The town of Whisky Peak. The residents were currently loitering around the streets with absolutely nothing to do.
Due to its prominent geographical location as the first stop on one of the Grand Line's seven initial routes, the number of pirate crews that invaded this island was innumerable. Gradually, the civilians who couldn't survive the constant raids either fled the island or were forced to change professions.
No one knew exactly when it started, but the primary profession of almost every resident in town had become 'bounty hunter'. The chefs were bounty hunters, the bartenders were bounty hunters, the brewers were bounty hunters, and the musicians were bounty hunters.
Eventually, professional bounty hunters from other regions caught wind of the location and began flocking here. It was safe to say that every single person living on this island was a licensed killer for hire.
Whisky Peak thus evolved into the infamous Bounty Hunter Town. But the arrogant, starry-eyed rookie pirates fresh out of the four Blues didn't know that.
The residents of Whisky Peak loved to put on a grand facade of warm hospitality, singing and dancing to lower the rookies' guards. Then, when the pirates were completely drunk and defenseless, the town would slaughter them and cash in their bounties.
"Look! A ship is approaching!"
The originally quiet, bored town instantly sprang to life.
"Is it a pirate ship?!" "I hope it's a big fish this time! The last pirate captain didn't even have a 10-million Berry bounty, yet he still dared to sail the Grand Line!" "Don't any of you fight me for this one! It's finally my turn to make a kill!" "Bah! Is this your first day on the job? Finders keepers! Whoever gets them first claims the bounty!"
The bustling, bloodthirsty commotion didn't last long. As the ship drew closer, they quickly realized it wasn't flying the Jolly Roger they were so eagerly anticipating.
"Tch."
A large portion of the crowd simply turned around and went back inside their homes. Rookie pirates fresh to the Grand Line were usually at the absolute peak of their arrogance; under normal circumstances, they would never lower their pirate flags. If there was no flag, it likely wasn't a pirate crew.
However, a small faction of the bounty hunters didn't give up so easily. Perhaps this was just a low-profile pirate crew that had tucked their flag away to avoid the Marines.
"No welcoming ceremony? Don't tell me the whole 'singing and dancing to welcome pirates' shtick was a play orchestrated by Baroque Works after they integrated the bounty hunters here?" Bardock muttered in confusion as the White Dragon approached the shore. The scene was completely different from what he had expected.
"What are you talking about? Is there something wrong with this place?" Robin asked, observing the people on the docks. She felt that their smiles were incredibly stiff and unnatural.
"It's nothing. Just that every single person down there is a bounty hunter."
Bardock turned his head to Perona. "Perona, have your ghosts guard the ship like usual. We're all going ashore."
"Why didn't you say that sooner?" Robin quickly turned on her heel and walked briskly back to her cabin. She wasn't afraid of bounty hunters, but her whereabouts being leaked to the World Government would cause endless trouble. She needed a disguise.
"Alright. But honestly, the islands on the Grand Line don't seem like much! The people down there look completely ordinary!" Perona remarked, leaning over the railing. She had originally assumed that only absolute monsters could survive in the Grand Line. Now it seemed she had been overthinking it.
"The vast majority of people on the sea are ordinary," Bardock said, looking up at the massive, spherical mountains dominating the island's skyline. "I'll show you what makes this island extraordinary later."
It didn't take long for Robin to return. Having multiple hands made getting ready incredibly fast. She had applied some makeup and put on a wide-brimmed hat and dark sunglasses. She had considered wearing a face mask as well, but ultimately decided against it; trying too hard to hide would only draw more suspicion.
"Perfect! Though honestly, even if you didn't disguise yourself, they probably wouldn't recognize you. The picture on your wanted poster is still from when you were an eight-year-old girl," Bardock smiled. He mentally compared the two Robins. The difference was night and day.
"Better safe than sorry. I don't want to spend our first few weeks in the Grand Line running from the Marines." Robin cherished her current life deeply. If possible, she hoped the World Government would never find her again.
At that moment, the ship finally docked.
"Time to disembark! Follow me!"
Bardock leaped directly from the deck onto the pier. The rest of the crew were far more normal, choosing to walk down the gangway to the dock.
The moment the remaining bounty hunters got a clear look at Bardock's group, their stiff, welcoming smiles completely vanished. They really weren't pirates.
Bardock casually glanced around the crowd and pointed at a specific man. "Hey, you. The chubby brother in the chef's uniform. Come over here for a second."
The chubby chef pointed at himself. Seeing that Bardock was indeed referring to him, he waddled over. "Don't call me 'chubby brother'. My name is Baker. What do you want?"
"Baker, we're hungry. If you're a chef, take us to your restaurant!" Bardock said, patting his stomach.
Baker nodded enthusiastically. His side job actually was being a chef, and his culinary skills were decent enough that the pirate crews he had cooked for in the past were always highly satisfied (before he murdered them, anyway). "Follow me."
Clang.
As Baker turned around, a sharp dagger—likely improperly secured—fell out of his apron and hit the cobblestone.
The scene fell completely silent. Everyone stared down at the lethal blade.
Baker quickly wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "Ah, haha! I'm a chef! It's perfectly reasonable for me to carry a sharp knife to cut meat, right?"
He awkwardly bent over to pick up the knife. Bending down was difficult for a man of his girth; he wasn't exactly a flexible martial artist. As his stomach squished against his clothes, a loaded flintlock pistol slipped out of his chef's uniform and clattered onto the ground next to the knife.
Clatter.
Bardock genuinely felt secondhand embarrassment for the guy. "Your town gets invaded by a lot of pirates, so carrying a gun for self-defense is also perfectly reasonable, right?"
"Right, right, exactly! You get it! I just carry this gun for show, to give myself some courage!" Baker stammered, blushing furiously. He quickly scooped up the knife and gun and shoved them back into his clothes. "Just follow me. My cooking is absolutely delicious."
"Then we'll have to order a lot. My appetite is pretty massive," Bardock grinned.
As Bardock's group followed the chef deeper into the town, the rest of the crowd dispersed. Only a few individuals remained at the port.
One of them rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 'That group isn't simple. They didn't show the slightest bit of concern that anyone here might mean them harm. Should I contact the Boss? If I successfully recommend them for recruitment, I should be able to get a promotion. I could become a Billions agent.'
The other remaining bounty hunters watched Bardock's group disappear down the street before turning their greedy gazes toward the docked White Dragon. Exchanging knowing looks and nodding, they temporarily left the pier as well, formulating a plan to hijack the beautiful vessel.
Baker hadn't been bragging; his food genuinely tasted good. Perhaps it was because he used exotic Grand Line ingredients that Bardock and the others had never tasted before. Regardless, they ate a mountain of it, leaving the chef completely exhausted.
"Let's go. I'll take you on a walk to digest the food," Bardock said, standing up after having his fill. He was going to show his crew the cruel reality of the Grand Line.
Atop one of the giant, cactus-shaped mountains.
Perona felt a chill run down her spine as she stared out at the landscape. The entire mountain wasn't covered in cactus needles—it was covered in dense, endless clusters of tombstones. There were hundreds of thousands of them.
"Why... why are there so many graves here?" Perona asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"Some of these graves belong to pirates. Some belong to bounty hunters. And some belong to the original, innocent residents of this island," Bardock explained calmly.
"Boss, do battles happen here frequently?" Daz Bonez asked, looking over the sprawling graveyard.
"This is the first stop on one of the seven initial routes of the Grand Line, and it's centrally located. Countless pirates make landfall here every single year," Bardock said, the wind ruffling his hair. "Right now, in the town below, you'd be hard-pressed to find a single resident who isn't a bounty hunter. It's a town built on endless slaughter."
"The World Government really does absolutely nothing, do they?" Robin remarked bitterly, looking over the graves. Some were heavily weathered by decades of time, while others looked as if they had been freshly dug yesterday.
"If this place is such a massive choke-point, why don't the Marines just station heavy garrisons at the starting points of the seven routes? Or directly at Twin Capes?" Sai asked, genuinely trying to understand the military logistics. "They could easily weed out the rookies before they even enter Paradise."
"You'd have to ask the World Government about that," Bardock replied cryptically, his golden eyes narrowing. "But perhaps... they don't actually want to completely eradicate piracy. Think about it. Without the constant, looming threat of bloodthirsty pirates terrorizing the seas, why would the allied nations willingly pay the astronomical 'Heavenly Tribute' every year for Marine protection?"
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