Everyone took deep breaths while waiting on the leader.

"Continue."

"Yes, leader."

Instantly, the man began retelling all he knew.

In short, The Baker had fled Terique and had ended up going to Magoon island.

But after that, contact with him also stopped.

Those who later went to Magoon island only found the place in a mess. All 3 fleet camps looked like they had been abandoned for centuries. Broken buildings, dried up blood around, creatures roaming within the buildings, and all savings, treasure chests and other valuables buried in the secret stash locations, were all wiped clean too.

Not even a single gold coin could be found there.

Even the pirate ships sitting dock for heaven knows how long, also had greenery growing in them.

Some parts were also damaged too, probably because they sat out there on the same spit through the seasons till now.

The wood was rotting, the floor was weak, and the ships badly needed maintaining.

The fact that nobody touched the ships showed that even if visitors came through the place, they dared not touch anything belonging to pirates for fear of being hunted.

So could it be that The Butcher was taken by those Dragmus people?

Tch! All these temple people were just so annoying.

Be it Dragmus or Adonis, they were all enemies to them.

.

~Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.~

The leader tapped his other armrest deeply.

For sure, Pyno would be an excellent place to start.

Also, want it just 2 weeks ago that he heard about Alec and Nopline's death in Pyno?

So what if all this was the hand of a single organization, A.K.A, the Temple of Dragmus?

With their dishonest ways, it might be possible.

But he felt like even though both sides opposed each other, the Temple wouldn't pull so many reckless moves simultaneously in a short time span.

They weren't big enough to make all these moves.

So what if it was another brand new enemy?

Could it be that stupid temple of Adonis instead?

Or was the problem actually with those idiotic Man-hating Witches? Or what about the Demon Believers? Or those idiots who believed that everyone should ever be allowed to love above the age of 20 or else they would turn possessed?

Zain Jones had a headache just thinking about how many idiotic organizations existed that always tried to test his patience and that of the T.O.E.P.

That's right. He was one of the very top controllers of the T.O.E.P.

That said, of course all news would reach his ears without a doubt. But it all depended on how far or fast the news would travel.

One should know that Zain was still waiting for news on the successful capture of that boy called Rankin. So the news about there being some secret new organization living in someplace called Hamunaptra still hadn't reached him yet.

For now, he was primarily focused on his brothers; Hon Jones, A.K.A Whitebeard, and Marlo Jones, A.K.A, the Butcher.

Zain Jones was his name. 

And because of his strict upbringing as the heir or potential leader, as well as for safety reasons, no one except his brothers and his late mother knew his real name.

It was and has always been like this, with people calling him nicknames and tactless growing up.

When he was younger, they called him Heir apparent #5.

And as one would've guessed it, he wasn't the only one competing for this spot. 

There were 860 of them in total. And the battle for leadership was an 18-year long one that started at the age of 7.

All leaders stepped down at 50 max, becoming elders. From there, the next leader takes over at 25.

That was how the rules had always been.

And in the case that a ruler died before 50, all the leaders would work hand in hand in controlling the organization until the next heir tournament is over.

Nothing could stop the tournament or rush it.

It had to be fair and just. So the training and battles must be completed.

And only one could emerge victoriously.

.

Zain squinted deeply when thinking about Pyno.

How odd. This Pyno has been making trouble recently.

Wasn't this the same continent where the quacks were supposed to be found?

The medical team and soldiers had just boarded their ships three weeks ago for a year-and-something-long trip to Pyno to investigate and fight the quacks who were trying to steal Morgany's numerous Pyno customers.

They had to make an example now, or else once the entire Pyno starts avoiding Morgany's treatments, then who knows if these quacks would spread their tentacles to other continents too?

Morgany lived and flourished by getting large amounts of money worldwide through medicine, art, and other professions.

So if everyone started stealing their jobs and customers, do you know how affected their economy would be?

.

Analyzing the strange things and issues he had heard about Pyno, Zain had an unprecedented thought in his head.

...Could it be?

Could it be that all these were signs that a new powerhouse that could threaten Morgany was emerging from Pyno?

No! No! No! No!

That's impossible, right?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Instantly, Zain wiped the thought clean out of his head.

What the hell was he thinking?

That ugly poverty, struggling, hungry place could never create a powerhouse.

They had decades, centuries, and millenniums to create one. But they always fell so short that it was embarrassing.

Even their potentials like Alec and Nopline had died just like that. So what could come out of that place?

Sigh... It looked like his head was overworking itself again.

Pyno was Pyno. A disgusting place for beggars.

Thinking like that, Zain finished up his meeting and headed out to yet again kill the cooks. He was poisoned, after all. So someone had to die for attempting it on him, right?

Like so, the big boss left his shivering subordinates and headed out, completely forgetting about his initial fear of Pyno.

But sometimes, one's gut feeling, no matter how ridiculous, could truly be a mysterious thing because back in Pyno, the most dangerous person Zain had to be worried about, was now making his way towards the Lower region hastily.

Landon, who had no idea of the storm coming his way, only felt even more alive from the news he received.

They did it. They actually did it!

Hahahahahahaha!