West Blue, Ridgemouth Town.
The next day, in the office of the base commander of the Branch.
"What? Go to the Navy Headquarters? No."
Kano shook his head and rejected Colonel Lomi's proposal.
"I am doing well here. Why would I go to the Headquarters? There are so many monsters over there, and I haven't even mastered Haki yet."
Behind the desk, Colonel Lomi's eyelids twitched.
The power of Haki itself could only be mastered by the elites at the Headquarters, right?
Even for himself, after spending the past few years in the West Blue, his Armament Haki had grown rusty.
Mental and physical discipline, inner will and determination, these were the foundations of Haki, followed by mastery of the body and proper application of technique.
If one's spirit became complacent, then the power called Haki would gradually lose its edge until it vanished entirely.
It was precisely because of this that he wanted Kano to go to the Navy Headquarters rather than remain in a comfortable environment like the West Blue.
After thinking for a moment, Colonel Lomi returned to the previous topic.
"The thing you requested before has been arranged."
"What? The execution of Pirate King Roger in Loguetown?" Kano asked quickly.
Colonel Lomi nodded, but didn't directly confirm his role in the execution.
Instead, he said.
"Pirate King Gol D. Roger has been confirmed for execution this month. With someone like that being executed, don't you want to become a hero like Vice Admiral Garp?"
Kano shook his head without hesitation.
Roger the Pirate King hadn't been arrested at all. He had surrendered not long after learning his fate.
And with the help of this execution, the One Piece became a legend pursued by countless people.
The Great Pirate Era. Although such an era would be cruel to ordinary people.
In addition, the surname Gol also hid the D.
It seemed like the Five Elders ruling from Mary Geoise, were apparently terrified of anyone born with the D in their name.
"Hah..."
After sighing, Colonel Lomi felt helpless.
"You leave tomorrow."
"Hm? Already?"
"Tomorrow you'll take the Navy's official route over Reverse Mountain and go directly to Loguetown in the East Blue."
"It's done? Colonel Lomi, your connections at the Headquarters are impressive."
Colonel Lomi raised his head and replied proudly, "Although I'm not as capable as those monster-like officers, my network is quite strong."
Kano smiled and asked.
"I heard you also studied under Zephyr at the Headquarters. How did you end up in the West Blue?"
These words made Lomi pause for a moment, and then he looked at Kano thoughtfully.
The environment and connections at the Navy Headquarters might not actually be a good place for this brat.
It was too close to the Sabaody Archipelago.
Those were among the reasons he'd returned to the West Blue in the first place.
"Alright. Go get ready. Someone will look for you when you arrive in Loguetown. If you change your mind by then, you can go to the Headquarters with him."
Kano spread his hands and backed out of the office.
If it had been five days ago, maybe he would have gone to the Navy Headquarters.
After all, that location was close to the Sabaody Archipelago.
After using the [Shadow Clone Technique] to replace his main body, he could find a way to go there and take down a human trafficker.
Or maybe, if he was lucky enough, secretly take down a Celestial Dragon. Wouldn't that earn massive sin points?
But now that he'd obtained something like the [Flying Nimbus] to improve his mobility, it wouldn't take long to get from the West Blue to the Sabaody Archipelago.
It would be perfect if he could obtain a transformation technique later.
Hmm... he couldn't go out to collect bounties today.
He'd pack up tonight and leave tomorrow.
That left only one option for the afternoon.
Time to go drink.
Ridgemouth Town was located at the entrance to Reverse Mountain, and there was a special passage across the Red Line for civilian use. Caravans and merchants needed to pass through here to reach other seas.
As commerce prospered, entertainment establishments naturally flourished as well.
However, entertainment was entertainment.
At present, even the Capone family, one of the five major mafia families in the West Blue, didn't dare bring their black market operations to Ridgemouth Town.
So while the beautiful women were genuinely beautiful, the establishments were also genuinely legitimate.
While drinking wine, listening to songs, and watching beautiful women perform, Kano whistled along with the cheers from the crowd.
Not long after the performance on stage ended, soft music began to play, and the dancers from before returned to the stage.
Workers in the dance hall below began to sell flowers.
If someone spent fifty thousand Berries, they might be accepted to share a drink with one of the performers.
"Sir, do you need flowers? Sister Mina performed very well today, and I saw her looking at you many times."
A young kid was working hard to make a sale in front of Kano's booth, employing a certain degree of salesmanship.
At least to Kano's ears, this kid had said the exact same thing more than once to different customers.
Rubbing the boy's hair, Kano patted his pockets.
"Little guy, except for my drink money, my pockets are cleaner than my face."
At this moment, the men drinking nearby also took notice.
"Hahaha! Is the kid new here? Kano 'The Executioner' is incredibly stingy."
"Except for the entrance fee and one glass of wine, he'll never spend another Berry."
"But there's no shortage of people here who want to buy him drinks. He just refuses to accept them."
Kano raised his glass toward everyone, drank it down, then turned and headed for the dance hall's restroom.
Today's entertainment was over.
He still had work to do in the evening, and he'd be leaving for the East Blue tomorrow.
Yesterday, two treasure locations were discovered.
After experiencing the spiritual pain of being burned by black flames, both a mafioso and a pirate had confessed the locations of their hidden wealth.
The pirate's treasure and the mafia's money were exactly what Kano needed right now.
After all, if he wanted to overturn this world, he'd need to prepare extensively.
A few minutes later, a shadow clone of Kano walked out of the restroom and leisurely returned to the booth.
Five minutes after that, the real Kano changed his hairstyle, put on different clothes and a mask, then walked out of the dance hall.
Shortly afterward, a yellow cloud descended from the night sky into a corner of the street, then carried a figure into the sky, heading toward the interior of the West Blue.
The flying speed was much faster than any sailing ship.
In just a few hours, two boxes of gold and silver jewelry, one large and one small, had been retrieved and hidden away by Kano.
As expected, the mafia were much wealthier than the pirates.
During his two years as the Executioner of the West Blue, Kano had done this sort of thing quite often.
However, before today, because he lacked the [Flying Nimbus], it usually took a long time to retrieve these treasures.
"It's still not enough..."
Kano sighed.
There were still two years remaining, and scientific research would require far more funding than this.