Arrival at the Port, News of Obi-Wan

Marine 5th Branch was the largest naval force in North Blue. Since the bounty was issued by the 5th Branch, the pursuit effort was correspondingly the strongest.

"Why?"

Aeneas felt a bit panicked, completely failing to notice the aura he was involuntarily releasing.

To Aeneas, Obi-Wan was just like a father. As for his original body's biological father, Aeneas actually did not hold much emotion; most of it came from the lingering feelings of the original body.

Yet Obi-Wan was different. Obi-Wan was a beloved mentor with whom Aeneas had genuinely lived and grown up side by side.

"What on earth happened, and why is Uncle Obi-Wan wanted by the Marines?" Aeneas struggled to remain calm. "And what about Rami? Didn't Uncle always take Rami with him? How is Rami doing?"

However, no other bounty posters had anything to do with Rami.

Yet a moment's thought made it clear that the Marines had no reason to place a bounty on an unarmed, frail, and sickly little girl.

"Damn it!"

Aeneas finally caught sight of the strange looks from the people around him, quickly reined in his aura, and then staggered away through the crowd—luckily without attracting the attention of anyone with ulterior motives.

"What should I do now?" Aeneas felt somewhat lost. He might have thought that Obi-Wan would be late, but he never expected that Obi-Wan had already fallen into trouble.

"Right, Uncle left the Family for three years. Where on earth did he go and what did he do during those three years? I have no idea!"

Aeneas guessed that Obi-Wan must have been embroiled in certain events, but he did not know precisely when or what had happened.

"That's unlikely. If Uncle knew he might become a wanted man, he certainly wouldn't have taken Rami with him." Aeneas remembered that Rami and Obi-Wan were together. "That means..."

"Uncle didn't even know why he had a bounty on his head!"

Aeneas pressed his glabella.

"Could it be that his identity was exposed?" Aeneas thought of the Family he once belonged to. Obi-Wan's full name was Durnholde Obi-Wan, but it was not explicitly written on the bounty poster.

"Given Doflamingo's personality, it's really unlikely he would miss a butler who had stayed in the Family for decades."

Aeneas did not know that Doflamingo would go to such extremes, wiping out everyone in the household—not even sparing a butler given a family surname.

To say nothing of sparing the butler, he did not even spare himself—a child—and had even deliberately issued a bounty to hunt him down in Dunkirk.

"Forget it, I can't figure it out right now. Let's go to the port and see." Aeneas's mind was somewhat chaotic. He had finally learned news of Obi-Wan, but it was hardly good news.

Aeneas wore a preoccupied expression.

"I hope Uncle and little Rami are alright." Aeneas could only pray now; he had to find a way to do something, or at least figure out what was actually going on.

"According to our agreement, I should rendezvous with Uncle at the port. Since Uncle is wanted now, he shouldn't fail to leave me some message." Aeneas pondered repeatedly and ultimately decided to make a trip to the port.

Aeneas hurried through the streets, soon arriving at the bright and clear port avenue.

Vessels of all sizes were moored at the port, including quite a few pirate ships—just sitting there boldly along the harbor shore.

Though a small thrill still lingered in his heart, this was hardly the time to be cheering and jumping for joy.

Aeneas lingered at the port, pacing back and forth and constantly walking among the crewmen, hoping to overhear some useful information on the side.

"Hey, hey, did you hear?" a young sailor holding a fishing net and a wooden barrel said to another person beside him. "The annual Round Street Slaughter is about to start again. A fresh batch of big bosses is bound to emerge by then!"

"No way. You mean the bosses of the three major syndicates might be overthrown?" That person wore a shocked expression. "Is the skill level for this Round Street Slaughter that high? Do you already know who's participating?"

"Heh heh, we've got 'Mad Cowboy' Andohal, 'Heavy Hammer' Kotahan, and 'Spring Man' Bellamy. Aren't just these three rookies, who've been making constant news lately, enough?" The young sailor raised three fingers and smiled.

"Bellamy?" The listener perhaps found it a bit hard to believe. "You mean that kid who's only in his teens? What qualifications does he have to be a top contender?"

"You don't really think the destruction of warships and tens-of-millions-level great pirates was fake, do you?" the young sailor said with disdain. "There's no smoke without fire. Anyway, Tinos is about to get lively!"

"Then we need to hurry up and leave this place too."

The two men unconsciously accelerated their hand movements.

Aeneas did not hear the information he wanted to know, but he did learn about the Round Street Slaughter.

"No wonder Tinos is a 'chaos town'—they actually hold a free-for-all brawl every year?" Aeneas was somewhat surprised. "And it looks like the bosses of those three underground syndicates are chosen this way."

"No wonder it always manages to be a prime hunting ground for pirates looking for fresh blood." Aeneas wore a knowing expression. "And people who come out of Tinos are also ruthlessly vicious. So that's because they went through this kind of environment!"

Aeneas did not care how chaotic Tinos truly was or what events were held every year; he only wanted to quickly get news of Obi-Wan and Rami.

Just as Aeneas turned and prepared to leave to check other places, he suddenly heard someone speaking.

"Another bounty was recently placed on a pirate hunter originally from Tinos. Are the pirate hunters on Round Street all this terrifying? They slapped a 35 million beli bounty on him right out of the gate!" The speaker was a fat fellow with an exposed belly.

"Who knows? Those pirate hunters don't trouble pirates; instead, they dabble in underground operations. Who knows what goes through their minds." The thin, scrawny sailor directly across from the fat man said listlessly.

Meanwhile, Aeneas stopped in his tracks and walked straight up to the fat man.

He lifted his head slightly, revealing a single eye that looked terrifyingly chilling.

"Tell me everything you know about that pirate hunter with the 35 million beli bounty!" Aeneas tried his best to keep his tone flat.

"Where'd this brat come from? Gave me a fright. Scram, scram!"

The fat man felt that this kid had issues, and he reached out his hand, intending to shove Aeneas away directly.

Yet after pushing for a good while, he could not budge him.

Aeneas stood completely unshaken despite being shoved by a two-hundred-pound fat man. Instead, Aeneas thrust out his own slender, muscular arm and directly seized the fat man by the throat with a single grip.

"Snap!"

The two-hundred-pound body was actually pinned straight to the ground by Aeneas.

Aeneas's momentum instantly surged to a peak, and pit-grit aura permeated the air—he had directly activated the Pit Grit state of Fighting Technique, and golden light could be seen flowing across his left and right hands as his physical strength instantly skyrocketed.

"Ah!"