The first stop on the Grand Line of the four is not the whisky peak of the original manga “Cactus Island”, but an island that is both ordinary and extraordinary.
Ordinarily, there is always a town one grade lower than Loguetown, with a population of more than a hundred thousand people.
extraordinary, as the first stop of one of the seven routes, a town that is not in an affiliated country, nor has a navy branch or a permanent army, it has not been destroyed or occupied until now.
You must know that the pirate groups that came from the four seas were all so rebellious.
Although there are also cautious pirates who dare not to make trouble in this town out of awe of the unknown, there are more brainless pirates who can’t wait to announce their arrival to the Grand Line and act recklessly.
Therefore, this town has been able to stand strong until now, there must be a reason why countless pirate groups dare not make trouble.
When the four came ashore, El used his ability to read people’s hearts and read the memory of a local resident, only to discover that this town was originally a place sheltered by the black market.
The black market is also known as the illegal markets, shadow markets, or underground markets.
The black market has never been a certain force, but a general term for an alliance.
This is a huge alliance led by several kings of the dark world, followed by countless gray and black forces, all over the world.
In the black market, almost everything is available.
Whether it’s a weapon, banned drugs, slaves, Dance Powder, organs, intelligence, etc… All prohibited items, even humans, can be bought on the black market.
There is a saying in the pirate world: Even if you offend the Navy and Mary Geoise, you can’t offend the black market.
Because pirates are a profession, that consumes weapons. They cannot produce weapons on their own. Unless they are attacking navy bases, even if they snatch the enemy’s arms, it is not enough for them to squander.
The only place they can buy supply is the black market.
Not to mention pirates, even if the navy runs out of ammunition at sea, most of them will go to the nearest black market to buy supplies, so as to avoid encountering other pirates at sea when they return, and they have no means to defend or attack.
And a emperor standing at the apex of the black market is Donquixote Doflamingo, known as The Heavenly Demon, or Joker. He even sold his firearms to Mary Geoise, who has ruled the world for 800 years.
Yes, even the real hegemons of the world need to buy arms from Doflamingo.
And Doflamingo is just one of the emperor of the black market.
This shows how powerful the black market is.
For pirates, the navy’s bounty for them is an honor, but if the black market pulls them into the blacklist, it’s a disaster.
If they are blacklisted by the black market, unless they pay a higher price, other black markets will not do business with them, which is equivalent to losing the only supply channel.
Therefore, no matter how rebellious the pirate group is, they will not make trouble in the place sheltered by the black market.
And this… is the reason why this dark town has been able to stand strong until now.
“I didn’t expect that our first stop on Grand Line would be one of the strongholds of the black market.”
Carina, who learned everything from El’s mouth, sighed slightly.
There is also a black market in East Blue, and she is also the only member of the four who has been to the black market.
Carina didn’t need to go back to the black market until she met El.
“The first stop is one of the strongholds of the black market. For us, it is the blessing of the sea.”
The corners of El’s mouth rose slightly, and he walked towards the town: “Let’s go, let’s go shopping.”
After reading the memories of the local residents, as well as the Observation Haki that completely covered the town, El has already mastered all the information here.
Here, maybe he has what he needs.
The outside world is just an ordinary town. The real black market is in a certain house in the town, it is a store specializing in the sale of arms and prohibited items.
It’s not that other things are not sold, but the price is just too expensive.
What El wants to buy, entering that market is no different from buying Log Pose in Loguetown, and he will definitely be slaughtered in price.
Because the appetite of the black market is bigger than the sailing tool shop in Loguetown.
Everything is sold here, but the price is unknown times higher than the normal market.
Only those who are in dire need will enter the black market.
Since you came in, you deserve to be pitted and tortured.
so…
Unless El didn’t buy what he wanted in an ordinary store, he would go to the black market and be scammed.
After a while, El brought the three girls to the town’s sailing tool shop.
Yes, the nautical tool store!
What El wants to buy is still a Log Pose.
To be precise, it is an Eternal Pose.
“welcome.”
As the four pushed the door and entered, the waiter’s voice suddenly entered their ears.
Coming to the counter, El asked directly, “Do you have the Eternal Pose of Drum Island here?”
“…Yes, Drum Island is well-known for its medical power on the grand line, and its Eternal Pose has always been one of the best-selling products, no matter which island it is, the branch of our company, will prepare the Eternal Pose of this island.”
The waiter obviously didn’t expect that the guest this time would actually know the existence of the Eternal Pose. It seems that the other party should not be a newcomer.
After being stunned for a moment, she quickly entered the working state. From a counter full of glass balls, she took out a glass ball with a wooden frame similar to an hourglass, placing it in front of the four, and said slowly.
“I want it, and this eternal pose, help me pack it up.”
El glanced at the glass balls under the counter, glanced through the letters in front of the glass balls, then pointed to a few glass balls and said to the waiter.
“…Welcome to come back next time, guests please walk slowly!”
From entering to exiting, El took less than three minutes.
“Nii-san, why did you buy so many eternal pose?”
Holding a wooden box containing a few glass balls, Nami, who was a navigator, only felt that she was very negligent.
It turns out that there are so many types of recording pointers, including regular versions, eternal versions, and even new world versions.
But more than that, Nami was more curious about El’s purpose in buying this eternal pose.
“Drum Island, a well-known medical country on the Grand line, nii-san, what are you going to do there?” Carina also looked at El with a puzzled expression.
“Go to the most professional doctor to help or even teach us how to make ‘nutrients’.”
El finally said his plan, and it was also the reason why he didn’t want to risk waiting for Crocus at Twin cape
“The Grand Line is different from the East Blue. There are many dangers here, and we can encounter powerful enemies at any time… practicing step by step, it’s too slow to improve our strength. We need to use external forces to become stronger.”
“So that’s it… The use of nutrients is to help us speed up our growth, there is actually such a method, as expected of you Nii-san!”