Cerberus?

"Simon has been found. He's with this man." A man excitedly brought Rogge's wanted poster into a tavern deep within an alley.

"Phew!"

"Simon, huh? He was originally chosen as R's partner, but unfortunately, R isn't someone just anyone can work with." The woman holding a pipe had dark blue hair and a waist slim enough to encircle with one hand. She was one of the senior agents and had not been with Baroque Works for long.

"No wonder you came looking for me. Looks like he's difficult to deal with. A pirate with a bounty of fifty million Beli requires R1 and me to make a move? He happens to be in Rainbase too, so call him over. You Billions should bring more people as well. They ought to have subordinates." The woman smiled.

"Yes, Miss Doublefinger."

Miss Doublefinger smiled. She looked ordinary and approachable now, but those who knew her understood that she was no lily. She was a rose covered in thorns.

Back at the restaurant, Rogge and the others had finally eaten their fill. Nearly all the kitchen chefs had collapsed, and the owner had stopped serving other customers. Rogge's group's appetites had shocked the owner, who had been running the establishment for over thirty years.

"I'm stuffed." Rogge leaned back in his chair with his belly bulging, too full to move.

"It's been a long time since I've eaten this freely." Ham picked his teeth with a toothpick.

"Who brought money?" After a moment of silence, Rogge spoke.

"Nope." Ham smiled.

"Me neither." Jelly smiled.

Cook shook his head, indicating that he had not brought any either.

Jerry had no concept of money, so there was no point expecting anything from him. That left only Simon and Ares.

"I didn't bring any either." Simon laughed.

Everyone turned to look at Ares, the last remaining person.

Ares held back his frustration and gritted his teeth as he pulled out a money pouch. He knew it. These bastards had definitely been planning to screw him over. No wonder they had asked whether he had brought money before leaving the ship. So this was what they had been waiting for. It was all a setup.

"Boss, the bill." Rogge took Ares's pouch and poured out ten gold coins, tossing them to the owner.

The owner held the gold coins in both hands. Their denominations were stamped on them, and the exchange rate for standard gold coins to Beli was fixed. It was more than enough to cover the bill.

The owner was stunned. He had not expected pirates to actually pay for their meals. Had he been overthinking things? Remembering that he had just notified the bounty hunters, his face reddened.

Still, although he felt sorry for Rogge and the others, he would not apologize to Rogge. With the mindset that less trouble was better, some people would deny their past mistakes for the sake of pride, only to make increasingly worse mistakes until they eventually caused a catastrophe.

It was best not to befriend people like that. If someone could not yield or lower their head, stubbornly insisting on their own way, wanting only to gain without giving, then the one hurt by being their friend would definitely be yourself.

The owner left happily. Rogge and the others had eaten and drunk their fill, brewed a pot of tea, and sat for a while to digest before finally getting up and walking around.

"Let's go to the casino." Rogge strode out.

"Did you bring money?" Jelly glanced at Rogge.

"Didn't Ares bring some?" Rogge grinned.

"This is my personal money, not group funds!" Ares clutched his pouch and roared at them.

"Relax. We'll reimburse you when we get back. Hand it over first." Ham smiled.

"That's more like it. But you wasted my time, so I need a little extra." Ares said.

"No problem." They had plenty of money now. As the chief steward, Ham generously waved his hand. Reimburse him, then double it.

The group arrived before the casino. Naturally, it was the largest casino in all of Rainbase.

Its exterior resembled a pyramid. Rain Dinners, Alabasta's largest casino. No one dared cause trouble here, and everyone who came to gamble felt at ease, because its owner was one of the Shichibukai, Crocodile.

"They all look the same, casinos." Looking at the lavishly decorated casino, there was nothing special about it. The first thing they saw upon entering was the slot machines.

Those things were the biggest money traps, and being electronic devices, they were also the easiest to rig.

After exchanging their money for chips, Rogge and the others began gambling. There were wins and losses. Rogge lost all his money, as did Jelly, Cook, and Simon.

The winners were unexpectedly Jerry, Ares, and the seasoned Ham. Jerry was an idiot with purely good luck; whatever he bet on hit, and he won the most. Ham came next. He was skilled with cards and smoothly doubled his chips.

Last was Ares, who developed in a sneaky, low-key manner. He played all sorts of games, like waging guerrilla warfare, betting a little here and a little there, only winning a small amount.

After they had played enough and had nothing else to do, the Den Den Mushi on Rogge's chest began crying loudly.

"What's wrong?" Cook asked.

"There are thieves on the ship. Let's head back. We can't let the things we risked our lives to seize be taken away." Rogge looked at the crying Den Den Mushi.

"Let's go."

Upon hearing Rogge, Jelly, who had long since lost all his money, could not wait to return. He wanted to get money from the ship, then come back for another round.

Meanwhile, aboard the Asura, their ship was moored behind a large rock. They were pirates, so they could not brazenly dock at the harbor and risk having someone steal their ship. Ham had parked it in a hidden location.

At that moment, quite a few people had gathered around the pirate ship, smiling as they looked at it floating on the sea.

"They actually parked their ship here. We searched for ages. Good thing we followed the coastline." A Billion at the front said.

"Should we destroy their ship?" A man beside him asked.

The Billion shook his head. "There must be treasure aboard a pirate ship, and this one looks pretty good. We happen to be short on ships, so let's steal it."

A group of people boarded the ship. They did not notice that the Den Den Mushi atop the mast had already seen them and alerted Rogge.

They boarded carefully. Many pirate ships had traps in the past, or people hiding in corners waiting to ambush others, so they had to be cautious.

They picked up their weapons and carefully searched the deck. After finding nothing strange, they climbed the mast and checked the place where Rogge trained, then shook their heads to indicate there was nothing there.

Next came the cabin. The group approached the door carefully.

"Awooo!"

The howl startled them. Like grasshoppers, every one of them jumped.

"A wild beast!"

"It must be a beast they keep. That sound should be a hyena!"

"No, that's not a dog's sound. It should be a wolf, a fierce gray wolf."

"But why does it sound like a dog to me?"

"Could it be the legendary Cerberus?"