The setting sun turned into a bright moon, and until night fell, the Navy personnel on the warships that collided along the edge of the harbor and those lying near the port woke up.
Along with them, the attacking pirates woke up, and then...
There was nothing more for them.
The harbor, brightly lit, had seawater seeping from the intermingled protruding and sunken surface cracks. One area was empty, becoming a hollow filled with seawater. On this battered ground, teams of pirates, with their hands bound by ropes and iron chains, were being escorted away by the Navy.
On the other side, Zephyr sat on a rock, while the Navy medical team wrapped bandages around him. A group of Navy personnel, heads bowed in shame, surrounded him.
They were the personnel brought by Zephyr on this voyage, never expecting to be of no help and to pass out. When they awoke, their commander had already been seriously injured.
"Chief Instructor Zephyr!"
The Lieutenant Commander of Logue Town's branch jogged over, saluted smartly in front of Zephyr.
Zephyr waved his hand, "I'm no longer the chief instructor, I retired long ago. Now I'm just the commander of the Navy's pirate guerrillas, just call me Zephyr."
"Chief Instructor, you..." The lieutenant commander didn't dare to address him by his given name.
Zephyr didn't bother with that and directly asked, "What's the status of the statistics, how many casualties?"
The lieutenant commander pressed his lips and said, "This time, the Disaster Pirates and over a dozen surrounding pirate groups raided, looting a massive amount of property from Logue Town's Rich District and Commercial District. The amount is too large to calculate the losses for now. As for casualties... seven people."
Zephyr was stunned, "Seven people?"
"Yes, all of them were nobles in the Rich District. According to surrounding accounts, they were killed by pirates while resisting the raid from the Disaster Pirates."
He paused, looking around before whispering, "These nobles didn't have a good reputation anyway, so they might not have been..."
"That's not something you should say!"
Zephyr glared at him sternly, "Don't cause trouble for yourself!"
"Yes!"
The lieutenant commander stood upright and continued, "A large amount of property is irrecoverable. There's intelligence indicating local black marketeers were involved, but we found no evidence. People saw them peddling goods around, and these properties seem to be in the hands of local residents... but no one admits to it, and we're at a loss."
Zephyr instinctively looked towards the sea, frowning tightly, "Only the property was damaged..."
Just seven deaths, too few for a pirate raid.
But for the experienced Zephyr, this seemed normal.
Some pirates on the sea disdained targeting the weak, or rather, they didn't notice the weak at all.
If they chose a target, it would only be those among the weak who were relatively powerful, whether it be in status or wealth, differing from civilians, they were the targets.
That brat... is he such a pirate?
Zephyr touched his chest, saying harshly, "It's too soon to take this old man's life, brat!"
The power of that strange body technique wasn't small. Once hit, it had the power to destroy the body, like internal destruction.
But Haki's technique itself has internal destructiveness. Combined with that brat's strength, it's a double destruction, and even more special than internal destruction.
A truly troublesome brat.
Releasing him back to the sea...
"And Garp's grandson too, one by one always causing a stir... the sea."
From the port echoed a sigh, and in a dark alley far from the port, a group of people had gathered in a house.
"How much did we make?"
Link bit on a cigar, scanning the black marketeers around him, amidst a pile of Belly stacked on the floor!
One merchant finished stacking the last pile of money, excitedly saying, "It's been tallied, we made a total of 1.2 billion Belly, we're rich!"
"1.2 billion..."
Link's mouth curled into a smile, about to speak when he suddenly realized something was wrong, "Wait, if it's 1.2 billion, then we only made 200 million Belly! What's so great about that!"
"But we were selling on the spot, from the Disaster Pirates' raid at noon until now at midnight, we just sold out the last batch of goods, in less than twelve hours, we broke even and still made money, it's already good." The black marketeer said.
"But there are eighteen of us!" Link shouted, "Each person only gets a little over 11 million."
"Wha-what's the problem?"
The other black marketeers timidly looked at Link, "This amount isn't small."
200 million Belly, each getting about 11 million, which is a fortune for commoners, and even for them... it was a significant amount.
For ordinary black marketeers, acquiring a batch of goods to resell could sometimes yield a profit of a few million, sometimes over ten million or even 20-30 million Belly, but the higher the profit, the longer it would take to sell.
Sometimes it required two to three months or even longer to sell off a batch of goods, so making over 10 million in just a few hours was certainly not low.
But Link was not satisfied.
"If there's more time, we could at least earn 100 million Belly each! Definitely!"
Link shouted, "Sage sold to us at 50% cost! With such a good opportunity for profit, it's been ruined by Zephyr! Damn Zephyr, why did he have to come now!"
When Sage was raiding Logue Town, he was naturally afraid to take risks, but now that the goods are in hand, he wasn't satisfied anymore. Earning such a small amount felt like a loss in front of the potential large sums they could have made!
Everything was a loss!
"It's fine, Link, don't think too much, any big operation like this will have repercussions. Remember, the Navy was looking for us earlier, but we sold the items to the townsfolk. Scattered among the people, they can't track us down, it's without risk."
Another black marketeer picked up a pile of Belly, intoxicated by the smell of money, "Think about it, we made money, the goods were returned to the people, the Disaster Pirates got their loot, the Navy caught other pirates for reporting, everyone has a bright future."
"Yeah..."
One black marketeer nodded, then suddenly thought of something and asked blankly, "So who lost out?"
Everyone: "..."
They then all showed thoughtful expressions, pondering over the question.
Finally, a black marketeer resolutely said, "No one lost!"
The others looked at him, as he continued, "The goods are still in the town, those medicines and items are ultimately going to be sold to people. Whether we sell them or others do, it makes no difference. They're still in this town, not disappearing, so..."
He said aloud, "Everyone made a profit!"
"Oh! What an impressive statement!" The black marketeers clapped, showing their agreement.
"Idiot!"
Link, furious, felt a vein on his forehead bulge. He took a deep breath and headed for the door, "Pack my money. Let's all disappear for a while, keep things low-key!"
Staying with these people much longer would drive him mad.
But...
Outside, Link looked up at the star-speckled sky, thought about it, and shook his head with a sigh, "It seems there's some truth to that..."