Time slipped by before anyone noticed.
Half a year had passed since Chaos had retired from the world and devoted himself to cultivation.
That was a far cry from the three months he had initially expected.
The seas hadn't been peaceful over the past six months. The Richest Group's representatives had been running wild, and one headline after another kept them in the news.
Their bounties kept climbing, too.
Take Crocodile, for example. He had been badly injured after fighting Bullet!
Neither of them had come out on top.
Once he'd recovered, he'd boldly challenged Whitebeard, only to get beaten so badly he was barely recognizable. He'd almost gone down in Whitebeard's territory.
It had been a crushing defeat. He hadn't been able to fight back at all.
Crocodile had taken it hard, but unlike in the original story, it hadn't left him traumatized or sent him down the wrong path. Instead, he'd buckled down and gotten back on his feet.
After recovering, he'd gone back out to spread his ideas, living it up wherever he went.
As a result, his bounty had risen from 560 million to 630 million. The name of the Richest Group's Brainwashing Representative, Tsar Crocodile, had spread far and wide across the seas.
He'd faced plenty of challengers, all hoping to use him to find Gild Tesoro.
But Gild Tesoro hadn't been heard from once in the past six months. It was as if he'd vanished off the face of the earth.
Then there were Stussy and Betty. Neither of their bounties had increased. Compared with the others, the two women kept a much lower profile, focusing on business in the Red Light District and the pharmaceutical trade. They'd taken a steady, cautious approach and hadn't gone looking for trouble. Their Charming Woman business now