At the dock, cheerleaders had been enthusiastically waving their pom-poms for at least twenty minutes.
From the moment they saw the majestic Dark Bird Ship in the distance, their movements never stopped.
Are they tired?
Of course it's tiring!
They had been wanting to put down what they were doing, find a place to relax for a while, and ideally have a spa treatment.
But...
Looking at the group of men in black suits behind him, armed with swords and guns...
The cheerleaders looked at each other and then smiled.
Such a threat? Pfft...
They can only dance for one night at most!
With the cheerleaders' efforts, the Dark Bird Ship gradually came to a stop, and then Little Dark Bird set off from beside the large ship and headed towards the dock.
When the people on the shore could vaguely make out the figures standing at the bow of the Little Dark Bird...
The guys who were just exhausted suddenly seem to have been injected with adrenaline!
They don't need millions or Billions to urge them; they've already fully activated their initiative.
After all, what kind of guys were on that ship?
Both the pirates and the bounty hunters were ecstatic the moment they saw Rayleigh.
Rayleigh's legendary status as a great pirate has ignited the passion of pirates, and the 4 billion bounty Rayleigh currently carries is one of the dreams of every bounty hunter!
For pirates, their ultimate dream is the Great Treasure!
For bounty hunters, a powerhouse like Rayleigh with a bounty of over four billion, a royal-level expert, is just a nobody!
Besides, for every man on the dock...
The two most beautiful women in the world, the Fish-Man princess and the Pirate Empress, were both looking at him from that ship!
As for Kozuki Hiyori...
Sorry, that country is closed off, and outsiders have no idea about the number one courtesan of Wano Country.
Thus, the men who were drawn to Shirahoshi and the Empress were so excited that they could hardly contain themselves, as if their idols had stepped out of a painting.
As for women, Gawain's constant stream of news at sea over the past six months has already made him a treasure in the hearts of countless women at sea.
A lofty position, unparalleled power, an incomparably handsome appearance, and Haki that shatters the heart.
With all these qualities combined in one man, how could such a man not become a woman's darling?
In other words, isn't loving Gawain better than loving Kun Kun?
And so, as the Little Dark Bird drew ever closer, the crowd, who had just been forced into a corner, finally found the excitement that cheering should have.
So when Gawain disembarked, he couldn't help but feel a sense of unease as he sensed the Mantra of everyone nearby.
According to information from the Mantra, judging from the neurobioelectricity of most people in the vicinity, they were actually genuinely cheering for their group?
This puzzled Gawain. Was this not just a pretense by Crocodile?
Confused, Gawain calmly walked up the suspension stairs and arrived at the dock.
The cheers stopped abruptly the moment he stepped onto the dock.
For some reason, at that moment, everyone around them stopped what they were doing in unison.
Apart from the music group still playing elegant symphonies, everyone else stopped what they were doing and knelt down before Gawain, following the elders in black.
Gawain had only taken two steps on the dock when the sound of orderly prayers echoed from all around him...
Looking at Whiskey Peak in this state, what could Gawain say?
He waved his hand and said softly.
"Let's disperse!"
After speaking, Gawain turned to Kalifa.
"Unlike other islands, Whiskey Peak is the first island on the Grand Line. Every pirate who enters the Grand Line is destined to take a trip around Whiskey Peak!"
Therefore, its importance is beyond doubt!
Kalifa, Crocodile has already laid the groundwork here. Now, you and Lucci will take over the finances and security, respectively.
Here, we must achieve absolute control; only then can we truly have the possibility of blocking the Grand Line!
After speaking, Gawain looked at the crowd around him, paused for a moment, and then continued.
"As for everyone currently on this island, please forgive me, but I do not wish for anyone who is not one of us to be present here!"
Send people to recruit, and then carry out the purge!
Those willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with us, you, Shakky, Lucci, and Crocodile, will share the spoils.
"No, Shiryu!"
Gawain looked over at Shiryu immediately came up behind Gawain.
Shiryu chuckled as he rubbed the Raiu in his hand.
"My lord, rest assured, I know what I must do, and I can't wait!"
After saying that, Shiryu a cold smile at the crowd that had just been cheering but was now filled with fear.
Hearing Gawain's words, Shirahoshi, Uta, and Vivi were utterly astonished.
With her jaw agape in astonishment, Shirahoshi moved closer to Gawain.
"Lord Gawain ~~~."
She asked in a low voice.
"There are no bad people here, so why kill someone? Everyone was so friendly..."
"Oh, really?"
Hearing Shirahoshi's words, Gawain smiled and patted Shirahoshi's tail, then saw him turn his head to look towards Gion.
"Gion, why don't you take our little girls for a walk on the Cactus Mountain near Whiskey Peak later?"
If, once they get there, the children still feel that everyone there is a good person.
Let's give the kids a two-month break from ice cream!
As soon as he finished speaking, Gawain chuckled and rubbed Shirahoshi's tail. Then, he and Rayleigh and his group went directly to the central area of Whiskey Peak.
Gawain still had a lot to do. He had to comprehensively consider a range of data on the local population and economic situation, and then formulate a plan for their stay at Whiskey Peak over the next ten days or so.
After Gawain and his group left, Kalifa, Shakky, Lucci, Crocodile, and the others near the docks began to get busy.
The Iron Eagle Group, along with Ace and Isuka, followed Kalifa with somber expressions.
But as they went about their mission, the two young men were quite frustrated with Gawain's orders.
After all, this is so cruel—the kind of cruelty where you force the other person to join you, and then kill them if they disagree.
But not long after, when Ace and the others walked with Shirahoshi and the others on the dozen or so Cactus Mountain that were thousands of meters high around Whiskey Peak.
They no longer had that doubt!
Whiskey Peak is indeed famous for its fine whiskies, and it truly is a land of fine spirits Grand Line. But is it really just a place of blooming flowers?
Impossible!
This is the first large island at the foot of Reverse Mountain, a place that every new pirate from Four Blues must pass through!
Every young pirate in the world, after embarking on the Grand Line, must take a trip around Whiskey Peak!
This is not a peaceful place at all; on the contrary, it is the place where the most killings are concentrated on the high seas!
The surrounding round, tall peaks are called Cactus Mountain.
Because those mountains, when viewed from a distance, are covered with dense, white thorns, similar to those of a cactus.
But once you get closer, you'll find out.
The so-called dense white fuzz and thorns on the Cactus Mountain are not fuzz and thorns at all.
They were simply rows and rows of white cross-shaped tombstones!!!
Over the past eight hundred years, Whiskey Peak has accumulated tens of millions, perhaps even hundreds of millions, of tombstones!!!
This island is the one with the most dead and the highest concentration of dead people in the Grand Line and even the whole world!
This is a place of chaos, and even more so, a place of death!!!
Before we knew it, twenty days had passed.
In the Whiskey Peak Central Bar, Gawain lay back on the sofa, gently stroking Shirahoshi's head.
Feeling Gawain's hand, Shirahoshi couldn't help but rub her face against Gawain's entire body.
"Sir, when can we leave? I really don't like it here. Can we please leave quickly...?"
That's right, unlike before, even Shirahoshi is now planning to set off sooner.
There's no other reason than that the environment near Whiskey Peak has caused far too much damage to Shirahoshi!
Ever since the day she arrived on the island, Shirahoshi has witnessed the countless tombstones covering the mountains and the overwhelming aura of death emanating from the Cactus Mountain.
Shirahoshi was almost going crazy with excitement.
She almost vomited her own bile.
In the past, Shirahoshi always felt curious and fond of various forests and grasslands.
But in the last twenty days, Shirahoshi has hardly left her home. She always feels that no matter where she drifts, there is a dead person buried under her tail!
At the same time, she didn't even dare to go into the water, because as soon as she did, she felt that the seawater around her was filled with the smell of corpses.
And so, for the first time ever, Shirahoshi became a homebody, spending every day by Gawain's side, becoming a pitiful little thing who could barely get by by being close to Gawain.
Listening to Shirahoshi's question, Gawain habitually rubbed Shirahoshi's cheek while glancing at the report he was holding in his other hand.
"Don't rush, we can probably set off tonight."
Let me check. The forward-looking station in Franky is completed, and the weather station was completed two days ago and has been occupied by meteorologists.
As for the personnel reorganization of each department, well... the Dark Bird Ship now has a whopping 37,000 more members.
According to Franky, the Dark Bird Ship will undergo renovations and expansions over the next two years, and I will also need to upgrade the ship with enough metal to enhance my Rumble-Rumble Fruit abilities.
In that case, around 40,000 people are still not enough.
However, only over 30,000 people were selected from Whiskey Peak. Let's recruit some outstanding young people from the East Blue next.
As for the Cactus Mountain, Yixiao has recently turned all those mountains upside down and lit several large fires to slightly purify the deathly aura on them.
Hopefully, Whiskey Peak can be reborn from this fire.
As for what we're doing right now, it's mainly about replenishing food and beverages.
Due to the surge in population, we estimate it will be evening before we can finish replenishing our supplies.
At this point, Gawain couldn't help but sigh. Without coming to this place himself, he would never have known that the situation facing Whiskey Peak was so dire!
This place is extremely short of money, water, and food!
Logically speaking, this place possesses a vast expanse of fertile land that has buried countless corpses; they shouldn't lack food.
On one hand, they needed to free up grain for brewing wine; on the other hand, they faced pirates from Four Blues...
Although most novice pirates will suffer a major setback at Whiskey Peak, the bounty hunters at Whiskey Peak should theoretically be a good business opportunity.
But in reality, Whiskey Peak has been facing a cycle in recent years.
The locals of Whiskey Peak, led by Baroque Works, robbed all the rookie pirates who had just entered the Grand Line.
Pirates with bounties were taken out and sold, while those without bounties stayed to work.
But among those rookie pirates, there are always occasionally a group of people that Whiskey Peak can't afford to mess with...
Just like Luffy and his crew, when they climbed Whiskey Peak, Zoro simply left behind the legend of slaying a hundred men.
In short, while Whiskey Peak robs all the pirates, it also gets robbed by the invading pirates quite often...
The reason why the vast Whiskey Peak, despite robbing and absorbing countless pirates and bounty hunters, still has fewer than 100,000 people is that.
Because whenever a powerful invading force comes across the island, some of the island's inhabitants are selected and taken away by those invading forces...
Therefore, the Whiskey Peak's recurring cycle is ridiculous... robbery, being robbed, robbery, being robbed...
In the end, only corpses remained here; besides the corpses, there was no money, no wine, and no resources.
This is the problem Gawain is facing now.
As for his method of solving the problem, it was decided as soon as he arrived on the island.
Absorb, kill, nothing more.
After recruiting young children, innocent women, young adults of marriageable age, and elderly people with special skills into his ranks, almost everyone else died at Shiryu's hands.
As a result, the population of Whiskey Peak decreased significantly, and their meager resources immediately seemed abundant.
When overall resources become scarce, reducing the population is always the most effective solution.
However, this method requires sufficient determination and ruthlessness to implement.
Fortunately, Gawain didn't suffer any psychological trauma.
As he said, on an island where hundreds of millions have died, how many truly good people can there be?
As Gawain pondered, Shirahoshi let out a long sigh.
In these twenty days, the young girl seemed to have experienced some of the pressures that adults face.
She said in a low voice.
"Great, we can finally leave here."
Lately, I feel like there are many souls making a lot of noise in my ears.
Although they were all praising you for doing a great job, it still sounded terrifying to me.
Finally, I can leave!
Click!
Just as Shirahoshi was speaking, the tavern door was pushed open, and Rayleigh and Zephyr, the two old men, walked in together.
After Zephyr entered, he grabbed his mechanical arm and sat down next to Gawain with Gawain.
"Little Kalifa, get me a glass of the strongest whiskey!!!"
"Alright, sir."
As Kalifa responded, she picked up a jug of milk from the wine cabinet and skillfully labeled it.
A moment later, the milk jug was brought to Zephyr.
Zephyr picked up the milk with a disgruntled expression and looked at the label that Kalifa had put on it.
"Cut..."
The old man pursed his lips.
"It just says... the strongest whiskey?"
"You bunch of kids, Kureha's keeping a close eye on you!"
"Grandpa, it's all for your health."
Kalifa smiled, pushed up her glasses, and responded to Zephyr.
Upon hearing this, Zephyr weakly gulped down a mouthful of milk.
Beside him, Rayleigh burst out laughing as he looked at the white rim of Zephyr's lips.
Slightly provoked by Rayleigh, Zephyr slammed his fist on the table in annoyance.
"What are you laughing at, you old devil!"
Don't be fooled by your current ability to drink healthily; you 'Koby older than me!
You'll get your day sooner or later, huh!
As soon as he finished speaking, Zephyr turned away unhappily, drinking his milk while refusing to look at Rayleigh again.
And Rayleigh.
He laughed and patted Gawain on the shoulder.
"Captain, we heard from the Logistics Department that we'll be setting off this afternoon or evening, right?"
"Indeed." Gawain nodded.
Upon hearing this, Rayleigh smiled expectantly and then spoke to Gawain.
"Next, our destination is Twin Capes!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Rayleigh raised his glass and clinked it hard against Gawain's.
After taking a big gulp of strong liquor, Rayleigh first burped in Zephyr's direction, effectively irritating Zephyr.
Then, he turned to Gawain and continued speaking.
"The old friend I told you about before, the doctor from back then, Crocus!"
Haha, that guy lives near the lighthouse at Twin Capes!
Captain, although we already have Kureha and Chopper on board.
But ultimately, the more top-tier doctors, the better!
So, hehe.
My old friend is in need of your help, Captain, to bring him aboard our ship!
Don't count on my feelings for him; it was Roger, not me, who got him on board.
"So if you want to recruit him now, you'll have to do it yourself!"
After saying that, Rayleigh picked up his wine glass, eagerly awaiting Gawain's answer.
Gawain nodded slightly.
"I'll listen to you, old man. The more excellent doctors, the better!"
Not only Mr. Crocus, but I will also try my best to bring Devil Fruit User to our ship!
However, we're still searching for the Op- Devil Fruit User, so let's get Crocus in our hands first!
"That's great!"
Rayleigh smiled excitedly, then looked out the window and said expectantly.
"It's about a three-day voyage from here to Twin Capes."
And Crocus, that guy lives inside the belly of an Island Whale near Twin Capes!
More than fifty years ago, that guy was the lighthouse keeper at Twin Capes!
Roger and I found him inside the belly of that whale called Laboon!
"Um!"
Gawain, who was standing to the side, nodded slightly.
"The whale still lingers near Twin Capes, and Crocus is there too."
Next, let's go inside the whale's belly!