Grove 1 of Sabaody Archipelago, Shakky Rip-off BAR.
Inside the bar at this moment sat a group of rough-looking men, their bare torsos covered with scars as grotesque as centipedes.
The small space was packed with raucous laughter and the smell of alcohol, creating a lively and crowded atmosphere.
The sound of "clink" echoed as wooden mugs collided with each other.
Alcohol danced in the air, reflecting the warm yellow light inside the tavern.
A man laughed boisterously and shouted.
"Purururu~ I was really strong this time! I wiped out a small Pirate crew with a total bounty of 5 million Berries single-handedly. With that money, I can go home and marry a beautiful woman!"
"Shihahaha! You bastard can't just leave like that! Even if we didn't help, seeing is sharing! If you want to quit our gang now, you'll have to pay a 2 million Berry exit fee!"
Pirate hunters weren't all that different from Pirates—they were only slightly better at best.
Over the years, Jake had killed no fewer than three-digit numbers of Pirate hunters.
Most of their crimes followed the same pattern: killing ordinary civilians who resembled Pirates and then falsely claiming their bounties from the World Government.
To avoid exposing such scandals, they often slaughtered entire villages and pinned the blame on the fake Pirates they'd killed.
Such incidents were commonplace, so Jake viewed Pirate hunters with only marginally more favor than Pirates.
Now, driven by greed for their comrade's money, they had once again revealed their utterly avaricious nature.
One moment, mugs were clinking; the next, blades were clashing.
Such was the unpredictable world of Pirates.
Yet the moment the group drew their weapons, the lively tavern fell into silence—a silence as heavy as death.
All eyes locked onto the troublemakers, filled with sympathy and pity, as if anticipating some terrible fate awaiting them.
The leader of the Pirate hunters felt a chill run down his spine.
Having traveled far and wide for years, he had seen similar scenes before.
Back then, he was just a greenhorn causing trouble in a tavern owned by a mafia boss when someone stirred up chaos.
The way the patrons had looked at that troublemaker was exactly the same as now!
And there was only one reason such hardened criminals would wear such expressions.
The tavern owner here was undoubtedly someone far beyond their league!
While he was still processing this realization, his subordinates acted without hesitation.
His once-favorite underling suddenly pulled out a pistol and fired at the bartender—a woman—without aiming for a vital spot, but a hit would surely cost her an arm.
As he fired, he snarled, "What the hell are you bastards staring at?!"
The moment the muzzle flashed and the bullet flew, the bounty hunter leader felt an indescribable terror surge through the tavern.
The next moment, a figure appeared before the landlady without warning—a man with golden hair streaked with silver.
He held a newspaper in one hand while the other was slightly raised, his index and middle fingers effortlessly pinching the bullet that had been fired by the subordinate mere moments ago.
The mere sight of someone catching a bullet barehanded shattered the leader of this bounty hunter group completely.
What kind of person could appear instantly and effortlessly intercept a bullet?
The bounty hunter leader didn't dare dwell on it.
He desperately wished this was all just a hallucination—that none of it had happened, and the subordinate who wanted to quit had simply walked away.
However, the moment that bullet was fired, everyone knew there was no turning back.
"Hahahaha, today's newspaper seems quite interesting. A giant ship flying out of the Devil's Triangle's thick fog? Such nonsense to fool children actually making it into the papers. It's nowhere near as exciting as what's about to happen in my little bar today, don't you think?"
As Rayleigh spoke, he slowly placed the newspaper on the counter.
His gaze fell upon the pale-faced men before him, eyes carrying an oppressive aura that could crush a person to death.
This wasn't their imagination—Rayleigh had already focused his Conqueror's Haki on them.
Under its effect, he could suffocate these weaklings to death at any moment.
But he didn't do that.
Instead, he looked at the two men and said slowly.
"You do know the consequences of causing trouble in this bar, don't you?"
The leader of the bounty hunters quickly explained to Rayleigh.
"This is our first time coming here to eat! We didn't know the rules! We're truly sorry! We'll leave right now! Right now!"
With that, he completely ignored his underlings and began sneaking toward the door alone.
At that moment, a spray of blood flew—the pirate hunter who had just fired at Shakky now had his own arm pierced by a bullet, with Rayleigh merely making a finger-flicking motion.
"If it's just ignorance of the rules on your first visit, that's one thing. But attempting to shoot the owner? That's not something easily negotiated. Actions have consequences, wouldn't you agree?"
Seeing their companion's arm practically shattered by that single strike, the bounty hunter group was too terrified to speak, only bowing their heads repeatedly in apology.
Rayleigh then turned his attention to Jake and Monet, who had been quietly drinking orange juice and milk in the corner.
With a tone mixing amusement and exasperation, he said.
"Shouldn't this sort of thing be handled by the Marines? Dear Rear Admiral Jake, Commodore Monet, pillars of the Marine's future—what brings you here? If you have business to discuss, would you kindly deal with these troublesome fellows for me first?"
Jake looked at the old fox before him, feeling somewhat helpless.
As expected—he's not willing to suffer the slightest loss.