Hearing Skull's observation, Carrot quickly grabbed the microphone and spoke first. "Bonney-chan? It's me, Carrot!"
However, the voice that emerged from the other side wasn't Bonney's youthful tone, but rather a slightly older, authoritative male voice: "Carrot? From the Black Star Pirates..."
"Wah! How did little Bonney suddenly get so old?!" Carrot seemed genuinely startled and immediately hung up the call in panic.
She looked up apologetically, about to explain her hasty action, but stopped when she saw that Deuce and the others' expressions had turned grim.
"That definitely wasn't little Bonney," Skull said, shaking his head with certainty.
Deuce nodded in agreement, his voice taking on a serious tone. "Which means she might be in some kind of trouble."
Everyone immediately recognized the implications of this statement and quickly began discussing the situation in urgent whispers.
After a moment, Ace's eyes narrowed as he interrupted the increasingly tense atmosphere. "Wait, didn't you all notice? There's one person who hasn't said anything."
"Huh?" Everyone looked at each other in confusion, then turned their heads toward Jerry, who was stroking his chin thoughtfully while staring out at the sea.
"Jerry, what do you think? Any ideas about who that was?" Deuce asked immediately.
Jerry emerged from his contemplation and nodded slowly. "If I heard correctly, the person who just spoke should be Saint Jaygarcia Saturn—one of the Five Elders."
He paused, then added with a frown, "Of course, I didn't get to hear him speak much during the whole Treasure Island incident..."
Seeing that he'd suddenly stopped talking, Carina asked curiously, "Why not? With that punchable attitude of yours, you'd pick a fight with anyone, right?"
"Eh? Although your word choice is a bit harsh, you're not wrong," Jerry replied with a helpless shrug. "However, that old man obviously deserved a beating, so every time he opened his mouth to say anything, I just wanted to punch him..."
He spread his hands in a gesture of resignation. "That's the thing—he never really got a chance to speak at all, and even when he did, I wasn't paying attention to what he was actually saying."
Deuce raised his head and patted his forehead in exasperation. "So what's your conclusion?"
Jerry seemed to recall something, and a glimmer of understanding flashed in his eyes. "The conclusion is that although I don't have a clear memory of his voice, I'm pretty sure it was most likely him."
As Jerry finished speaking, everyone's expressions suddenly became much more serious.
"If it's one of the Five Elders, this situation just got a lot more complicated," Skull said, scratching his hair frantically.
Carrot pointed at Kotatsu and suggested hopefully, "Big Brother Jerry, should we have Kotatsu call back?"
"No need," Jerry replied with confidence. "Judging from his character, he probably just wants to threaten us or demand something from us."
Jerry's assessment undoubtedly aligned with everyone else's thoughts about how the World Government operated.
"Let's first understand the full scope of what's happening, otherwise we'll just be dancing to their tune," Jerry said, turning to Skull. "Skull, I need you to gather more intelligence—especially any information the Revolutionary Army might have and what their current movements are."
Skull made an enthusiastic OK gesture. "Oh yeah! Leave it to me, boss!"
With that decisive statement, the impromptu discussion prompted by the interrupted phone call officially came to an end.
Skull watched as everyone quickly regained their composure and returned to their usual activities. He sighed dramatically, "Ah, with great power comes great responsibility. Only I can shoulder such a heavy burden."
After delivering this overly theatrical line, he walked into the cabin shaking his head and began his investigative work.
On deck, Carina picked up two square pieces of cloth covered with printed text from beneath the main mast and handed them to Deuce. "These should be what you mentioned wanting before, right?"
These two pieces of cloth were exactly what Carina had obtained when she'd infiltrated the skull fortress during their return to Wano Country. In addition to retrieving these items, Carina's mission at the time had also been to locate Yamato, and she'd naturally achieved that goal as well. She'd also accidentally caught and saved Ace when he was falling from a great height during the battle.
The two papers in her hands were both rubbings of Poneglyphs—one was an ordinary historical text, while the other was a Road Poneglyph containing crucial navigation information.
"Perfect, thank you," Deuce said, taking the rubbings with obvious reverence. "I wanted to examine these before, but we might not be able to use them immediately." He carefully placed them together with the other rubbings they'd accumulated during their journey.
Time passed quickly, and afternoon arrived with its typical leisurely pace.
On deck, the supposedly relaxed atmosphere was broken by Skull's reappearance, his expression noticeably troubled.
"Skull, what's wrong?" From beneath a large parasol, Deuce noticed Skull's furrowed brow, set down his teacup, and asked with concern.
In front of him was a large round table where everyone except Jerry—who was still fishing at the rail—sat enjoying desserts and afternoon tea.
Skull strode forward and took a seat, accepting the drink Deuce handed him and taking a thoughtful sip before speaking slowly. "I've been through all the newspapers from the past few days. Apart from the increases in our bounties, there isn't much worth noting in the general news."
He paused to take another drink before continuing. "I also contacted Tesoro and reached out to the Revolutionary Army. The most useful information I got is that they confirmed little Bonney and Kuma landed on Egghead Island a few days ago, and then all communication went silent."
Skull's expression grew more serious. "I also asked about the Revolutionary Army's official stance, but they said they can't contact Dragon at the moment, so there's no action plan regarding this situation."
"Tsk, I knew it," Jerry's voice rang out as Skull finished his report.
He secured his fishing rod casually, turned to face the group, and shrugged with resignation. "We can't rely on the Revolutionary Army for this. Let's head directly to Egghead Island."
"Uh... Jerry, isn't Sabo the Chief of Staff? How about I try talking to him?" Ace raised his head from the mountain of delicious food in front of him and spoke through a mouthful of treats.
Jerry shook his head decisively. "It's not necessary. The Revolutionary Army operates differently from us—they can't easily make unilateral decisions about their next moves. It would probably be useless for Sabo to speak up because it's not his personal army."
Jerry's expression grew more cynical. "Although Kuma was once their comrade, Monkey D. Dragon probably won't take direct action. Except when his son—your brother Luffy—gets into trouble, when have you ever seen him personally intervene? Even when previous commanders have been captured by Celestial Dragons, he's remained frustratingly passive..."
"Ahem!" Realizing he was getting carried away with his criticism, Jerry decided to stop his complaints and looked around the table. "In short, don't count on them. We'll handle this ourselves, as usual."
"Yeah," Ace replied, though he didn't completely understand the political complexities Jerry was referring to. He simply nodded and returned his attention to the feast before him.
Deuce and the others exchanged meaningful glances, carefully considering the various events and rumors they'd heard about the Revolutionary Army over the years. After reflection, they found that Jerry's assessment seemed unfortunately accurate.
Additionally, they were accustomed to their pirate crew operating independently and had never developed the habit of relying on external forces for crucial decisions. Therefore, they naturally wouldn't raise any objections to their current autonomous approach.
Deuce reached for a toolbox at his side, examining the collection of Log Poses and detailed information about various island locations stored within. He exhaled with determination. "Then we're going to Egghead Island. It's time to put these old treasures of mine to good use."
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