Store Visit

Pixel continued to read the local newspaper. "This island is a part of the New World which is the second half of the Grand Line. Oh here it is.. Grandmist Archipelagos. Home to ship builders, fisheries and sea trade.

Their biggest known trade is sea life, pearls and their other locally grown products. Lets see.. affiliations.. hmm… there is a Marine presence here but it is not that strong. Pirates do dock here but of they cause problems then they will be dealt with by the Marines and the locals."

Micah nodded calmly and said. "So is there nothing worth looking into here for me?"

Pixel shrugged. "I want to use my time to study up on some areas and to try out what this place has to offer. Where is a good place that will provide us a good place to gather some more information?"

They both locked eyes as they had come to a conclusion together and then they went back to what was placed in front of them.

They had read the newspapers in front of them but they failed to notice something that did not really stand out among the many articles.

It was a small section that was about the cultural arts and rising stars among the newcomers or the young talents.

There was a small picture of a girl that looked around thirteen years old that was stood on a stage performing an idol style of dance.

It went into detail about how the rising star had been attracting a lot of attention with her catchy songs and her excellent talents in singing and dancing that had been shown since her debut.

She had a slender body that seemed suited to her idol profession, magenta coloured hair, light blue eyes and pale skin.

If there was someone that she had some similarities to in the world then she would be like a more youthful version of Ginrummy that was a member of the Beast Pirates under Kaido but she was dressed far differently and had a gentler or more youthful appearance.

Her hair was shown to be placed in a bun, in pigtails or was pushed to the back of her head to flor freely down her back in some of the smaller photos of her previous appearances in other shows or during different segments of her performances.

In the larger photo of her, she was dressed in a very short sleeved and dark magenta dress that had a red belt with a pair of flat dancing shoes.

Her hair was tied back into a bun and her bangs were showing on the right side to cover her right eye while her left eye was covered with a one sided masquerade type mask which added to her overall charm.

She had a pair of expensive looking orb shaped earrings with a round pendant that was hung around her neck so it showed that she had enough berries to spend on expensive jewellery and that her career was successful enough to be able to get ahold of more expensive accessories to help increase her overall beauty and glamour on the stage.

If Meowth or Micah had paid more attention to the newspaper and looked more carefully then he would have recognised the way that his old partner from his previous world had dressed up and styled her hair on various occasions when she was participating in shows or was in disguise.

There was another article that they failed to link to the same person as everyone else had which had details about the death of a slightly famous crime boss that had been assassinated around the time that the concert was happening.

Unfortunately, Pixel and Micah had skimmed over those parts before placing their newspaper to the side and continued with their small talk.

They were not aware of the fact that there had been another person that was reading that article in the first half of the Grand Line and they had been motivated to chase up his suspicions.

After they finished their light snack and hot drink together, they made their way towards a local book store.

Upon entering the room, the strong scent of wood and old books was picked up by the Minks that had a stronger sense of smell.

The shop looked very old but was well maintained, there were several rows of shelves that contained books of different sizes and thicknesses.

There were not many people that were inside of the small shop but Pixel could see someone familiar.

Cleo approached first and timidly spoke out towards the crowd which was good progress for her. "Hello eldest sister."

Felice was with those that were accompanying her while they were having some trouble with the person at the counter. "Oh, greetings youngest sister Cleo. Younger sister Pixel. Young master Micah."

She had a look about her that was different from her usual appearance and she could not completely maintain her usual composure.

Her tiger fangs were exposed as she grit her teeth and tried to suppress herself which showed how upset she was.

She did not wish to show her angry side in front of others but it was clear that something had upset her.

Pixel stepped forward and asked. "What is the problem?"

Felice turned her head away pridefully. "It.. it is nothing."

She did not wish to reveal weakness in front of her competition and she was the eldest sister so her pride would not allow herself to tell them even if she had come to have a better view of Pixel over the time that had passed.

A girl behind her did not feel the same way as her so she spoke up in a disgruntled tone. "He.. he called us animals and that we should leave before we beasts cause damage to the books. He insulted us as simple and being unable to read them so we should stop wasting his time."

Pixel raised an eyebrow upon hearing that then her gaze turned towards the book shop owner that was further towards the back. "Oh.. is that so?"

Felice sense that things were going to go in a direction that was not good so she grabbed the arm of Pixel. "Don't do anything.. the rules. We cannot cause problems here and we do not have others to solve our problems for us unless we want to give up on the trial."

Pixel patted the hand that held her and showed a gentle smile. "It is okay sister. I will not do anything big."

Felice sighed and let go. "You really do not need to do anything. It is fine."

Pixel shrugged. "I needed to shop here anyways so I would have probably ran into the same thing."

Of the heirs that had started to make some moves on the island, Felice had a similar thought process to Pixel and came to the book store after trying to get a slight bearing on her surroundings.

Pixel wished to gain information on her surroundings and the outside world so Felice had a similar idea.

Pixel turned to the newspapers first while Felice took a little time to find the book store but ran into some setbacks.

It was understandable that the store owner would not want Felice or others there when they had sharp claws and could damage the books easily.

The additional rude remarks had gone over the line and had caused them to be upset before Pixel arrived a little behind them.

The store owner was just behaving that way due to the unfamiliar appearances of the Minks and he just saw them as unintelligent beasts that would be unable to understand what was within the books while even a slight touch could cause damage to the books.

They had not shown any berries and were not covered in expensive jewellery so they had been further mistaken as being unable to pay for the damages.

If it had been handled better by him then he may not have offended them as much.