The sun was sinking below the horizon, gilding every tower in Oykot Royal City in flowing gold and red.
In the office on the villa's second floor, Boer sat behind a broad desk, holding an encrypted report freshly delivered from the G16 16th Branch. Snake's handwriting was neat, detailing the "disappearance" of those twenty-seven pirates and the information he had relayed to Marine Headquarters.
Boer's gaze passed over the final line, "The request for five thousand death-row prisoners from Impel Down has been forwarded to Mary Geoise," before he gently set the report on the desk.
Outside the window, the cries of seabirds drifted faintly through the air.
An unmarked black carriage was slowly approaching along the tree-lined drive outside the villa.
There were no guards around the carriage, yet it carried a sense of disciplined order.
The rhythm of its wheels over the gravel, the horses' strides, and even the coachman's seated posture were as precise as if measured with a ruler.
The carriage stopped outside the villa's gates.
The door opened, and a long, slender calf clad in a black stocking emerged first.
Boer's eyebrows rose slightly.
The old butler crossed the corridor with elegant, measured steps, stopped outside the office, and knocked softly three times.
"Master, a lady claiming to be a special representative of CID requests an audience. She says... she has come to resolve some of your 'pressing concerns.'"
Boer drew his gaze back from the window.
"Send her in."
The door opened.
A woman appeared in the doorway.
She was about twenty-five or twenty-six, with long, dark brown hair falling loosely over her shoulders, its ends curling slightly. She wore only a long, cream-colored trench coat.
Only a trench coat, because as she entered the room, its front fell open, revealing what lay beneath: