Sea Circle Calendar 1525.
North Blue, Wilberuz Island, Octagon Village.
Lafitte stood before a weapons shop, and the faint smile that always lingered on his face rarely gave way to a scrutinizing look utterly at odds with his surroundings.
Rather than a weapons shop, the establishment before him looked more like a luxury display room for nobles.
Its enormous glass walls stood out conspicuously against the gloomy street. Behind the display windows, rows of longswords, spears, and shields had been polished to a gleam, adorned with elaborate gold and silver patterns that sparkled under the lights with an alluring yet hollow luster.
Lafitte knew full well that aside from his extraordinary interest in little girls who were far too pretty, his captain's hobbies included collecting Devil Fruits and famed blades, whether they could be used immediately or not.
Thus, over the past three years, whenever Lafitte consolidated an underground faction and established an intelligence network, he also gathered information on locally rumored famed blades and Devil Fruits. In his view, that was the duty and foresight expected of a subordinate.
That was why he had come here today.
Lafitte elegantly pushed open the glass door, making the bell above it ring crisply. Less than ten minutes later, he emerged again, the faint smile gone from his face and replaced by a gloomy cast.
The weapons inside were flashy but impractical, all appearance and no substance. They would do well enough as ornaments hanging from the waists of those fat-headed nobles to flaunt their status, but if anyone tried using them while making their way across the seas, they probably could not even scratch a Sea King's scales.
Adjusting his breathing, Lafitte suppressed that trivial irritation and headed for the second shop according to the information he had gathered beforehand.
This