"Yes? Who is it...?"
A beautiful black-haired girl I'd never seen before answered. Who is she? A new hire? She looked incredibly wary of me. I didn't recognize her, but I kept it professional.
"Is Tesoro here? Tell him Krieg is here."
Her eyes stayed locked on me as she backed away slowly, then she bolted up the stairs to the second floor. He hired a strange one, I thought. A moment later, Tesoro came down the stairs.
"Yo, Krieg! You certainly made a scene, didn't you?" he said in his usual lively voice.
"Yeah. Sorry for the trouble I caused with the previous matter. Did the business with the liberated slaves get settled?"
"Yeah. Some escaped on their own, but we're planning to return a good portion of them to their homelands. It's all thanks to that lump of cash you brought in."
I'll just keep it to myself that I picked that up from the Flevance palace.
"By the way, you seem to have hired some strange employees. One of them was looking at me like I was a monster."
"Hm? Oh, sorry about that. Those three sisters are also liberated slaves. I'm planning to send them home, but their place is a bit far. I'm having an acquaintance of mine... a man named 'Ray,' look into some leads."
Wait. I just heard a name I couldn't ignore.
"Ray...?"
"Ah, I haven't told you about him? He lives in the Lawless Area. A bit of a gambling habit, but he's a top-tier coating mechanic."
I knew it! 'Ray the coating mechanic' is Silvers Rayleigh! The Dark King! The Right Hand of the Pirate King!!
"You... you're friends with Ray?"
"Oh? You know him? Well, I'm planning to have him escort the three sisters home, so I'm letting them stay here until then."
He gestured with his thumb to the second floor. I looked up and saw the black-haired girl from before, along with a blonde and a green-haired girl.
"Out of curiosity... where are they being sent?"
"Well, if it were a normal place, it would be easy, but since it's Amazon Lily, things are a bit complicated..."
Holy... as expected of a future 'Monster of the New World' and a movie final boss. He's got the touch. Not only is he connected to the former First Mate of the Roger Pirates, but he's already linked to the Boa Sisters—including the future Warlord and Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock.
"Yeah, Amazon Lily certainly isn't an easy trip. Anyway, Dr. Indigo and I will be away for a while, so I'm leaving things here to you. If anything happens, contact me on this Den Den Mushi."
I handed him a memo with the contact details.
"Got it. Leave it to me. Production-wise, I finally got an 'OK' from that stage actress I was courting. Plus, some of the liberated slaves with nowhere to go want to work here. The ship orders are finalized, too, so we're all good."
"I trust your judgment. I'm counting on you."
I gave a wave to Tesoro and the Boa sisters and headed off to pick up Dr. Indigo.
A few days passed.
"Gwahahaha! You Marines!! Who do you think I am?! Look at this poster!! I'm the man worth 390 million! Skull-Masked Teach!! If you don't want to die, stay back—GUHHAH!!"
A ship flying a skull flag had suddenly pulled alongside us. A man wearing a mask jumped aboard, flaunting the wanted poster and introducing himself, only for me to punch the lights out of him.
"...Seriously, how many does that make?"
"That makes ten so far, sir," a crewman replied.
We were currently en route to the Kingdom of Lvneel in the North Blue to deliver the summons for the world's doctors, before heading to Faus Island.
"Hey, 'Teach.' I'm busy. You're the 'Teach' who assaulted World Government officials, beat up Celestial Dragons, torched their mansions, and declared war on the Government, right? Congratulations, you're going to the lowest level of Impel Down."
"I'm..."
"You're?"
"...I'm sorry."
I gave him one more punch for good measure to make sure he stayed down.
"Tie him up like the others and throw him in the hold! I'm going back to my cabin. Contact me if anything else happens."
Leaving the crew with a chorus of "Yes, sir!", I returned to the captain's cabin where Robin was waiting.
"Welcome back, Uncle. Another fake?"
I flopped into my chair and leaned back, exhausted.
"Yeah. Those idiots at the World Government... I knew this would happen if they put a massive bounty on a masked man, but they pushed it through anyway."
"Are you okay? Want some coffee?"
"Yeah. Sorry for complaining. Let's get back to the explanation."
"Right. Like I mentioned before, the name 'Bonbori-sama' appears in several folk legends in the South Blue."
Robin began adding marks to a map spread across the desk.
"If we connect these points..."
"Hmm. It forms a semi-circle from the Calm Belt near the Red Line to the Calm Belt on the other side."
"I looked further. I didn't find the name 'Bonbori-sama' elsewhere, but I found 'Island-Eater' legends. The sightings that match Bonbori-sama's behavior are..."
She marked the other three seas in rapid succession.
"I see... In the other seas, it's also a semi-circle. It draws a circle in the East and South, and another in the West and North."
"Yes. Just as you suspected, Uncle, it seems to be migrating over a vast range over a long period. My theory is that Bonbori-sama is a unique species—a fish, or perhaps a Sea King? Moving through the tunnels under the Red Line would be trivial for a creature like that."
"I get it! It migrates in a figure-eight pattern, with the massive hole in the Red Line where Fish-Man Island is as the center!
"Exactly. So if we want to intercept it, Fish-Man Island is our best bet. How was my research?"
"Incredible! You did a great job, Robin!"
I reached out and ruffled her hair.
"Ehehehe."
Robin narrowed her eyes and gave a happy, satisfied laugh.
Despite several pirate raids involving "Fake Teaches," we safely arrived in the Kingdom of Lvneel. Robin expressed a desire to see the town, so we arranged a meeting point.
Dr. Indigo, despite my invitation, had locked himself in his room to pore over reports on Amber Lead Syndrome. That left me to deliver the letter from the World Government to the King of Lvneel.
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