Shiki Couldn't Help Humming

"You bastard! I was kind enough to tell you all this, and you actually dared to doubt me!?" After freezing for a moment, Shiki burst into curses.

"It was just too much of a coincidence. First you said you were going back to the New World to raise hell with Linlin and the others, then you told me Linlin had a Poneglyph at home. How could I not be suspicious?" Roger said, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Hmph!" Shiki snorted coldly. "Believe it or not. Anyway, Linlin once mentioned that Cake Island had one of those Poneglyphs she picked up when she was little. But it seemed different from what you described—it was red..."

"Red?" Roger's eyes lit up. "Are you sure it was red?"

"Yeah. What about it?" Shiki asked.

"Hahahaha! Anyway, I owe you one, Shiki. Running into you here was the best thing that could've happened, hahahaha!" Roger happily threw an arm around Shiki's shoulders and laughed.

With Roger acting all buddy-buddy, Shiki felt somewhat unaccustomed to it. Still, hearing Roger promise him a favor made him feel delighted, and he couldn't help humming softly.

Roger hadn't known before, but thanks to Vikengam joining them, he had learned in advance that finding Final Island required locating four crimson Poneglyphs. He had been wondering where he could get started, but now he had a lead. At the very least, Charlotte Linlin's base, Cake Island, had one crimson Poneglyph!

This also indirectly proved that Vikengam's claims had some credibility.

At that moment, Gaban and Silver Axe's fight was gradually coming to an end. Surprisingly, the two seemed to get along fairly well?

"Hey, tough guy, weren't you and Shiki on terrible terms? The Rocks Pirates have broken up anyway, so why not join our pirate crew?" Gaban immediately tried to poach him, exactly like Rayleigh.

Silver Axe strapped his enormous battle axe back onto his back and glanced at Gaban. "I could consider it if you make me captain..."

"That would be a little difficult. Forget it, then." Gaban pretended to consider it before waving a hand.

Clearly, Silver Axe looked down somewhat on the Roger Pirates. He felt these people were nothing like pirates. They did not even have territory of their own and just drifted aimlessly across the seas all day, with no ambition at all.

Silver Axe wanted to ride the surging tides of this era and fight for power and influence across the seas.

Compared to the Roger Pirates, he actually thought more highly of Shiki.

At first, his relationship with Shiki really had been poor. They had plenty of old grudges between them, but after joining the Rocks Pirates, they had temporarily set those matters aside.

Over that period, he had steadily come to understand the situation of every Rocks Pirates member.

Then he realized... Newgate was like a sick man, always wanting to play house. Kaido was too weak to play a leading role in the coming era. Linlin was decent enough, but she was either having children or preparing to have them. She had such incredible talent, yet she had squandered most of it. It was painful to watch.

On top of that, Silver Axe was somewhat chauvinistic and did not want to hang around with Linlin.

As for John, Gan Sui, Ochoku, and the rest, they ultimately fell short. Instead, Shiki—the man he had always found incompatible—possessed the bearing of a conqueror.

Only then did Silver Axe realize that perhaps he and Shiki had always disliked each other because they were both equally ambitious?

Now that Rocks was dead and the pirate crew had fallen apart, Silver Axe truly needed to consider his next move. And clearly, he and Shiki were currently somewhat kindred spirits.

Before long, Stania Island returned to peace, and the Roger Pirates began resupplying.

However, the harbor docks had been mostly destroyed, and the nearby streets had suffered as well. Inevitably, some innocent people had been caught up in it. Fortunately, Shiki had scared off a group of people earlier, so there probably were not many innocent civilians harmed.

Yet without question, whether it was Shiki's vicious bunch or Roger's comparatively peaceful group, no one cared too much about such matters.

Pirates were pirates. They were not good people pretending to be pirates.

Their essence was plunder and destruction!

Inside the tavern.

The Roger Pirates and Shiki's group had all gathered here to drink and chat, and the atmosphere was incredibly lively.

"If you're talking about those unreadable stones, there's one in the Sea Forest on Fish-Man Island too. It's been there ever since I can remember, with nobody paying it any mind. They even say it's been there for centuries..." Babel's massive body leaned against the wall. He used a barrel directly as a drinking cup as he drank and spoke.

"Is that so? We've gone in and out of Fish-Man Island so many times, but we really never noticed. We'll take a look next time," Roger said happily.

"Oh, right. Babel said earlier that his younger brother Sambel really wants to join our pirate crew. When we go to Fish-Man Island next time, we can get in touch with Sambel," Rayleigh added.

Clearly, he had failed to recruit Babel away from Shiki, but Babel had recommended someone else—his younger brother Sambel.

"No problem. I've been thinking lately that our ship needs a Fish-Man Tribe companion who's good in the water. That would make a lot of things much more convenient," Roger said with a smile.

No one knew what they might encounter while searching for Poneglyphs. Having a Fish-Man Tribe companion who could move freely underwater would undoubtedly make it much easier to handle many situations.

"I think Marlon said there was one somewhere in the West Blue too? But I can't remember where..." Silver Axe mused, holding his wine cup.

"Huh? Come to think of it, I heard he died. Is that true?" Gaban asked curiously.

Shakky nodded. "That's right. It was all that bastard Ochoku's doing. That day, he drugged the wine he gave Marlon and me..."

The mention of that bastard Ochoku made Shakky grit her teeth in hatred.

A murderous glint flashed through Rayleigh's eyes as well. "When I get the chance, I definitely won't let that bastard go."

Marlon had also been one of the Rocks Pirates' major figures, and he held tremendous prestige in the West Blue.

As everyone knew, the Four Blues each had their own character. The North Blue was notorious for its harsh environment, with its countries constantly at war. There was also Germa, that troublemaker. In those seas, people were either fighting national wars or on their way to fight them.

As a result, order had somewhat collapsed, leaving a large population unable to contribute effectively and instead becoming a source of chaos. There were countless criminals there, making it a sea favored by the Underworld. Donquixote Doflamingo would later rise to power there.

The South Blue, meanwhile, had fewer wars than the North Blue, but it was under intense pressure from the World Government. Most countries wanted to curry favor with the World Government, hoping the South Blue could become the next peaceful East Blue.

Yet this oppressive environment also gave the South Blue an especially outstanding spirit of resistance. Throughout the World Government's eight-hundred-year history, the Revolutionary Army had not been the only group to flip the table. Such incidents had happened frequently in the South Blue throughout history, and those historical reasons were precisely why the World Government continued to impose such heavy pressure on it.

There was no need to say much about the East Blue. It had essentially been fully tamed by the World Government and could currently be considered the most stable of the Four Blues. Vikengam had heard World Government officials in Mary Geoise refer to the East Blue as a "sheep pen" on numerous occasions.

But that damn place either had no trouble at all, or when trouble came, it was always something huge. The people were the same way.

The West Blue, on the other hand, was steeped in mafia culture. Marlon, whom everyone was discussing now, was a legendary figure in the West Blue. He had united the various mafia families there and could be called the underground emperor of the entire West Blue. He had also previously been the Rocks Pirates' biggest financial backer.

The result was rather absurd. A great hero of his generation had been schemed to death by Ochoku.

Who knew where in the West Blue the Poneglyph he mentioned was?