"What? He's dead!?" Saint Garling sat on the sofa in his home, looking thoroughly shocked as he listened to the butler's report.
"Yes, Lord Garling. Judging from the corpse, he must have angered that person, because his head exploded," the butler promptly replied.
Those words made Garling's mood even heavier.
Bazzar had been summoned by Saint Saturn to answer questions related to the Roger Pirates.
Garling knew that.
Yet Bazzar had died after going in. He had not simply been verbally sentenced to death—Saint Saturn had personally killed him. The implications were different.
What standing did Bazzar have? Why would he warrant Saint Saturn killing him personally?
"Viking..." Garling thought of that name at once.
Damn it, within the Roger Pirates, the only person qualified to make Saint Saturn so furious that he killed someone with his own hands had to be Vikengam, right?
What had he done?
Or rather, what had happened?
Garling had originally planned to send someone to investigate whether that baby aboard the Roger Pirates, whose existence had yet to be confirmed, was Shanks.
Now, Garling did not dare act rashly.
"Forget it. I'll wait until this blows over. Or perhaps when I get the chance to see Viking, I'll ask him myself," Garling muttered, abandoning his plan to continue investigating the Roger Pirates.
As for whether he had Vikengam's Den Den Mushi?
He did. He had called several times too, but perhaps the signal had been poor? In any case, Vikengam had never answered.
Maybe Saint Garling simply did not understand social etiquette. If an adult's Den Den Mushi could not get through after several calls at different times, it most likely meant the other party simply did not want to answer.
Elsewhere, at Rapeseed Flower Port in Alabasta.
A travel-worn Roger and the others had arrived there last night.
Early that morning, they prepared to leave Alabasta.
Watching the sails of the Oro Jackson unfurl, Roger looked at Rapeseed Flower Port gradually receding into the distance and said with some emotion, "This is the first time since meeting Garp that I've shaken him off so easily. Sure enough, when it comes to dealing with the Marines, we have to rely on Viking's skills."
"What? If you're not used to it, we can send you back to the port," Rayleigh teased with a smile.
Meanwhile, Gaban was directing the crew's course. Departing from Alabasta and heading for Jaya Island, they would need roughly a month and a half at normal speed, provided they avoided unexpected incidents and marine disasters.
That was the normal situation. According to Gaban, for those newly entering the Grand Line, sailing from a given route to the Sabaody Archipelago would take nearly a year.
That was why Saint Sommers had said sailing was boring, and Rayleigh had definitely been making babies with Shakky.
After all, during a long voyage, most of what filled your view was an endless sea. Who would not find that boring?
Rayleigh, of course!
As the only member of the Roger Pirates with a partner, he was as carefree as could be. Over the past two years, he had gone through seven beds. Whenever Roger saw him smugly carrying another wrecked bed out of the cabin, he would grieve silently, gazing at the sea as bitter tears streamed down his face.
He swore that once they came down from Sky Island, he would definitely rush to Amazon Lily and send Shakky home!
Also on the deck.
Vikengam watched Doringer pick Shanks up and hold him high in the air to play with him, then approached with a mischievous smile.
Honestly, little Shanks was quite adorable. Or rather, all human babies were pretty adorable.
Moreover, Shanks was very well-behaved. Unlike the babies Vikengam remembered, he did not cry and scream at random until people became irritated. The little guy ate, slept, then ate again. The rest of the time, he was always happily giggling, though no one knew what he was foolishly laughing about. There were not many times when he was annoying.
Other than when he randomly shit himself...
But Vikengam was not the one changing his diapers anyway, so it did not matter.
As Doringer held Shanks up high and made him giggle, Vikengam reached out and lightly flicked Shanks's little dick.
"Hahahahaha..." Vikengam burst into laughter at the amusing little thing. "Don't forget to save me a copy of the photos you took of Shanks later."
Dragon really liked photography. Whenever he had nothing to do, he would take pictures. He had once liked photographing scenery the most, but now, most of his pictures were of Shanks.
It could be said that Shakky took care of Shanks the most aboard this ship, followed by Doringer. Once Shakky left, Doringer would probably become a full-time dad.
"What do you want with so many embarrassing photos of Shanks?" Dragon asked with a cheerful smile.
Dragon liked collecting photos documenting Shanks's growth, but Vikengam only liked collecting Shanks's embarrassing moments: wetting the bed, shitting his pants, accidentally falling and getting a head full of bumps, grabbing bird droppings off the deck and stuffing them into his mouth, or getting his little dick flicked.
Vikengam had every kind of photo like that.
"I feel like this kid is destined for great things. To make sure he doesn't forget the kindness of his uncle who raised him, I need to keep some dirt on him. If he doesn't behave when the time comes, I'll publish the photos in the newspapers, hahahahahaha!" Vikengam said with a booming laugh.
Setting aside the fact that he was a member of the Roger Pirates and had participated in raising Shanks.
Just considering the complicated ties of family blood between Vikengam and Garling, they were Celestial Dragons of the same generation. So it was entirely reasonable for him to call himself Shanks's uncle.
While Vikengam occasionally teased little Shanks, Gaban walked over with a cigarette hanging from his mouth.
"Hey, Viking, have you ever seen the Giant Tribe? You must have, right?" Gaban asked.
"The Giant Tribe? Of course I have. I've even ridden one," Vikengam replied calmly.
"R-R-Ridden one!?" Gaban suddenly began stammering. His gaze behind his sunglasses turned excited, and even his breathing seemed to grow heavier.
He grabbed Vikengam and dragged him to the railing along the edge of the deck. After looking around and making sure no one was paying attention to them, he swallowed and asked, "Master, please teach me. How can an ordinary human ride a member of the Giant Tribe?"
"Hm?" Vikengam raised a hand to smooth his impeccably groomed silver hair, then said in confusion, "First, catch a giant. Then put a slave collar on him, whip him viciously, deny him food, or torture him until his mental endurance breaks and he chooses to submit. Once he has been trained into a slave, make him crawl along the ground. Then forge a suitably sized, comfortable saddle and lock it onto him. You'll have yourself a Giant Tribe mount. What's wrong?"
"Huh?" Gaban froze after hearing that. He looked at Vikengam in astonishment. "Listen to yourself. Are you even human?"
"That's normal. I grew up in that kind of environment. Of course, I don't have Giant Tribe slaves, and I don't like slaves. I only saw other people doing it. The Chaiqierz Family loves Giant Tribe slaves the most. In God's Residence, there is an Ancient Giant Tribe slave who has been enslaved for nearly a hundred years. His physique is far beyond that of ordinary giants—he's enormous. We all call him Paradise Train Tavern. Do you know why?" Vikengam said with a perfectly calm expression.
Gaban hesitated for a moment, but ultimately could not stop himself from asking, "Why?"
"That happened over a hundred years ago. I heard that when he was captured, he had a family of three. Later, because he resisted the Chaiqierz Family, his wife and daughter were sent into the colosseum before his eyes. They were forced to continuously fight sea beasts and giant ferocious beasts that had been injected with massive amounts of aphrodisiac drugs. In the end... Later, he was still alive, but he no longer had a soul or consciousness of his own. He was trained into a slave who could only crawl in endless circles along the widest ring road of God's Residence. About fifty or sixty years ago, his body was severely damaged, especially his limbs, so the Chaiqierz Family modified him into a cyborg. With only a simple energy supply, he could crawl continuously without eating, drinking, or relieving himself. The Chaiqierz Family even built a luxurious tavern on his back, where many Celestial Dragons liked to hold parties," Viking said with a smile.
His smile was chillingly eerie and cold.
Looking at that smile, Gaban found it painfully glaring.
After a moment, he patted Vikengam on the shoulder. "It wasn't easy for you to come out of that environment and still turn out half-human like you are now. Sigh."
Vikengam froze for a moment, then flew into a rage. "What do you mean, half-human? Fuck you!"
Before you continue