Two hundred million beli.
In the Pirate King world, it was neither a lot nor a little.
Once a suitcase had been filled with two hundred million beli in banknotes,
Roy was the first to leave the casino amid countless envious and jealous stares.
Spandam followed close behind, having also made fifty million beli on this trip.
Because of Roy and Spandam's arrival, the two of them alone had fleeced Crocodile for nearly two hundred and fifty million beli.
Sitting in the casino's comfortable carriage, Roy felt the soft velvet beneath him.
"Oh, was I wrong?
Looks like Crocodile doesn't plan on letting us take these two hundred and fifty million beli after all!"
With the Echo Map's detection and the aid of Observation Haki,
Roy quickly discovered that someone was following the carriage.
Roy merely grumbled a couple of times about Crocodile being stingy.
He slipped his left hand into his clothes and pulled out a Den Den Mushi.
Wisps of mist slowly began drifting out from the carriage.
Ugh!
The driver suddenly clutched his throat, finding it hard to breathe.
When his vision abruptly went dark and he was about to collapse, Roy took the reins from his hands. Following the Echo Map's guidance, he quickly changed the carriage's direction.
"Damn it, I knew it! What good people are there among the Shichibukai? See, we've been targeted already!
And you just wouldn't listen to me. How could Shichibukai money be so easy to take?"
After receiving the message, Spandam decisively took the driver of his carriage hostage.
Panic flashed through his eyes, but while he held a knife to the driver's waist, his other hand never loosened its grip on the suitcase full of money.
The two camel carriages that should have been traveling in the same direction suddenly split apart.
Meanwhile, Bon Clay, who had been following Roy and the others, stopped in his tracks.
"Oh, have I been discovered?
How interesting. The secrets this little brother carries are making me so curious."
Picking a direction, Bon Clay decisively followed Roy.
In truth, this pursuit was entirely Bon Clay's personal decision.
Ever since taking on that boring guard duty, he had finally encountered someone who interested him in this enormous casino today.
Two hundred and fifty million beli was no small amount, but to Crocodile, who controlled an entire city, it was not much at all.
Normally, for high rollers like Roy, as long as no cheating was discovered, a loss was simply a loss for the casino.
But although Roy's wins and losses had appeared even on the surface, he had actually been sweeping the tables.
And everyone knew that Bon Clay, who was in the casino that day, was a pervert who loved novel things.
Through the surveillance Den Den Mushi,
perhaps because Roy had won too many times at the low-stakes tables earlier, Bon Clay's instincts told him Roy had cheated. Yet he had found no flaw through the surveillance.
Near-perfect cheating.
That instantly piqued Bon Clay's curiosity.
That was why this personal pursuit had taken place.
Bon Clay was now increasingly curious about how Roy had dominated the casino, and why he had been able to notice the pursuit from inside the carriage.
Following a gambler without any evidence clearly violated casino rules, but Baroque Works had always been a lawless assassination organization.
Thus, aside from obeying their superiors, most of its members were lawless criminals in their daily lives.
Casino rules could not restrain Baroque Works members.
Moreover, as Crocodile's prestige in Alabasta continued to grow,
his deliberate indulgence had made Baroque Works members increasingly arrogant within Alabasta.
Because the camel carriage bore Crocodile's mark, it could race recklessly throughout Rain Country.
After turning into a narrow alley, the speeding carriage slowly came to a halt.
As the camel went limp and collapsed onto the ground,
"Oh, have you stopped? But why aren't you continuing to run?"
Bon Clay, slightly out of breath, approached the suddenly stopped carriage with curiosity.
Bang!
He kicked open the carriage door.
"What! Where is he?"
The empty carriage made Bon Clay's expression change.
"Hey! You pervert, are you looking for me?"
Mist silently drifted up behind Bon Clay.
A hand quietly rested on Bon Clay's shoulder.
The feeling of being on the verge of death
instantly made every muscle in Bon Clay's body tense.
To his shock, he realized that he had no desire to run at all.
Because his instincts told him that if he moved, he would likely die immediately.
The skill Reaper's Sound
had already been silently activated when Roy circled behind Bon Clay.
The terrifying low-frequency sound waves let living creatures instinctively sense the threat of death.
And Roy's aura was no ordinary person's match.
Advanced Armament Haki now directly covered his palm.
Meanwhile, Observation Haki and Weakness Sonar were also operating at full power.
It could be said that every weakness on Bon Clay's body was laid bare before Roy's eyes.
Just as Bon Clay's instincts had told him, if he dared move recklessly, Roy was confident he could cripple all four of his limbs in an instant.
Seeing Bon Clay suddenly drenched in sweat,
Roy actually felt some appreciation for this strangely dressed man.
First, through the memories in his mind, Roy knew that although the man before him had the heart of a daughter, he valued loyalty more than most people on this sea.
Furthermore, in Roy's view, a Mane Mane no Mi user was simply heaven-sent for gathering intelligence and working as an agent.
The future Pirate World was destined to be an era of hidden currents and constant slaughter.
The older generation's forces would gradually wither away, while the powerful figures of the new era would seize the opportunity to rise.
And at every turning point between eras, talent was the most important resource.
According to the memories in his mind, looking at the two most successful men of the future new era,
Buggy and Blackbeard, two of the Yonko,
actually shared something in common.
They had both selected quite a few elites from Impel Down, the world's greatest gathering place for talent.
Therefore, talent would be the most important resource in the future.
As for Bon Clay, who had practically delivered himself to Roy's doorstep, Roy decided to pack him up and take him away.
Though this guy was a pervert, his abilities and loyalty were precisely what Roy coveted.
And because this man was so loyal, Roy saw far too many ways to bring him under his command.
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