Raleigh walked slowly to the table right next to the pirate captain, acting as if no one else was even in the room.
Before he could even speak, the three terrified pirates sitting at that table collectively stood up and retreated to the wall, offering him the booth.
One pirate even frantically used his own shirt to wipe the wooden stool clean for the Vice-Admiral.
Without a single word, Raleigh sat down on his own.
A quick-witted pirate immediately rushed to the bar, brought him a clean glass, and opened a brand-new, expensive bottle of rum, filling it to the brim with shaking hands.
There wasn't the slightest hint of disrespect or impropriety in their terrified attitude.
Raleigh nodded slightly, signaling them to stand at the back of the room.
He then turned his cold gaze to face the pirate captain from earlier.
"What did you just say?" Raleigh asked softly. "What would you do if I appeared before you?"
The once arrogant and domineering pirate captain now looked utterly dejected, like a frostbitten eggplant, completely wilted.
He sat there in an absolute daze, not daring to utter a single word.
Raleigh took a slow sip of the rum and continued.
"Even if you don't say it, I know exactly what you're thinking. You just thought that Loguetown is so big, and its highly unlikely I would coincidentally show up in this specific tavern. As a newcomer, you felt you had to show off your bravery in front of the veterans, right?"
Raleigh set the glass down. "But let me tell you a universal truth: sometimes, showing off can get you killed. Especially when you severely lack the strength to back it up. Just like right now—your arrogant words reached my ears... so you will die here."
The pirate captain completely slumped over the table, paralyzed by fear.
Before meeting Raleigh, he had always assumed this man was no different from the lazy Marine commanders in the South Blue.
The South Blue Naval Commander was a Vice-Admiral, and Raleigh was also a Vice-Admiral, so he foolishly thought there was no distinction in power between them.
He dared to provoke the South Blue Commander, so naturally, he thought he could provoke Raleigh too.
But when Raleigh actually appeared before him, he instantly realized that even among Vice-Admirals, there were terrifying differences.
Raleigh hadn't even done anything—just his sheer, suffocating presence made the captain too afraid to move a muscle.
Raleigh picked up the freshly poured rum, downed it in one smooth gulp, and then looked around the silent tavern.
A pirate standing nearby, seeing Raleigh's empty glass, immediately suppressed his terror and rushed forward to refill it for him.
"Sigh."
A soft sigh echoed from Raleigh's lips, stirring deep unease among all the pirates in the tavern.
"Since we have all met today, I will give you a grand gift. I will let your heads celebrate the death of Gol D. Roger."
As soon as the cold words fell, everyone's pupils dilated sharply.
RUN!
That was the only thought in their minds.
As for fighting back against Raleigh? Don't be ridiculous—these veterans weren't greenhorns fresh out to sea.
They knew better than to underestimate a monster who had killed Whitebeard and Shiki.
Instantly, the tavern descended into absolute chaos.
Heavy oak tables and chairs were violently overturned, and the clatter of panicked disorder filled the air.
Some pirates leaped behind the bar, planning to escape through the kitchen, while others desperately crashed through the glass windows.
From start to finish, no one even considered running out the front door where Raleigh was sitting.
SHIIING.
That was the distinct, beautiful sound of a Supreme Grade Sword being drawn—and also the horrific sound of it effortlessly slicing through human bodies!
Raleigh remained perfectly seated, but his right hand had already gripped Mikazuki Munechika, slashing fast in all directions.
Against these weak pirates who weren't even at the rank of a New World Commodore, he didn't even need to stand up.
A single, massive sword beam was more than enough.
Limbs flew across the tavern, crashing into the walls, and a thick, metallic scent of blood instantly saturated the air.
Those who tried to flee, resist, or hide under the tables—no matter where they were in the room—could not escape the lethal, crisscrossing sword beams.
After swinging his blade in a wide arc, Raleigh elegantly sheathed his sword and paid no further attention to the surrounding carnage.
Instead, he picked up his glass again and calmly finished his drink.
...
When Vice-Admiral Gion finally entered the tavern with a squad of Marine soldiers, she saw scattered limbs and pirate heads strewn across the bloody floor.
Their eyes were wide open, as if they hadn't expected to die so easily in this place.
Aside from Raleigh who was still casually drinking, there were only three living people left in the room: the three trembling incontinent young members of the Sea Shell Pirates who had wiped his stool and poured his drink.
"Raleigh, how should we handle these bodies?" Gion asked casually, stepping over a severed arm.
She had come from the blood-soaked North Blue herself, a scene like this wasn't anywhere near enough to unsettle her.
However, several of the local Marine soldiers from Loguetown following behind her couldn't help but gag and vomit at the sheer gore.
"Feed the pirate corpses to the stray dogs, collect their heads for proof and build a mound of skulls in the town square." Raleigh spoke indifferently, swirling his rum.
"After Roger is executed tomorrow, I will place his head at the very top of the mound as a warning."
Raleigh then glanced at the three terrified pirates standing frozen against the wall and speak in a low voice.
"None of you three have innocent blood on your hands yet, and you have shown remarkably good judgment. I'm in a good mood today, so I will not kill you. Turn yourselves in at the Loguetown Marine branch right now and serve your prison sentences."
Upon hearing this, the three young pirates immediately burst into ugly, sobbing tears.
From the moment Raleigh had spared them in the initial slash, they had secretly hoped he would let them live.
When he actually declared he wouldn't kill them, they became so overwhelmed with emotion that they fell to their knees and kowtowed to the bloody floor to express their gratitude.
"Thank you, Vice-Admiral Raleigh! Thank you for sparing our lives!"
Truthfully, they had already resolved to completely abandon their pirate ways.
Whether they ended up starving to death or being killed by other pirates in prison, they would never become pirates again—they were truly terrified of their heads ending up as decorations on that impending mound of corpses.
After rising to their trembling feet, they quickly ran out the door toward the Loguetown Marine branch to surrender.
This wasn't out of fear that Raleigh would go back on his word, but rather from a genuine desire to reform themselves and survive.
"Raleigh, the town-wide investigation is nearly complete," Gion said, stepping over to the table.
"Over three thousand pirates have come to Loguetown in the past week, including veterans from the Grand Line and rookies from the Four Blues."
Gion took out a thick intelligence report and prepared to hand it to Raleigh.
Instead of accepting it, Raleigh simply poured Gion a glass of wine and pushed it across the table.
"The wine here is actually quite good. Care to try some?"
Gion smiled, picked up the glass, and sat comfortably beside Raleigh, drinking with him amidst the carnage.
While Raleigh drank, the elite Marine forces under his command joined with Loguetown's local Marine to carry out a one-sided massacre of the pirates who had foolishly entered the town.
Of course, many highly skilled, future legendary pirates managed to easily avoid being killed or captured by the Marine sweeps.
Among those hiding in the shadows of the town were a future one-armed Warlord Crocodile, and the towering Gecko Moria.
The Revolutionary Army leader, Monkey D. Dragon, along with the pirate apprentices Shanks and Buggy, also remained completely undetected by the Navy patrols.
With their abilities and Haki, they could naturally avoid detection by ordinary Marine soldiers.
Even so, watching the purge from the shadows, they all gained a new understanding of Christian Raleigh's ruthless methods.
Dragon, hidden in a dark alleyway wrapped in his green cloak, couldn't help but sigh.
Compared to his days serving together in the North Blue, his former junior had become even more merciless and brutal.
This created a strong sense of impending crisis within Dragon.
Although his Revolutionary Army hadn't directly confronted the Navy's top brass yet, according to Dragon's revolutionary theory, the Navy would always be an unavoidable, massive obstacle if they wanted to truly reform the world.
How to deal with an anomaly monster like Raleigh became a massive headache for Dragon.
Meanwhile, Shanks and Buggy watched in horror from a rooftop as bodies were continuously carried out onto the streets by Marines, and severed heads were carted away in wooden wagons.
Buggy trembled violently with fear, clutching his own head.
"Shanks! This place feels too dangerous! Let's get out of here right now!"
Though pale-faced at the sight of the slaughter, Shanks gritted his teeth and gripped his straw hat.
"No, Buggy. We have to see Captain Roger off on his final journey."
"Besides," Shanks added grimly, "anyone trying to leave Loguetown right now would be instantly targeted and sunk by the Navy fleet blockading the harbor. Only pirates would flee the island at this point."
After hearing this logic, Buggy couldn't help but clutch his head in absolute despair.
He now only hoped to escape Loguetown with his life intact.
Naturally, Raleigh had not given up on pursuing Shanks, but for some unknown reason, his intelligence network couldn't find any information about Shanks and Buggy's whereabouts in Loguetown.
After eliminating most possibilities, Raleigh calmly concluded that there must be highly placed accomplices secretly helping Shanks hide within the Navy itself!