You Know Nothing About Women

"My source of information…" Duke trailed off, unsure how to continue.

How was he supposed to put it? Was he meant to tell Rayleigh that his source was some guy named Oda? That Roger’s terminal illness and surrender had all been planned by him? That Roger’s son had also died by his hand?

That wouldn’t be good! What if Rayleigh became enraged, pointed at the sky and cursed on the spot until he had a heart attack and got 404’d?

Robin listened intently, all ears. She had long been curious about Duke’s source of information. The mysterious person’s familiarity with the Poneglyphs made it impossible for her not to take it seriously.

Perona looked from Duke to Rayleigh, unable to understand why the conversation had suddenly become so serious. Who was this Supernova Ace? Was he someone important?

"If you don’t want to say, then forget it." Rayleigh suddenly relaxed, leaning against the wall as he said calmly, "Whatever happens on the stage of the new era has nothing to do with me. My era has already drawn to a close."

Rayleigh spoke with remarkable ease, completely detached, as if even the sky collapsing would not faze him.

"Is that so!?" Duke raised a brow and asked solemnly, "Mr. Rayleigh, if this Portgas were captured by the Marines, what would you do? Turn a blind eye, or save him?"

"The World Government would never tolerate the most evil bloodline continuing to exist on the seas. If you don’t save him, death will surely await him. Can you really bear to watch that man’s bloodline end like this?" Duke voiced the doubt that had long been buried in his heart. During the Marineford War, Rayleigh had stood by and watched. What had made him so cruel toward his best friend’s bloodline?

It was rare for Duke to meet Rayleigh face-to-face. If he did not ask this question, it would keep bothering him.

Rayleigh’s expression kept changing as he listened. At last, he sighed wistfully. "If what you say truly happened, then even if it cost me this life, I would save him."

Thinking of the Ace he had met some time ago, Rayleigh smiled nostalgically. At this point, Ace had yet to meet that son-collecting maniac. His dream was to become the One Piece, exactly like Roger when he had first set sail. Whenever Rayleigh saw him, it was like seeing Roger himself.

Now it was Duke’s turn to fall silent. From Rayleigh’s words, he would not allow Ace to be executed. Yet later on, he had done exactly that. What had happened in between to make Rayleigh change his mind?

Had Ace lost his ambition to conquer the seas and become wholly devoted to Whitebeard, making him not worth saving? Or had Rayleigh simply had absolute faith in Whitebeard’s strength, believing Whitebeard could single-handedly take on Sengoku, Garp, the three Admirals, and the Shichibukai?

The human heart was truly impossible to fathom. Duke could not understand what these old fossils were thinking at all. He casually raised two more questions, then steered the conversation away. Under Shakky’s smiling gaze, he ordered food for three, asked about several matters concerning the New World, then left with Robin and Perona.

He had already told Rayleigh where the ship was. All that remained was to wait for him to finish coating it. During that time, Duke and the other two planned to pass the time around Groves 1 through 30.

Veteran Rayleigh said that careful work took time. Coating a ship was a major undertaking, not like applying a screen protector to a phone that could be handled with a sheet of tissue. Measuring, drafting, preparing materials, polishing, and all the other procedures would take at least two weeks altogether. Duke hated waiting, but for the sake of his life, he could only say he understood.

Overall, Duke was a little disappointed by his meeting with Rayleigh. Rayleigh had originally been on his list of powerful opponents to challenge, but judging from his attitude, he had no intention of fighting at all. Even if Duke put a blade to his neck, he would probably accept it with a cheerful smile.

A forcibly twisted melon was never sweet, and there was no meaning in defeating a legend who held back. Duke simply gave up on sparring with him and instead asked about several confusing aspects of Haki training. Rayleigh did not keep his knowledge to himself, explaining everything he knew in detail. His broad-mindedness truly carried the air of a seasoned master. At the very least, Duke did not have that kind of generosity.

The Sabaody Archipelago truly lived up to being the property of the Celestial Dragons. Every kind of entertainment venue and money pit could be found everywhere. Anything one could imagine, and plenty one could not, could be found here.

When it came to relaxation, the first things men thought of were bars, casinos, brothels, and women. Women were different. All they wanted was to stroll the streets. After a fair and impartial vote, Robin and Perona, with an overwhelming two-to-one advantage, decided that their tour of the Sabaody Archipelago would take place in Groves 30 through 39, the area with the most beautiful scenery and the most developed commercial district.

Simply put, the women wanted to shop, shop, shop…

For women, shopping was neither an interest nor a way to kill time. They treated it with utmost seriousness, as though it were a career worth shedding blood and laying down their lives for.

When it came to shopping, every woman was a born expert. Men might need time to learn the skill of comparing goods from different stores, but women were different. They could wield it with ease without any training. It was as if they had reached perfection from the moment they were born. It was damned absurd!

Take Robin and Perona, for example. When the two women bought something, they usually spent more time studying the products than actually making the purchase. They could spend an entire day shopping, going from store to store, back and forth, tirelessly comparing one thing after another with astonishing perseverance. Even then, they might not find a single item they liked. Duke grumbled to himself that if the two of them worked this hard at training, their bounties would increase by at least another zero.

What Duke did not know was that the core value of shopping for women was not what they bought. Even if they came away empty-handed, it would not dampen their interest in shopping. Their interest lay entirely in the act of "shopping" itself.

Starting at six in the morning, they swept through Groves 30 to 39 one by one, from east to west, from south to north, from main streets to back alleys, visiting every shop they came across and barely missing any. Their sweep made Duke suspect that every store in the world had been opened for women.

Sometimes, when daytime was not enough, they would shop through the night at the night market and continue again the next day. If Duke dragged them away and caused them to miss even one store, they would wear cold expressions, as if Duke had committed some unforgivable crime.

Even after shopping for two whole weeks, the two showed no sign of losing their enthusiasm. The sight made Duke question his grand plans for the future. Was the arms trade really the fastest way to make money in the world?

Why did cosmetics, clothes, and handbags seem more profitable… Could women burn through more money than wars?

Two weeks were neither particularly long nor particularly short. For Robin and Perona, they passed in the blink of an eye, ending before they had even had enough fun. For Duke, it was the complete opposite. Every day felt like a year. He truly could not understand why two identical outfits required two hours of comparison… Was there any point? Why not just buy them all?

When Rayleigh informed him that the coating of Darkness Maru was complete, Duke felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. A life of shopping every day was not fit for a human being, but he also did not feel comfortable letting Robin wander around the islands alone. What if someone recognized her identity, or some melodramatic nonsense happened and the Celestial Dragons captured her? Wouldn’t that mean padding out another two chapters and drawing in an Admiral, perhaps padding out even more…

So the moment he received the ship, Duke hurriedly bid Rayleigh farewell and ordered them to set sail for Fish-Man Island.

The world beneath the sea was entirely different from land, and unlike the sky as well. Humans could fly through the skies in planes and even enter space in spacecraft, but the seabed was different. Every meter descended was extraordinarily difficult. The ocean held far more life than land and sky combined. Mysterious, dark, and unknown, it was the most complex and dangerous forbidden zone of life.

The moment they entered the sea, all they could see was endless blue. The water gleamed like the sky, shimmering with multicolored ripples. The boundless, magnificent scenery was intoxicating, while all manner of strange fish grew increasingly numerous. Beyond that, bizarre marine plants appeared one after another, and countless deep-sea creatures that defied the laws of nature continued to emerge, leaving them dazzled.

Aboard Darkness Maru, Perona crouched dejectedly in a corner, seemingly shrouded by low pressure. She hugged her knees with one hand and drew circles on the deck with the other, muttering to herself from time to time.

"What’s wrong with her?" Duke looked at Robin and shot her an accusing glance. Robin must have teased her again.

"It’s not my fault!" Robin covered her mouth with an amused smile. "Over those two weeks, she had plenty of chances to escape, but she couldn’t resist the temptation of shopping. She kept thinking she would leave after shopping just one more day. And then…"

"I get it. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow!" Duke understood at once. "Procrastination is a disease. It needs treatment!"

Robin’s laughter abruptly stopped. Speechless, she said, "This isn’t procrastination… Forget it. Anyway, Captain, you wouldn’t understand. You know nothing about women."

Duke’s face darkened. What did she mean, he knew nothing about women?

As a doctor, he felt that his professional expertise had been insulted. He knew the structures of XX and OO like the back of his hand!