Snap!
Shakky's cocktail shaker suddenly paused, the smile on her face instantly freezing.
In the corner sofa, Rayleigh's seemingly relaxed body also stiffened abruptly. He slowly lowered the newspaper in front of him, his face filled with surprise.
He hadn't expected that despite living in seclusion on Sabaody Archipelago for a year without being discovered, some random kid would recognize his identity right away.
Rayleigh tried hard to suppress the waves in his heart, forcing a simple, honest smile onto his face: "Who?" He feigned confusion, scratching his head. "Young man, you've got the wrong person, haven't you?"
"I'm just an old man who coats ships, others call me Old Ray the Coater."
"Is that so?" Wayne shrugged. "Then maybe I saw wrong."
As soon as he finished speaking, Wayne pulled out "Ace," placed it on the table, then casually crossed his legs, tapping his fingers lightly on the bar counter, and whistling.
The moment "Ace" appeared, Rayleigh's gaze was drawn to it like a magnet, fixed firmly on it.
Rayleigh suddenly sprang up from the sofa, his movement so forceful that he even knocked over the small side table next to him, and a wine glass crashed to the floor with a clatter.
"This, this is! Roger's 'Ace'!"
"It...how did it end up in your hands?!"
Wayne turned his head and glanced at Rayleigh: "Old man, who are you? Why should I tell you?"
Rayleigh's face darkened, but to find out why "Ace" was in this kid's hands, he still forced a smile: "Hehe, well, didn't you recognize me?"
"I'm Dark King Rayleigh!"
"Tch~" Wayne raised his chin, his tone somewhat disdainful: "Do you think I'm an idiot? Just now you said you were Old Ray the Coater, and now you say you're Dark King Rayleigh. Do you have any proof?"
Rayleigh's smile faltered, thinking that this kid's personality was truly awful. He was completely cornered.
"Hehe, I was just joking with you earlier." Rayleigh quickly walked to the bar and whispered to Shakky: "Give me my wanted poster."
Shakky scoffed, bent down, and pulled an old wanted poster from a cabinet, handing it to Rayleigh. Their eyes met, full of teasing, as if to say, 'You've got it coming to you today.'
"Young man, look." Rayleigh mimicked the "resolute" expression on the wanted poster, which was not just very similar, but exactly the same.
Wayne crossed his arms, examining the wanted poster and Rayleigh, and asked with a frown: "Is this you?"
"It's me."
"Is that so?"
"Back then~ I was still very young, my hair wasn't white, and my beard wasn't that long." (T/N: Why is his hair white already? Roger was executed not long ago)
Wayne waved his hand: "Then, to put it plainly, you still don't look the same. You say you're Rayleigh, then you need to provide proof. Show me your Roger Pirates crew member ID, First Mate ID, Roger's Right Hand ID, and Dark King ID?"
...Rayleigh clenched his fists. He had been in seclusion for so long and had never been this angry. He really wanted to punch this little brat to death.
"Look at what you're saying. The Roger Pirates didn't have any of those IDs you mentioned. Neither the Roger Pirates nor any pirate crew on the Grand Line had any crew member IDs or any other IDs you're talking about." Rayleigh (with a fake smile)
"Then I'm sorry, without these IDs, you can't prove you're Rayleigh, and naturally, I can't tell you how this sword came to be."
"Haa~" Rayleigh took a deep breath, then exhaled with a tremor. Now he really wanted to slap himself from 2 minutes ago for playing dumb. How much better it would have been if he had just admitted it when someone recognized him? Why did he have to pretend?
Because Wayne didn't speak, and Rayleigh didn't speak, the atmosphere suddenly became somewhat silent.
Finally, Wayne laughed: "Why are you all so serious? I was just joking, of course I know you're Rayleigh!"
"Hehe, hahaha." Rayleigh gave an awkward laugh, muttering under his breath: "Kid, has anyone ever told you that you're very annoying?"
"Tch~ Plenty of people want to beat me up, what's one more? Alright, let's get down to business." Wayne walked to the bar, took the cocktail from Shakky's hand, took a sip, and said: "I do know some things about Roger before and after his execution, but if you want me to tell you, you'll have to help me with a small favor."
"What favor? Just say it, as long as I can do it." Rayleigh's expression was very sincere, because he truly wanted to know.
A year ago, after the Roger Pirates disbanded, he, Gaban, Crocus, and a few other idle old guys followed Roger's advice to live in seclusion in different places, and then completely lost contact with Roger.
Therefore, Rayleigh was truly very curious about what happened during that year Roger disappeared.
"First, I need a map of the West Blue and the Eternal Pose for Alberby Island on the Grand Line."
"No problem." Rayleigh looked at Shakky, "You should have them, right?"
Shakky lit a cigarette and said lightly: "Of course, otherwise, wouldn't I be a useless informant?"
"That's good then." Rayleigh looked at Wayne, motioning for him to continue.
"Second, I heard that back then, you, Roger, and Shakky were in a love triangle. It seemed that Gloriosa, the Captain of the Kuja Pirates, liked Roger, Roger liked Shakky, the First Mate of the Kuja Pirates, and Shakky liked you."
"So the question is, who did you like back then?"
"Huh?" Hearing this question, Rayleigh's old face immediately flushed. No, did that scoundrel Roger even tell him this? Sure enough, was he still jealous of his handsomeness?
"This..." Rayleigh turned to look at Shakky, who smiled back: "Why are you looking at me? Is the answer on my face? Actually, I'm also very curious, who did you prefer back then?"
"I, this I, I like..." Rayleigh rubbed the back of his head, stammering for a long time without being able to complete a full sentence.
A glint flashed in Wayne's eyes: "Aha! I know! Looking at your embarrassed expression, the person you like wouldn't be Roger, would it!"
"Nani!" * 2
Rayleigh and Shakky's expressions instantly collapsed, especially Shakky. She really started to suspect if Rayleigh liked Roger.
After all, after she started following him, this old man always loved to bring up Roger, constantly talking about how good Roger was... "You brat, don't talk nonsense! I've only ever liked women!"
"Hahahaha, just kidding, I hope Rayleigh-san doesn't mind." Wayne raised his glass to toast Rayleigh, then walked back to his seat.
"I have no other requests. What do you want to know? Ask away."
"Wait!" Shakky interrupted Wayne, grabbing Rayleigh's collar and demanding: "You haven't answered the question yet! Who did you really like back then?"
"I, this, of course I liked you."
"You hesitated, you're lying! Tell me, who did you really like?"