Maude had decided more than half a month ago to use the chaos of the auction as cover to fish in troubled waters.
He would have decisively abandoned the idea if his previous hunts hadn’t gone well.
But since the hunts went smoothly and he was well-armed, he wasn’t about to heed Sunny’s warning.
After returning to his room, Maude changed into dark-colored clothing and took out his pre-prepared disguise items.
A death armband and a mask.
The inspiration for this came from Arthur the Undertaker.
Thus, the mask Maude made himself bore some resemblance to Arthur’s style.
The only regret was that he couldn’t replicate Arthur’s distinct engineer’s uniform; otherwise, Arthur might have ended up taking the blame.
Maude quickly tied on the death armband and put on the mask that only exposed his mouth and eyes, then looked at himself in the mirror.
“Not bad,” Maude nodded in satisfaction.
Using the undertaker’s identity while wearing the mask was the best disguise for now.
After dressing up, Maude checked his weapons and ammunition.
Two flintlock pistols, a short dagger, and the most important weapon, “Usopp.”
“Thirty rounds of lead bullets, should be enough,” Maude carefully inspected the ammunition pouch.
Once everything was ready, Maude eagerly headed outside.
With practiced ease, he climbed onto the rooftop of the house and made his way to the nearest tallest building.
Before long, Maude reached the top floor of a five-story building.
His gaze fell on the brightly lit street below. It was difficult to imagine such a bustling night scene in a lawless town filled with pirates.
“The auction starts at nine, still two hours to go,” Maude sat down, unhurried.
He never intended to go into the auction hall.
Not because he feared running into Thor, but because he felt the potential risks inside were higher than outside.
So, as long as he could catch a few fish in the outer areas, he would be satisfied.
Before the auction began, Maude didn’t plan to act.
With time to spare, he took out Sunny’s notebook and started reading by the moonlight.
The notebook’s contents weren’t as much as he imagined, mainly targeting pirates who were regulars in Mad Hatter Town.
Maude read through it, word by word.
It seemed to be Sunny’s habit; before noting down the target’s strength, she would describe their physical features in a few simple words.
Though not as detailed as the information on their “neighbors,” it was enough for Maude to quickly recognize the target by their features.
Rustle, rustle—
Maude occasionally turned the pages.
Though he couldn’t memorize everything in a short time, getting an impression was good enough.
“Hmm, even Kid’s here.”
Maude was a bit surprised when he found a page about Kid.
He read through it carefully; most of it was speculative.
For example, inferring Kid’s excellent marksmanship from his obsession with buying guns.
Reading it all, there was a lot of guesswork since Sunny had never heard of or seen Kid’s true strength. Plus, Kid was from outside the area, so information was limited.
“Kid probably hasn’t eaten a Devil Fruit yet, and his overall strength should still be in the growth phase,” Maude recalled his knowledge of Kid.
If he had the chance to take down Kid now, Maude might hesitate but definitely wouldn’t miss the opportunity.
Because Maude believed his current experience points were more important regardless of how much Kid’s experience points would grow in the coming years.
Turning the page, he continued to read.
After several more pages, Maude suddenly saw his own name with several lines of description below it.
However, all these words were crossed out with two black lines.
At the bottom of the information were several large question marks, also crossed out.
“These black lines make it look like I’m already dead,” Maude shook his head slightly, continuing to read.
Soon, he reached the end of the notebook.
He then began a second, more detailed read-through.
After about an hour, he had a good impression of the contents and put the notebook away.
What impressed him most weren’t the extremely dangerous individuals Sunny had marked but the Ox-Horn Pirates, of which Red was a member.
Because out of all the previous targets, only Red’s death could lead back to a group. The other targets were mostly scattered, lone pirates.
“Ox-Horn Pirates…” Maude stood up, gazing at the distant lights, his thoughts stirring.
He noticed the Ox-Horn Pirates not just because of Red.
The main reason was that their captain was a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user.
From the confirmed information Sunny noted, he knew it was one of the ox-type fruits.
And one characteristic of Zoan-type Devil Fruit users is the significant enhancement of physical abilities, making them an ideal target for Maude to gain maximum benefits.
Thus, Maude could roughly infer the strengths of the Ox-Horn Pirates’ captain, Kazt.
Mainly, he would have great strength, high defense, and excel in close combat.
To consider such a target, breaking through his defense would be crucial.
“Too bad there’s no bounty poster for Kazt,” Maude murmured, thinking he needed to find time to collect various pirates’ bounty posters.
Otherwise, like now, even if he wanted to pre-record Kazt’s name in the Hunter’s Notebook, he couldn’t without a “face.”
In this regard, the bounty posters issued by the Navy made things much easier for Maude.
Not only did they have photos but also full names.
Although the names might have errors, the probability was very low.
“It’s about time,” Maude muttered, seeing that the auction was an hour away, and headed towards Watchpoint Street.
On the other side, in an alley bar on Bar Street.
Kazt led the Ox-Horn Pirates to a bar named “Nightshade.”
The alley wasn’t wide, and nearly a hundred men gathered there, filling it up.
Kazt glanced at the bar’s signboard and led thirty men inside.
The rest surrounded the bar, sealing it off.
Inside the bar, the bartender, Tattam, and the patron, Mouse, watched Kazt and his men with blank expressions.
From the distinctive horned helmet and bushy beard, Mouse recognized Kazt immediately—the captain of the Ox-Horn Pirates.
As for why Kazt was here, Mouse could easily guess, having already prepared himself mentally.
Slowly turning his wine glass, Mouse glanced at the expressionless Tattam.
“Sorry,” he muttered insincerely.
Tattam remained silent.
Kazt looked coldly at Mouse, speaking in a deep voice, “Mouse, right? I’m not one for beating around the bush.”
“Oh, I can see that,” Mouse glanced at Kazt’s horned helmet.
Yet he remained unfazed.
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