Generally, wherever there are cities, there are corresponding Marine branches. The larger the city, the larger the scale and higher the rank of the Marines stationed there.
In this current era, where the Great Pirate Era has not yet fully begun and the Marine forces are stronger than the pirates, this holds even more true.
A large city like St. Poplar, without a doubt, also required a powerful Marine presence.
Stationed in St. Poplar was Vice Admiral Pernest Joseph Gold.
In Luffy’s era, a Marine Vice Admiral usually possessed strength capable of defeating pirates with bounties exceeding 100 million. In this current era, it’s uncertain. While Alucard had clashed with Zephyr and Kuzan, they couldn’t be used as benchmarks for general power comparison.
If "Crescent Moon Hunter" Devon had entered the city for clothes, Alucard, without a doubt, was there for alcohol.
Fighting, traveling, and alcohol were the three most important things for Alucard during his sea voyages. However, the matter of Seastone bullets remained far off, much to Alucard’s displeasure.
Upon entering a wine shop, Alucard wasted no words. He simply tossed 50 million Berries onto the counter and said with a faint smile, "Use all this money to buy wine, the most distinctive local varieties. Pack them all up!"
Spending 50 million Berries on wine made him an extremely rare big spender, even in St. Poplar.
The shop owner, realizing a major customer had arrived, quickly ordered other employees to help. Every type of wine with local characteristics and local production in the store was wrapped up.
After more than an hour of bustling, the packed wooden crates were almost the size of two adult men.
"Sir, it’s all ready. We’ve packed all of our special local wines for you. We actually owe you 500 Berries..."
"Consider it your tip!" Alucard responded offhandedly. He activated Hidden Shadow, causing all the wooden crates filled with wine on the ground to be absorbed into his shadow.
Doing business in the Grand Line, especially in a super-large city , naturally required some shrewdness.
When they saw the crates being absorbed one by one into his shadow, everyone in the shop shared a single thought: A Devil Fruit user!
At the same time, the shop owner was also secretly relieved that he hadn’t tried any tricks; otherwise, who knew what might have happened.
Not long after Alucard stepped out of the shop, he heard a burst of shouting from another nearby establishment.
"Are you kidding me?! You mean that size is the last one in stock?!"
The voice indicated it was a woman, and the slightly rough tone confirmed she was definitely not a beautiful woman.
Her overly loud voice caused many passersby on the street to look in the direction of the sound. Even Alucard specifically glanced through the glass window into the shop.
It was a clothing store. Inside, a burly, rugged woman with one hand on her hip was pointing at another remarkably attractive woman beside her, scolding the shop assistant with an irritated expression.
Meanwhile, on either side of these two women, whose appearances differed so drastically, stood two different groups of people.
The burly woman’s group consisted of tall, imposing individuals. Though they were trying to conceal them, their various weapons were still discernible.
Pirates! Or perhaps bounty hunters!
But to be honest, bounty hunters rarely traveled in such large groups; these individuals were more likely pirates.
As a man, if one were to compare the two women at the center of the commotion, one would undoubtedly focus on the pretty one.
But Alucard was different; his gaze was fixed on the burly, monstrous-looking woman.
Of course, Alucard wasn’t looking at her face; he had recognized her identity.
Unlike Luffy, who was always carefree, Alucard frequently read newspapers and was very familiar with many famous pirates, especially those with bounties over 100 million. And this woman before him was particularly noteworthy.
She was one of the rare powerful female pirates with a bounty exceeding 100 million, "Crescent Moon Hunter" Devon. A female pirate having such a high bounty was truly remarkable.
"Then... then you can have my clothes."
The beautiful woman, clad in a tight overcoat, prepared to take off her clothes. She felt that the disruptive woman before her was clearly doing this on purpose. Although she was quite tall herself, over 1.7 meters, she thought, her height is over two meters, even if she liked the same style, the size would still be different!
The woman’s name was Olvia.
She traveled the world with her archaeological team from her home country, searching for Poneglyphs.
Though exquisitely beautiful, she had no interest in things like makeup or fashionable clothes that women often liked. The main reason she was buying new clothes was simply that her old ones were unusable.
She had only come to the clothing store to buy a new outfit, and she never expected to encounter such a situation on the rare occasion she bought clothes.
Olvia had originally intended to keep a low profile and let the matter go, but unexpectedly, Devon had no intention of letting her off. Instead, Devon argued unreasonably, "Enough! I think you’re challenging the limits of my patience!"
At this moment, Devon’s subordinates behind her also started clamoring, "Don’t you know who our Captain is?!"
"Our Captain is the ’Crescent Moon Hunter,’ with a bounty of 180 million Berries!"
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