The next morning, after giving some instructions, Kong set off for Mariejois.
Marine Headquarters, inside Sengoku's office—
Sengoku was holding a few wanted posters in his hand. On them were the faces of Roger and some of his crew.
When Sengoku saw one of the posters, he paused.
"Who is this?"
It wasn't until he read the description that Sengoku's face twitched slightly, his expression full of speechlessness.
"They actually drew him like this… Forget it, it's about 60% accurate, that'll do."
Sengoku handed the poster to a nearby marine soldier.
"Send the word—tell the printing department to speed things up and have the officers distribute these immediately."
"Yes, sir."
"Phew…" Sengoku let out a deep breath. After thinking for a moment, he stood up and walked out the door.
World Economy News Agency
"Hehehe, Admiral Sengoku—oh no, no, I should call you Fleet Admiral Sengoku now. What brings you here today? Hehehe."
Morgans held a glass of red wine elegantly in his right hand, a sly look on his face as he took a gentle sip.
"Morgans, I need your help with something. If you do it well, there's a good profit in it for you."
"Oh? What is it about?"
Morgans's eyes lit up immediately. After all, making money was one of his favorite things.
"Help me get someone registered, and release it as news for the news birds to deliver."
"Who is it?"
Morgans's expression turned serious. Anyone Sengoku personally cared about had to be someone important.
"His name is Reid, a member of the Roger Pirates."
"Reid? I've never heard of someone by that name in the Roger Pirates." Morgans's birdlike face rarely frowned—usually he wore a very confident and cunning expression.
"He just joined. You just need to handle spreading the news as a story."
Sengoku was expressionless—he didn't have much fondness for this old bird.
"Hehehe, and how would Fleet Admiral Sengoku like me to write it?"
Morgans returned to his sly demeanor, swirling the wine glass. His beak opened slightly as he looked on with sharp and crafty eyes, his face even more full of schemes.
"Write it like this…"
After Sengoku left, Morgans's face lit up with excitement.
"Hahaha! So many earth-shattering news stories lately—this one's another goldmine!"
Baterilla Island — Today marked the third day of Reid's training under Rayleigh.
"You three have all improved. Today, I've got a surprise for you."
Rayleigh grinned, a look of amusement in his eyes.
"Surprise? Rayleigh, what kind of surprise?"
Buggy was the first to ask, unable to contain his curiosity.
Shanks also smiled widely, his eyes full of anticipation.
"No idea what the surprise could be."
Reid was also in a great mood. He'd made a lot of progress over the past two days.
"Heh, it's these."
Rayleigh snapped his fingers.
"Clack clack clack clack clack—"
A bunch of crabs scuttled over from the distance, kicking up a cloud of dust as they came.
Once they reached Rayleigh's side, the three could see clearly—there were six crabs in total. The way they charged in made it seem like a whole army.
The three were stunned.
Each of the six crabs was at least one meter tall. Their massive pincers looked like giant scissors, and each of them had a fierce, vicious glint in their eyes.
[Whirlwind Jumping Crab]
Main habitat: South Blue
Traits: Fast, move in groups, hold grudges
"So that's it. Definitely can't underestimate them… Holding grudges, huh? Real petty."
Reid's expression turned serious. He knew Rayleigh wouldn't bring over little critters just to play around.
"Clack clack clack clack clack—"
The crabs muttered to each other, no one knew what they were saying.
"Ahh… Delicious giant crabs... Rayleigh, you're the best. I love you so much."
Buggy jumped on Rayleigh, rubbing his face against Rayleigh's clothes with a deeply moved expression.
SMACK!
Rayleigh slapped Buggy flying with a single blow.
"Sorry, you're overthinking it. These crabs are your opponents for the next few days."
Rayleigh adjusted his glasses.
"Clack!! Clack!!"
The crabs looked furious. All six raised their claws and pointed at Buggy, angrily snapping and growling.
"This is not looking good. If one of those pincers catches a limb, it could get sliced clean off. If that happens, not even my medical skills will help."
Reid started to feel nervous. That kind of damage was totally possible. He anxiously looked toward Rayleigh.
"Brother Rayleigh, how powerful are these crabs? They're not going to snip us in half with one claw, right?"
"Yeah, Rayleigh! You can't be that cruel!"
Buggy had already climbed up a tree, yelling down at Rayleigh.
"If only I had Armament Haki… Then those pincers wouldn't stand a chance." Shanks muttered to himself.
"Hahaha, don't worry. I've already given them orders—they'll hold back."
Rayleigh looked at Buggy.
"Get down."
"I'm not coming down! Those claws are huge—Rayleigh, are you trying to fool a kid?!"
"Oh, is that so?" Rayleigh gave a signal to the crabs behind him.
Immediately, the six crabs surrounded the tree Buggy was in. With a few loud snip snip, their giant pincers chopped the tree down.
"Ahhh…" Buggy fell flat on his face, mouth full of dirt.
Ignoring the pain, Buggy scrambled and crawled over to Rayleigh.
"Rayleigh, help me!"
"Clack clack!! Clack clack!!"
The six crabs came up to Rayleigh and raised their pincers toward Buggy.
"Alright, enough wasting time. Could you guys help cut down some more trees? These are blocking the view—I want to clear out a big open space."
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—after hearing Rayleigh's words, the crabs scattered in all directions. Soon, trees started falling, and a large clearing was opened up.
Rayleigh quickly drew three circles on the ground.
"You each step into a circle. Each of you will fight two crabs."
"What?! Rayleigh, are you trying to kill me?!"
Buggy started backing out—those crabs were huge, and so were their pincers. To him, they looked more like assassins than a tasty meal now.
Reid, on the other hand, was the first to step forward. He didn't believe Rayleigh would let them get seriously hurt—those crabs weren't meant to kill them.