"Hey, Shanks."
Somewhere in an unknown stretch of the South Sea.
A red ship with a simple dragon figurehead was slowly sailing through the waters. At the bow, a young man in a straw hat was reading the newspaper.
Hearing someone call him, he finally looked up in realization.
"What is it, Beck?"
"Nothing." A burly man with slicked-back hair and a cigarette in his mouth walked over and took the newspaper from his hand.
"Is it another report about Austin?"
"Huh? Why would you ask that?"
Beckman unfolded the newspaper and smiled at Shanks's startled expression.
"That's because whenever you read the paper this carefully, it's almost always a report about him."
Shanks scratched his cheek, looking a little guilty.
Was I really that obvious...?
"Actually, it isn't a report about Austin. It's about someone fighting Mr. Rayleigh. I haven't seen him in a long time since leaving the ship."
"Is that so..."
Beckman looked suspiciously at the details in the paper and found that it really was exactly as Shanks had said, but...
"If I remember right, Hawk Eyes is Austin's first mate, isn't he? You bastard..."
"Ah... Ahahahaha..."
As the two chatted,
"Hey!!! Shanks, there seems to be a pirate ship ahead!"
Using his telescope, Yasopp spotted a pirate ship in the distance and shouted toward Shanks at the bow.
"A pirate ship? What terrible timing. Get ready to fight!"
The moment Shanks heard the shout, he immediately seized the chance to change the subject, leaving Beckman utterly helpless.
In the distance, a pirate ship was sailing toward the Red-Haired Pirates. A closer look revealed that it was loaded with treasure.
The other side seemed to have just finished looting and was on its way out.
"What a haul. That's a lot of treasure."
Ship doctor Hongo