Somaz: Garling, Don't Rush to Judgment—That Might Be Rayleigh and Shakky's Child

Holy Land Mary Geoise.

God's Residence, territory of the Jaygarcia Family.

In an extremely rare occurrence, Saint Saturn, one of the Five Elders, had actually returned from Pangaea Castle to his own residence today.

This made all the Celestial Dragons throughout God's Residence wary of being too presumptuous. Even Saint Shepherd, who often liked using his Golden Pistol to shoot other people's slaves dead, did not dare step outside today, much less fire his gun recklessly, for fear of disturbing Saint Saturn.

Near the Jaygarcia Family's territory, a group was walking down the street.

At the front was Saint Garling of God's Knights, with Maffy and Saint Sommers beside him.

Behind the three of them were two Cipher Pol agents dressed in black suits.

"Still no news?" Saint Garling's expression was exceedingly cold, but impatience showed between his brows, and his tone was even frostier.

He looked as though he might kill someone the very next second.

Maffy and Saint Sommers naturally did not care about his tone, but the Cipher Pol agents following behind them were terrified.

They even felt that if Saint Saturn had not summoned them, Saint Garling would have chopped their heads off already!

"My deepest apologies, Saint Garling. Based on our investigations over the past two-plus years, we have largely ruled out the Whitebeard Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates. At the same time, we have found nothing suspicious within the Flying Pirates..." Bazzar, commander of CP-9, said somewhat nervously.

During the battle at God Valley, Garling had arranged for Maffy to help bring back his son. Yet because of a series of accidents, Maffy had failed to fully accomplish the task. Of his twin sons, she had only brought one back.

This had left Garling somewhat dissatisfied. But then again, God Valley had truly been too chaotic at the time, filled with powerful figures. People like them would only have served as speed bumps if they had gone in. Maffy had already been incredibly lucky to bring one child back.

Moreover, Maffy was no pushover. If Garling wanted to become the leader of God's Knights, he still needed to unite his "knights" at this stage. Naturally, he would not fall out with Maffy over something like this.

But in private, he had still arranged for intelligence agencies to search for his lost child.

He had handed that task to CP-9 back then. Yet two years had passed, and they still could not give him any definite news. It was not as though he had no reason to want to kill someone.

"Don't tell me this useless nonsense. Do you have any valuable intelligence?" Garling asked in a low voice.

That tone was already exceptionally harsh, frightening Bazzar so badly that his legs nearly gave out. He hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, we do."

After a brief pause, Bazzar continued, "It may be the Roger Pirates..."

"The Roger Pirates?!" Garling's expression abruptly changed. He stopped walking, turned to Bazzar, and asked, "What evidence do you have?"

The Roger Pirates were something of a taboo presence in Mary Geoise.

It was not because the Roger Pirates were particularly formidable or had put enormous pressure on this place.

Quite the opposite. Over the past two-plus years, the ruthless figures in the New World had fought too fiercely, turning the seas into a complete mess. Yet the Roger Pirates had not done anything earth-shattering at all. They had instead kept an extremely low profile.

The reason the Roger Pirates were taboo in Mary Geoise was mainly because Vikengam was mixed in with them.

A young master of a Five Elders family had joined a pirate crew. How was that not a disgrace to Mary Geoise?

Yet Saint Saturn seemed excessively fond of this younger relative of his. Not only had there been no punishment whatsoever, but he had even issued a gag order to those in the know, telling them to leave the matter at that.

It was truly maddening.

"There is no conclusive evidence, but we investigated some of the Roger Pirates' movements and classified intelligence, and discovered a very unusual phenomenon. At times, they replenish necessities for infants and young children at ports—things like milk powder. But on the surface, the Roger Pirates should have no need for such items, should they?" Bazzar explained.

He did not need to say the rest.

Considering that one of Saint Garling's children had been lost at God Valley, and that the other pirates present at the time had largely been ruled out, was the discovery of such a detail about the Roger Pirates not sufficient evidence?

There was an extremely high possibility that Saint Garling's bloodline was in the hands of the Roger Pirates!

This answer also calmed Garling's previously agitated emotions. The Roger Pirates stocked infant necessities... Could my child really be aboard their ship?

To be honest, Garling did not care all that much about his child, nor did he have much affection for the lost Shanks.

He was a beast. Where would he get so many human emotions?

What mattered was that he was wildly ambitious and wanted to seize more power. Therefore, he needed to minimize the blemishes on himself and anything that could become leverage for his opponents.

Without question, a child carrying his bloodline and living outside his control was an extremely dangerous weakness and stain.

If one day some opponent used this matter—used Shanks—against him, it would be very troublesome. That was why he needed to bring this lost bloodline back.

That was Garling's logic.

Just as Garling was wondering whether Shanks might truly be in the hands of the Roger Pirates, Saint Sommers beside him blurted out, "You were right when you said there was no conclusive evidence. Otherwise, I would truly have to question CP-9's competence."

"Huh? And this doesn't count as evidence?" Maffy said from the side. "Haven't they already confirmed that the crew replenishes infant necessities?"

"Idiot, have you forgotten? Shakky was snatched away by them back then too. That bastard Rayleigh even chopped me in half. More than two years have passed. Sailing is such a lonely thing—don't tell me you don't know that? Those two shameless dogs could have gotten up to something aboard the Roger Pirates and made themselves a child. Isn't that possible? On the contrary, I think that's even more likely! Garling, don't rush to judgment over this!" Saint Sommers said carelessly.

Good grief. On the surface, his tone seemed to be comforting Saint Garling, but after hearing him, Maffy only wanted to sympathize with Garling.

What was this supposed to be?

Not only had his Devil Fruit ability and child been stolen, but even his originally intended wife was gone. There was even a strong chance that his intended wife had been taken out to sea and fooling around with someone else for two and a half years.

Think about how boring sailing was. Staring at the same scenery every day—how could that be interesting? To relieve that boredom, Rayleigh and Shakky had surely unlocked every position by now, right? Huh? Garling, why did you dye your hair green?

Oh, because they had a child!?

Sure enough, after Saint Sommers voiced his judgment, Garling's expression, which had just improved somewhat, twisted completely. His face had turned nearly as black as the sole of a shoe.

"Enough!!!" Garling roared. Even the flat road paved with heavy stone slabs beneath his feet cracked slightly.

Somaz curled his lips at the sight and said nothing. As the young master of a Five Elders family himself, though he had not received as much favor from his old man, he truly was not afraid of Garling.

Maffy was trying hard to hold back her laughter, but her trembling body still gave her away.

However, Garling was currently staring at Bazzar, so he did not notice Maffy's condition.

"I'll give you another two months. If you still cannot give me the definite news I want, then I don't see any need for you to continue wasting air," Garling said in a low voice.

Bazzar swiftly dropped to his knees in terror. "Yes, Saint Garling!"

Without sparing another glance at the kneeling Bazzar, Garling instead looked at the other Cipher Pol member and asked, "What is your name?"

That Cipher Pol member immediately knelt as well. "Thank you for asking, Saint Garling. I am Spandine, deputy commander of CP-9!"

Garling did not say anything upon hearing that. He merely nodded casually, then turned and continued toward the Jaygarcia Family's territory.