The Roger Pirates slipped away quietly, taking a thoroughly disappointed Buggy with them.
True Zero pocketed the sea chart they left behind. All he had paid was a rubbing of the Road Poneglyph.
Kozuki Oden could tell at a glance whether the rubbing was genuine, so there was no further dispute.
True Zero then left Roland Island and returned to the Kronos Kingdom.
Fake Zero was still being groomed, and Roland Island had not yet been officially designated as a base.
That decision would have to wait until Fake Zero was ready.
After all, Roland Island was only a temporary public base for NESTS. They might find a better location later.
Fake Zero also needed time to grow. At the very least, NESTS would not establish its most visible base anytime soon. The organization still needed time to develop.
The Roger Pirates had collected the final piece of the puzzle. Now only time stood between them and their goal.
"We've finally reached this point. Let's start the countdown."
Hades heard the news from Ignis. The Roger Pirates wanted no further entanglements and had no intention of stirring up trouble.
After all, the unknown NESTS had some connection to Hades, known as Pluton.
Now all he had to do was wait.
Still, Hades was curious.
The Flying Pirates had not been destroyed by the Super-Gigantic Storm, and a flying ship's wheel had not lodged itself in the back of Golden Lion Shiki's head.
With the Flying Pirates now the strongest pirate crew and Golden Lion Shiki widely regarded as the foremost pirate,
could Roger still reach the top and become the universally recognized Pirate King?
Most likely, he could.
For the earliest pirates, adventure had been what mattered most at sea.
The legendary Island, Laugh Tale.
Only by reaching it could