Make the Stagnant Sea Boil Once More

"All right, we've taken care of these guys! Now we need to find a ship and set sail!" Luffy laughed, looking over the Alvida Pirates sprawled across the deck.

Whoosh! Boom! Boom!

The moment Luffy finished speaking, cannonballs slammed viciously into Alvida's pirate ship.

Looking into the distance, they saw a Marine warship speeding toward them.

"The Marines are here! As pirates, this is when we make a run for it! Retreat, Rayson!" Luffy shouted. He was clearly no stranger to Marine warships; after all, the ship commanded by his grandfather was far bigger than this one.

"Got it." Rayson smiled.

He had no intention whatsoever of Plundering Alvida's "extremely thick skin" trait.

Fat held no appeal for him at all.

"Whew! I'm rich!" Nami muttered. She had successfully swept clean the Alvida Pirates' treasure. She loaded the heavy bundle onto a small boat.

Seeing the Marine warship approaching in the distance, Nami prepared to slip away as well.

Splash! Crash!

At that moment, a small lifeboat fell straight from the passenger ship's deck into the sea, kicking up a huge spray.

"Whoa!" Nami shielded herself from the misty spray and turned to look. Sitting in that boat were the straw-hatted boy and someone who looked familiar.

"Y-you?" Nami's eyes widened.

Wasn't that the man she had run into aboard the passenger ship earlier?

"Looks like the thieving young lady has already succeeded." Rayson smiled and struck up a conversation as he looked at Nami, now dressed in thief's clothes and clutching her bag of treasure tightly.

Instinctively, Nami hugged her treasure even closer.

"Rayson, do you know her?" Luffy blinked curiously.

"We've met once." Rayson answered casually.

"Oh, I see! But we need to get out of here fast!" Luffy shouted, pointing at the approaching warship.

"Set sail!"

"Well then, see you around, Miss Thief. My name's Rayson." Rayson looked at Nami as he spoke. He knew this was not the time for idle chatter. Besides, Nami's next destination was the same as theirs.

Pressing too hard now would only make her resentful.

Without waiting for Nami's reply, Rayson used the Navigation trait he had Plundered earlier to skillfully steer the small boat away at high speed, evading the Marine warship.

"Rayson?" Nami softly repeated the name, then used her superb navigational skills to send her own boat speeding away.

As for Rayson's "see you around," Nami did not take it to heart.

The sea was so vast. How could they possibly meet again so easily?

"Hahahaha! That was so fun!" Luffy laughed heartily after completely shaking off the Marine warship.

"Rayson, do you know anything about that pirate hunter the rude old lady mentioned earlier?" Luffy asked.

"I've heard the name. They say he's an immensely powerful swordsman, known as a humanoid beast." Rayson smiled.

"A beast?! That sounds amazing!" Luffy grinned, his eyes shining.

"What? Interested in him?" Rayson asked, though he already knew the answer.

He had already excluded that disgusting clown Koby from the picture.

So when it came to Zoro's storyline, Rayson would have to give it a push himself.

Since Koby would not be there to lead the way, Rayson did not mind playing the role of plot catalyst.

"I want to become the Pirate King, so I have to go to the Grand Line! Besides you, Rayson, I want even stronger companions! If that guy really is that strong, I want to invite him to join us!" Luffy declared bluntly.

"Then let's go take a look. I heard he's currently being held in Shells Town." As he spoke, Rayson took out the sea chart he had prepared earlier.

He had swiped that sea chart from the passenger ship.

"Yeah! Target locked! Let's go, Rayson!" Luffy was brimming with enthusiasm.

"Roger that." Rayson smiled, equally full of anticipation.

Roronoa Zoro... the man known as the backbone of the Straw Hat Pirates. What useful traits did he have that were worth equipping?

World Economy News Paper Headquarters.

"News! News! Is there really no major event worth reporting?!"

Morgans, president of the World Economy News Paper, usually remained in the hybrid form of the Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Albatross. At this moment, he was in an exceptionally agitated state.

"To hell with balance! To hell with the World Government! To hell with the Shichibukai!" Morgans roared, savagely slamming his broad wings against his desk.

Ever since the damned Shichibukai system had been established, creating the so-called "three great powers" balance in which Marine Headquarters, the Shichibukai, and the Four Emperors restrained one another, newsworthy events on the seas had not only plummeted but nearly vanished altogether!

Most of the Shichibukai stayed tucked away in their own corners, running pirate kingdoms of their own. Since the World Government had granted them legal rights to plunder, the Marines had no intention of wiping them out.

Meanwhile, the Four Emperors each occupied their own territories in the New World, and the Marines did not dare provoke such colossal forces lightly.

As a result, the pirates the Marines captured on ordinary days were mostly insignificant trash, hardly worth mentioning.

The great pirates with high bounties either became Shichibukai, attached themselves to the Four Emperors, or simply disappeared and lived under assumed names. This nauseatingly peaceful sea was boring beyond belief!

And Roger's great treasure—how many pirates of this era were still sincerely chasing it, still holding fast to that unreachable dream?

Morgans had long grown sick of days without any major news to write about.

"Another new tip? East Blue? Can that weakest of seas really produce anything worth me reviewing personally?" When Morgans noticed the location of the incident in the data and photographs submitted to him, his previously listless interest was immediately piqued.

As a newspaper giant with a presence across the entire world, the World Economy News Paper possessed an enormous internal structure.

To ensure that no valuable leads were missed, Morgans had planted informants everywhere to gather firsthand material.

Although the vast majority of those informants were stationed on the Grand Line, personnel were also secretly embedded throughout the Four Blues.

If informants in the Four Blues captured any eye-catching footage, it would pass through layer after layer of screening before being reported upward level by level.

For this tip to reach Morgans's desk meant that, after being judged by multiple levels of editors, everyone had agreed that this incident in East Blue was enough to interest the newspaper president himself.

"This is... this is actually..." When Morgans clearly saw the power displayed by the young man named Rayson, who called himself the "Heavenly King," in the submitted materials, he sprang to his feet.

That series of perfectly timed photographs, paired with detailed written accounts, delivered a visual impact no less powerful than watching moving footage.

"Conqueror's Haki! There's no mistake! This is definitely Conqueror's Haki!" Morgans felt every cell in his body leap and tremble with excitement.

At last, upon this stagnant sea, a new face possessing the bearing of a king had emerged!