A few months later, Kaido returned to Wano Country on his own with a newspaper in hand. A major event had occurred—Roger had finally completed his unprecedented journey.
【Pirate King! Gold Roger!】
Several large characters occupied an entire page of the newspaper, led by the World Economic News Agency of Morgans. Media outlets around the world were crazily reporting this matter. Pirate King has been born.
“Cowards, they are all cowards. They don’t even dare to reveal Roger’s name. Gold, they truly fear the so-called Will of D.”
Roger became the Pirate King, and this was an undeniable fact. There were too many people who witnessed the departure of Roger and his crew, making it impossible to keep it a secret.
In such a situation, World Government chose to disseminate the information through its own channels, with the purpose of concealing Roger’s real name.
However, this could only deceive the majority of ignorant citizens. In the New World, no powerful pirate was unaware of Roger’s real name. Right now, Gol D. Roger was drinking with Whitebeard on some island.
Looking at the photo in the newspaper, Arceus suspected that the journalist who took the picture had followed Roger all the way to Laugh Tale in a small boat.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to capture the photo from that angle. Reporters indeed have hidden dragons and crouching tigers*. [TN: Talented individuals in hiding.]
Pirate King Gold Roger, with a bounty of 5,564,800,000 Berries—this was today’s biggest news.
Although Gold Roger’s name had spread throughout the world as the Pirate King, with almost everyone aware that he had unprecedentedly conquered the Grand Line and reached the last island, Laugh Tale.
But Wano Country was an exception. The isolated Wano Country had no newspapers circulating within, and only the members of the Beasts Pirates knew what had actually happened.
As for the locals, even if you told them about the Pirate King, they wouldn’t understand the term.
In the past, such a title would never have been accepted, and countless challengers would have emerged. But this time, there were none. Whether they were enemies or friends, Roger’s actions gained the recognition of the pirates.
There were still people who wanted to kill Roger, but they also acknowledged his title as king.
On an unknown island, Gol D. Roger, with an intoxicated expression, stood before Whitebeard, Edward Newgate, the pirate known as the world’s strongest man.
“D, my name is D. But Newgate, do you really not want to know how to get there? I can tell you the route, you know.”
“Gurararara, not interested. I’ve already obtained what I wanted, Roger. What are your plans now?”
“Roger Pirates have already disbanded, and it’s time for me to go home. After all, my time is running out. Goodbye, Newgate. If there’s ever another chance.”
Totto Land, Whole Cake Island.
“Mama-hahaha, Pirate King, quite a bold title. Stealing something from me really did him a big favor.”
As she spoke, she crushed the plate in her hand, scattering a lot of powder on the ground, causing the people around to tremble in fear.
Only Streusen approached, pushing a small cart.
“Linlin, this is the new cream from the Beasts Pirates. Try the newly made banana cake.”
Hearing about dessert brought a look of happiness on Charlotte Linlin’s face, temporarily dissipating her anger.
In a certain Sky Island, Golden Lion’s headquarters.
“Admiral! Admiral! Big news! Gol D. Roger really made it to that place. People are calling him the Pirate King now!”
Golden Lion, having received the newspaper, remained silent and simply continued puffing on his cigar, one after another.
“Impressive as always, Roger. The man who defeated me, truly amazing.”
On an unknown island in the New World, Bullet threw his enemy aside and his expression became very complex. He wanted to challenge Roger again, but he also knew the true condition of Roger’s body.
Meanwhile, Oro Jackson sailed across the sea. Roger Pirates had already declared their disbandment, and once all the crew members returned home, the ship’s mission could be considered complete.
On Onigashima, Kaido was drinking heavily. No one could truly grasp what was going through his mind – the man who had defeated his former captain, Rocks, has now conquered the Grand Line.
The officers had their own thoughts, but the ordinary members didn’t think too much and continued with their usual activities.
During this time, Kojiro’s trading guild had also expanded its business.
“Young Master Kojiro, our fruit juice has been selling well lately and has become the best-selling beverage in Wano Country.”
A man in his sixties, who was kneeling on the side, was the old servant of the Kojiro family. Kojiro had practically been raised by him, and he had never left even during the family’s decline.
Now that Kojiro had achieved a higher status, he naturally received a lot of trust.
While petting his dog, Kojiro listened to the old man’s report. After Little Kai recovered and received a new life, his energy had almost doubled, and now walking the dog every day had become a significant physical task for him.
If it weren’t for the fact that King had started dragging him to practice swordsmanship during this time, he would probably not even be able to walk the dog anymore.
“According to your instructions, we have already sent out all the bottle caps with the grand prize. But do we really need to do this? I think it’s enough even if we don’t send them out.”
“Old man, reputation is the most important thing. It’s just a hundred gold pieces, and besides, it will take some time for them to be found even if we release them.”
Just as Kojiro finished speaking, an employee from the trading guild rushed in.
“Young Master Kojiro! We’ve received a message from the Ringo region. Someone has collected all the grand prizes!”
“Woof!”
Unintentionally, he had plucked a few strands of fur from Little Kai while not paying attention. According to his predictions, it would take at least half a month for the grand prize bottle cap to be sold, and considering the other bottle caps, it wouldn’t be easy to collect them all. After all, he had already taken back a large number of rare bottle caps from the several second prizes.
There were not many rare bottle caps left outside now, so how could it be so coincidental that one person happened to buy them all?
“How is that possible? Did you sell them by mistake?”
“The owner of that store said that he was busy with something else at the time and let the customers pick them up from the warehouse themselves, and then…”
“Bring the person here. Since it has already turned out like this, we have to honor the exchange, but we need to handle it properly.”
The procedure for redeeming the prize was different. If it was another bottle cap, it could be exchanged by the owner, but for the grand prize, they had to go in person.
When he saw the person coming to redeem the prize, his expression twitched slightly.
“Miss..Miss Yamato, why are you here?”
“I’m here to redeem the prize. Is there a problem?”
“Of course not, let me redeem it for you.” He had originally planned to organize a marketing campaign, but now it seemed pointless. The winner of the grand prize happened to be the only daughter of the investor, so any attempts at marketing would only attract accusations of dirty tricks.
And when he learned about Yamato’s method of collecting the bottle caps, his emotions became even more complicated.
She had invited an entire group of people to drink fruit juice for three days, and nearly a thousand people opened bottle caps for three days straight, directly collecting all the bottle caps except the first prize.
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