"Hahaha! Old man Rayleigh, why are you so pathetic?"
His voice ca before he did. As soon as Garp landed ashore, he burst into laughter.
Rayleigh, lying on the ground, frowned and had the urge to curse.
Damn it. Today was the most humiliating day of his life.
He had been seen like this by Garp, an old rival, by a Marine Admiral, by a group of rookie brats... and worst of all, by that loudmouth news hawk, Morgans.
By tomorrow, the news that he'd been beaten to the ground would be known worldwide.
A lifeti of prestige, shattered in an instant.
Thinking of this, Rayleigh put on an expression of pained dignity.
"Grandpa! Grandpa!"
Luffy recognized Garp's voice imdiately and called out with excitent.
Grandpa!?
Rayleigh was stunned for a second, then broke into a grin.
The grandson of the so-called Marine Hero had turned into a pirate and was now caught, waiting to be turned in for a bounty. How interesting.
Rayleigh's expression relaxed as he started looking forward to the next developnt.
"Luffy?!"
Garp heard Luffy's voice and quickly led a squad of Marines over.
Luffy and his crew were all lying next to Rayleigh, each with a massive lump on their heads.
Garp couldn't even make fun of Rayleigh at that mont. Clearly, his grandson had also been given a beating.
Thankfully, they only had superficial injuries and no bleeding.
Just as he was about to rush over to check on Luffy, Caelan blocked his path.
"Vice Admiral Garp, let's settle my bounty first."
Caelan raised his hand with a smile, stopping Garp.
"Bogard, hurry up and bring the paynt."
Garp looked at Caelan.
There were two of them here—him and Kizaru—and yet this kid was totally unafraid.
Still, he had no intention of fighting. It was only natural for bounty hunters to target pirates. If his grandson was stupid enough to beco a pirate, then getting captured was on him.
Being a pirate was one thing, but clinging to soone like Caelan and then getting knocked out? That was entirely his own fault.
Besides, Caelan had clearly gone easy on Luffy and the others. With the strength to defeat Rayleigh, if Caelan had used full force, Luffy wouldn't be standing. He'd be paralyzed at best.
"Thanks, Vice Admiral Garp."
Caelan stepped aside and handed Rayleigh and Luffy over to Garp.
"Mr. Caelan, this is Rayleigh's bounty—3.8 billion Berries. And this is the Straw Hat crew's bounty, totaling 200 million Berries."
Bogard, Garp's adjutant, led a group of Marines carrying an entire container of Berries over to Caelan.
"Alright, perfect!"
Caelan opened the container and began inspecting it.
Stacks of Berries were piled neatly into blocks. Each bundle was one million Berries. Including the Straw Hats' bounty, there were exactly 4,000 stacks.
Garp was thoughtful enough to include the Straw Hats' bounty as well.
"Caelan, kid, why do you need so much money? It's just paper. Isn't it a pain to carry?"
Seeing the greedy glint in Caelan's eyes, Garp couldn't help but ask curiously.
"I've co this far thanks to Berries. I guess I'm sentintal. I just want to gather as much as I can."
Caelan was in a good mood and responded cheerfully.
"Oh, so you didn't have it easy either, huh?"
Garp patted Caelan on the shoulder, feeling a bit emotional.
In his mind, he imagined a story of Caelan being a poor man who rose to greatness through sheer hard work.
His fondness for collecting Berries probably ca from childhood poverty—a lingering obsession.
"Yeah. It wasn't easy at all."
Caelan nodded with a deep sigh.
He'd fought hard to scrape together all these Berries, yet it still wasn't enough to satisfy the bottomless pit that was his system.
The road ahead was long, with no end in sight.
"I feel like they're not talking about the sa thing..."
Kizaru watched the two of them share their heartfelt sighs and felt an odd disconnect.
They were clearly having two different conversations, but sohow both sounded reasonable.
"The money's been delivered, so we'll be leaving now."
Garp bid farewell to Caelan, then escorted Rayleigh and Luffy away with Kizaru.
"See you around."
Caelan watched them go, muttering softly. The next ti they t, they would most likely be enemies.
Luffy turned back as he was being taken away.
"Heyyy! I'll definitely defeat you one day!"
He wasn't discouraged by the crushing defeat. In fact, it had lit a new fire in him.
To beco the Pirate King, he'd have to surpass the world's strongest bounty hunter.
"My dear grandson, it's been a while. Did you forget about Grandpa's Fist of Love?"
"Now tell , are you still planning to be a pirate?"
Garp cracked his knuckles, face full of nace as he glared at Luffy.
All of Luffy's bounty money had co out of Garp's own salary, not a single Berry from the World Governnt.
He had burned through most of his savings just to redeem Luffy. Now he had to skimp on rice crackers and donuts.
And yet this brat had the audacity to provoke Caelan.
If he got captured again, there wouldn't be enough money left to save him.
"Grandpa! I'm going to be the Pirate King!"
Luffy shouted with defiance, head held high.
"Fist of Love!"
A black fist covered in Armant Haki smashed down on Luffy's head.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Just you wait, Caelan! I'm going to beat you!"
Luffy refused to back down and turned to yell at Caelan again.
"Haha… so naive."
Caelan didn't reply. He just muttered to himself.
Now that he had 4 billion Berries, he had already surpassed the limits of the pirate world.
No matter how many sit-ups Luffy did, Caelan didn't care.
Caelan, backed by the Twelve Labours, was at least 10,000 tis better at sit-ups than Luffy.
After Garp and Kizaru left, Morgans also took his leave sensibly. Caelan then began his feast.
"These Berries sll damn sweet."
He took a deep breath, savoring the intoxicating scent of money.
"System, recharge!"
As the mountain of Berries vanished, the total in the system panel reached 4.627 billion—a record-breaking number.
Once he found a quiet place, he'd be ready for another transformation.
…
Holy Land Mariejois
Spandam's father, Spandine, rushed toward the Five Elders' eting hall.
He had urgent news to report.
He hadn't been paying attention for a few days, then suddenly noticed that his son Spandam's life card had turned to ashes.
When he went to investigate Enies Lobby, he discovered that all the senior agents of CP9 had been taken away by Spandam two days earlier. None could be contacted.
"Caelan, how dare you!"
Spandine's eyes were bloodshot with rage.
His son had been killed, and CP9's elite agents were gone. The organization now existed in na only.
He wasn't seeking revenge for his son. But if Caelan had wiped out CP9, the World Governnt absolutely would not let him live.
"Captain Spandine, the Five Elders will see you now."
The mont the guard made the announcent, Spandine stepped into the palace, red-eyed and filled with fury.
(To be continued.)
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