Roger and his crew sat down near Alucard. Alucard didn't bother with pleasantries. He simply sat back down and told Aria and the others, "Don't mind them. They're not from the Whitebeard Pirates."
"...Yes, Alucard-sama." Aria resumed pouring Alucard's wine, while the other two women continued their service.
"You really know how to enjoy yourself, kid. I've never seen a rookie kill one of Whitebeard's men and then just sit there so brazenly." Roger chuckled, then shouted towards the back of the bar, "Hey! You hiding back there, bring us some rum!"
Zinn and the others hiding backstage jumped in fright. How were they discovered? Although people in the New World knew quite a bit about Devil Fruits, very few knew about Haki.
Soon, the Roger Pirates also began to drink heavily. After exhaling deeply, Roger asked, "By the way, why did you kill one of Whitebeard's men? Didn't you like them?"
"Pirates should always be ready to die. That goes for you, and it goes for me too," Alucard replied, not directly answering the question.
"That's not an answer at all, is it?" Rayleigh said, raising his glass.
"Well, Whitebeard won't let anyone who harms his subordinates off the hook. I'm one of them." Roger swirled his drink, his face turning slightly red from excessive drinking. "But it's no big deal anyway."
Roger said, turning to Aria and the others, "I heard the incident happened right here in this bar. Hey! Girls, tell us what happened? You must know what went down, right?"
Aria and the two other women looked at Roger's crew with lingering fear. These were pirates too, and their experience with Crassien had left them traumatized.
"It's alright if you don't want to talk about it," Rayleigh said, seeing the women's dilemma, acting as a peacemaker.
"N-no, it's fine." Aria, a bit bolder, slowly began to recount the dispute between Alucard and Crassien from a few days prior. She also explained Crassien's villainous acts in the town over the past two months, though she conveniently omitted the part about Alucard using some ability to control their choices.
After all, Alucard was still right there; she couldn't possibly speak ill of someone right to their face, could she?
"Oh, so Whitebeard still has them, these brats who like to cause trouble." Roger wasn't surprised by this.
Among the Pirate Crews, outside of the Marines and the World Government, only Golden Lion Shiki could compare to Whitebeard in terms of fleet and subordinate numbers.
With thousands of subordinates, what was surprising about a few rotten apples? Besides, wasn't that just how pirates were?
"But you're still here. Are you waiting for Whitebeard's people to show up?" Roger had already guessed Alucard's intention. "You daring kid, Whitebeard isn't easy to deal with."
"It's nothing. It's bound to happen sooner or later. I can't wait." Alucard leaned his head back on the chair, chuckling softly. He'd encounter them eventually anyway. This was a good opportunity, how could he miss it?
Pere pere pere... Pere pere pere...
After Roger and the others had been drinking in the bar for a while, the sound of a Den Den Mushi suddenly rang out. Rayleigh took out a Den Den Mushi wearing sunglasses from his pocket, answered it, and said, "Gaban, has it happened at the port?"
"A pirate ship has landed. I didn't stop them. They recognized us but avoided us," came Gaban's voice, a combatant of the Roger Pirates, from the other end of the Den Den Mushi.
"A pirate crew? Could it be... one of Whitebeard's subordinate fleets?"
Upon hearing Rayleigh's words, everyone except a few, including Buggy, who were still apprentice pirates, remained calm. They had already fought the Whitebeard Pirates before, let alone their subordinate fleets.
"No, it's the Maelstrom Spider Pirates. Their captain is Squard. Their bounty is..." The sound of pages turning came from the Den Den Mushi. A few seconds later, it said, "Oh! Their bounty exceeds 100 million Berries. After the Maelstrom Spider Pirates avoided us just now, they stormed into town. I don't know what's going on, but it shouldn't be us..."
"I understand. Good work. Come in and have a drink too." After speaking, Rayleigh hung up the Den Den Mushi, turned to the others, and said, "Squard is a somewhat famous young pirate in the New World, but we can confirm his target isn't us..."
As Rayleigh spoke, everyone from the Roger Pirates focused their attention on Alucard. It was clear there were no other factions on this island. They were definitely here for Alucard.
"If they're not Whitebeard's subordinates, what's the point?" Alucard's faint interest instantly vanished after hearing the conversation between Rayleigh and Gaban.
THUD!
Just then, the bar's front door was kicked open. Everyone turned to look. A large group of people crowded the doorway. At the forefront was a man with a spider tattoo on his head and long, dark pink hair, wielding a large katana. He roared, "Alucard, who killed my brother Crassien, is he here?!"
"Captain, that guy is Squard," the navigator, Nozdon, said, walking over to Roger.
Meanwhile, after Squard finished speaking, he saw the Roger Pirates inside and his face stiffened. Some of his subordinates also recognized Roger immediately and fearfully whispered, "Captain Squard, that's... that's Gold Roger!"
The Maelstrom Spider Pirates knew the Roger Pirates were on the island when they landed, but they never expected to find Gold Roger himself inside this very bar.
"Your name is... Squard, right?" Alucard didn't even bother to get up from his chair. He turned and lazily glanced at Squard. "I'm not interested in you. Get lost, cannon fodder."
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