Chapter 24 Seastone [VIP]
The New World, located in the second half of the Grand Route, is the most dangerous and treacherous complex sea area.
There are countless powerful pirates. Without sufficient strength, you won’t even have the chance to become someone else’s supporter.
In this environment, it is quite easy to find a chaotic and lawless island.
An imposing dragon-headed pirate ship docked at the port.
The pirates at the harbor looked at the fluttering black flag in astonishment, too frightened to even try to escape.
A group of pirates got off the ship and headed towards the chaotic and dirty main road ahead.
The pirates were stunned. Some of them even saw the main group of the Red Hair Pirates for the first time.
"The Red Hair Pirates—is that the Red Hair Pirates?"
"Of course, it's exactly the same as the one on the wanted poster. As expected of a Four Emperor, so impressive!"
Among the Four Emperors, Red-Hair Shanks is not only the youngest, but also the one with the best reputation. It is said that in the Red Hair Pirates' large fleet, there are many pirate groups that are so weak that they may not survive if they are placed in the first half.
"What are they doing here? Are they planning to take over the island?"
"It's possible, but this island isn't anything special. Forget protection money. It's a good thing we don't even have to pay into it."
The pirates discussed and speculated about the reason why the Red Hair Pirates came here.
But after guessing for a long time, no one really guessed it.
Shanks stopped walking on the damp moss on the ground and bent down to pick up a piece of newspaper with footprints on it.
This is a newspaper from a few days ago, in which Morgans, under the identity of Morgans, persuades the government and the Celestial Dragons to surrender.
Although the content repeatedly emphasizes "safety", "opportunity", "equality and order", any discerning person can see that Morgans is seeking help from the outside world in this way.
There is even a question mark as to whether he wrote the report himself.
Now all major forces are watching cautiously, and the navy has been slow to act.
No one can say for sure what the situation is like for those disappeared islands in the East China Sea now.
And just as the Red Hair Pirates were on their way to this island, another well-known island in the East China Sea disappeared.
Rogue Town, its disappearance is secondary, what is more important is what happened in Rogue Town.
Straw Hat Luffy, Buggy the Clown, and the revolutionary army leader Dragon all had their fruit abilities taken away.
When Shanks saw this information, he couldn't help but wonder if that person had a grudge against him.
If there is no grudge, why would the other party target the people he cares about?
Luffy is the new era where he gave away his arms and straw hat, and Buggy is his former shipmate.
Fortunately, the other party only took away their devil fruits and did not directly take their lives.
When Shanks received the second piece of information, the Straw Hat Pirates and Buggy had already crossed the Upside-Down Mountain and met Crocus at Gemini Cape.
With Buggy's tearful introduction, Crocus's identity as the ship doctor of Roger's pirate group was revealed without any suspense.
The Straw Hat Pirates immediately asked Crocus how to learn Haki.
After a brief thought, Kurokus recommended to them Pluto Rayleigh, who was living in seclusion in the Sabaody Archipelago.
He was once the right arm of the Pirate King Roger, and now he works as the coating craftsman Lao Lei in the Sabaody Archipelago.
If the Straw Hat Pirates really want to learn Haki, they can only follow the guidance of the recording pointer, cross one island after another, and finally arrive at the Sabaody Archipelago, find Rayleigh and become his apprentice.
Before any new information was delivered, the Red Hair Pirates had already arrived at this chaotic and lawless island.
"If we wait any longer, the navy will take action." Beckman still felt that it was very dangerous to rashly contact the man.
"Roger Town is not an ordinary island. Its disappearance will definitely make the navy take real action."
They just need to wait a little longer. Once the Seven Warlords of the Sea take action, it means that the navy is really going to take action.
"We can't wait that long, Baker," Shanks said clearly.
"I have something else I want to ask him."
Beckman sighed and stopped trying to dissuade him.
"I see."
*
This is simply—incredible!
Driving on the endless plain, Smoker's face was filled with surprise and shock.
It has been a long time since the fall of Rogue Town, and Smoker has been wandering for a long time.
Ever since he witnessed the shocking scene of Rogue Town speeding on the sea, he decided to stay for a while and see what the man wanted to do.
Maybe this is also an opportunity.
Rather than leaving and completely losing any clues about the disappeared islands, it would be better to stay and collect more information.
Compared to the navy who have already obtained identity cards and become followers of "Respected Captain Yale", he at least still retains his own thoughts and persistence.
...Maybe. At least Smoker didn't want to call the captain "Respected". He also knew that he was loyal to the navy and knew what he should do.
He wanted to be the spy who penetrated those 'missing islands' and find a way to pass information to the navy outside.
For this purpose, Smoker left Rogue Town and began to travel to other islands.
What is shocking is that the man moved Rogue Town in order to reunite it with the other disappeared islands.
Even if someone told him such an incredible thing as a story, he would still suspect that the person was drunk and talking nonsense.
But this is the reality, the man really accomplished this miraculous feat!
Smoker had observed the borders between islands and found that the difference in soil quality could be seen at the joints, but they were firmly pressed together, as if they had been glued together with strong glue.
More importantly, while everyone else needed a new citizen ID to enter and exit the border, Smoker needed nothing.
He could freely enter and exit the borders of any island, and those metal balls ignored him.
Why is this?
Smoker thought about this question seriously as he smoked his last cigar.
He came up with two different possibilities.
First, the other party didn't take him seriously at all and completely forgot about him as the one who slipped through the net.
The second possibility is completely the opposite. The other party does this on purpose. They deliberately give him freedom to see what he can do.
Both are possible. After all, in that man's eyes, he is indeed no different from an ant.
People can step on an ant to death on a whim, but they can also ignore it or let it go.
However, Smoker is no longer as eager as he was at the beginning.
Because he already knew that the disappeared islands were not destroyed, but moved, and the people on the islands were fine, and even seemed to be living better than before.
They no longer need to pay so many complicated taxes, no longer need to worry about the invasion of pirates and gangsters, and no longer need to lose their lives in order to go to another island.
They no longer needed to bow down to the nobles because there was no longer any distinction between high and low status.
Children now have a unified school to learn knowledge, and adults have stable and solid jobs.
The homeless now live in relief homes built by the city government, and the sick can get treatment in hospitals for very little money.
These islands, which had disappeared from the eyes of the outside world, achieved what men called "equality and order" in just a few months.
The more he traveled around the island, the more uneasy Smoker felt.
The people are fine, which is of course a good thing, but for some reason, he always has a kind of... lingering weird feeling.
Perhaps it was because he knew that the man could influence and even control other people's minds, so the hustle and bustle in the town and the smiles on people's faces made him feel uneasy.
It could also be because of those metal balls floating in the air, working with the police to maintain social order.
They monitor every corner of the island and pry into everyone's privacy, but no one feels disgusted by it.
Smoker felt that they were now living in a huge cocoon or crystal ball, like a group of clockwork puppets, repeating the behavior logic set by the man.
This is horrible!
If one day, that man got tired of playing house and wanted them to collectively stage a fratricidal scene, then they... would definitely happily pick up weapons and attack those around them, right?!
“Help—help—!!!”
A sudden scream interrupted Smoker's thoughts.
Without any hesitation, the man turned the car and rushed towards the place where the cry for help came from.
It was only then that Smoker realized that something was wrong.
In his previous travels, he had also seen some guys who used to be gangsters or nobles who were not satisfied with their current comfortable life and wanted to cause trouble, but as soon as they showed signs of doing so, they were thrown into the sea and their lives were unknown.
How could anyone call for help when the metal ball was guarding it so tightly?
With his guard raised, Smoker's eyes sharpened the moment he saw the situation ahead.
"Dear Captain Yale, a Den Den Mushi has received a distress message. However, analysis of the voice components of the person calling for help indicates that there is a high probability of someone orchestrating the message."
We're about to see some fun places.
Yale waved his hands impatiently, his eyes still fixed on the surveillance screen.
"Send a terminal to check it out. Take over the island first. I'll go after I finish looking at this."
"Received, respected Captain Yale!"
The shipborne elf replied loyally and began to remotely control the currently idle metal ball to fly to the place where the distress signal was sent.
Yale ignored it and picked up a black stone on the table in front of him and put it in his mouth.
This was his latest 'snack', which had been stored in the warehouse at the Rogue Town Naval Base when it was still in the form of handcuffs.
It is said to be called seastone, a crystal of the sea, which can make devil fruit users unable to use their abilities.
But to him, this kind of stone is just a low-quality energy block. If I have to describe it more vividly, it is like sugarcane - after chewing the sugar water, the rest has to be spit out.
He used high temperature to burn away the impurities, leaving only the purest energy piled up in the small bowl, which he would throw a piece into his mouth from time to time to dissolve.
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