl found him, Krell was in the surveillance room, eyes glued to the monitors tracking every suspect.

“Of course, Lord Karl. Right now, there are 48 suspicious characters on the island. Each one has a few Fishmen tailing them.”

He pointed to the screen in front of him as he spoke.

The display split into more than forty smaller screens, each one focused on a different person.

Karl’s gaze lingered on the monitors while he unleashed his Observation Haki, sweeping over the whole island and locking all those people firmly in his sights.

“Whoa, looks like we’ve snagged some big fish!”

He hadn’t realized it before, but even Karl found himself surprised by what he saw.

Bathed in his Observation Haki, he counted five Admiral-level powerhouses and more than a dozen at Vice Admiral level. By the looks of it, just about every upper-tier agent from the World Government’s intelligence branches had shown up in force.

Karl wasn’t wrong—the World Government had gone all out for this mission. They’d pulled in top brass from CP0 to CP9, all in an attempt to snatch Vegapunk.

Seeing them sink so many resources made it clear just how valuable Vegapunk really was.

That’s when two familiar silhouettes caught his eye. “Wait—is that… them?”

Krell glanced at him, quickly asking, “Is there someone you know, Lord Karl?”

“Sort of, but not exactly. Their builds are familiar, but their faces aren’t quite right. Doesn’t make sense.”

Even now, Karl was still thinking with a modern mindset. As far as he knew, the One Piece World didn’t have any face-changing technology.

They had human-skin masks, sure, but actual plastic surgery? He’d never heard of that here.

“Lord Karl, which two people seem familiar to you?”

No wonder Krell was so cautious. If anyone caught Karl’s attention, it wasn’t going to be some scientist or upstart youth—it would have to be top-tier fighters from his own generation.

If there really were several rivals on the island, they’d need to ramp up surveillance.

Karl flashed a mysterious smile and nodded. “The World Government definitely put their money where their mouth is—there are five Admiral-level big shots here.”

“Admiral level? Five of them?”

Krell wondered if he’d misheard and repeated, “Five admirals?”

Admiral-level meant something special. The whole Navy barely counted three of them, at least publicly.

Other than the God Valley Incident, Krell couldn’t remember a time the World Government had mobilized so many on one mission.

Did the World Government really see Cake Island as such a threat?

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure Ledfield comes back.”

“You won’t have to deal with the Admiral-level enemies yourselves.”

With that, Karl marked out thirteen people on the monitors. “While I’ll handle the Admirals, these thirteen are Vice Admiral-class.”

“Notify Notty, Davis, White Tiger, Sparrow, and the others. Each of them should keep tabs on one.”

If he weren’t worried about revealing his true strength, Karl could have just sent his whole team to surround them. None of them would escape.

Krell nodded solemnly.

He committed the faces of those thirteen to memory, then grabbed the transponder snail to start giving orders.

Soon after, Notty, Davis, White Tiger, Perospero, and the rest all received their assignments.

The monitor feeds began to shift.

Maybe the suspects caught on—or maybe it was pure chance—but they all slipped back to their lodgings.

“If anything happens, let me know right away.”

Seeing how things had settled, Karl doubted there’d be any action tonight.

Since none of them had made the first move, Karl couldn’t tell who belonged to the World Government and who were just regular tourists. If he struck first, he might ruin the spirit of the tea party.

He gathered Perospero and the others in the Cake Island conference room. No one knew exactly what they discussed, only that the lights in Cake Castle burned on late into the night.

“…”

The next day, after Judge finished settling in, the suspicious crowd clustered together, clearly plotting something in secret.

With nothing major happening, Karl showed up at the lab early, grabbed a vessel, sliced a huge gash across his arm with his halberd, and collected around ten pounds of blood.

Then he headed to Judge’s room and called him out.

Holding up the bucket of golden blood he’d just drawn, Karl said, “This is my blood. I want you to use it to create clones. Judge, can you do it?”

Judge took the wooden pail, his senses reeling from the raw power in the blood. It actually made him feel like he was staring down a wild beast—unbelievable.

Just a bit of blood had that effect. He glanced up at Karl, frowning slightly. No wonder they call him a New World monster. “I’ll need to run some tests. Not sure if any clone bodies can handle this much power.”

It was the first time Judge had ever come across blood this potent. He wasn’t about to make any big promises.

After a few quick mixtures and some checks under the magnifying glass, Judge found the clone cells could inherit Karl’s blood power—as long as it was unleashed gradually, not all at once.

Karl pressed impatiently, “So how long will it take to create one clone like that?”

Judge peered through the microscope and answered, “Could take anywhere from ten to twenty years. It’ll depend on how things play out.”

“Oh, right! That embryo on the snail ship was just cultivated—we can use it for a trial run!”

Seeing the look in Judge’s eyes, Karl suddenly remembered—the snail ship hadn’t arrived in the New World yet. “Don’t worry, you’ll see it soon.”

Once he stepped out, Karl contacted Krell at once. “Krell, where’s the North Blue ship now?”

Krell hadn’t expected Lord Karl to be so invested in this. His attention had mostly been on the surveillance room.

He quickly recalled the earlier call. “Lord Karl, the North Blue ship has already entered the New World. Just a few days’ journey left before it reaches Cake Island.”

“The route is safe—no problems at all.”

Karl made an immediate decision. “Krell, I don’t care what it takes—I want that ship to reach Cake Island intact. Is that clear?”

Krell answered with resolve. “Understood, Lord Karl. I promise the mission will be completed.”