The sun sank below the horizon, night shrouded the entire sea, and the bright moon and stars gleamed in the night sky.
Hannibal.
This was an island with a population of over four hundred thousand. Like Water 7, it was a city directly governed by the World Government rather than an independent nation, with officials dispatched directly by the World Government to manage it.
Because the World Government officials managing the island were extremely corrupt, and because the island was riddled with deeply entrenched underground forces, public order across the island was exceptionally chaotic, with pirates frequently appearing.
Some obscure pirates had even taken a liking to the island's chaos and criminality, choosing to retire here.
As night fell, bonfires were lit throughout the town. People gathered around them, singing, dancing, drinking, chatting, laughing, and cursing without end.
Brawls, crowds gathered around gambling, young women soliciting by the streets, gangs openly dealing drugs—the city's law enforcement officers turned a blind eye to all of it.
This was clearly territory under the World Government's jurisdiction, yet it was filled with the chaotic atmosphere of a Lawless Zone.
A fat, ugly man carrying a long-handled broadsword, with waist-length golden hair and a white crescent-shaped mustache curving upward across his face, asked the old blonde woman walking ahead of him. She wore a leopard-print coat and leaned on a cane.
"Mom, where are we going?"
"Weevil, Mommy's taking you to make big money."
The old woman was Bakin Gingham Stussy, a former member of the Rocks Pirates also known as Miss Bakin. The fat man following behind her was Edward Weevil, a Supernova Pirate who had only recently risen to prominence, with a bounty of 100 million Beli.
After passing through alley after alley, the two soon arrived at the entrance of an