Logue Town is a prosperous town, whether it was before Smoker came or after.
Before Smoker arrived, pirates and the Navy maintained a delicate balance. Pirates treated this place as a transit point and spent a lot, thereby boosting the economy.
After Smoker came, although the pirates were gone, much of the chaos also disappeared, which somewhat promoted commercial activity, adding many new shops here.
Following Sage's rules, the pirates did not harm the civilians living in the small buildings. In fact, they didn't bother with such people, as there were better targets for them to plunder.
The fancy clothes in the clothing stores were stormed by pirates dressed in prison uniforms. They rushed out with piles of finely made clothes, some even changed on the spot, stripping off their prison clothes, not caring whether the new clothes fit, wearing them in strange ways.
The weapons in the weapon shops, each worth hundreds of thousands of Belly, were also all taken by them. A towering pirate over three meters tall with half of his tongue cut off, even chose a great tachi suitable for his height, and fought against the Navy, slicing down several soldiers with just one swing.
Of course, the Navy base doesn't only have the Navy from the port. Some weren't able to support or return to adjust their equipment, and now seeing the pirate raid, they naturally came to stop them. But in terms of numbers, they were no match for Sage's group of pirates.
The pirates continued their massive robbery in Logue Town while fighting the Navy. Besides clothes and weapons, the most important targets were, of course, the jewelry stores, which were the things they should be robbing most.
Every now and then, you could see ten or twenty pirates breaking into a jewelry store, plundering all the jewels inside, draping necklaces and adornments all over their hands, necks, and bodies, laughing heartily.
This place had everything they wanted, enough for all six hundred of their crew to change outfits completely.
"This should be it. Once we've had enough fun, we'll go count the spoils. Lily, why don't you go have some fun? Don't women like picking out pretty things when shopping?"
Sage himself certainly did not participate in the looting. Anyway, half of the loot would be his, and he couldn't carry much with his two hands, so he left it to his subordinates.
"I'm not really interested, as long as I get my share," Lily said.
She was a cadre, so she would get her share even without participating in the robbery. Plus, she wasn't that enthusiastic about it in the first place.
Aside from Gin being quite dutiful, the other cadres seemed indifferent to the affair. Renedia, too, wasn't very interested in treasures and went off to select useful equipment after reaching the town.
Marika was interested in the local food supplies and went to the food market.
And Lily stayed by Sage's side.
"What about you, Sage? What are we going to do?" Lily asked.
"Of course, we're going to gather intelligence..."
Sage paused at the entrance of a dark alley and smiled, "This was once a meeting place for pirates. Although it's been peaceful for a few years, many things still remain, like here..."
He pointed to a sign sticking out into the alley with a wine glass on it, "Like this old tavern, located in such a dark place, it was obviously a frequent gathering spot for pirates. Like this one..."
As he spoke, he suddenly paused, looking hesitantly at the words under the sign, "Hmm, this..."
"Gol D. Roger."
Lily read out, "A tavern named after the Pirate King."
"That's right, this kind of place, let's go in!"
Sage nodded and led Lily into the alley, pushed open a small wooden door, and entered the tavern.
The tavern naturally didn't have any guests.
It's so remote, with poor lighting, and likely dark all year round, there's no way anyone would come here for a drink.
The decoration and layout inside were quite outdated, more like those old taverns from two or three decades ago, completely not in the same league as today's neon-lit bars, unlikely to attract customers in such a prosperous town.
And such places... weren't for ordinary customers.
"Sorry, our shop doesn't serve..."
The old man polishing glasses behind the bar heard the commotion and was about to speak when he saw the visitor's white hair, pausing instinctively and scanned the wall.
They didn't recognize them, but it didn't hinder the owner from recognizing the wanted order on the wall, where this guy's crazy laugh was also posted.
"Give me a good drink, don't serve me that crappy rum,"
Sage ordered, found a spot to sit, and crossed his feet on the table.
Lily pondered a bit, reached into her pocket, and placed a gold coin on the counter.
The old man took a bottle from the cabinet, mixed it with ice and other liquors into a concoction of orange-red color, then looked at Lily, "And for you, miss..."
"Something mild," Lily said as she sat beside Sage.
The old man nodded, mixed another drink, and placed the drinks on their table, then said, "You're here at the wrong time. If you came a bit later, you could have arrived directly. Aren't you afraid of being surrounded by the Navy coming here so openly now?"
"Isn't it normal for pirates to be surrounded by the Navy? As long as they're still pirates, there's no escaping it! Hohohoho!"
Sage laughed heartily, took the glass of orange-red liquid, drank it all up, and suddenly paused, exhaling, "Strong, but definitely a good drink!"
"Oh..."
The old man's eyes brightened, "Were you drawn by the name of the Pirate King, interested in Roger's story? Norton Sage."
"No, not interested at all."
Sage shook his head, "I don't like listening to other people's stories. Coming here, I just thought such an old tavern must have had many old patrons and wanted to look for some intelligence."
"What kind of intelligence?" the old man asked.
"Help me get in touch with black market merchants, and you won't be short-changed,"
Sage handed the empty glass forward, "I have things to sell to them."
In a large town, especially one near the Grand Line, a place that was once bustling with a mix of pirates and the Navy, how could there be no black market merchants?
The things he robbed were all from dubious origins, couldn't be straightforwardly exchanged for Belly anywhere. Even if merchants would take them, they'd offer low prices, and the various types of items would require finding different merchants.
It's better to sell them all to the black market merchants, letting them handle it directly.
A tavern like this must be involved in such transactions.
"Oh... What are you selling? Gold?" The old man paused, showing a hint of nostalgia, but quickly returned to normal.
He hadn't done such a thing in a long time.
"Not gold..."
Sage bared his teeth, revealing words that made the old man break out in cold sweat, "I want to sell the entire Logue Town!"