Palace, Audience Side Hall
"Oh hā hā hā hā! That won't happen! How could Your Majesty die?"
The bald man from the Haichi Chamber of Commerce laughed loudly, stood, and before leaving, glanced back with a sly tone: "Even if death comes, you must at least repay all the money first, don't you agree, King?"
Their entire group departed confidently. The King sat alone in the empty room, holding his head. Soon, the sound of shattering bottles echoed inside.
"Hā hā hā, his expression really looks completely dead!"
Outside the palace, the bald middle-aged man from the Chamber of Commerce chuckled proudly: "Gance, how on earth did you manage this? It was so simple, oh hā hā hā…"
He turned to see Gance staring at him, clearly puzzled.
Even after the people from the Haichi Chamber of Commerce had left, Gance was still thinking about what that man had meant. His eyes looked completely dead…
He frowned, lost in thought, a cold sweat forming on his forehead without him realizing it. But after a while, the sweat slowly dried, his frown eased, and his expression returned to calm.
Leading his men through the royal city, Gance eventually found the person he was looking for in a hotel.
It was a man of utterly ordinary appearance, not handsome, not ugly, merely pale-faced, tall, and thin. He was sitting by the window, watching the people passing in the streets, idly playing with a bright red apple in his hand. When Gance entered, the man turned his head and asked:
"Did you find the location of the treasury?"
"That man!?"
Outside the palace, on the street, inside the cold drink shop, Ross suddenly exclaimed aloud, drawing the attention of everyone around.
Robin, who had been concentrating on the numerous "Eyes and Ears of the Flower" she had spread across the royal city, was startled by Ross's sudden outburst.
Gance nodded. "We can move at any time."
"Ah, what a pity your Princess ran away," the thin, ordinary man said, tossing the bright red apple lightly in his hand. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble."
Gance's expression darkened. "She betrayed her own country. Overestimating herself, she ran off alone to sea. She's probably already dead somewhere by now. Otherwise… that would truly be disappointing."
The thin man smiled faintly. The apple in his hand began to lose its luster. In an instant, dark patches appeared across its surface. Within seconds, the once-brilliant red fruit had rotted completely, holes forming, its surface blackened, a foul odor spreading from it.
"…" Gance stared at the decayed apple.
"Would you like a bite?" the man asked, holding it out.
Gance shook his head. But the thin man took a huge bite of the rotten fruit himself. A sickening squelch came from his mouth, yet his face showed nothing but delight and satisfaction.
Chewing slowly, he sighed in ecstasy: "How… wonderful…"
"I… betrayed my country? Why would Gance say that…?"
Inside the cold drink shop, Ross sat frozen, stunned. She could hardly believe that the bodyguard commander, someone who had always been kind to her, would say something like that.
If only I had died at sea…
"You see something?"
Robin's voice pulled her out of her sinking thoughts.
Ross looked up. Robin had pulled her sunglasses down just enough to reveal her beautiful dark-green eyes.
"Gance… he's going to raid the treasury," Ross said softly, recalling the scene she had just witnessed. "And the man working with him, I think I've seen him somewhere before… his name was… Stiel!"
"Stiel, you, !"
Gance stared in shock as Stiel finished eating the completely rotten apple. An apple that decayed like that, there was no doubt it was poison!
"This… is the taste of love."
Stiel said with a cheerful grin, and then his stomach went "gū lū lū."
"Wah! Painful love!"
The thin man howled in agony and ran off to the restroom…
"Stiel!"
Ross's eyes widened with fear. She murmured to herself, "That's right… even though he rarely appears, I have actually seen him a few times in that person's pirate crew…"
Robin asked, "Whose pirate crew?"
"Laut Hyena!" Ross's pupils went pale. "The pirate crew of a Warlord of the Sea…"
Kuraika Island, West Kael Kingdom
Through the Den Den Mushi, Stussy saw a female pirate with long, fiery red hair waving at her from the beach. She smiled and waved back.
The red-haired pirate strode forward, each arm around a graceful beach woman, laughing as she said, "Head of the Pleasure District, why don't you come join the fun?"
"Hyena," Stussy teased, "I've told you many times, it's impossible for us."
"Is it?" The red-haired pirate laughed loudly. "It's exactly because it's impossible that it's interesting!"
After walking along the beach with the two women, Hyena spoke into her Den Den Mushi: "After staying over there so many days, that Lucci kid must be about to lose it with all that killing intent, right?"
At the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Weiqi squinted his eyes and made a face, pondering, "That's hard to say…"
Shinkane Island, Rich Country, Haichi Chamber of Commerce branch office
In the hallways, bodies lay strewn about, all security guards in black suits, bleeding. Walls, corners, and door frames bore terrifying claw marks, as if a ferocious beast had run rampant here.
The air was faintly tainted with the smell of blood.
In a room with its main door completely shattered, a hulking figure, a giant-scale, multicolored leopard, stood atop the debris like a small hill. His massive body slowly contracted; blood still stained his cheeks as he flipped through ledger after ledger, document after document.
Soon after, he left carrying a small vial.
Amidst the blood-soaked floor, a black-suited man lifted his head and pulled a Den Den Mushi from his pocket. Just then, a circular slash of light struck him, cutting him into several pieces…
On the rooftop, the $\text{16}$-year-old Lucci floated down gracefully, straightening his tie. Twilight approached; in the glow of the evening sky, a white dove fluttered and landed on his shoulder.
"Let's go."
Lucci leapt, bouncing lightly several times before quickly disappearing into the distance.
Racing through the outskirts of the city to reunite with his comrades, Lucci suddenly glimpsed something on the road. His heart skipped a beat; he stopped, his expression darkening.
The setting sun painted the scene crimson. In a desolate field, pools of blood lay scattered.
Fukurou hung from a tree, his pant legs dripping blood.
Blueno knelt on the ground, eyes rolled back, half of his body submerged in congealed blood.
Jabra sat slumped against a large rock, the stones behind him stained with radiating blood patterns. His head hung low, life uncertain, his chest soaked dark red…
(End Of This Chapter)
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