"Achoo!"
Sitting under the sunshade, Shano suddenly sneezed, and the coffee he was holding spilled all over the deck.
"Smoker!"
He immediately turned around and shouted.
"Got it."
Smoker, who was steering the ship, responded promptly.
Swoosh swoosh!
The smoke swept through, and the deck was instantly cleaned.
All about professionalism and efficiency.
Shano then rubbed his nose and looked towards the distance in confusion. Under the freely spreading fiery clouds, the outline of the Water Capital was already faintly visible.
Who's thinking about me now?
Last time after I sneezed, Garp came knocking within a couple of days.
Could it be that... this time, Kaido is coming?
...
An hour later.
The Endgame finally sailed into the Water Capital.
As night fell, lights began to illuminate, making the winding waterways sparkle.
This city with its extensive waterways has countless entry points, this ring around the island is almost entirely available for boats to dock.
Shano specifically found a relatively secluded spot to dock, so as not to attract too much attention. Once the anchor was dropped and stabilized, the four people and one wolf got off the ship.
Of course, they didn't forget to bring those treasure chests.
In the past,
Ah Yin would have had to drag these treasure chests.
Ah Yin often didn't like it, feeling it hurt the dignity of the Wolf King, and would pretend for a while on the ground until Shano gave a nudge to get it reluctantly acting as a sled dog.
But now it's different. There's now a more professional mover on board.
Jack fully utilized his muscular prowess, gathering the dozen or so treasure chests effortlessly on his shoulders, stacked high.
As he walked along, clanking like a moving fortress, the residents quickly avoided him.
There were also several groups of hooligans whose greedy eyes were instantly attracted to the treasure chests.
But noticing Jack's intimidating build and that fierce face, they shrank back, completely intimidated.
Shano watched all this with amusement.
Being fierce-looking also has its benefits. Even with zero bounty, it still carries a Ten Billion Belly Level deterrent.
After renting a few Broos, the group headed straight for the upper city.
The banks and Life Card shops were located there.
To get from the outer district to the upper city, due to the terrain, would typically require a lot of zigzagging along the waterways.
But...
The Water Capital has elevators.
Its full name is the "Watergate Elevator," using a closed watergate, in just a dozen seconds, it can vertically lift boats or Broo-riding passengers from low water level areas to high water level areas.
Somewhat akin to the Panama Canal locks in Shano's impression.
The group, riding Broo, entered the elevator, and zipped up to the upper city without a hitch.
"Huh, strange."
Shano looked around but couldn't find any sign of Kuina and the others.
Clearly, they had arranged over the phone to meet here at the upper city entrance tonight.
"I'll make another call to hurry them up." Smoker took out the Radio Snail.
"Okay."
Shano nodded, not paying much attention.
It was dinner time; perhaps it was Nami's gluttony that delayed the meeting time for the others.
Ring ring~
The Radio Snail buzzed for a long time but received no response.
"What's going on?" Smoker frowned, hung up, and dialed Robin's number.
Still no answer.
He tried Kuina's number, yet again, no connection.
Admiring the magnificent fountain view, Shano finally turned his head.
"Boss, something seems off..." Smoker muttered, chomping his cigar with eyes narrowed slightly.
Nami's phone not connecting was quite normal.
After all, she was a rather carefree and unreliable girl, who might have dropped the Radio Snail in the toilet by accident.
But failing to reach both Kuina and Robin's lines was evidently unusual.
"Big Brother, Big Brother!"
Just then, a little girl with twin ponytails came bouncing over.
She tiptoed, stretching up a crumpled piece of paper, handing it to Shano: "Here, this is given to me by someone to hand over to you!"
Shano took it and opened it, and his companions all huddled around to take a look.
It said:
[Your sisters are all tied up in the station warehouse. If you want them to survive, have your men go rescue them immediately]
[Come alone to Carrera Company headquarters, wait downstairs for me. I want to discuss a deal with you. Remember, come alone, or I won't show up]
"Hey! Wait, don't go yet!"
Smoker instinctively reached out to stop the little girl from running off; the fierce look with a cigar in his mouth frightened her, making her shiver and her eyes water up immediately.
"Sorry, sorry, little sister."
Smoker hurriedly crouched down, softened his tone, and fished out a few mint candies to offer:
"I wasn't careful with my words, big brother just wants to ask, who gave you this note to deliver to us?"
"Candy!"
The little girl's eyes lit up, she happily took the candy, suddenly seeing Smoker as a good guy, and spilled everything she knew like beans out of a bamboo tube.
"I don't know him either, it was a weird guy in a mask, he gave me a hundred Belly to deliver it. He was very tall and very skinny... uh, I don't know anything else."
And she didn't forget to add a last jab: "I was calling big brother the handsome black-haired guy, calling yourself big brother is quite cheeky, white-haired uncle."