Over a month later.
Upper Yard, God's Palace.
Adams sat upright on the throne, his deep azure eyes reflecting the newspaper in his hand like an abyss. His thin lips pressed together, forming an indescribable curve that seemed both mocking and disdainful.
The front page prominently displayed his latest bounty poster—a figure enough to shake the New World: 2.5 billion Beli!
Beneath the bounty poster was a list of his infamous deeds:
Destroying the Flower Country, leveling Minion Island, destroying a secret World Government research facility...
Each incident had been exaggerated into the utmost acts of violence and chaos.
"Dorororo..."
A clear laugh shattered the palace's silence. Adams casually tossed the newspaper onto a nearby low table, a trace of ridicule flashing through his eyes.
"The World Government... still so concerned with saving face, avoiding the important points."
He saw through the sinister intentions behind those words at a glance. The newspaper mentioned only his destruction of islands and nations, as if he were merely a madman with tremendous destructive power.
Yet his duel with Patrick Redfield, Red the Aloof, and his victory over him;
His fierce battle with Marine hero Monkey D. Garp;
His beating the arrogant son of the commander of God's Knights until he could no longer care for himself;
Even his repeated slaughter of Saturn, one of the high-ranking Five Elders, dozens of times...
These accomplishments, enough to shake the balance among the world's top combat powers, had not been mentioned by a single word.
Adams understood perfectly why the World Government had done this. They wanted to create an image for the outside world, especially for those poorly informed pirates and bounty hunters blinded by profit:
A "fat sheep" who was merely bold and reckless, but not truly among the strongest. The 2.5 billion Beli