At that, Randall smiled and said:
"Don't worry, Instructor Zephyr. I know what I'm doing."
Zephyr nodded and said no more.
He had only meant to offer a reminder. He trusted Randall to exercise his own judgment.
The next day, newspapers carrying news of Randall's promotion to Vice Admiral spread across the world once again.
Of course, it wasn't in the serious news section. If anything, it belonged in the gossip column—or the sensationalist section.
Morgans, the president of the news agency, had received a letter from an unknown sender.
The letter described Randall's role in the operation to hunt down Bullet.
It also hinted that Randall's promotion to Vice Admiral was connected to that operation.
Morgans sucked in a sharp breath when he read it.
This was big news!
But when he recalled the earlier report about Bullet's capture, his overheated brain immediately cooled down.
On one side was the lure of a major scoop; on the other was the World Government.
The dilemma tormented Morgans.
In the end, one of his staff members responsible for miscellaneous columns offered a suggestion.
They called them miscellaneous columns, but in plain terms, they covered all the unsubstantiated rumors circulating across the seas.
And so, the newspaper went out.
Most people simply laughed off the story when they saw it.
For some, however, it struck a far deeper chord.
On an island somewhere in the first half of the Grand Line.
A pirate crew was replenishing its supplies.
"Boss, here's today's newspaper."
A lackey hurried over eagerly and handed the paper to a young man seated on a stump.
The man took it and casually leafed through it.
At first, he paid it little attention, but when his wandering gaze caught a name in one of the articles, his eyes suddenly changed.