[The Return of Joy Boy?]
[Is he back?]
[Mary Geoise is attacked by a single person and all the World Nobles' slaves are freed!]
[Who exactly is The Traveler?]
The next morning, newspapers were spread all over the world. And the hottest news was none other than: The attack on Mary Geoise.
...
Meanwhile, on an island that was once deserted, several people of different races were present.
Among them were giants, mermaids, humans, etc.
Each of them had something in common: they were slaves who had been freed by the same person who was now making headlines around the world.
"Sister, shall we keep waiting?" Boa Marigold asked timidly.
With a few glances in their direction, it was hard for her not to feel intimidated after being a slave for so many years.
However, what she didn't realize was that she wasn't the only one feeling that way—many of them felt the same.
Meanwhile, those who had been freed and were once pirates also waited.
But upon seeing that the man who had freed them had not appeared, they began to look differently, especially at the women and mermaids.
"Are we really going to do this?" A former pirate asked what appeared to be their leader.
"Yes, this is a good chance to profit. Even though we're no longer slaves, we're poor," said the leader. "If we sell these mermaids especially, we'll make a fortune. Think about it—now that all of them have been freed, their price must be exorbitant...!"
Laughing cruelly, the man with an unshaven beard and long curly hair licked his lips as he walked toward two mermaids with fins who were still too young to grow legs.
The pirates behind him exchanged glances, quickly bought into the idea, and a wicked smile spread across their faces.
"Hello, lovely mermaids~" the pirate leader introduced himself. "I'm Arashi, former captain of the Disorderly Pirates. I see you need help on land—why don't I give you a hand?"
"Hey, you!" Not far away, some fish-men saw this scene and approached, but when they moved away, the mermaids they had been protecting were surrounded by another group of pirates.
"Kyahhhh!"
"Lucky~" With a sharp stone in hand, a pirate from the other group grabbed a mermaid by wrapping his arm around her neck and pressed the tip of the stone to her face, cutting her slightly: "Back off or I'll kill her!" he shouted.
"Let's do it!" The first group also grabbed another mermaid, but didn't have anything to use as a weapon, so they began choking her: "Back off!"
The fish-men were conflicted—they were slower to react on land than humans.
"If only we were in the water..." one of them muttered, frustrated.
At this point, they regretted having waited so long.
"Stand behind me!" Boa Hancock stood in front of her sisters like a hen protecting her chicks.
She stared at the disgusting pirates with sharp eyes.
"Trash will always be trash." Suddenly, a voice was heard by all.
While some rejoiced at that voice, the former pirates, in particular, trembled from head to toe.
The first pirate who had started this rebellion, trying to kidnap the mermaids especially, shouted: "Stop hiding, show yourself or I'll kill—"
His words were interrupted halfway through.
On his forehead, a hole the size of a fist could be seen.
The strangest part was that no blood came out, and the ex-pirate's hand loosened, releasing the mermaid.
"Ahhhhh!" The mermaid who gained her freedom screamed loudly.
And it didn't stop there—soon it was the turn of the others and other groups of ex-pirates.
One by one, they began to fall to the ground.
"Okay, you idiots." In the sky, Zaydas appeared.
His words, which had a tone of indifference, were different from when they had been saved.
He continued: "I see that some of you didn't take my words very seriously. And for people like that, I won't show mercy like I just did."
On the ground, dozens of bodies were now lying lifeless.
Several swallowing sounds were heard.
His threat was even more meaningful since they hadn't even noticed when he attacked, and many of them were already dead.
Descending, he shrank in size, becoming two and a half meters tall—even his hat shrank with him.
Making his wings disappear, Zaydas continued while everyone looked in his direction: "I've prepared some ships for you. Each group or person can take one and return to your homelands."
He looked at the mermaids and fish-men: "As for you, if you want, you can enter the sea right now and return to Fish-Man Island."
"Thank you!" Without hesitation, the fish-men helped the mermaids reach the sea.
The earlier reality check reminded them that not all humans are kind and saw them as nothing more than merchandise they could profit from.
After the departure of the fish-men and mermaids, Zaydas went to the sea, and soon medium-sized ships began to appear, some in larger proportions for the giants.
They were simple and rough, something he had made from a few trees.
However, they would serve the purpose.
"Each ship is the same. No need to fight over choosing. Of course, the larger ones are for the giants, so don't even think about it." Zaydas warned, adding: "By the way, there's a Log Pose in each ship."
"Thank you, Traveler, I'll never forget this!" said a giant, choosing a ship big enough to fit him.
One after another, they gave thanks while boarding a ship and heading out to sea.
However, not everyone left immediately; three stayed behind, looking in Zaydas's direction.
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Meanwhile, in East Blue, on Dawn Island... Garp, who was about to set sail, had a newspaper in his hand.
"Gahahahaha!" After finishing reading, Garp laughed loudly while slapping his knee with his hand: "Serves them right!"
Was he a marine? Yes. Did he like the World Nobles? Obviously not!
However, as a marine, he couldn't do anything—not even about the slaves.
But knowing that someone was bold enough to invade Mary Geoise, free all the slaves, steal all their fortune, and on top of that, mark each one of them with a slave seal on their forehead... How could he not feel happy with this news?
From the newspaper he held, a poster fell to the ground.
One of the marines picked it up, and before handing it to Garp, upon seeing the poster, his skin turned pale.
"This, this...!"
Falling on his butt to the ground, the marine looked like he had seen a ghost while the poster in his hand flew and landed on the floor.
On the poster, a photo of a man with crimson hair slicked back was seen, wearing a white button-up shirt and black pants with six pairs of dark obsidian wings on his back.
However, it wasn't the man's appearance that scared him, but rather what was written:
[Only Dead: The Traveler – ฿6,000,000,000!] –
[Note: Any valid information about the whereabouts of The Traveler will be rewarded with ฿100,000,000!]
Garp stopped laughing. When he picked up the poster, he looked closely at the image.
'Why such a high bounty?' Not even Garp could understand.
This was something never seen before!
Not even the Pirate King's bounty had been that high.
What exactly are they hiding?
What did he do that was so terrible for the World Government to place such a high bounty?
'And why do I feel like I've seen him somewhere before?' Garp pondered, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember.
The truth was that even if Zaydas were standing right in front of him, he wouldn't be able to associate him with the man on the poster.
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In front of Zaydas stood Boa Hancock, Boa Marigold, and Boa Sandersonia.
"Why are you still here?" Zaydas asked, creating a chair out of earth and sitting down.
With a wave of his hand, three more earth chairs were created, which looked more like they were made of concrete, right behind the three sisters: "Sit down first and slowly tell me what you want from me."
After a couple of seconds of silence, the three sisters sat down.
Clearing her throat, Hancock tried—what seemed like an attempt not to show weakness—to appear firm in front of her sisters as she spoke: "I know it's asking too much, but..."
Zaydas interrupted her with a wave of his hand.
Maybe she misunderstood something, because at that moment her face turned pale.