After coming out of the shower, drying his hair, Makoto instructed Yu, who was waiting outside the door: "Let Rayleigh go."
"Yes!" Yu acknowledged and left.
The moment the door to the hold opened, an indescribable stench hit him.
Yu's expression changed. He stepped back quickly, almost vomiting.
And Shakky, who was following behind, was completely stunned.
She widened her eyes, watching the man Yu dragged out of the cage—
'Was that Rayleigh?'
At that moment, Rayleigh was giving off a suffocating stench, his clothes wrinkled and stuck to his body, his hair matted, his face unshaven. He looked like he had been dug out of a trash heap.
The worst part was—
Shakky's nose told her that if she got two steps closer, she might actually faint.
"Sorry about that," Yu pinched his nose, showing no remorse. "There's no bathroom in the hold, so for the past month, they've just been relieving themselves wherever."
As soon as he finished speaking, the Teddy Devil poked his head out from the side, grinning his signature eerie smile, and added: "Thanks to us, they'll never be constipated for the rest of their lives."
At these words—
Rayleigh glared at the Four Gay Bros with a murderous look.
'Damn.'
'We would definitely get revenge for this.'
If it were before, Shakky might have reached out to support Rayleigh, comforting him that 'it's okay now'.
But now—
She really couldn't bring herself to do it.
The smell on Rayleigh was just too strong.
And upon closer inspection, she noticed something even more absurd:
For some reason, Rayleigh's pants were on backwards.
The zipper was at the back.
Shakky: "..."
She took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice normal: "Rayleigh... get some rest. We'll figure out a way to save Roger later."
Although Rayleigh wanted nothing more than to tear the Four Gay Bros limb from limb, he also knew very well… this was absolutely not the time to confront Makoto's group.
He nodded silently.
The ship docked at Water 7 for resupply and repairs.
On this island famous for shipbuilding, the air was filled with the mingled scents of wood and sea water.
On the advice of Shakky and Gloriosa, Rayleigh decided to stay on this island for the time being.
Makoto's people took the opportunity to buy supplies… after all, the food on the ship had been mostly consumed over the past month.
After discussing with Shakky, Gloriosa, and the others, Rayleigh decided to temporarily stay at Tom's place.
Their Oro Jackson had been built by Tom.
Although it was still more than a decade before the Great Age of Pirates, Tom was already a world-renowned shipwright.
Shakky agreed with this suggestion.
Before parting, Rayleigh couldn't help but ask the question that had been on his mind for a long time:
"Shakky... what exactly did you do to get Nishikawa Makoto to agree to let me go?"
Over the past month, the Roger Pirates had been humiliated by the Four Gay Bros in the hold every day. They couldn't even take care of themselves, let alone know what was happening on the ship.
Gloriosa's face immediately darkened. She said coldly: "Get lost. Don't ask so many questions."
Rayleigh left in silence.
But he more or less guessed.
He looked at Shakky's face, forcing a smile.
At that moment, something between them quietly shattered.
Rayleigh said nothing more. He turned and walked towards Tom's shipyard.
However, no sooner had he found Tom and expressed his wish to stay there for a while than—
Makoto also showed up.
Rayleigh could barely suppress his anger. His voice was very low: "What are you doing here?"
Makoto didn't answer him.
He didn't even look at him.
He walked straight up to Tom and said bluntly: "I want to build a ship. A large ship capable of accommodating a thousand people. It must be made of the finest materials in the world. Money is no object."
Tom paused, his gaze shifting between Makoto and Rayleigh.
"You two... know each other?"
Rayleigh was expressionless: "Don't mind me."
Tom thought Rayleigh's attitude was a bit off, but didn't say anything. He treated Makoto like any ordinary customer.
"Customer, if you want to build the best ship, the material needed would definitely be Treasure Tree Adam. And for a size that can hold a thousand people, the material cost alone would start at 1 billion Belly. That's not even including the labor cost. Is that alright?" Tom asked.
'1 billion Belly?'
'That was no small sum.'
But even so, Makoto nodded: "Okay."
Tom raised an eyebrow: "Then you'll have to pay for the materials in advance. I don't have that much cash on hand right now to buy them."
"Fine," Makoto said. "I'll have someone bring you the deposit later."
Oro Jackson still had a fair amount of money on board.
With that, Makoto turned and left.
Watching his retreating figure, Tom muttered to himself: "He's messing with me, right?"
Over a billion Belly to build a ship?
He had never seen such a big-spending customer before.
Just then, Rayleigh's low voice came from a corner: "He's not one to joke."
Tom looked curiously at Rayleigh again: "Who is he, anyway?"
Rayleigh didn't answer. He just found a corner to sit in and asked, "Got any sake?"
Seeing that he clearly didn't want to talk, Tom didn't press. He took a bottle of rum from his liquor cabinet and handed it over.
"This is Roger's favorite."
Tom had wanted to ask what had happened to Roger and the others, but seeing Rayleigh's grim face, he didn't waste words. He exchanged a few pleasantries and then went back to his work.
On the other side, Makoto returned to the Oro Jackson.
The players who had gone out to buy supplies were mostly back.
On the deck, everyone sat together, and Makoto began to lay out the next plan.
"We're going to the Sabaody Archipelago soon for the hostage exchange. I only need a small number of elites to go. After all, the Marines and the World Government will certainly have set up a dragnet."
He scanned the group and called out names: "Ishigami Yu, Beam, Four Gay Bros, come with me. Everyone else, stay here."
"I want to go." Nayuta raised her hand.
Makoto glanced at her: "You stay here. Protect the others."
Nayuta was very dissatisfied.
She walked up to Makoto and tapped her lips. The meaning was clear—
If you don't leave me something good, don't expect me to listen.
Makoto was utterly speechless.
The two looked at each other for a few seconds.
Finally, Makoto compromised… he pulled Nayuta into his arms, hugged her, and kissed her on the forehead.
Then, he leaned close to her ear and whispered, very quietly: "Don't go too far."
Nayuta walked away angrily, hugging her arms and stewing in silence.
But she knew in her heart… the demand she had just made had crossed Makoto's bottom line.
If she kept pushing, she would only be the one to lose out.
Subsequently, Makoto led his trusted subordinates, sailed the Oro Jackson with the Roger Pirates locked up, and headed for the Sabaody Archipelago, which was not far from Water 7.
The two islands were very close.
Even though no one on the ship actually knew how to navigate, using the Eternal Pose the Kuja Pirates had given them, they could still make it.
In less than two days, the Oro Jackson arrived safely at the Sabaody Archipelago.
When this ship appeared at the port, countless pirates who had also arrived there exclaimed in shock—
"The Roger Pirates?!"
But very soon, they were even more surprised to discover.
The people they were familiar with, Roger, Rayleigh, and others, were not walking off the ship.
Oh, no, they were on the ship.
But… they were locked in cages.
For a moment, all the pirates and bounty hunters were stunned.
'What... what was going on?'
'That Gold Roger, whose strength was at least top five on the seas, was locked in a cage like livestock?'
Makoto's group, as if oblivious to the shocked gazes around them, pushed the prison cart holding the entire Roger Pirates' crew towards the exchange point agreed upon with Kong, like prisoners being escorted.
On the streets of the Sabaody Archipelago, the crowd automatically parted to make way.