Unless they are robots like Pacifistas, which can store all the information about pirates in their mechanical chips, Marines will have to slowly look for the wanted poster when they encounter pirates.
Pirates aren’t in a dictionary; sometimes, you can’t even find the names of less famous pirates. Except for the names of well-known veteran pirates and the latest Super Rookies, no one can keep track of the names of all of them.
However, pirates don’t gain notoriety only after arriving at Sabaody Archipelago. Aside from those who already live in the Grand Line, most pirates originate from the Four Seas. After all, the area of the Grand Line is somewhat insignificant compared to the Four Seas.
Many pirates gain a certain level of notoriety before entering the Grand Line.
While Morgans’ newspaper often exaggerates facts and includes a fair share of fiction, the essence of the events reported must be true, such as the Shikkearu Kingdom incident.
The extent and specifics might be off, but there’s no denying that a part of it was destroyed by the Beasts Pirates.
So, reading the newspaper is the best way for pirates to stay informed about the outside world. Morgans is highly autonomous, and he reports even those news that the World Government would rather suppress.
With his mobile headquarters and his reputation in the news industry, the World Government could do nothing against him. The World Economy News Paper has roots all over the world, and assassinating Morgans could create more trouble in the long run.
Even if the owner of the newspaper is silenced, the repercussions would be troublesome. Morgans also doesn’t report everything, and sometimes the World Government uses his News Coo flock, leading to a somewhat stalemate situation.
Meanwhile, the reason Mandrell became interested is because the pirate ship in front of him looked like a park cruise ship with a duck head.
Their pirate flag is also quite unique, unlike the typical pirate flags. It has hardly any pirate elements and features a duck head wearing a chef’s hat with a set of crossed knives and forks behind it.
However, due to the prevalence of pirate culture, any flag with crossed objects on it, regardless of whether it has black background or not, is considered a pirate flag here. That’s why Mandrell was so certain it’s a pirate ship.
“I found it, Boss Mandrell. Cook Pirates, the captain is Red-Leg Zeff, a rookie from the East Blue. His bounty is 20 million, which is quite impressive for a rookie. After all, he is from East Blue.”
After Roger’s death, no formidable pirate had appeared from the East Blue in a while. This is in part due to Garp, who would often return home to stroll around. Even though Luffy had not yet been born, it did not affect his periodic return to his hometown.
A max-level player wandered through the newbie village. Any pirates he encountered were quickly crushed in the bud.
“The news in the newspaper is recent, so they must have just entered the Grand Line, right? But we’ve come quite a long way. We’re not far from Reverse Mountain now.”
“Cook Pirates, an interesting name. I wonder if their captain is a cook.”
“You guessed it, boss. He’s indeed a cook.”
Some pirate ship captains have side jobs, like snipers, musicians, navigators, and the Cook Pirates are one of the few crews where the captain also serves as the cook.
As for Red-Leg Zeff, his title comes from his remarkable kicking skills. His enemies’ blood has stained his boots, earning him that name.
However, he is not the owner of the ocean-going restaurant yet. Although his dream is to find the legendary All Blue, a magical sea where all the fishes of the Four Seas lives, even his subordinates do not believe in it.
He lives the life of an ordinary pirate, robbing passing ships, but Zeff only takes their money and doesn’t take the water or the food.
Mandrell’s interest in him wasn’t because he was trying to steal Mandrell’s ship. The intriguing duck-shaped ship was one reason, but another was that Zeff was currently battling some creatures in the sea.
Those creatures were familiar to Mandrell – the blue figures were Gyarados, scattered throughout the Four Seas. Many years had passed, and it was hard to say how many generations of Magikarp had evolved into Gyarados.
Their breeding rate was quite fast. Even the giant Magikarp near Wano Country had several generations of descendants. Due to the dangers of the sea, these Magikarp had changed in order to adapt to their local environment, such as developing habits of living in groups.
Though they weren’t particularly tasty, some large sea creatures used them for calcium supplementation. Bones were also a form of food for those sea creatures.
For better survival, these descendants of Magikarp even started clustering together for warmth, similar to Wishiwashi. However, this lifestyle habit also led to another situation.
The evolved Gyarados didn’t immediately leave the Magikarp community after evolving. Instead, they led their own group in the sea, much like a pride of lions.
Ordinary Magikarp evolving usually led to changes in their brains, making them easily angered. However, the Gyarados who evolved in these regions, although still irritable in temperament, retained some rationality.
“Boss Mandrell, that’s Gyarados, right? When are you going to evolve and show us?”
“Yeah, yeah, it has been a long time since Lord Arceus has given you the power. When are you going to evolve?”
“Get lost! I have been training hard all this time! Who wants to spar with me today?”
Listening to his subordinates’ making fun of him, Mandrell pretended to be angry, but no one was afraid. They knew Mandrell was just putting on an act.
Regarding evolution, Mandrell was also quite frustrated. He could feel that power, but deep down, he always felt like something was missing.
“By the way, boss, should we help that ship?”
“What for? If he can make it to the New World, I wouldn’t mind recruiting him. But for now, I’m not interested. Men, let’s head back!”
The expansion of the Beasts Pirates wasn’t solely Kaido’s doing. Anyone approved by the officers could be recruited, but they just have to report it to Onigashima afterward.
Mandrell’s ship started to head back, but the Cook Pirates’ experience wasn’t as pleasant.
Not long ago, they had entered the Grand Line with full confidence, heading towards the so-called dream. But within a few days of arriving, reality had dealt them a harsh blow.
While fishing, one of them had hooked a Magikarp, but the kitchen knife’s blade nearly shattered trying to prepare it. In the end, they had to throw it back into the sea. However, not long after that, they encountered attacks from New World’s “Sea Beasts”.
It was Gyarados’ revenge. If they had captured a Magikarp whose group didn’t have a Gyarados, it would have been fine, but since it had a Gyarados, this is usually the outcome.
Zeff’s luck hasn’t been entirely terrible; at least, the Gyarados wasn’t very high-level, and its primary mode of combat was close-combat.
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