"Well, you do get to go on a date with me, so it's not a complete failure," I said with a shit-eating smirk as I removed my hand from the pinkette's forehead, causing her to scowl at me and the marines to start booing again.
"That's right, you salty sea dogs. Your captain will be going on a date with me!" I said as I flipped off the marines with both of my hands, causing jeer and boo even harder and Hina to sigh.
"Hina lost fair and square," she said with a sigh as she lit up a cigarette. "Give Hina thirty minutes to rest and freshen up, then we can go to Tamworth town for a date," Hina concluded as she turned around and walked away, leaving me the marine soldiers who were glaring murderously at me.
I gave the gathered marines the middle finger one last time before I headed to the port. Once there, I then informed my companions that everything was alright and told them to stay where they were.
Hina didn't keep me waiting and arrived wearing a new suit. "Do you want to go on a marine ship?" She asked in her usual stoic tone while looking at me.
"We'll go on my ship," I said with a smile. "Then hurry up and tell your friends to bring it here so we can get going," Hina replied with a raised eyebrow.
"There's no need for that," I said while looking at her with mischievous eyes. "What do you mea-," She tried to say something, but I ignored it and scooped her up, tossing her on my shoulder and launching myself into the sky with Geppo, causing her to yelp in surprise.
"So, even the stoic black cage Hina can yelp too, sometimes?" I remarked with a chuckle, causing the pinkette to jab me with her knee above my chest in annoyance.
"You bastard, How is Hina supposed to show her face in front of her subordinates after you scooped me up like that in front of them," the pinkette said in an outraged voice as she began squirming on my shoulder.
"I think you're underestimating how much respect those guys have for you," I said with a shrug. "And If that's all it takes for them to lose their respect for you, then their respect isn't worth having in the first place," I concluded.
"Hina is their superior and the commanding officer of this marine branch, so I have to be a role model those guys look up to," Hina stated stoically. "You, carrying Hina like a rice bag on your shoulder in front of them, doesn't help with that," she concluded with a defeated sigh and finally stopped struggling.
"As I've said, you're underestimating how much respect these guys have for you," I stated as I landed on the black pearl's deck. "You'll understand what I mean when you get back to the base," I concluded with a smirk as I let Hina get off my shoulder, causing my companions to gather up, staring curiously at Hina and me.
"Was it really a trap, captain? Did you bring her as a hostage or something?" Elly said, while looking at Hina vigilantly.
"Nothing like that. It turns out the marines just wanted me to join them, Rehahaha," I said with a loud laugh. "This captain Hina, the commanding officer of the 80th marine branch. She lost a wager against me, and so she'll be going on a date with me!" I stated, causing everyone present to roll their eyes in exasperation except for Wilson, who burst out in a laughing fit.
"That's Johnny for you. Not only did he get the bounty, but he also brought the marine's captain with him," Wilson exclaimed while laughing in a loud voice as he began smacking me on the back with his huge hand, causing Hina to scowl at him.
"Alright, alright, that's enough," I remarked with a smile as I pushed Wilson away. "Laffite takes us back to Tamworth town. We can restock there since we didn't have time to do that," I ordered calmly.
"And by we, I mean you restock our supplies while I take the good captain here on a date," I stated with a smirk. "Also, try to get us some canons while you're at it, Laffite," I concluded while giving my navigator a meaningful glance, which translated to get them through the underworld or something if you can't get them legally.
"Will do, captain," Laffite said while nodding, not having any trouble understanding my hidden meaning as he turned around and made his way to the helm to steer us into our destination.
Looking at this, the rest of the crew also disbanded to do what they usually did, with Elly at the crow's nest, Wilson handling the sails, Byron resting to recover from his injuries, Bob lazing around on the deck since it's not time to prepare the meals yet, and I took Hina to my favorite spot at the black pear's brow to lean on the rails and chat lightly to pass the time.
We didn't talk about anything important. We mostly just talked about Hina's time in training and how she became friends with the troublemaking smoker on her end.
I, myself, mostly talked about my training and my music, which revealed that Hina actually had a recording of me singing as well, causing me to tease her about it and her to scowl at me for that.
All in all, I would say it was a pleasant conversation, and that we got along quite nicely, especially since we avoided talking about anything sensitive that could ruin the mood or lead to suspicion.
By the time the black pearl arrived at Tamworth town's docks, my opinion of Hina had risen a lot since she seemed to consider this an actual date and not a chance to gather more information about me and my companions.
I had a few words with my companions to give them some instructions I forgot to mention earlier and bid them farewell as I took Aina with me to start our date.
We first went to a restaurant as we were both hungry, courtesy of the earlier spar and the hour and a half journey to get here. We chose a fairly nice-looking restaurant and had our meal while picking up on the earlier conversation where we left it with nothing interesting or exciting happening.
After our meal, we took our leave and began strolling through the streets of the town. Tamworth town was a port town built to be a trading center, and as such, we came across it was filled with all manner of exotic products from all over the west blue, which caused Hina to marvel at them every time we came across something interesting or bizarre, causing me to ask her why she seemed to marvel at most things here as if it was the first time she ever saw them.
She sighed and said that she never came here despite how close her workplace was, as she was swamped in work almost all the time, and she would use whatever free time she had to train herself.
I shrugged at that and told her that is a good thing I came when I did since she'll still be stuck at the marine base doing paperwork and whatnot, otherwise, causing her to chuckle in response.
By the time the sky began darkening, we had already most of what there is to be seen in this town, and Hina actually had a smiling expression on her face instead of her usual stoic and serious one as we made our way to a decent-looking bar we found while we were strolling.
It didn't take long for Hina's competitiveness show once we started drinking. She outright challenged me to a drinking contest since she was still bitter about her defeat earlier today and wanted to use this drinking competition to get one over me.
Hina was surprisingly fun to drink with, as the drinks helped loosen the heavy restraints she put on herself, so she can always act serious and stoic in front of her subordinates.
Her alcohol tolerance was very strong as well, but she chose the wrong opponent as I basically guzzle whisky as if it was water every day.
We kept drinking and chatting until we were the only ones left at the bar, with Hina moving her seat next to mine at one point and having one of her arms wrapped around my neck while the other help a bottle of alcohol, but she could still control herself as she wasn't fully drunk her despite actions that suggested otherwise.
I told her we should call it a day when I noticed we're the only ones still drinking and that the bar employees were looking at us with dirty eyes, and she agreed.
We hurriedly left the bar after paying the bill and made our way towards an inn to get her a room so she can stay the night in while I go back to stay on my ship.
"well, what are you waiting for, Johnny?. Hurry up and get inside," Hina ordered with a calm voice while blushing as I was about to take my leave after I walked her to her room.
"As much as I'd like to, I'll pass since you're drunk," I said with a smile as I poked her forehead with my finger, hoping that the slight pain would sober her up a little and put some sense into her head.
"Hina is not that drunk," Hina said with a smile of gratitude while rubbing her forehead. "Hina is fully aware of what she's doing," she stated and threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around me and covering my lips with her own.
(Author's note: discord gg/sEtqmRs5y7 <—- the link to my discord server it already has a couple of awesome guys with memes and constant discussions about one piece)