The newly-built tavern reeked of something both delicious and disturbing. Guts, seated in a corner with his party, eyed the bowl in his hand with suspicion. It held a stew of alarming redness, an abominable concoction the chef called "Son of a Fisherman" stew, filled with every imaginable part of a fish - organs, brains, fins, tails, the whole gruesome mess.
Guts looked at his party, who averted their eyes. Even his beloved daughter, Robin, and Richie, the gluttonous white lion pet, sprawled on the floor, wouldn't meet his gaze. Guts swallowed, feeling like he was already eating a bug, even though he hadn't yet taken a single spoonful of the stew in his hand.
The symbol of bravery, they said. Whoever dares to try this dish is a true man of the sea, they said.
Guts, who never hesitated to fight demons or beat an atrocious criminal to death, found his hand shaking as he scooped up the stew. He glared at Buggy, who was covering his mouth, his body shook with suppressed laughter.
"Come on, Boss!" Buggy roared with laughter, pounding the table. "You beat Akainu (Red Dog) himself! And now you're trembling in front of Akamiso (red stew) ?! Gyahahahaha! It's so funny!"
Guts tsk-ed, visibly provoked by Buggy's jeering.
He ignored the lingering smell of fish guts and, without further hesitation, shoved the spoonful into his mouth, steeling himself against the expected onslaught of revolting flavors and the guaranteed churning of his stomach.
Hm? Guts raised a thick eyebrow in genuine surprise. Surprisingly, it was delicious. A complex dance of spices exploded on his tongue, perfectly complementing the rich umami of the fish. The meat, surprisingly tender, and a final wave of refreshing herbs banished even the faintest hint of fishiness.
"See? Nothing to fear! Hahahaha!" Genzo, who tended the bar, laughed heartily. "By the way, sorry for the unpleasant welcome. We've had some bad experiences with pirates; we didn't even notice there was no Jolly Roger on your ship. Well, your Sea King companion added to the townsfolk's fear, too," Genzo said, apologizing, though slightly defensively, for their initial lack of hospitality.
"And thank you for bringing back that naughty kid." Genzo bowed his head.
Guts just nodded and continued eating.
Robin, curious, asked Guts, who was now devouring the "Son of a Fisherman" stew with gusto, "Is it that good, Father?" Guts paused mid-bite. "It's a little spicy, but it suits my taste. Want to try some?"
Robin pondered for a moment, then opened her wide. "Ah," closing her eyes in anticipation. Guts chuckled and fed her a spoonful.
"Hot! Hot!" Robin exclaimed, grabbing a glass of milk and gulping it down. "But it tastes so good! Genzo-san, can I have the same, but less spicy?" Robin asked, looking at Genzo with an expectant gaze.
"Aiyo!" Genzo exclaimed, hurrying to the back kitchen to prepare a less spicy version for Robin.
Guts watched Robin, who was waiting for her stew, produce her usual writing kit – a parchment, a sturdy quill, and a small pot of ink. Her tongue peeked out from the corner of her mouth as she wrote, her feet swinging beneath the table like a pendulum.
He recognized the precise, elegant script. "Another letter to the Boa sisters?" he asked. Robin glanced up with her dark brown eyes sparkling, and nodded with a soft, affirmative Un!
Guts chuckled and then turned his gaze towards Buggy to state the reason for their gathering. "It's about Hachi." Guts put down his spoon and continued, "Something's odd about his story," urging Buggy to give his insight. Despite his clowning demeanor, Buggy was surprisingly sharp and often offered insightful opinions.
Buggy, who was trying to light his cigarette with a click-clack sound from his lighter that wouldn't catch, yelled at Cabaji, who was drinking at the bar, "Oi, Cabaji, lend me your lighter!" Cabaji then rummaged in his pocket and tossed it to Buggy, who caught it and used it to light his cigar.
He then took a long drag and said, "I noticed it, Boss. I think Hachi survived because of a third party, and not out of kindness either."
"You know something?" Guts said, tapping his fingers on the table.
"But Boss, does that bitch have to listen in?" Buggy said, pointing at Miranda, who was sitting with a smile at the same table with a bottle of rum in her hand.
Guts sighed and said, "I'd like to tell you to start getting used to her presence, but..." Guts continued, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Miranda, "You can't get used to all the shit this world throws at you, can you?"
Miranda, who had now removed her marine uniform, was wearing an unzipped grey jacket, revealing her large breasts covered by a black bikini top and her toned stomach. She wore long blue jeans with a large knife strapped to her right thigh, and her long red hair flowed freely. Hearing what Guts said, she chuckled. "Oh, so tis beautiful me, tatt shit?"
Guts and Buggy then exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously before both looking back at Miranda.
"Yup," Guts admitted.
"No doubt about it," Buggy added. "A big lump of...shit! The kind that makes your butt hurt!"
"Stop," Guts interrupted Buggy before he went too far, tapping his bowl to indicate he was still eating.
"Tatt hurts, bub!" Miranda said, wiping away nonexistent tears. "Tatt's not how ye talk t'babe like me."
Guts sighed. "Just ignore her, and continue what you wanted to say."
"My late captain, Roger, told me a story," Buggy said, then paused, thinking for a while before continuing. "Well, I never saw him writing a journal, or maybe he wrote it in secret, I don't know, but he told us stories a lot." Buggy's words made Robin, the little archaeologist, stop her writing. A story about the King of the Pirates was not a story she was going to miss.
"It's a story about God Valley, and what Captain Roger saw there. You hear anything about the God Valley incident, Boss? Before I continue," Buggy asked Guts, seeking confirmation of how much Guts already knew.
Guts shook his head. He was just a drifter; his knowledge of the world of seas wasn't extensive.
"Guess so, but it's not a pleasant topic, I warn you." Buggy then started to tell his story – what he'd heard from Roger – about a "great hunt" carried out by the World Nobles.
A horrific hunt where humans were the prey; more precisely, enslaved humans, reduced to nothing more than game animals.
The slaves were scattered across the island. Children, adults, the elderly, men, women – they all struggled to survive, praying for a salvation.
But it was just an illusion, a sick joke designed to heighten the World Nobles' perverse enjoyment. They watched with detached amusement, placing bets on who would survive the longest.
One of their popular games was to spare one from a group, letting them witness the deaths of their loved ones, giving the illusion that they were lucky to have survived, instilling a fragile hope in that surviving slave.
Then, just as that hope began to blossom, when that surviving slave met another group and they began to struggle together again, the World Nobles would order their soldier to massacre the group, leaving only the previously spared slave alive to bear the guilt.
This was done again and again, each cycle more brutal than the last, causing the surviving slave to slowly drown in despair, their minds fractured, until they finally succumbed and killed themselves, offering a final, twisted entertainment to their tormentors. And that was the fun part for the World Nobles.
Robin, hearing Buggy's story, closed her eyes and covered her ears. Her Whisperer ability gave her a far more vivid and detailed account than Buggy could convey, but perhaps because Buggy hadn't directly witnessed it, the horror wasn't fully visualized in his telling.
Even Genzo, who was delivering their ordered food, couldn't help grimacing when he inadvertently overheard the story.
Guts, having completely lost his appetite, slid his bowl to the center of the table. He then downed a bottle of rum before asking, "So you're saying what Hachi experienced was similar?"
"I believe so, Boss. No other explanation," Buggy said confidently.
Before Guts could ask anything further, Miranda, with her unchanging smile, said, "Smart lil' clown, aren't ye?"
Hm? Robin, trying to shake off the haunting images from Buggy's story, tilted her head towards Miranda. Despite her smiling face, there was a hint of displeasure in her tone.
Buggy, perhaps caught up in the emotion of his own story and feeling genuinely annoyed, turned to Miranda. "Can you stop? You're so fake."
Slightly surprised by Buggy's outburst, Miranda narrowed her eyes, but her smile didn't falter. "What do ye want t'say, midgett?"
Buggy sneered. "You think you're the first redhead I've ever met?" He let out a short, humorless laugh. "You think you can fool me? The Great Buggy? Everything about you seems fake. Your movements, the way you talk, and maybe even your whole existence are fake?"
And just like that, Miranda's smile vanished. She looked at Buggy with a sharp, murderous intent. She reached for her giant sashimi knife, strapped to her thigh, but quickly released it when an immense, dark pressure bore down on her.
Buggy snorted. "Do it," Buggy taunted, his cigarette pointing at Miranda. "Can't move, can you?" Buggy, the master taunter, the expert at making someone lose themselves, knowing she couldn't do anything in front of Guts, didn't miss the opportunity to drag her down. "What? Cat got your tongue?"
Miranda, petrified, forced her neck to turn towards Guts. She saw Guts's inhuman eyes, twin voids that seemed to absorb all light, staring through her as if she were a mere breathing corpse, a puppet waiting for its strings to be cut. His gaze wasn't a plea; it was a challenge, a taunt. His eyes were daring her to make a move, begging her to give him a reason – any excuse – to unleash the darkness he held within, to tear her apart, limb from limb. And that gaze made her crotch wet and her face flush.
Gasping for breath, Miranda said, "Oh, bub, please, don't look at me with yer lovin' eyes...ye make me wet."
Seeing Miranda squirming while hugging herself, Robin gasped. She stood on her chair and covered her father's eyes. "Don't look!"
Buggy recoiled, a disgusted expression appearing on his face. "This redhead is worse than the other one I know," he murmured.
Guts sighed, then lifted Robin and settled her onto his lap. "A dozen more bottles of rum," he said to Genzo, who was slumped weakly on the floor, his body trembling.
He'd inadvertently met Guts's gaze, and it had scared him half to death. Genzo then crawled hurriedly toward the kitchen to fetch Guts's order of rum...and, judging by the wet patch spreading on the floor, to change his pants too. It seemed his age made him prone to losing control of his bladder.
Guts ignored the pervert, his focus solely on the small, precious weight of Robin in his arms. He gently stroked her hair, his touch a stark contrast to the calloused, battle-worn texture of his hand. "Looks like it's going to be a long night," he said in a weary voice.
He then turned his gaze to Buggy, who was dramatically leaning against a bar chair. It was time to address the question he hadn't had a chance to ask earlier. "So," Guts began, his tone flat and serious, "with Hachi on our ship... you think someone's going to be coming after us?"
Buggy puffed out his chest, instantly seizing the role of underworld expert. "Coming after us? Boss, that's like saying the Grand Line has a little bit of bad weather! We've just painted a target on our backs the size of a small island!" He began juggling a few bar snacks, his eyes gleaming with theatrical excitement as his imagination took flight.
"I've been giving this a lot of thought, you see," he declared to his captive audience. "My first, most logical theory is that we're dealing with a rival pirate crew! A new, secret Yonko, maybe, trying to conquer the East Blue by wiping out all the competition. It's classic underworld consolidation!"
He paused, holding up a finger. "OR! It's a curse! Arlong must have stolen some ancient, cursed treasure, and now a vengeful sea demon is hunting down every last member of his crew, and anyone associated with them! That means us!"
Mohji and Cabaji, who had been listening intently, nodded in terrified agreement.
"BUT!" Buggy's voice dropped to a whisper. "What if it's not from the sea at all? What if... it's from the SKY?" He pointed a dramatic finger skyward. "Aliens! It all makes sense! They've come down from a sky island, and they're harvesting pirates for their bizarre scientific experiments! Why else would they take the skin? It's for research!"
He stopped, shuddering theatrically. "Even worse... what if it's some creepy secret society? A cult! Worshippers of some ancient, bloodthirsty sea god that demands eyes and ears as tribute! They're probably trying to summon a leviathan that'll swallow the whole sea!"
Buggy finally seemed to run out of steam. He shook his head, dismissing his own wild theories. "Nah, that's all too crazy..." He rubbed his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face as he finally landed on the one solid piece of evidence they had.
He looked at Guts, his voice now serious. "But thinking about it... the one thing we know for sure is that whoever these people are, they have something to do with the destruction of Arlong's crew, and the gruesome deaths we witnessed back in Loguetown."
Guts had remained silent through the entire tirade, a pillar of stoic patience amidst Buggy's storm of paranoia. But as Buggy spoke those final, logical words, a slow, predatory grin spread across Guts's face. It was a terrifying sight, a wolf baring its teeth not in anger, but in sheer, unadulterated anticipation. He had been adrift in a world of political games and strange alliances, but this... this was familiar territory.
A hunt.
He looked out at the dark, endless ocean, the grin widening from ear to ear.
"Good," he rumbled, the single word hanging in the air like a death sentence. "Let them come."
He then rose from his chair, set Robin down, and reached for the handle of Dragon Slayer, his massive sword leaning against the back wall. He hoisted it onto his back. Then his sinister aura soared, filling the entire tavern with oppressive pressure. Guts then strode out of the tavern, walking towards the docks, where he sensed a group of incredibly powerful figures approaching.