Trade

Lulusia's lower city was open in layout, directly connected to the harbor, forests, villages, and other places, with no barriers whatsoever.

The upper city lay at the center of the lower city, separated by towering walls in a massive circle. Only nobles and personnel who worked within were allowed to enter.

The upper city gates had two entrances: one was a huge gilded arch reserved for nobles, while the other was open to servants, merchants, and other workers.

At the moment, the noble passageway was deserted. Only after quite some time would a carriage or a noble surrounded by servants pass through.

Meanwhile, long lines formed at the workers' entrance. Everyone entering or leaving had to undergo a thorough inspection by the guards, to prevent theft or weapons from being brought in.

With both hands in his pockets and a cigarette between his lips, John swaggered toward the noble entrance and passed straight through just as the guards were about to salute him.

Without a hitch!

It was not because the guards remembered that he had left the upper city that morning. They had simply been bluffed.

He had not used Conqueror's Haki. It was merely a simple psychological test.

As long as one looked and carried oneself appropriately, then acted exceptionally self-assured, the guards would assume one was a guest invited by a noble even if they did not recognize them.

Cheap clothes did not matter. As long as the fabric was decent and the wearer had the build for them, the guards would only think themselves too ignorant to recognize the brand.

Still, the most important thing was... having nerve!

The guards did not believe those lowborn wretches from the lower city would dare walk proudly through the noble entrance, nor did they dare stop them.

If they angered an honored guest, the consequences would be miserable!

It was like in John's hometown, where a con artist had impersonated the head of a municipal department and gone undiscovered for years...

Once he passed through the archway, even the air seemed different. The dusty clamor was replaced by the rich fragrance of flowers, leaving him refreshed and at ease.

John walked over perfectly cut white marble tiles and headed straight for a luxurious estate, pushing open its ornate hollowed iron gate and entering.

Four pretty maids happened to be trimming flowers in the courtyard. Hearing footsteps, they turned around, and their faces instantly reddened when they saw him.

Last night, their minds could not help but echo with their young mistress's delighted, shrill, almost wanton cries.

The entire night!

"Ladies, you've worked hard."

John politely greeted the maids, then walked directly into the manor and headed straight for the young mistress's bedroom.

The instant he pushed open the gold-inlaid wooden door, a fragrant breeze rushed toward him, followed by a soft, delicate body crashing into his arms.

"John, where did you go? I missed you so much!"

Marlo Adella, the count's daughter, pressed tightly against John's solid chest and looked up at him. Her gorgeous sapphire-blue eyes were filled with endless affection.

John raised a hand to Adella's head, his fingertips gently brushing through her pink waves of hair.

In contrast to that tender gesture, his voice was cold and distant.

"I'm leaving."

At those words, the affection in Adella's eyes froze, replaced by panic at the thought of parting.

"Why? Where are you going?"

"Do you know?"

John's fingertips slid down Adella's delicate face and stopped by her fair chin, his thumb gently stroking her full red lips.

"A woman is at her most beautiful when first met—gentle, beautiful, giving one an endless sense of novelty and an unending desire to explore."

"Now, I want to carve your most beautiful image into my mind and preserve your fragrance in my memory of scent."

"Good luck."

After saying that, John gently pushed Adella away. Passing the large bed that still carried the lingering sensual atmosphere of their night together, he opened the French doors and stepped onto the balcony.

A black iron case, two meters long and half a meter wide, lay across the balcony.

"John! Wait! I'm coming with you!"

Adella snapped out of his sweet words and hurried toward the balcony barefoot, her jade-like feet painted with crimson nail polish.

John grabbed the black iron case, turned back with a faint smile at Adella, then vaulted down from the second floor without hesitation.

"John! Don't go, I'm begging you!"

Adella lay over the balcony railing, watching the man's retreating back in the courtyard as she sobbed uncontrollably.

When desire had only just begun to bloom, love was at its most intense.

There were no arguments over incompatible personalities, no oppression brought by the cruelty of reality, no calculations over benefits and sacrifices...

There was only the purest love.

Hearing her cries and pleas behind him, John's heart tightened slightly. He silently sighed, quickened his pace, and swiftly disappeared into the courtyard.

He and Adella had only met yesterday. They had gotten along well in conversation, and she had invited him to the estate as a guest.

They drank together beneath the moon, and when their feelings deepened... everything had happened naturally.

"The joy of a first encounter is the hardest to forget."

"But I am a ship that rides the wind and waves. Though I may occasionally dock, drifting through wind and rain is the main theme of my life."

"I'm sorry."

John shook his head, left the upper city, and headed toward the southern forest.

Forest Edge

A thousand meters away from Morgans, John set down the black iron case and opened it, revealing a masked mannequin.

The mannequin wore a black suit and trousers, a faceless mask, and a turtleneck sweater beneath. Even its hands were gloved, leaving not the slightest bit of skin exposed.

It did not look like a mannequin at all.

However, its sturdy pectoral muscles and thick, silky black hair made it possible to tell that it was female.

As John raised his hand and arcs of electricity flickered around his fingertips, the steel female mannequin suddenly stood and sprinted toward Morgans.

He had specifically made this gender-swapped mannequin in case anyone connected him to faking his death.

With Mantra and electromagnetism for remote surveillance and control, he could eliminate the possibility of his identity being exposed at the root.

Forest Clearing

Morgans, still in his Bird-Bird Fruit, Albatross Form, stood with his wings folded across his chest, leaning against the huge airship behind him as he anxiously shook one leg from time to time.

"He's not messing with me, is he? It's been so long, and he still hasn't shown up."

Morgans glanced back at the huge airship behind him, and the unease in his heart quickly subsided.

In case the other party intended to rob him, he had brought plenty of people with him, all hidden inside the airship.

Just then, the sound of snapping branches came from the right. Morgans hurriedly looked over and saw a fully armed woman approaching, impossible to identify.

The reason he described her as "approaching lightly" was because she did not seem to be walking at all, but floating over the muddy ground.

"A Devil Fruit user?"

Morgans narrowed his eyes and raised a wing in warm greeting.

"Hey! I thought you weren't coming."

"Where's the money?"

The woman stopped three meters in front of Morgans and asked in a harsh voice like a malfunctioning radio.

Morgans snapped his wings with a loud clap, and five burly men in black suits emerged from the airship, each carrying a black suitcase in either hand.

"The money's here. Where are the goods?"

The woman said nothing more. She reached into her trouser pocket, pulled out a handful of items, and tossed them toward Morgans.

Morgans caught them in his cupped wings and raised them before his eyes for a careful inspection.

They were eight small transparent plastic bags containing fingernails, each labeled with a name; a photograph of "Captain John" being stabbed in the back; and a roll of film.