"Hey, hey, has everyone heard? That Pirate Butcher, Christian Raleigh, has come to Loguetown."
The grimy tavern was filled with fierce-looking, heavily armed people.
In a dark corner, a man dressed like a one-eyed dragon—clearly a pirate veteran—was whispering to his companions while sharing the latest, terrifying information.
"Really? Are you sure it is that Butcher?" His companion's voice couldn't help but tremble upon hearing the name.
Christian Raleigh.
A rising, monster in the Navy.
Back in the East Blue, he had terrified the criminal underworld, forcing all pirate crews to detour entirely around his naval patrol jurisdiction.
After being transferred to the North Blue, he had compelled the local mafia to obey his commands and follow his rules in cracking down on pirates.
Now, pirates in the North Blue lived in constant misery.
Most only made brief, terrified stops for supplies before quickly fleeing the sea entirely.
They feared staying too long on any island, terrified of getting intercepted and slaughtered by the local mafia.
After all, the price Raleigh offered the underground was quite substantial—not only could they legally collect bounties from the World Government for pirate heads, but they only had to hand over half the hoarded wealth found on pirate ships to the Navy.
This brilliant, corrupt system made the mafia even more enthusiastic than the Marines when encountering pirates.
Moreover, with the Donquixote Family having secretly unified the North Blue's underworld forces under Raleigh's thumb, most previously scattered mafia groups were now consolidated into a single, lethal hunting force.
They even established so-called "pirate eradication organizations"—whenever large pirate crews were spotted, the mafia would call upon their allies and swarm them, tearing the pirates to pieces for the bounty.
Raleigh himself had personally eliminated the legendary great pirate Byrnndi World during his service in the North Blue, earning him a rapid transfer to the Grand Line based on this monumental achievement.
He had participated in the eradication plans against two dominant pirate armadas famous throughout the New World—the Golden Lion's Flying Fleet and the Whitebeard Pirates.
He had even personally taken part in the battles that killed those two legendary Great Pirates.
Beyond this, Raleigh had slaughtered numerous promising, high-bounty rookie pirates, briefly making his terrifying reputation surpass that of many veteran Marine Vice-Admirals.
Now, pirates couldn't help but tremble from the bottom of their hearts upon hearing Raleigh's name.
The pirate 'One-Eyed Dragon' gulped down a massive mouthful of cheap liquor, desperately using the alcohol to numb his brain and dispel his creeping fear of Raleigh.
"Do you think I would lie to you? It is all over the streets now! His warship is docked right at the main port, and hundreds of people saw him disembark."
The alcohol worked powerfully, and One-Eyed Dragon's previously deliberately lowered voice grew much louder.
This allowed the other tense patrons in the tavern to overhear the news of Raleigh's arrival.
Hiss.
Most of the pirates in the room collectively drew sharp breaths.
They never imagined that just wanting to watch some historical excitement might bring them face-to-face with this dreaded harbinger of death.
Immediately, many in the tavern began having serious second thoughts about staying. It wasn't that they were completely terrified, just... prudent.
Besides, reading about the execution in the newspaper later wouldn't be that different from watching it live, right?
They suddenly just wanted to leave Loguetown, to escape this gathering storm center.
However, there were always stubborn, arrogant pirates who refused to believe the hype.
This was understandable—just like everyone knows cannonballs can kill people, some idiots always stubbornly deny that a cannonball could ever kill them.
Sure enough, several reckless youngsters from the South Blue spoke up loudly from the center table.
"Fuck this Raleigh guy! Who does he think he is?!"
"In front of our Boss, he is nothing but a Marine loser! The only reason he is famous is because he never met our Boss—otherwise, his 'undefeated' myth would have been broken long ago!"
Their boss, a burly, scarred man sitting in the middle of the table, seemed quite pleased with this loud flattery.
Since setting out to sea, everything had been smooth sailing for him.
No local Navy personnel dared confront him directly, and to prove his strength, he had even attacked several small naval bases.
Although his crew hadn't completely conquered the area, they had inflicted heavy losses on the local Marines.
Since then, whenever the Navy in the South Blue spotted his pirate crew, they dared not approach.
This had fostered a highly arrogant, self-important character in the pirate captain.
In truth, most rookie pirates were exactly like this—they rarely encountered truly worthy opponents while sailing the Four Blues.
Only when their strength reached a certain level would they choose to enter the Grand Line (just like the future Don Krieg Pirate Crew).
And only by entering the Grand Line would they truly recognize their own utter insignificance.
Geniuses from small seas were as common as carp crossing a river in the Grand Line.
And in the New World, even geniuses merely possessed the bare qualification to challenge the true emperors.
The veteran pirates in the tavern were greatly astonished, never expecting someone would still dare disregard the absolute notoriety of the Pirate Butcher.
But when they looked over and realized they didn't recognize the burly man at all, they understood—this was yet another ignorant rookie who had popped up from some remote, safe corner of the world.
The veteran pirates silently withdrew their gazes, drinking their beer.
In any other place, such a loudmouthed newcomer would need to be taught a proper, bloody lesson to make him understand what it truly meant to tread the Grand Line.
However, considering Raleigh was currently in Loguetown, everyone unanimously decided not to escalate the situation and draw the Navy's attention.
Seeing everyone ignore him, the pirate captain felt his fragile pride wounded.
He slammed his heavy fist on the table and shouted:
"I really do not get why a single name could scare you all like this! Do you even have the guts to be pirates?! If you are this cowardly, you might as well go home and farm dirt!"
"Hahahahaha!"
The pirate captain's self-proclaimed humor made his loyal crew roar with laughter.
But the other, smarter pirates in the tavern were already glaring at them with deep hostility.
"Boss, well said!"
"They have all crawled out of the same piles of corpses we have! This Raleigh doesn't have an extra head compared to anyone else!"
"Heh, you cowards. When our Blood Wolf Pirate Crew reaches the Grand Line, you had better hope you do not run into us."
The pirate captain's subordinates chimed in with endless flattery, further inflating their already swollen-headed captain.
The combination of cheap rum and his crew's praise completely stripped the pirate captain of his reason.
With a grand, sweeping wave of his hand, he declared loudly:
"That Raleigh guy better not show his face in front of me, or else—!"
"Or else what?"
An exceptionally calm voice cut in from outside the door.
Creak.
The heavy tavern door swung open from the outside.
The bustling noise of the street spilled in for a moment before the door shut.
A tall man walked in.
He was extraordinarily handsome, dressed in a pristine white Marine coat, but his face was frozen in an impenetrable layer of ice.
His eyes were piercingly cold.
The veteran pirates in the tavern only had to glance at him once before their legs began trembling violently, their heads practically begging to hide under the tables.
Those sitting farther from the door had already subtly tensed their muscles, ready to flee through the windows at any moment.
Though they knew the chances of escaping the Pirate Butcher's grasp were slim to none, who wouldn't prefer trying to live over dying?
Now, they could only pray this harbinger of doom was in a good mood today and wouldn't unleash a bloodbath in the crowded tavern.
Some pirates were already so terrified of Raleigh they seriously considered dropping their weapons and surrendering right there, cold sweat pouring from their foreheads.
The burly pirate captain who had been spouting bold words just moments ago now had sweat cascading down his face like a waterfall.
His alcohol-numbed brain instantly sobered up.
He realized exactly who had just walked in and what he had just loudly said, his scarred face turn deathly pale!