Soon, the two newcomers signed the agreement with excitement and left.
The Cowboy Hat Woman watched their retreating figures with a distant gaze, lost in thought.
The Den Den Mushi on the table suddenly rang with a "Bruru Bruru" sound.
She ignored it at first, sitting quietly until the Den Den Mushi seemed to grow hoarse from ringing. Finally, she gently picked up the receiver:
"What is it, Boss?"
"Those two newcomers, they've been recruited, right?"
A deep, magnetic male voice came from the other end of the line. "Once you're done with that, head straight to Port Rainbase immediately. Put everything else aside for now."
"Did something happen?"
"That girl has escaped. Mr.1 has already set out from the capital to pursue her. You'll encircle her from Port Rainbase. The day of the Hanafuda trade is approaching, and she's a crucial bargaining chip. We can't let her escape from Alabasta."
"Understood. But Boss, aren't you supposed to be near Port Rainbase right now? Why go through the trouble of calling me back instead of handling it yourself?"
"Because I have something more important to attend to."
The deep voice let out a cold snort. "Marine Headquarters has just assigned me a rather troublesome target. I need to prioritize cooperating with them. Otherwise, all the effort I've put into this act would have been for nothing."
Click!
The call ended. The Cowboy Hat Woman propped her chin on her hand, leaning on the table, tilting her head slightly.
A troublesome target?
For years now, the Boss had been diligently playing the role of a national hero.
He'd been hunting Pirates everywhere, sending them in batches to the Marines, earning himself the title of the most trustworthy ally among the Warlords of the Sea from Marine Headquarters.
So, this target must also be a Pirate.
But in the few months she'd been part of Baroque Works, this was the first time she'd heard the proud Boss use the word "troublesome" to describe the rookies in Paradise.
She raised an eyebrow.
Oh my, could it be…
Has Marine Headquarters tasked the Boss with dealing with that rising star among the newcomers?
…
Under the lighthouse at Twin Cape.
Five or six hours had quickly passed, and it was now afternoon. This was the minimum time required for the Log Pose to fully charge with magnetic energy at Twin Cape.
Now that the magnetic energy was fully charged, it was time to set sail.
The mess left after the feast had already been cleaned up. After a short rest, everyone emerged from the cabin and was surprised to see the spotless deck.
"Wow! It's been cleaned up so quickly, and it's so clean!"
"It looks even newer than when we first left the shipyard!"
"Of course."
Smoker tossed the broom and mop aside, puffing out a cloud of smoke with a proud tilt of his chin. "With the help of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, such a trivial task is nothing worth mentioning."
Using Shave to move at high speed, combined with his elementalized smoke body, he could achieve a thorough, all-encompassing cleaning, sweeping away dirt and dust.
Even the hard-to-reach corners couldn't escape his grasp.
Nami facepalmed.
Seriously, everyone here is a Logia-type Devil Fruit Ability User.
But the thing you're proud of… is a bit odd, isn't it?
"Let's go, let's go! Thanks for the hospitality~!" Crocus had already boarded his own small boat, waving goodbye with a hearty laugh. Laboon let out a long, mournful cry beside him.
Zeff stepped forward and gave a big bear hug. The two old men, who had left a small grudge from their last meeting, had now reconciled after a feast.
Before turning away, Crocus took a deep look at the twin lighthouses bathed in golden sunlight.
Just as everyone thought the old man, who had guarded the lighthouse for decades, was about to say some heartfelt words to his long-time companions, they heard Crocus lament with great distress:
"Today is already the 29th! Damn it, just two more days of work, and I could have gotten this month's salary!"
So that's what you're concerned about!! Everyone was floored.
...
After leaving Twin Cape, the Sunset continued its journey.
There are a total of seven routes in the Grand Line, and as the Captain, Xiano naturally chose the Whiskey Peak - Little Garden route.
He was eager to meet the two legendary giants from a century ago and reap some benefits along the way.
[You sacrificed Crocus's single bed, gained 1100 Points]
[You sacrificed Smoker's cigar box, gained 900 Points]
[You sacrificed Gaban's cloak, gained 3200 Points]
These were the freshly harvested benefits, along with the previous 400 from Laboon, which caused Xiano's remaining Points to skyrocket by 5600, reaching a total of 41100.
Xiano was quite satisfied with this.
This was only the first stop after entering the Grand Line, and the harvest was already far beyond expectations.
After the sailing stabilized, he glanced at Nami, who was lying on the table drawing nautical charts, quietly brought her a glass of orange soda, and then headed to the training room to practice.
Passing by the other two training rooms, he could hear the constant dull thuds coming from inside.
Kuina was at the open-air kendo training ground on the second floor, so the two inside must be Nojiko and, presumably, Smoker.
It seemed that with the official entry into the Grand Line and the increasing number of crew members, those who prided themselves as the main combatants were starting to feel some pressure and had silently begun competing with each other.
Xiano chuckled.
Compete, compete. The enemies they would face in the future would only get stronger, so a little competition now was good.
It might not show much in a day or two, but over time, the crew would soon feel how powerful the halo effect of the Falcon Statue was.
When the positive feedback came more and earlier, the surprised crew would invest even more effort into their training.
With such a virtuous cycle, Xiano believed that it wouldn't be long before the overall strength of the Falling Stars Adventure Crew would reach a new level.
...
In the blink of an eye, five days had passed.
Whiskey Peak.
This island, dominated by desert-style architecture, had hundreds of houses scattered along both sides of the port.
It seemed like just a small town, but as one of the starting points of the seven routes, it couldn't be as simple as it appeared.
In reality, it was a den of bounty hunters.
Hundreds of hunters were entrenched here, preying on the new pirates who had just entered the Grand Line, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups.
In this seemingly peaceful port, they wove an invisible net of hunting.
Tap.
Two unfamiliar figures set foot on this land.
One was a man with a puffy afro wearing a high-collared shirt, and the other was a golden-haired girl who carried an umbrella even at night.
From the windows of the surrounding houses, several pairs of sinister eyes immediately focused on them. However, upon seeing the large group of bounty hunters quickly gathering around, they all cautiously withdrew their gazes.
"Is this Whiskey Peak?"
The man with an afro, known as Mr.5, walked at the forefront with his hands behind his back and casually asked, "How many hunters are here in total, and how many of them belong to us?"
"High-Ranking Officer, sir."
The Billionaire in front of him bowed deeply with a humble attitude, then grinned and said:
"Although our Baroque Works only started activities here a few months ago, the progress has been significant. Out of the total 1,200 bounty hunters here, over 500 are already ours, accounting for nearly half, and we are still continuously recruiting and expanding!"
"Oh? Not bad."
The afro man raised an eyebrow in praise, "I will report your progress truthfully. Who knows, this merit might just earn you a promotion to Executive Officer."
"If I can really get promoted, I would be so grateful to you!" The Billionaire immediately became excited, giving enough face to Mr.5, who had just become a High-Ranking Officer a few days ago, making him feel extremely pleased.
"It's so comfortable to be fortunate enough to become a Devil Fruit Ability User."
He sighed in his heart, thinking that his Bomb-Bomb Fruit was incredibly powerful, a strength that ordinary people couldn't even imagine.
Otherwise, with his qualifications, how could he have immediately become a High-Ranking Officer upon joining?
After all, Baroque Works has a strict hierarchy, structured like a pyramid.
At the top are the mysterious President and Vice President;
In the middle are nine High-Ranking Officers and over a dozen Executive Officers;
The dividing line is the number 5.
That is to say, the top five male and female pairs will be promoted from Executive Officers to High-Ranking Officers.
It should have been exactly ten people, but it's said that Mr.2 is a genderless okama, so he doesn't need a partner and occupies two seats, reducing the total to nine.
At the bottom are the numerous Billionaires and Millionaires.
The Billionaire in front of him was a seasoned veteran, yet he was several ranks below him, and a single word from him could determine the other's life or death.
"Ahem."
Mr.5 coughed a few times into his fist to hide his flushed face from excitement, then asked in a deep voice:
"Speaking of which, your main task is still to collect pirate heads here to raise funds for the organization. However, this month's target amount seems to have been delayed. It's precisely because of this that I received orders to come here with Miss Valentine to see what's going on."
"Th-this... Has the higher-ups already started pressing?"
The Billionaire immediately looked panicked and hurriedly explained, "This can't be blamed on us, sir. You must explain this clearly to the higher-ups for us!"
"The reason we couldn't meet the target is that recently, for some reason, the number of pirates crossing Reverse Mountain into the Grand Line has suddenly decreased significantly!"
"No matter how well-prepared we are or how high our hunting success rate is, without enough prey coming to us, we can only stare helplessly and be powerless!"
"The number of new pirate arrivals has suddenly decreased recently?"
Mr.5 frowned, exchanged a glance with Miss Valentine, and then suddenly sneered:
"What kind of nonsense is that? Do you think Pirates are fish, with peak and off seasons for catching them?"
"It does sound strange, but it's absolutely true..."
The Billionaire was sweating profusely in his anxiety and was about to order his subordinates to bring out this month's records when a voice suddenly shouted in excitement from afar:
"Hey! Prey has taken the bait and is about to enter the port! Everyone, get into position and prepare for the hunt!!!"
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