Pero's killing of a Celestial Dragon and melting his mansion flat was like a depth charge dropped into a lake, stirring up towering waves on an island already gripped by panic over the bounty notice.
Fear spread like a plague.
Large numbers of civilians and stationed Marines began fleeing the island at all costs, as though divine punishment were about to descend upon it.
In just half a day, the once-bustling town became a ghost town, with only a handful of figures remaining.
Muji, the owner of the tavern Pero had visited, also wanted to follow the crowds and escape this place of trouble.
But just as he finished packing the shop's valuables and his luggage, a hand pressed down on his shoulder.
"Sir!" The tavern owner turned to see Pero and was scared out of his wits. His legs buckled, and he fell to his knees. "Please, let me leave! Marine Headquarters hasn't received word yet, so I can still escape! Once their grand fleet arrives and seals off the waters, I really won't be able to get away!"
Pero picked his ear, turning a deaf ear to his howling pleas, and merely replied calmly, "If you leave, where am I supposed to find seafood rice this good?"
Looking at the despair written all over the owner's face, he added, "Don't be afraid. I'll protect you. Your cooking skills are worth protecting you once."
With a miserable expression, the tavern owner could only let Pero take him back to the deserted tavern and resigned himself to cooking for him.
Now, he could only pin all his hopes of survival on the man before him, who carried an eight-billion-Beli bounty and was said to have killed Admiral Akainu in a single blow.
Sitting in the empty tavern and waiting