After hammering iron for a while, Valthior went into the sea to wash off the sweat.
When he came back, Roger had already woken up and was sitting on a lounge chair, reading the newspaper Gaban had brought.
"There's no way Red would cooperate with Shiki. I really don't know what Shiki was thinking—he's got the nerve to even approach him?" Roger casually complained while reading.
"You're pretty familiar with that Red Count?" Valthior sat down beside Roger, picked up an unopened bottle from the table, and asked.
"Not that familiar, but we get along pretty well. That guy is very meticulous. Even though he calls himself a pirate, he's actually got a very pure heart," Roger said with some emotion.
"Pure?" Valthior blew on the bottle, chilling it before taking a swig, then asked curiously.
"Yeah, pure. Can you imagine it? He only plunders the World Government's wealth, and he even secretly distributes what he steals to poor families…" Roger said with a grin.
"Hm?" Valthior rubbed his chin, feeling like this sounded oddly familiar.
Ah, right—Whitebeard!
Although Whitebeard didn't limit himself to targeting the World Government, that guy also liked playing the role of a "charitable donor" behind the scenes, secretly sending his treasure back to his hometown, Sphinx Island.
To the point where he himself was dirt poor—when he wanted to drink, he had to put it on Rocks' tab.
Now that he had formed his own crew, he was probably putting it on his "sons'" tabs instead.
Speaking of which, not long ago, the newspapers mentioned that the Whitebeard Pirates had expanded further—the "Ice Witch" Whitey Bay of the New World had joined his crew.
Without lingering on the topic of Redfield, Valthior took the newspaper from Roger and began reading it himself.
"Isn't this Garp? He's already gone to the New World… that was fast!" Valthior said as he read.
Just not long ago, they had run into him in Alabasta. It hadn't even been two months, and that guy had already made his way to the New World?
What route did he take to move that quickly?
Garp didn't take up much space in the paper. It mentioned that he had clashed with the Happo Navy in the New World. Their current leader, Chinjao, had fought Garp on an island for an entire day before managing to escape just before being surrounded by the Marines.
The fact that he could escape from Garp under those circumstances showed that the Happo Navy had some real strength.
Chinjao's bounty had also been raised to 360 million Berries.
That level was already close to the top executives tier of the former Rocks Pirates.
At present, bounties hadn't inflated as much as they would in later years. Even Whitebeard's bounty was only 745 million Berries.
Shiki, on the other hand, had been causing all sorts of chaos these past couple of years and was the hottest name in the New World. His bounty had surpassed Whitebeard's, reaching 870 million Berries.
As for the Roger Pirates, there had been no movement at all. Roger's bounty still hovered at 532 million Berries.
Rayleigh and Gaban were at over 400 million and just over 300 million respectively. The others each had their own bounties as well, ranging from tens of millions to over a hundred million.
Valthior… zero.
After chatting briefly with Roger about Garp, Valthior learned that Chinjao could be considered one of Garp's "rivals." The two first met in the West Blue and had formed a grudge ever since. Over the years, they had clashed at least four or five times.
However, Chinjao wasn't a pure pirate—he had the backing of a royal family from a World Government-affiliated nation, which made it difficult for the Marines to deal with him directly.
"Even though Chinjao is pretty strong, I don't think he's any match for Garp. Honestly, I think Garp's just using him to train his fists. After all, that guy's head is really hard," Roger commented.
Valthior agreed with that assessment.
Chinjao was impressive—but there was no way he was on equal footing with Garp.
Not dwelling on that topic, Valthior soon noticed another piece of gossip.
"Oh? Whitebeard got married?" Valthior said with a surprised expression.
"That's a one-sided announcement. I don't even need to read it to know—it must've been Stussy spreading that," Roger said with a curl of his lip.
Since they had visited Hachinosu many times, even though they were technically enemies, the Roger Pirates and the Rocks Pirates were actually quite familiar with each other—and well aware of each other's gossip.
For example, Whitebeard—he was the object of Buckingham Stussy's unrequited love. The rumors and gossip between the two were widely known among top-tier pirates.
Although decades later Stussy's looks and figure would completely collapse, at this point in time, she was undeniably a renowned beauty of the seas.
"So Whitebeard really doesn't have any kind of intimate relationship with her?" Valthior asked curiously.
He was quite interested in this bit of gossip.
Especially since, after Newgate's death, Stussy even produced a so-called "Whitebeard Jr.," claiming it was the product of her love with Newgate!
At the mention of this, Roger sat up slightly, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"When I drank with Newgate, he firmly denied having any intimate relationship with Stussy. But… how should I put it… there were several times I saw Stussy sitting on his shoulders, and Newgate didn't seem to resist at all. So I feel like there's something unusual going on between them…"
"Ah, I get it. A scumbag," Valthior grinned. "Newgate doesn't initiate, doesn't take responsibility, and doesn't refuse, right?"
"Huh? That's actually a pretty accurate summary!" Roger said, momentarily stunned.
"Weren't you the same way with Gloriosa?" Valthior suddenly asked.
Gloriosa—later known as Elder Nyon of Amazon Lily.
Like Stussy, although her looks would completely fall apart decades later, at this point in time, she was also a rare beauty of the seas.
And purely from the perspective of aging, Shakky—of the same generation—truly lived up to her title as the world's most beautiful woman. Even decades later, though she declined somewhat, she still far surpassed Stussy and Gloriosa by more than a tier.
"How can you slander me out of nowhere!?" Roger immediately panicked, hurriedly denying it. "I absolutely did not—"
As he spoke, he glanced around nervously, as if afraid Shakky might overhear.
But soon, he froze for a moment. What was he even worrying about?
Thinking of his good buddy Rayleigh and Shakky's solid relationship, Roger slumped back into the lounge chair, suddenly uninterested.
"Anyway, there's nothing between me and Gloriosa. I'm not a scumbag like Newgate!"
Valthior shot him a disdainful look, his expression full of contempt.
You're even worse than Newgate, alright? You're practically dying and still went and got involved with Rouge, leaving behind a whole mess of tragedy.
Wasting no more time on this "scumbag," Valthior continued reading the newspaper. Before long, his attention was drawn to a rather minor piece of news.
The New World—War Nation Galzburg!
This country had once again achieved a brilliant victory in its war against a neighboring nation. They had begun heavily recruiting child soldiers as fresh blood, and so on…
In the accompanying photo, Valthior saw the country's general giving a speech, praising the best-performing child soldier as a hero of the nation.
That person—
Was Douglas Bullet!
According to the newspaper, although he was only ten years old, he was already an exceptionally powerful warrior and had rendered great service in this war.
Looking at this report, Valthior's expression turned slightly puzzled.
Because Bullet would later join the Roger Pirates, Valthior remembered him quite clearly.
But if he recalled correctly, Bullet should have only been called a national hero at the age of fourteen, right?
At ten years old, he hadn't even eaten the Gasha Gasha no Mi (Clank-Clank Fruit) yet—that happened when he was thirteen.
Had something changed due to certain factors?
Even though he was only ten, the photo in the newspaper showed a face full of "worldly weariness"—he didn't look like someone under twenty at all.
Then again, from what he remembered, when Bullet boarded their ship at fifteen, he already looked like he was thirty.
You could only say—
That kid just looked old for his age.
...
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