Although Rayleigh had visited the South Blue before, most of it was still unfamiliar to him.
Rayleigh had never heard of the Holy Light Empire, though he had heard of the Church of the God of Light.
But pirates generally had little interest in such things, so he had never paid it much attention.
Meanwhile, Marine intelligence agents continued to venture deeper into Tilos Island, unaware that most of them were already under the Holy Light Empire's watch.
Rouge, who had little Ace with her, had been somewhat frightened when they were first taken away.
But when she saw that the Church of the God of Light did nothing to harm them, merely bringing them to Tilos Island and even assigning someone to help her care for her child, she relaxed.
Ace could clearly receive excellent care and grow up well within the Church of the God of Light. The church knew who he was, yet did not reject him.
Rouge understood all too well the hatred people across the seas felt toward Roger, the man responsible for ushering in the Great Pirate Era.
Even she could not understand why he had unleashed a disaster that affected countless people.
Even some members of the Roger Pirates scattered across the seas could not understand it.
Precisely because she knew this, she did not want Ace to become a pirate in the future.
All she wanted was for him to live out his life in peace.
As someone from the South Blue, Rouge knew how influential the Church of the God of Light was.
Especially now that she had learned the Marines and the World Government had information about Roger's son, she and her child were in danger.
The Church of the God of Light was now their only source of support.