Chapter 248 Target: King of the Near Sea

Rayleigh stood up from the ground, looking very pale.

After standing up, he staggered a bit, then he covered his broken left arm, a look of pain on his face.

The wound on Rayleigh's broken arm had been burned by the lava before he jumped into the sea, and after soaking in the sea for so many days, even he could not bear it.

Shanks whispered beside him,

"Uncle Rayleigh, your arm..."

Rayleigh looked down at Shanks, his eyes fixed on the straw hat Shanks wore on his back.

When Rayleigh saw the straw hat, the scene when he first met Roger emerged in his mind.

At that time, Roger was wearing this straw hat and invited him to board the ship.

Thinking of Roger, Rayleigh's eyes became red again. He raised his hand and pressed it on Shanks' head, forcing a smile on his face, and said,

"Shanks, Roger risked his life for the new era. Compared to him, what is my arm?"

Shanks raised his hand to wipe his wet eyes, raised his head and asked,

"Uncle Rayleigh, who exactly is Captain Roger waiting for? We have paid such a heavy price for an illusory person. Is it really worth it?"

Rayleigh frowned when he heard this and said in a deep voice,

"It's worth it! Shanks, Roger thinks highly of you, please don't let him and our dead companions down!"

Shanks wanted to say something else, but when he saw the horrific wound on Rayleigh's broken arm, he swallowed back everything he wanted to say.

In fact, he really wanted to ask, why couldn't the person Roger was waiting for be him or Bucky?

Is everything really destined?

Seeing Shanks fall silent, Rayleigh sighed and said,

"Keep the straw hat safe, wake up Buggy, and let's rest on this island for a few days."

Shanks nodded and asked,

"So where are we going next?"

Rayleigh thought for a moment and responded,

"Chabaoti Island, I have a friend there."

Shanks was stunned for a moment and said,

"Uncle Rayleigh, Shabaodi Island is very close to the Navy Headquarters. If the Navy finds us..."

Rayleigh smiled and said,

"Shanks, you are still too young. There are always a large number of pirates gathering on Sabaody Island. Have you heard of any large-scale crackdown by the navy there?"

"It seems not. Could it be that there is a strong person there that the navy is afraid of?"

"There are definitely strong ones, but no matter how strong they are, can they be stronger than Roger? What the navy is really afraid of are those Celestial Dragons. They don't like anyone making trouble there."

......

In the East China Sea, near Fengche Village,

A huge navy ship was sailing on the calm sea. On the shore of Windmill Village, several fishermen looked at the ship and talked about it.

"Hey, that navy ship has been hovering nearby for a few days. Is it carrying out some kind of mission?"

"Who knows? I've been watching that warship frying fish these past few days, and I haven't had any catch in the past few days. If it continues like this, my whole family will have to starve!"

"Hush! The navy on that warship must be quite powerful. Apart from the one Vice Admiral Garp was on before, I have never seen such a big warship!"

"Alas! I don't know how Vice Admiral Garp is doing now. He is the pride of our Windmill Village. How come..."

"Don't mention it. Isn't it the work of that traitor Long? I've known this kid for a long time since he was little. He's always talking nonsense!"

"This kid is really... he got into trouble and ran away, leaving his father to take the blame! He is really something!"

"Oh my god! Do you think this warship is here to catch dragons? Don't let it hurt us by mistake! In a small place like ours, a few shells from that warship will flatten us!"

On the warship,

Aokiji stood at the bow, looking at the calm sea below, pinching his chin and talking to himself,

"It's strange. I've been looking for almost a week, and I can't find any sea beasts, let alone sea kings..."

Akainu and the others really took to heart what Ziger had told them before they fell asleep. They had just returned to the headquarters not long ago, and hadn't even had a few days to recover from their injuries, but they started to do the first thing that Ziger had told them to do.

However, after all, they are all important combat forces of the Navy Headquarters, and it is obviously inappropriate to send them all out at once. Finally, after internal discussions among them, they decided to let Aokiji, who can more easily use his abilities at sea, go first.

However, Aokiji and his men patrolled around Windmill Village for almost a week but still found nothing.

Just when Aokiji was feeling helpless at the bow of the ship, a huge dandelion suddenly rose slowly in front of him. Then, Aramaki, wearing a floral shirt and floral shorts, appeared in his sight, holding a thin man who rolled his eyes in his hand.

Seeing Aramaki dressed like a gangster, Aokiji frowned and asked,

"Huang Mu, you went to the village to drink again, didn't you? This is what Senior Ji Ge told you to do, can you please pay more attention? I shouldn't have brought you here if I had known!"

Aramaki threw the person in his hand to Aokiji's feet and said unhappily,

"Stop talking nonsense! I care more about this than you do! Otherwise, why would I follow you? You need to use your brain when doing things! If you keep wandering around the sea like a headless fly, how long will it take for you to find that sea king?"

Aokiji was so angry that he put his hands on his hips, took a step forward, and was almost face to face with Aramaki.

"Then tell me, how do we find this sea king?"

Huang Mu snorted and said,

"Why don't you say you're stupid? No matter if you're looking for a person or a sea king, what's the most important thing? Intelligence! Gathering intelligence is my specialty. When I was doing this, you didn't even know where you were!"

"Well? Then tell me, what information have you collected?"

Huang Mu smiled proudly when he heard this and said,

"I heard from the tavern that there is indeed a sea king that looks like an eel nearby. Oh, they call this sea king the King of the Near Sea. It's a very domineering name, but it sounds like it's not going to be easy to deal with!"

"After all, Senior Jiger valued him... Then what? What else did you hear?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? I haven't told you the most important thing yet. The villagers said that this sea king likes to attack small fishing boats and especially likes to eat people!"

"Then what do you mean..."

"Don't you understand? We just need to find someone to serve as bait. I've already found the person."

As he spoke, Huang Mu glanced at the man on the ground and said,

"This guy is the one. He was drinking and bragging, saying that he was the Bandit King Sig, and he was showing off his wanted warrant. When I saw it, wow! 250 million Baileys!"

(Happy Dragon Boat Festival~)