"I found the person you told me to look for, captain," Laffite remarked as he appeared in front of me while I was doing practice swings with Tritiot on the Black Pearl's deck, and I paused, gesturing for him to keep talking.
"Mr. 3 and several of his colleagues are currently heading towards a place called Spiders Cafe just west of Erumalu..." Laffite explained in his usual cheery tone.
"Though the cafe is likely a front of sorts for an organization since it's in the middle of nowhere, and nearest settlement is Erumalu, which is already a ruin..." Laffite added, raising a finger.
"And I can't imagine anyone going out of their way to cross the desert and visit the place," he concluded in a dismissive tone, waving his hand to the side.
"You're right," I replied with a smile. "Spider's Cafe is just a meeting place for members of the Baroque Works organization," I added, causing Laffite to raise an eyebrow.
"Mr. 3 is probably going there to meet with the rest of the officer agents to plot an ambush against us," I concluded with a shrug of my shoulders.
"What? Don't give me that look!" I remarked with a chuckle as I noticed Laffite's annoyed expression, likely assuming I already knew Mr. 3's whereabouts before sending him out.
"I know about the organization, but I didn't know where Mr. 3 was," I added, scratching my head. "However, I should have told you about Spider's Cafe, but it slipped my mind," I said with an awkward shrug, suddenly realizing my mistake.
"Sorry about that..." I concluded in a sincere tone.
"It's fine, captain," Laffite said with a smile, shaking his head. "I think I got used to you knowing about everything, and I didn't think of the possibility of that you'd forget about something," he added with a sigh, his expression turning thoughtful for a second.
"You and me both..." I said with a bitter chuckle, shrugging my shoulder.
"So, what are we going to do about it, captain?" Laffite asked after a second of silence as we both stood there, awkwardly staring at each other.
"We're going to give them a taste of their own medicine," I replied with a smirk, shrugging off the awkwardness. "But let's call everyone back and make a plan first..."
...
"Alright, everybody, listen up," I exclaimed as we all stood in a circle around my desk in the captain's quarters, clapping my hands to get my friends' attention.
"Laffite and Kozue finally managed to locate the guy responsible for the attacks and ambushes against us since we arrived here," I added in a calm tone.
"The man's name is Mr. 3. He's part of an organization called Baroque works," I explained. "So he'll naturally have some backup when we do go after him," I added, gesturing with my hand to the side.
"Not only that, but the Baroque Works organization work for Crocodile, the sea warlord I told you about earlier," I remarked as I took out an old tattered wanted poster with Crocodile's picture on it.
"He leads the organization under the codename Mr. 0. However, the members of Baroque works don't know that," I added with a smile, already expecting a question.
"But how do we know he's leading the Baroque Works if even their members don't know it?" Domino asked in a genuinely confused tone, scratching her head.
"You shouldn't ask the captain how he knows these things, Domino," Elly said from the side with a grin, patting Domino's shoulder with a knowing smile on her face.
"We've all been trying to figure that out since we joined the crew," Elly remarked, Rolling her eyes. "So accept it as a fact of life that the captain knows more than he should, and move on with your life," she added with a shrug of her shoulders.
"You'll save yourself and us a headache that way," the sharp shooter concluded in a joking tone, causing everyone to chuckle.
"In any case, the Baroque Works officer agents will meet up in a place called Spider Cafe on the other side of the Sandora river," I said, still smiling as I shook my hand.
"It goes without saying that we'll be there to give them a taste of their own medicine," I added, waving my hand to the side. "However, Wilson, Laffite, Doc, Bob, and myself won't interfere, and we'll leave it to the rest of you to deal with the Baroque Works officers," I added while gesturing towards Wilson and the others.
"It would be a good chance for you all to get some practice, and these guys aren't strong enough for us to interfere anyway," I carelessly remarked.
"Any questions before I tell you about the agents and their abilities?" I asked, pausing as I looked at my crewmates, waiting for them to ask questions.
"Wouldn't Crocodile come after us if we attack his organization?" Domino asked again, an eager grin on her face this time around.
"Most likely," I replied with a nod, and the excitement became more pronounced on Domino's face. "But I'll take care of him myself if that happens," I added, causing Domino to pout as I waited for any other questions.
"The Baroque Works agents work as pairs of two, one woman, and one man," I remarked, raising two fingers. "The men go by numbers as their code names, like Mr. 3, Mr. 2... etc." I explained, lowering one finger.
"The women go by holidays as their code names, like Miss. Valentine, Miss. Golden Week, etc." I added, lowering the other finger. "The lesser the number of the officer, the stronger they are, and the stronger their partner is," I said as I began telling my crewmates about the various officer agents and their abilities.
...
"Now that everyone knows their opponent and their abilities, only one problem remains," I remarked after explaining the abilities of the Baroque work agents and assigning them to each one of my crewmates as their opponents.
"Miss. Golden Week, and her ability to manipulate people's emotions through paintings..." I flatly said, feeling troubled about how to deal with her.
The girl was only sixteen years old when she first appeared in the anime, meaning she was still fifteen or fourteen years old right now, and despite her troublesome ability, she was still a child.
She was a child capable of controlling other people by manipulating their emotions through paint, but still a child nonetheless.
"Laffite, can you get her out of there discreetly without harming her?" I asked with a sigh as I turned to my most reliable crew member, hoping he would have a solution.
"I was hoping you'd ask me that, captain," Laffite said with a smile, twirling his cane. "Her ability to hypnotize people through paint seems interesting, and I get a feel for it," he added in his usual cheery tone.
"Then I'll leave it to you, but remember she's only a child..." I said with a nod, trailing at the end of my sentence while looking Laffite in the eyes until he nodded.
"That's all then," I remarked with a smile. "Start making preparations to depart. we'll set off tomorrow..."