"Zakri, is it?" Raleigh's voice was casual, as if he'd just bumped into him in the mess hall.
"I heard you were looking for me."
The blood on Raleigh's uniform was still wet.
It hadn't even begun to dry.
He paired this gruesome, battlefield-fresh sight with a relaxed, almost lazy smile on his handsome face.
he contrast was terrifying.
Zakri's brain simply shut down.
He wasn't a fighter; he was a political appointee.
This... this monster had just slaughtered an Ancient Zoan pirate and his entire crew.
Zakri's legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground, his expensive, custom-tailored uniform puddling around him.
He trembled, his teeth chattering as he stammered the only defense he'd ever known.
"My... my father! He's a high-ranking official in the World Government!"
Raleigh just looked bored.
"Yeah, I know. I read your file. But do I need to remind you of the charge for conspiring with pirates to attack a Marine officer? That's a capital offense, a firing squad offense. I don't think daddy's position gets you out of that one."
"No, please! I'm willing to pay!" Zakri shrieked, the words tumbling out.
As if remembering something, he scrambled forward on his knees.
"I'm very wealthy! My father is, too! If you're willing to spare my life, I'll pay a huge sum! I'll pay anything to atone for my mistakes!"
"Money?" Raleigh stroked his chin.
He personally wasn't short of money.
But... if he wanted to develop his own forces, build his own bases, and fund his own slacking, he would definitely need Belly's support.
This thing—the more, the better.
"So," Raleigh said, crouching down to Zakri's level, his smile unchanged.
"How much Belly are you planning to pay to redeem your life?"
Hearing the clear interest in Raleigh's tone, Zakri saw a sliver of hope.
"One hundred million Belly! I'm willing to pay one hundred million Belly!"
In this era, one hundred million Belly was an enormous fortune.
Raleigh had just extorted the same amount from the World Government officials, and that was for a military budget.
For Zakri to personally produce that much showed he was truly, filthy wealthy.
Raleigh's silent, thoughtful expression made Zakri's heart, which had just calmed down, tense up again.
"Lord... Lord Raleigh... is there something unreasonable about this amount?"
Raleigh nodded, his expression simple.
"Too little."
Zakri was a fat fish.
A very fat fish.
Not to mention his family, just what he had embezzled over the years in the Kingdom of Eryoka was certainly more than a mere hundred million.
Raleigh figured he could still squeeze out more.
Gritting his teeth, his face pale with financial agony, Zakri said fiercely.
"Two hundred million Belly! That's my bottom line! Any more and I'd... I'd rather you just kill me!"
The money Zakri had embezzled hadn't even reached that much, meaning he would have to spit out all his ill-gotten gains and still have to call his father for part of it.
Raleigh, a keen observer of desperation, knew that sometimes pushing people too far could backfire.
"Fine," he said, standing up. "Two hundred million it is. A pleasure doing business with you."
He turned, as if the whole incident was forgotten.
"The World Government hired me to get things done here. You can take your people with you, or you can leave them here. I don't care. I only have one requirement."
He paused at the door.
"Anyone who disobeys my orders will face Military Law. Understood?"
Zakri, still on the floor, nodded frantically.
There was nothing to discuss.
Raleigh had gained the upper hand in this struggle.
Causing trouble behind the scenes would be pointless and would likely offend Raleigh permanently.
Though foolish, Zakri knew there were certain types of people you shouldn't provoke, especially someone like Raleigh who was both monstrously powerful and, somehow, still well-connected.
Zakri's departure from the office effectively gave Raleigh complete control over all Marines forces within the Kingdom of Eryoka.
"Raleigh." Gion's voice was sharp.
She'd entered the bloody office just as Zakri scrambled out, her eyes fixed on the piles of pirate corpses being dealt with on the street.
"That was your doing, right?" She looked at him, her arms crossed.
"You've gotten stronger. Again." She sounded, to Raleigh's internal amusement, deeply dissatisfied.
Gion was a competitive person.
In all the time she had been with Raleigh, she had never, not once, seen him do any serious training.
These past couple of days, he had even coaxed her to relax, saying it would help her improve more effectively.
Gion gritted her teeth in frustration.
'Right. You improved. I didn't improve at all! How... how annoying!'
"Mm, have the soldiers handle them," Raleigh said calmly, as if he hadn't heard her.
He was already shouting orders at Cleveland.
"Oh, and make sure to credit all the military merits to Cleveland and the soldiers. Every last one." He said it as he stretched, already settling into the (blood-free) commander's chair.
Getting subordinates to risk their lives was, in his opinion, quite simple.
Other officers just needed to not withhold pay or steal military honors to gain a large, loyal following.
Raleigh did this for two reasons: first, to secure the absolute loyalty of his subordinates.
And second, to avoid having his own name pop up at headquarters.
He didn't want to get a reputation that would get him sent to the Grand Line to fight bitterly against pirates alongside those over-caffeinated admirals.
Pirates on the Grand Line were as numerous as the hairs on an ox.
No, thank you.
Just as Raleigh was busy (and already bored) reorganizing the Marines forces from the four branch bases, the Self-Defense Army, deep beneath their feet, was also bustling with activity.
....
Deep in the Eryoku Mines
"You're saying there are already established organizations here? And they're willing to make contact with us?"
In a dark, damp mine shaft, Dragon and another Freedom Fighter soldier were exchanging intelligence.
"Yes, leader," the soldier said with conviction. "According to them, they're from the 'Miner's Association' of the Eryoku Kingdom."
"Oh?" Dragon's interest was piqued. "That's interesting. I thought the people here were in the same state as the citizens of the other kingdoms we've seen—beaten down, hopeless."
"I didn't expect there to be such individuals. We must meet them." Dragon had no reason to doubt it, and he was more than confident in his own strength.
He contacted the soldiers scattered across the various mine shafts.
Through a member of the Miner's Association, they arranged a meeting with the chairman.
The leader had a... very distinctive appearance.
He was bald, with no eyebrows, and an unusual, lumpy skull structure, making him look quite ferocious.
He was also extremely tall, even taller than Dragon, estimated to be over three meters.
Moreover, through his Observation Haki, Dragon sensed that this person had, at the very least, the strength of a Marines Rear Admiral.
"Who exactly are you people," the bald man asked, "and what is your purpose here?"
When he spoke, his voice took Dragon and the other cadres completely by surprise.
No one had expected such a massive, intimidating figure to have such a... weak, high-pitched, reedy voice.
It was like a mouse squeaking from inside a steel drum.
If not for the dead quiet of the mine shaft and Dragon's focused attention, they might not have heard him clearly.
Dragon, ever the stoic leader, managed to keep a straight face.
But Swore, one of his men standing nearby, let out an uncontrollable Pfft! He clapped a hand over his mouth, his shoulders shaking.
The bald man's face flushed with embarrassment.
He balled his giant fists.
"Are you... are you mocking me?!" he shouted. B
ut shouting only made it funnier.
His voice just got squeakier, not louder.
This, of course, was too much for Swore.
He lost it, bursting into full-blown, wheezing laughter.
"You bastard!" the man squeaked in rage. "Crow Kill them!"
He thrust his hand forward.
In an instant, a black, shadowy something materialized in his hand, looking like a solidified, sharp-beaked crow.
It was clearly a Devil Fruit ability.
The shadow-crow shot from his hand like a bullet, aimed right at Swore.
The glint on its beak made it clear this was no joke.
The bald man was aiming for a non-lethal area, but he was attacking.
Before it could hit, Dragon moved.
"Dragon Claw." His hand, shaped into a peculiar three-fingered claw, shot out and intercepted the shadow-crow, grasping it effortlessly.
"Impressive," Dragon said, studying the "crow" in his hand as it dissolved into shadow.
"I've never seen a Devil Fruit ability quite like this."
The bald man looked on in disbelief, stunned that his attack had been caught so easily.
"Flock Crow Raid!" he roared, and this time dozens of the shadow-crows erupted from all over his body, flying at Dragon's group.
"Hiss. Quite troublesome," Dragon said, his expression unchanged.
He didn't retreat. He swept his hand forward.
His "Dragon Claw" technique was suddenly wreathed in a powerful, cutting gust of invisible wind—an ability he had been honing.
The wind shredded the incoming flock of shadow-crows like they were paper.
In the next instant, before the bald man could even react or summon more, Dragon had closed the distance.
His hand, still wreathed in wind, clamped down on the giant's shoulder.
"Don't move."
---------
Please Read My new One Piece fic : You call this a Pirate ?
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator