Important information!
There are characters that are mentioned in this chapter and that apparently are original characters. There are some similarities in the names with other canon characters, but I wasn't sure the author was referring to them, so I preferred to leave it at that.
[Start of the chapter]
The next day, Ronan's group of four arrived at the Rip-off Bar in 13GR of the Sabaody Archipelago.
Ronan pushed open the bar's weathered wooden door, and the little bell hanging above it chimed crisply.
Behind the counter, Shakky was wiping a glass. The moment she saw the four who had just come in, her hand froze for a beat. She immediately recognized who Ronan and the others were.
"Welcome." Shakky's tone was very calm. Her gaze swept over Ronan and the three guards behind him, finally resting on Ronan. "What rare guests. Ronan-denka. And these… famously 'heroic' young ladies. What would you like to drink today?"
Ronan walked straight up to the bar. He was not at all surprised that she could call out his identity. Looking calmly at Shakky, he said, "Boss-lady, we're not here to drink. I just want to buy some intel."
Shakky raised an eyebrow and looked doubtfully at the child of about eight in front of her. "Oh? I wonder what kind of information His Highness wants to ask about? If it's a tourist guide for the island, I can give that for free."
"I'm not interested in sightseeing." Ronan got straight to the point. "I want to know exactly which pirates with bounties over thirty million berries are currently staying on the Sabaody Archipelago, and roughly where they're active."
The directness of the question made Shakky pause. She carefully sized Ronan up, as if she wanted to read his true intent from his face. "High-bounty pirates?" Her tone carried a trace of curiosity. "What does His Highness want that for? You should know, we're just a proper little bar doing honest business."
Ronan was not surprised by her reaction. Staying sufficiently cautious in front of a stranger was normal. But Ronan didn't have that much time to waste here; the auction time was getting closer and closer.
"I need money. A lot of money. Catching pirates and cashing in their bounties is a legal and most efficient way to do it."
"Pfft—"
In the corner of the bar, Rayleigh, who had been quietly drinking, couldn't help but burst into laughter.
The moment he moved, Beth and Alicia's silver eyes snapped toward him, instantly turning sharp.
Ronan had already noticed Rayleigh the instant he stepped into the bar. Rayleigh being here didn't surprise him at all; given Ronan's understanding of Rayleigh and Shakky's relationship, it would be stranger if Rayleigh weren't here. Ronan simply raised a hand to Beth and Alicia to tell them to stand down, then stopped paying Rayleigh any further attention.
Behind the bar, Shakky was also taken aback by Ronan's "reason." She looked at Ronan's completely matter-of-fact expression, then at the two guards behind him who had just "taken down" the Golden Lion, and for a moment she was at a loss for words.
She had run this bar for many years and had seen all kinds of people come to buy intel—pirates, undercover Marines, Revolutionary Army members, bounty hunters… But an eight-year-old prince of a kingdom, bringing guards strong enough to kill a legendary pirate, coming here to ask for the locations of high-bounty pirates, all because he wanted to save up money?
That reason really caught her off guard.
"Your Highness… are you joking?" Shakky couldn't help but confirm. "With your status, you shouldn't be so short of money that you personally have to go and work as a bounty hunter, right?" She glanced meaningfully at Beth and Alicia. "Besides, having your guards do that kind of thing seems a bit of a waste of their talents, doesn't it?"
"Status is just fluff. Berry is real." Ronan's tone was flat, as if nothing were more natural. "And I really do need a huge sum of money right now, for something important."
Shakky lit a cigarette, slowly exhaled a lungful of smoke, and went on asking, "May I ask, a bit rudely… what is His Highness planning to do with that much money?" She truly could not picture a prince with such powerful guards personally going out to capture pirates for cash.
Ronan did not hide anything. He said directly, "To attend the auction the Doflamingo family is holding in 1GR. I've set my sights on that final Devil Fruit lot."
That answer once again caught Shakky by surprise. She froze for a second, then a complicated look flashed in her eyes. "So His Highness is aiming at that auction… I suppose you know very well that what the Doflamingo family's auction is most 'famous' for isn't Devil Fruits, but… 'living merchandise.'" She deliberately put extra weight on the words "living merchandise."
"I know. But I have no interest in the slave trade whatsoever. In fact, I loathe human trafficking. My target, from beginning to end, is only that Devil Fruit."
Ronan's words did not waver in the slightest as he expressed his stance to Shakky. Shakky had not expected a prince from a World Government allied nation to openly declare his hatred of the slave trade. Looking at his expression and hearing his tone, she could tell he wasn't putting on a show.
"Just for the Devil Fruit, huh…" Shakky murmured thoughtfully. "They say that fruit is very mysterious. Its starting price will probably be astronomical. No wonder His Highness needs to… 'raise' funds."
"So, Boss-lady, are you selling this intel or not?" Ronan pulled the topic back. "You can name your price."
Shakky smiled. "Since His Highness is so sincere, I'll take the deal." She turned around, took out a simple map of the Sabaody Archipelago from under the counter, then picked up a pen and quickly circled several areas on it, jotting down some names and bounty amounts.
"At the moment, the ones on the island with bounties over thirty million include these guys…" As she marked the map, she introduced them one by one. "'Giant Axe' Jason, bounty 38 million berries, likes to hang around the casino in 30GR… 'Poison Scorpion' Sara, bounty 42 million berries, often shows up at the black market pharmacy in 25GR… 'Wavebreaker' Hawk, bounty 50 million berries—his ship is moored at the illegal shipyard in 59GR, and he himself should be in that area…"
"These should be enough for His Highness to 'raise' quite a bit of money." Shakky slid the marked map over to Ronan and named a very fair price.
"Very detailed intel. But why is there no pirate with a bounty over a hundred million?" Ronan looked at Shakky in puzzlement. Could it be that there were no Supernovas currently on Sabaody on their way to the New World? After all, Supernovas were all pirates in the first half of the Grand Line with bounties exceeding a hundred million.
"Your Highness, the names of those two guards of yours are echoing through the pirate world right now," Shakky explained with a light laugh. "The moment you stepped onto this island, those over-a-hundred-million pirates were already asking around about your whereabouts. So you don't need me to give you their locations. They'll come looking for you on their own, Ronan-denka."
(End of Chapter)
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