Chapter 14: Hancock's anger

Saboundy Island Archipelago, Area 13.

"Huh?"

Kuzan who was lying relaxed waiting for Tsuru's arrival as well as doing an experience in a building in the area suddenly opened his eyes because he felt a number of people who had just come out of the building. Kuzan immediately got up and focused his attention on a number of people and immediately his pupils narrowed looking at the person he was paying attention to.

"They…Isn't that Hancock and her two sisters…But why…"

Kuzan's current feelings were mixed with shock and confusion. He could see the situation experienced by Hancock when he just came out of the building. The clothes that were destroyed coupled with the large amount of injuries received by him at this time. Not only Hancock but Kuzan also saw a situation that was even worse than Hancock's currently experienced by Sandersonia and also Marigold where there were a lot of injuries currently being received by them.

"What exactly is inside that building?" Kuzan's expression immediately became serious, a frown could be seen on his face at this moment, "To be able to make Hancock receive such severe injuries…There should be something very powerful inside that building…Besides , I also sensed that Rayleigh and Shakuyaku also had some wounds on their bodies before…Did those wounds also result from that place?"

Kuzan's breathing quickened at this point as his gaze kept on Hancock and her two sisters who was slowly walking towards the ship.

"Looks like the thing I thought I could have happened," Kuzan thought back, "There's something very likely in that place and it's not something to be trifled with…"

Kuzan's curiosity at this time had started to increase and had even reached the point where he wanted to go in and take a look. Only, he knew that it wasn't the time yet. He needed to wait for the arrival of Tsuru and also wait for Rayleigh and Shakuyaku to come out of that place so he could come there so as not to cause various kinds of unwanted things.

They had come to this place not to fight but to investigate the phenomena that were currently occurring. During a war, the Navy would suffer heavy losses and that was something he didn't want to see. Kuzan took a deep breath then took out his den-den mushi to contact someone.

It didn't take long for the den-den mushi connection to connect.

"Hello, this is Sengoku"

"Sengoku-san, it's me, Kuzan" Kuzan said seriously and without giving Sengoku a chance, he started to say back, "As I previously thought, Hancock was indeed in the building that Rayleigh and Marko entered."

of "Hancock was there?" Sengoku's voice became very serious after knowing that it was Marko called him.

"Well, she and her two sisters just came out of that place and…They're in pretty bad shape."

"Their condition is terrible?" Sengoku seemed a little confused hearing this.

"When they came out, I saw that the conditions the three of them were in were dire. Hancock and her two sisters were seriously injured, especially for her two sisters. One of them suffered a fracture to his right arm while the other only had injuries all over his body."

"..."

Sengoku was silent listening to the report that Kuzan had just delivered.

"Besides that, before that, I remembered that Rayleigh also had a number of wounds on his body" Kuzan said back.

"Rayleigh too?!"

Sengoku was immediately surprised when he found out about this.

"Well, he has injuries. Previously I thought that it was impossible for him to get the wound from that place. However…" Kuzan paused and then sighed, "Seeing Hancock's current situation, I'm sure Rayleigh received the wound from that place."

*******

Dungeon, First Floor, Imperium Empire.

"Contract?"

Rayleigh smiled slightly seeing the surprise Viena showed him and without giving Viena a chance to say something, Rayleigh first continued, "We both do equal cooperation. I will help you find the materials you need to make the elixir without you paying me any money. with Meanwhile, the profit earned by me, I can buy the elixir from this shop of yours at a cost equivalent to the fee you give to the residents here and not the fee you give to the adventurers."

"...What do you think of this offer? I think this offer should be very profitable for you. You can get help from me that will help you in gathering ingredients for the elixir without you having to pay that person at all. You just give me the opportunity to buy elixir at your place where the price is equivalent to the selling price you give to the natives. Even though the price is much cheaper than you selling it to other adventurers, you still get profit from selling it."

Vienna did not immediately answer Rayleigh's offer but thought first.

"This offer…Should I accept it?" Even though Viena is still very young, she is a smart person. "The money that I currently have is only a little left and if I were to go wrong in making elixirs…It would be difficult for me to hire the services of adventurers to collect materials to be reused. Besides…With the current location being away from the city center, it will be difficult for me to attract people's interest…"

Viena's mind suddenly stopped, she suddenly came up with an extremely good idea. Viena immediately looked at Rayleigh with a smile.

"Master Rayleigh, this offer made by you is a very attractive offer" Vienna said softly, "It's just, I want to add conditions"

"Adding conditions?" Rayleigh was immediately interested in this, "What condition do you want to add?"

"I wish Master Rayleigh could help me to promote my place to the adventurers in this place"

Rayleigh was a little stunned to hear the condition Viena wanted to add. Viena then continued back without giving Rayleigh a chance to say anything.

"I know the weakness that belongs to me. My place is located far away from the city center and it would be rare for adventurers to come to this place. They will also consider the price where they might think the price in my shop will be the same as the price in other stores. Instead of choosing my shop, they will definitely come to the shop in the city center. Therefore, I will lower the selling price of the products sold by me to the adventurer side. The price that will be reduced by me is half of the faraway elixir that is sold at the shop in the center of town."

"Interesting" Rayleigh smiled as he listened to Viena's explanation, "Miss Viena. Your condition may be a little burdensome for me. I also want to add other conditions that will equalize our cooperation"

"What conditions would you like to add?" Viena asked with great interest.

"I want to get the failed product made by you"

Viena who heard this was immediately stunned.

"Shouldn't a product that failed to be made by you be used by you, right?"

"Well," Vienna nodded, "It's impossible to sell failed products, especially for people who are going to open an official shop like I wanted to do. As long as it is known that I am selling a failed product…My store may not get any visitors"

"That means the products that fail to be made by you will be discarded, right?" Rayleigh said back, "Instead of being thrown away, it's better to just give it to me. You are also not harmed by this and both of our conditions should be equal with the addition of these conditions "

"What does he want to do with a failed product? Is it possible that he wants to use the failed product? Even though the effect you received is there, the effect that is given is also not very good compared to a good product…Do I need to accept this condition? Failed products also don't bring much benefit to me, they are just waste products from failed production which will also eventually be thrown away. Well, I guess it's fine to accept the conditions given by him. I still get a lot of benefits from this collaboration. Besides getting a free worker, I can get someone to help promote my place without paying any fees. He also still has to pay to buy products from me even though he also got them even though it was a failed product that didn't bring any harm to me. In essence, I am the party who gets the most benefit from this cooperation"

"This partnership…Even if it looks less profitable to me. But, looking from another perspective, I get a lot of benefits from this collaboration. As long as I can get hold of the failed products owned by her and then sell them to adventurers who have a meager amount of finances, I can make a profit there. Even if she later lowered the cost of the elixir, still, it would still be difficult for novice adventurers to buy a good quality elixir. I can go in there following the advice given by Allen so I can get a lot of benefits"

Elixir prices themselves vary greatly. The price of an elixir is judged by the quality, effect, and rarity of the elixir. The higher the quality, effect, and rarity of the elixir, the more expensive it will be. One unit of elixir that has the effect of healing small-scale bodily injuries costs 1 silver coin where that price is a special price for residents. As for adventurers, the price would be several times that price. Usually, Alchemists would sell adventurers an elixir with a small scale wound healing effect starting at 10 silver coins. Meanwhile, the medium scale wound healing elixir has a price of 10 silver coins where this price is specifically for residents. As for adventurers, the price for a moderate wound healing elixir starts at 75 silver coins.

Before Rayleigh arrived at this place, Rayleigh had taken the time to come to an Alchemist shop in the city center, and when he found out the price of the elixir that was sold to adventurers. A huge determination arose within him and that determination aims to be able to get a contract with the novice Alchemist who is his current client.

"Okay, I guess there's no problem with the conditions Mr. Rayleigh added earlier," Viena said directly after thinking about various things beforehand, "The two of us have equal conditions and I agree with the contract proposed by Mr. Rayleigh."

"It's good to hear about this," Rayleigh said happily and said, "Miss Viena, could you accept my friend request?"

"Sure" Viena nodded and said "Please feel free for Mister Rayleigh to invite me"

Rayleigh, who got the approval, quickly opened his status panel. Vienna is not surprised by the appearance of the status panel because they also have their own status panel. However, their status panel is quite different from that of Rayleigh and others.

Rayleigh quickly started adding Viena to his friend list which Viena immediately agreed to. Viena's name quickly registered on Rayleigh's friend list where it was on the list of names of the residents of the dungeons.

The same was true for Vienna's friend list where Rayleigh's name had appeared where his name had appeared on the list of adventurers' names. The appearance of Viena's status panel did not come as a surprise to Rayleigh since he had seen various similar incidents before, especially when he came to the achemist shop and found that many people were opening their own status panels there.

*******

Guilds.

"Ring!..."

The sound of the door bell ringing immediately caught Allen's attention. Allen, who was sitting leisurely reading a book, immediately raised his head and found that Marko had finally returned.

"You finally came back. How's my order?"

"I bought it" Marko replied quickly and continued, "I don't really understand about your preferences especially since you didn't tell me about it before. Therefore, I bought various variations of the snacks that were there in large quantities."

"That's better," Allen said with a smile, "The more the better, there are many things that can be tried by me. Come on, give me the ring."

Marko who heard the last sentence was immediately stunned and sighed, "Hey, why don't you just give this to me, Allen? Isn't this just a low quality ring? Things like this shouldn't get into your eyes."

"Do you still wish to discuss this matter?" Allen rolled his eyes, "Look for it yourself as long as you want it. I won't give anything to me especially equipment in dungeons. As long as other adventurers find out about this, they might brand me as an unfair person."

"Then, as long as I don't reveal that you gave this away, can't it be done, Yoi~ ?"

"Don't add the hope that it's impossible to happen" Allen immediately refused it back, "Quickly give the ring to me"

"Tch ~ You cheapskate" Marko pursed his lips and immediately took off the ring he was wearing reluctantly.

Even though it was his first time using it, he already really liked the ring. As long as there was the ring, any item that was brought down even in large quantities would be very easy to handle. Actually with the physical strength possessed by him, even as long as the item weighs one ton. Marko will still easily lift and carry. It's just too troublesome and will waste a lot of energy. Meanwhile, with the existence of space storage equipment, such things would not be sensed by him.

Marko reluctantly took off the ring that Allen had given him earlier and handed it back to Allen. Allen, who received the ring, immediately looked inside and found that there were lots of snacks in the ring.

"Hehehe ~ I can't wait to taste everything. Which one is better? Which one feels the strongest? I definitely won't get bored in quite some time—"

"Allen, did Hancock and the others come out of the dungeon yet?"

Allen's mind was distracted by the question asked by Marko.

"Are you going to attack them now?"

"Better to do it now than later" Marko said seriously, "It just so happens that my stamina is also recovering right now and it should…As long as Hancock and the others just came back from the dungeon, their stamina is still in a low state. This is the best time to attack them."

"Hmm, it turns out that you are much more cunning than I thought."

"I don't want to hear that from you," Marko said sullenly "How? Are they still in the dungeon or have they returned?"

"Do you have to attack them while Hancock is back?" Allen asked strangely, "Wouldn't it be better to attack him without Hancock present? As long as you do it at that time, it will be easier for you to beat him."

"I'm not that low" Marko replied quickly, "I can't possibly attack their group especially when their leader isn't there. It would be embarrassing if news of that got out."

"Hmm, you have a point too. The Whitebeard Pirates' First Division Commander carried out a sneak attack on the Kuja Pirates." Allen muttered under his breath, "The attack was carried out while the leader of the Kuja Pirates - Boa Hancock was not present. Is it possible that Marko "The Pheonix" is afraid of the existence of the Shichibukai - Boa Hancock? Is it possible that Boa Hancock's strength has surpassed Marko's "The Pheonix"?"

"Why have you started trying to make news about something that I would never do?" Marko's face immediately blackened hearing this, "It seems true what Rayleigh said to me. You really are a person who makes people angry easily."

Allen just shrugged his shoulders casually.

Marko sighed then said back in a more serious voice than before, "So how was it? Have Hancock and the others returned?"

"They're back" Allen interrupted "They came back a while ago and they're probably in their ship right now"

"So"

Marko finally got the answer he wanted. Without wasting much time, he immediately rushed out of the guild to go to the Kuja pirate group.

"Oh? There must be an interesting spectacle. The two of them would inevitably engage in battle. Hancock won't be able to stay silent when Marko is about to give himself an order." Allen's gaze glanced towards the dungeon portal, "Rayleigh and Shakuyaku shouldn't be back yet. I have a chance to watch this fun"

Allen quickly walked out from within his desk and walked out of the guild to watch the fun that was about to ensue.

******

Saboundy Island Archipelago, Area 13, Kuja Pirate Ship.

The atmosphere on the Kuja pirate ship is currently heavy. This was due to the return of Hancock and the others who were seriously injured. Currently, Hancock and the others were in the cabin when they were being treated by a ship's doctor.

"There is someone approaching here"

"Everyone get ready!"

"The person who came has a very strong strength! Let no one let down their vigilance!"

Right at the same time, the entire army of the Kuja pirate group, especially the members of the Kuja pirates who were on the hull of the ship, felt someone approaching their current ship from the sky. The faces of each member became very serious as they also raised their respective weapons. Gradually the person they had feelings for finally came into view and their expressions immediately changed upon seeing that person.

"That person…"

"Isn't he…"

"Why is he here?"

"Whitebeard Pirate Group First Division Commander - Marko The Pheonix"

At that time all the members of the Kuja pirate group noticed that the person who came to them was Marko. Their faces immediately showed a hint of panic followed by nervousness. Marko has his own big name and Marko's strength has also been recognized by many people. In addition, Marko is a very important figure in one of the strongest pirate groups in this world. As long as they are in conflict with Marko, it means they are in conflict with Whitebeard.

The Kuja Pirates are a powerful pirate group. However, when compared with the Shirohige pirate group. The comparison between them would be far-fetched.

"Quickly go tell Hebihime-sama about this person's arrival! We can't endure it without Hebihime-sama around."

"Good"

One of the higher-ups of the Kuja pirates quickly ordered a new member of the group to report Marko's arrival to Hancock.

Marko quickly landed on the front end of the ship and immediately deactivated his devil fruit ability.

"What does the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates want from us?" One of the higher-ups of the Kuja pirate group asked in a serious voice.

"We shouldn't be involved in friction with each other, even if we don't have enmity with each other," another official immediately added.

"I have no business with you guys," Marko said coldly and continued, "Call Hancock! I have business with her"

"Hebihime-sama?"

"He has business with Hebihime-sama?"

"Wait a moment! Is it possible…"

"Marko!" One of the higher-ups of the Kuja pirate group immediately shouted and then said in an angry voice, "Were you the one who injured Hebihime-sama?"

"Hurt?" Marko's face immediately froze when he heard that, "Could it be Hancock..."

"Rumble!..."

Immediately, a wave of terrifying tyrannical aura where the center was in the cabin of the ship of the Kuja Pirates immediately spread in the surrounding area. The surrounding area that entered into the area of the tyrannical aura wave immediately increased its atmosphere more than before. The previously clear sky slowly started to turn cloudy and lightning slowly started to strike in the area around the place. People who had weak will and strength instantly collapsed from that wave of tyrannical aura. Only those with strong will and strength survived the tyrannical wave.

"This…"

"These auras…"

"Conqueror's Haki…"

"Hebihime-sama!"

"Conqueror's Haki?" Marko narrowed his eyes seriously the moment he felt the surge of the tyrannical aura, "This is really shocking. I didn't expect that woman to have Conqueror's Haki just like Oyaji."

"Arara ~ " Kuzan who was located slightly away from the location could also feel a terrifying tyrannical wave centered on the Kuja pirate ship, "Is this the Conqueror Haki of the Pirate Queen - Boa Hancock? It looks like there will be a battle between the two of them soon."

Kuzan's gaze became more serious than before, "Could it be that it was Marko who caused Hancock's injury earlier? But…Was that really what Marko did? Although Marko's strength is indeed very strong. But…It was impossible for him to win against Hancock without suffering the slightest injury. No…That's a possibility, with his devil fruit ability, there's a possibility. However…It was impossible for him to fight back in such a short amount of time. Marko would definitely suffer from exhaustion from the previous battle and it would take some time for him to recover his stamina to fight again. What really happened?"

Kuzan's gaze then glanced towards the building that he had always paid attention to until now where he found the presence of a man sitting casually in front of the building, "Or…Could it be that person who previously helped Marko. But his strength…Is it possible for him to help Marko fight against Hancock with such a low power level? No, no, no, that can't be happening."

The person Kuzan saw was Allen who was currently sitting relaxed in front of the guild watching the upcoming battle between Hancock and Marko. Kuzan had previously discovered Allen's whereabouts right when Allen left the guild. It's just that, when he felt Allen's power, Kuzan thought Allen was an ordinary person and immediately turned his attention to Marko who was moving towards the ship belonging to the Kuja pirate group.

Kuzan's gaze then looked at the Kuja pirate ship again, "The Kuja pirate group and Whitebeard pirate group shouldn't have any conflict at all. One operates in the new world and the other operates in paradise. It's difficult for the two of them to conflict…What exactly happened?" The feeling of confusion and headache at this time began to attack Kuzan again, "The two's conflict…Is it possible that the reason behind the conflict between the two came from inside that building? What exactly is in that building for them to have such a conflict?"

Kuzan's gaze then looked back at Allen, "Also, who is that person? Is it possible that he is the owner of that place?"

The confusion inside Kuzan was even more intense than before. Kuzan's gaze glanced at the ship belonging to the Kuja pirate group seriously, "This will be very troublesome. Hancock couldn't suffer any more serious injuries than now. As long as she suffers more serious injuries, it will only cause us losses."

"This is really troublesome" Kuzan sighed then said, "Earlier this mission was just a surveillance mission. I never thought this mission would widen into a mission that has to be involved in a battle"

"...By the way, when will Tsuru-san be here? She should have arrived on Saboundy Island by now, right?"

As expected by Kuzan. Currently, a warship belonging to the Navy group has docked at the port where the ship is the ship used by Vice Admiral Tsuru.