After investigating, Captain Jess's men found several witnesses who said they had seen children running out of the alley near the scene shortly before the explosion.
Someone else had happened to see the vagrants following a child into the alley.
All these accounts pointed to the same suspects.
This was an important lead!
Captain Jess didn't believe it was a coincidence. Those two children had to be involved.
It wasn't that he was convinced they were the culprits. His instincts simply told him those two children knew something.
Otherwise, he couldn't think of anyone who would go out of their way to deal with a few vagrants. Those useless bums weren't worth as much as a single bomb!
So he had his men sketch up some wanted posters from the scant information they had, hoping to find the children as soon as possible and ask them what had happened.
Meanwhile, Captain Jess wasn't about to let the buyers Old Jack had named off the hook, either. The scene had already made everything clear: there was no doubt the culprit had used a bomb.
Following that lead was bound to get results.
At that moment, Abel, dressed in different clothes, was trying to find out about ships so he could take Luo and escape the country.
The world was vast, yet it seemed there was nowhere for them to belong.
As Abel passed a notice board, he immediately spotted two wanted posters. His old clothes and Luo's distinctive spotted hat had been listed as identifying features.
Clearly, after making such a scene, they'd attracted the authorities' attention.
Fortunately, those features weren't all that distinctive. Besides, the clothes he was wearing now had just been borrowed from someone's yard, and some parts were still wet.
At first glance, he looked no different from any other child his age on the street.
In fact, along the way, he'd already sent several little girls who wanted to play with him on their way.
Just then, two soldiers strolled over, holding the newly issued wanted posters.
Abel showed no sign of fear. He remained perfectly calm.
Sure enough, the soldiers only glanced down at him before walking on, never connecting him to the wanted poster.
Trying to find someone based on such scant details was asking a bit much.
But they had no choice. That was all the information they'd gathered, and they couldn't exactly arrest every boy they saw on the street.
And so Abel made it safely to the harbor.
There were plenty of ships docked there, and the place was bustling with people coming and going.
Most of the ships were merchant vessels, with fewer passenger ships.
He even spotted two pirate ships flying their flags, docked in plain sight as if they had no fear of the Navy coming to arrest them.
That was largely thanks to White Town.
To bury the secret of Freyvans, the powerful figures had let neighboring countries wage war against it. They had even pulled the nearby Navy away, using that as an excuse not to send help.
And if anything went wrong, they could always use pirates to finish the job!
It had been a foolproof plan. Freyvans hadn't been able to hold out and had burned to the ground.
So, until the new Navy arrived, it was hardly surprising to see pirates on the island.
After walking around the harbor for a long time, Abel finally decided to head back.
He'd realized there were only a few ways to get out to sea:
1. Get a rickety little boat or build a raft and leave it to fate. If a single wave capsized them, they'd just have to accept it.
Abel dismissed this option almost without hesitation.
If that was how they had to leave, he'd rather stay and keep being hunted.
2. Pay for tickets and leave on a passenger ship.
The advantage was that it was safe and reliable. The disadvantage was the risk of exposing their identities.
And, most importantly, they had no money!
That was the misery of being broke: you couldn't take a single step forward. Sigh.
3. Find a way to get new identities, perhaps by joining one of the two pirate crews and sailing out with them.
Abel didn't object to being a pirate, but his and Luo's ages were a serious drawback. Most pirate crews wouldn't take in a couple of kids.
And if they revealed who they were, it was hard to say whether being wanted would count in their favor—or whether the pirates would turn around and sell them out.
Abel didn't believe all pirates on the sea were like Luffy's crew, going around righting wrongs and shouting about dreams and freedom.
In truth, most pirates shared the same motto: underhanded, treacherous, and ruthless.
The two of them could end up jumping from the tiger's jaws straight into the wolf's den. Then they really would be left with nowhere to turn.
Just then, another large ship slowly pulled into port.
Abel was about to leave, but when he saw the flag flying above it, he thought it looked familiar.
The next day, Abel didn't rush into action. Instead, he continued scouting the area.
With help from a few big-mouthed sailors, he finally identified the faction behind the familiar flag.
It belonged to a Donquixote Family smuggling ship!
During the war that destroyed Freyvans, at least half of the vast quantities of arms used by the various countries had been bought from the Donquixote Family.
Now that the war was over and the spoils had been divided up, they were practically rolling in money.
Clearly, the Donquixote Family had set their sights on them again.
More precisely, on the wealth in their hands!
After burning through so many weapons and so much ammunition, wouldn't they need to restock?
They didn't have to, of course. The other countries had already bought their supplies, so they could decide for themselves!
Wars could break out at any time, after all. When that happened, the ones in trouble certainly wouldn't be the Donquixote Family.
When it came to starting wars between countries and profiting from them, the Donquixote Family were professionals. No one in the North Sea could match them!
So the countries of Sodalanxia and the others had to grit their teeth and accept it, forced into a new arms race.
After all, with weapons, you might not need to use them—but you absolutely couldn't afford to be without them!
The Donquixote Family had a firm grip on these countries' lifelines, raking in a fortune every time.
Abel hid in the shadows, watching crate after crate of weapons being unloaded from the ship. Then crates of money and supplies were carried back aboard. A plan began to take shape in his mind.
And Abel wasn't the only one who had his eye on the Donquixote Family.
The two pirate crews that had been docked there to make repairs were now watching with eyes red with envy.
Doflamingo's underground black-market business was already thriving, but he wasn't yet the underground emperor of the underworld he'd become in the future. He hadn't even earned the title of Shichibukai.
So even in the North Sea, there were still plenty of people who harbored hostility toward the Donquixote Family!
Before you continue