At this moment, in Grove 13 (13GR).
"Rip-off Bar."
The lighting inside the bar was dim and yellow, with only a few scattered customers. Shakky stood leisurely behind the counter, polishing a glass, while Rayleigh sat in his usual spot, a half-finished bottle of rum in front of him.
Looking at Rayleigh, Shakky suddenly smiled and said, "Some pretty incredible guests came to the island today."
Rayleigh lifted his head, his expression slightly tipsy, and asked, "Hm? What kind of guests? Don't tell me another big-shot pirate from the New World showed up on the island?"
"Not some big-shot pirate." Shakky hung up the clean glass, picked up the newspaper that carried the report on Golden Lion's death, and pointed at the photos of Beth and Alicia on it. "It's these two 'hero' young ladies, and that little prince they protect. Right now, I'd bet every force in the island's underworld is talking about them."
The drunken haze in Rayleigh's eyes cleared a bit at once.
"They came to this island?" He took a pull of rum. "Don't tell me they're planning to head for the New World?" In Rayleigh's view, with that level of strength, if they appeared here, the only logical reason was to go on to the New World.
"Who knows?" Shakky lit the cigarette in her hand and slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke. "So that guy Golden Lion just died like this. Back when I saw he'd broken out of the prison under the sea, I actually felt relieved for him. Never thought he'd die at the hands of those two little girls. Guess our generation really has gotten old." As she spoke, Shakky sank into memories.
Hearing her, Rayleigh also thought of his own history with Golden Lion—whether it was the God Valley incident decades ago or the later Battle of Edd War. He had never imagined that this old rival of the past would end up like this in the end.
"I just hope they don't make too big a mess on the island. Otherwise this old man's coating business won't have any customers left." Rayleigh shook his head.
"Then you'd better start praying. I've heard some things—some of the Supernovas on the island who are getting ready to sail for the New World can't sit still anymore." Clearly, Shakky had her own intelligence channels.
Rayleigh wasn't surprised that Shakky knew all this. But the originally calm look on his face only grew more troubled. To Rayleigh, if the coating business dried up, that meant no money for booze.
Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 1 (1GR), backstage at the Doflamingo Family auction house.
Doflamingo was sitting on the sofa with his legs propped up on the coffee table. Trebol handed him the fresh intelligence that had just arrived.
"Fufufufufu…" Doflamingo chuckled as he read the report.
"That little prince from Lulusia? And the two women who took down Shiki? They actually came here? Things are getting more and more interesting."
"But being able to deal with that old madman Shiki, they're not to be underestimated." Though he said that, Doflamingo didn't show the slightest hint of fear. He had more than enough confidence in his own strength and wasn't afraid of them.
"So what exactly did they come here for?" Doflamingo pondered. On top of that, his auction was scheduled to begin in a few days. In his plans, this auction was meant to fully make his organization's name echo across the Underworld. At such a critical juncture, he didn't want any extra complications, any variables that could affect the auction.
"Have people keep an eye on them, but don't act rashly. Fufufufu… I want to see what they've come here to do." Doflamingo ordered Trebol.
"Understood, Young Master!" Trebol immediately left to relay Doflamingo's command.
At this time, Ronan was in his hotel room, looking at the newspapers that had been laid out on the coffee table in advance. Ronan was quite satisfied with this. Even something as small as delivering newspapers made him appreciate the hotel's service. Thanks to this, he could keep up with the major events happening all over the world while staying comfortably in the hotel.
"Mm?" Ronan had just picked up the top newspaper when the eye-catching headline on the one beneath it caught his attention.
"A legend falls! 'Flying Pirate' Golden Lion Shiki confirmed dead! Executors of justice: royal guardians of Lulusia!"
Ronan immediately picked up the lower newspaper and began reading carefully.
The entire front page headline was devoted to an introduction to Shiki and the report of his death. There were also photos of Beth and Alicia printed beside it. The caption next to the photos read clearly:
"Loyal guardians of His Highness, the second prince of the Lulusia Kingdom, Ronan-denka: Beth and Alicia. The two ladies engaged the vicious legendary pirate Golden Lion Shiki in fierce battle in a certain sea area of the Grand Line, and in the end eliminated him completely, ridding the people of a great evil!"
"So that's how it is…" Ronan muttered under his breath, instantly thinking of all the complicated and intense gazes he had felt on the short walk from the port to the hotel. So everyone had recognized Beth and Alicia.
Ronan hadn't expected that their battle with Shiki had been witnessed by someone, and that the Marines would now be broadcasting it to the world like this.
Ronan quickly worked out the Marines' intentions: using Shiki's death and Beth and Alicia's identities to both intimidate pirates and boost the prestige of the Marines and the World Government; and at the same time, using their identity as "guardians of an allied kingdom" to add some shine to the World Government's face.
"What a clever move." Ronan couldn't help but laugh, though he didn't feel any resentment about it. After all, it didn't really affect him. If anything, it meant Beth and the others had been acknowledged by the World Government; the World Government wouldn't be so quick to pull any petty tricks on Ronan's group anymore.
"But now that the paper's already reported that Shiki died at Beth and Alicia's hands… doesn't that mean we can claim Shiki's bounty?" In Ronan's mind, Berry was always the most important thing.
He immediately called for the hotel attendant and asked how to collect the bounties issued by the World Government. The attendant's answer left Ronan a little disappointed—he still needed the body or the head as proof.
"So after all that, we don't get a single benefit out of it?" Ronan was speechless and waved the attendant away.
Of course, the hotel attendant had also recognized Ronan's identity. He had been extremely nervous facing Ronan's questions. Only after seeing that Ronan wasn't going to make things difficult for him did he finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Forget it. Looks like I'll still have to make a trip to that place myself.
(End of Chapter)
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