Chapter 604: Morgans Suggests Bringing Your Own Coffin
A few days later.
A newspaper report concerning the Demon Hunter incident had completely spread across the seas.
It narrated the dramatic changes during the Demon Hunting Ceremony, the invasion of the demon army, and the appearance of the Demon King and his Apostles.
Of course, the report detailed the Demon King's immense strength, his battles against many formidable individuals, and the support he received from other strong figures.
All these elements formed a substantial newspaper edition.
It contained a vast amount of information.
But in summary, three points were most captivating to ordinary people.
These were the mysterious and powerful Holy Knight God's Hand Zhuoxi, the shrine maiden Kikyō, and the final result of the Demon Hunting Ceremony.
God's Skillful Hand Zhuoxi has always been a rather enigmatic Holy Knight within the Kingdom of Miracles, possessing terrifying capabilities in scientific research.
She has solved many global problems. Crucially, the Kingdom of Miracles has popularized technology to the outside world.
This includes transportation industries like shipbuilding, automobiles, and even spacecraft that link up to the sea.
It also includes communication industries for exchanging information, such as the breeding of Den Den Mushi (Telephone Bugs), cloning technology, and wireless phones.
Technology is rapidly changing across the sea due to external investments in the island.
Thanks to this, Zhuoxi has always been a very popular Holy Knight, despite always remaining mysterious.
This time, although she was wearing a ghost mask, the mechanical orb, which looked quite sci-fi but possessed powerful interception capabilities, and her beauty, which could be sensed even through the mask, drew attention from people all over the sea, gathering even greater popularity for her.
As for the shrine maiden, Kikyō, the terrifying strength she displayed at the end of the Demon Hunting Ceremony was deemed by Morgans to be humanity's other demi god-tier fighting power.
And she is also considered extremely powerful among demigods.
After all, the strength displayed by the War King at that time was truly terrifying.
Through interviews with reporters, Marine Admiral Kizaru, who is rated as a demigod in combat power, stated that he was far from safe.
Although Kizaru immediately asked the reporter for an interview fee after the statement, his remark was still very honest.
Including Sand City, several towns in Alabasta that experienced the sinking concurred.
When randomly interviewed by reporters, residents here said that Kizaru's words were correct. If anyone doubted it, they were welcome to visit their town and see; their homes were almost completely lost.
Morgans immediately made an on-the-spot suggestion: Local urban residents had failed to take earthquake prevention measures. To prevent similar incidents from happening, he recommended that people prepare planting materials in advance and bury themselves on the spot.
As a result, World Economic News received many letters in a short period.
They stated that Morgans' suggestion was very good, but they hoped he would shut up and stop offering suggestions.
The impact of the war among the powerful, these were all detailed in the newspaper stories.
However, the most attractive item in the newspaper was the final winner of the Demon Hunting Ceremony.
Although the conflict was halted midway due to the constraints on the combat power of both humans and demons, the ceremony did not end abruptly.
The final winner was Shadow Demon Dorobetta, who is backed by the Dark Curtain.
The magic pattern user Evergreen Jayne, who was supposed to have an advantage with an S-level magic pattern, ended up in fourth place.
This was mainly because the demon army restrained by Jayne was undamaged, so it was not included in the score.
Subsequently, Jayne became somewhat lazy, causing his magic pattern's performance to plummet significantly this time.
As for the top three, they were Shadow Demon, Chaser of Light, and Dominator from the Anti-Demon Mechanism. The top three spots were taken by three different guilds.
People were highly engaged by the results of the Demon Hunting Ceremony.
Furthermore, people paid little attention to the negotiations between the demons and humans behind the scenes, as this part was tightly controlled by the newspapers.
It was simply reported as avoiding large-scale conflicts between humans and demons and ending the dispute.
This part occupied only a single line and might even be ignored if one didn't read the newspaper carefully.
In fact, if it weren't for the live broadcast this time, this matter might not have been mentioned at all.
The relationship between humans and demons is inherently sensitive.
Therefore, matters negotiated by the two sides are not fully disclosed, and most ordinary people do not pursue or overthink it.
In this rapidly changing era, they do not have the energy to think too deeply.
Anyway, for them, even if the sky falls, there will be gods to hold it up.
No matter what happens, it is not their turn to worry.
This is especially true as people are scattered across various parts of the sea. Although the navigation industry is more prosperous, it still cannot change this reality.
At the entrance to the Grand Line, Twin Capes.
A pirate ship was anchored somewhere at Twin Capes.
It could be seen from the pirate flag that this pirate ship belonged to the world-famous pirate group, the Red Hair Pirates.
Beside the lighthouse not far from the pirate group, hearty laughter was heard from the house there.
Inside the house, a strong man wearing a pink headscarf laughed: "That's hilarious. Rayleigh, you were chased all over the place by a young man. Unexpectedly, the famous Dark King was left behind."
The object of his laughter was none other than the smiling man in front of him, the legendary pirate Dark King Rayleigh.
"Crocus, what's so funny?"
"After all, I am old, and now is the time of young people, but you should talk about yourself."
"I didn't expect that you are already going bald. It seems you have more troubles!"
Rayleigh drank half a bottle of wine on the table.
Then he looked at the scarf on Crocus's head with a half-smile.
Even with the hood behind him, Rayleigh could still see that Crocus's hairline was in danger.
When they met again, he hadn't expected that the former ship's doctor was struggling to save his own hair.
On the other hand, at least his own hair was still very well preserved.
"Ehh..."
Hearing Rayleigh's words, Crocus's laughter stopped abruptly.
He shook his head. Besides being harassed by pirates, he was mainly worried about Laboon, the island whale with human emotions.
The current Laboon was giving him a headache.
Because it had transformed into a monster, a powerful monster possessing melancholic magic.
In order to protect it from being killed by magic pattern users, he had spent a great deal of energy.
However, his strength was now insufficient.
Laboon's power had surpassed him and was equivalent to a B-level monster.
This level, combined with its sheer size, amplified its magic power even further, and its combat power had completely overtaken his.
However, the more powerful it became, the more magic pattern users it attracted.
He was afraid he wouldn't be able to handle it if this continued.
Rayleigh's timely arrival was honestly a small relief to Crocus.
"The advantage of having less hair is that you don't have to worry too much about washing it."
"How about it? Rayleigh, I can shave your head for free so you don't have to wash your hair in the future."
Crocus did not directly address Laboon's problem, instead said it jokingly.
"Hahahaha! Let's skip that! If I really went bald, I'm afraid shakky wouldn't provide me with free drinks when I go back."
As soon as Rayleigh said this, Crocus felt he had been hit hard, and he was a little envious.
"That's great, Rayleigh!"
"Of all of us, I'm afraid you are living the most carefree life."
The two exchanged pleasantries.
Then they looked at each other, raised their bottles, drank them down, and laughed once again.
(End of this chapter)