Island 13, Shakky's Rip-Off Bar.
This bar, rooted for years in the lawless zone and still operating to this day, is seen by the "locals" of this area as an extremely dangerous place.
Every year, who knows how many cocky newcomers get "educated" by the bar's owner.
The method of education matches the bar's name—you get shaken down and squeezed hard.
Today, though, a "Temporarily Closed" sign hung on the door.
But inside, there were still people drinking.
And the owner was still mixing drinks.
"That kid's already landed. You going to take a look?" Shakky asked casually as she wiped a glass.
The cigarette at her lips burned on; beneath the haze her expression, rare for her, showed a trace of gloom.
Which made it clear her mood was very bad right now.
"Ah…"
Fresh back from the casino, Rayleigh swirled the ice in his glass. That face in its seventies—wrinkled, bearded, yet still elegant and handsome—said lightly, "Choose to be a pirate, and you should be ready to be killed. By the same token, if you choose to kill, you should be ready for revenge."
"But I'll meet him first, and then decide."
Setting down the glass, Rayleigh rose and walked out of the bar.
"Just give him a lesson. We're the ones in the wrong here, and you're a retired old man," Shakky reminded him.
Rayleigh didn't stop; he only lifted a hand in reply.
"Why would a youngster make me feel this uneasy?"
After Rayleigh left, Shakky stubbed out her cigarette, brows knitting as she pulled a report sent back by her people.
It was a dossier on Karl, Carina, Nami, and the little dragon.
The orphanage that raised them, the places they'd worked since childhood, the pirates they'd killed, the 100 million Berries deal with Arlong… it recorded their experiences from age seven up to the commotion they caused at Water 7 with a little dragon.
If Carina were here, she'd be shocked by Shakky's dossier.
How much manpower and money would it take to compile something so detailed?
Beyond "eyes and ears everywhere," Carina would have no words to describe Shakky's intel network.
If Carina learned Shakky gathered this in under a month, her jaw would hit the floor.
What drew Shakky and Rayleigh's attention to Karl's group was that the Vivre Card Rayleigh had asked Hachi to leave—so he could rush to help if Hachi was ever in trouble—had burned out.
When Rayleigh discovered Hachi's death, he sadly told Shakky.
Then Shakky mobilized the intelligence web she'd quietly cultivated for decades to evade the Navy and old enemies.
Arlong was the true overlord of the East Blue.
Axe-Hand Morgan had once arrested a fake Kuro and got promoted to Lieutenant of the 153rd Branch, then rose smoothly through the ranks to Branch Colonel in his forties.
The branch Colonel who'd long cooperated with Karl's group naturally wouldn't pass up a chance to climb, so after Karl's crew left, he called in East Blue media to trumpet the news that he and the "Knight and Phantom Thief" had jointly destroyed the Arlong Pirates.
A bit of digging later, Shakky crossed out that branch Colonel and confirmed that Karl's group were the ones who killed Hachi.
Rayleigh had originally planned to avenge Hachi.
But after seeing what the Arlong Pirates had done in the East Blue, they both fell silent.
They knew Hachi's character—he wouldn't do those things; Arlong and his crew did.
But tolerance is also a sin.
If Hachi had died fighting pirates, or been casually killed by a bounty hunter, Rayleigh would have definitely come out of retirement to avenge him.
But Hachi died because they ruled over humans, and the other side brought help to resist and killed him.
Even Rayleigh, who once attacked a kingdom with Roger for a friend's sake, found this difficult.
If Karl's group were pirates, Rayleigh would feel no hesitation.
But they weren't: they were bounty hunters who regularly sent money back to the orphanage, never did bad things, killed only pirates, and were fourteen or fifteen—minors—from the East Blue like him.
Rayleigh's conscience wouldn't let him raise killing intent toward them.
So he said he needed to meet Karl in person, confirm his character, and then make the final decision.
If the boy's character was bad, Rayleigh would kill him and avenge Hachi.
If not, then he'd teach him a lesson to vent for the dead Hachi and give this young man a class.
Karl, on his end, clearly didn't know a formidable foe was coming.
Arriving in the hotel district, they booked a luxury suite at a certain hotel, then rode bubble cars to the First Zone—hunting for prey while seeing if the little dragon could bait a few fish.
Karl's crew were not the Straw Hats; they didn't have Iceburg and Franky owing them big favors, so they weren't about to get a Thousand Sunny just because Franky stole 200 million Berries.
What's more, they had commissioned a large ship from the world's top shipwright company, Galley-La. Even without Adam wood, the cost of timber, design, construction—every line item was the industry's highest… the total price would be 500 million Berries, with 100 million already paid as a deposit.
That's not even counting furnishings and such…
After they took delivery, they'd need another huge sum to fit out the interiors.
Another astronomical figure.
Therefore, this trip to Sabaody was not simply a vacation.
They were here to refill their coffers.
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