Within the dark, stormy weather where the sea wildly thrashed, one Marine ship sailed adamantly, all thanks to many marine soldiers who hurriedly moved around busily.
However, this scene wasn't accessible to Hina and me, who were currently mopping the hallway located below the deck.
Currently, there were only two of us here, with no one to eavesdrop. Using this as an opportunity, I opened my mouth and asked to Hina,
"Hina, did you notice it?"
Hina, whose back was facing me, stopped mopping and turned around to face me. With her eyebrow raised, she said, "Notice what? Hina confused."
"Barthur," I said with a certainty in my voice, "Blonde hair. Annoying personality, non-existent leadership, and questionable strength. Who does he remind you of?"
"Blonde... annoying... weak... leader..." Hina mumbled while going into a thought, before her eyes widened in a realization, "Don't tell me—"
Raising her face up to look at me, Hina said with a disbelief, "Barthur was the father whom Loid was bragging about?!"
"Most likely," I nodded with a pale face, "After all, Loid did say that his father is a Commodore. And this means that if he finds out all those things I've done to Loid, the chance is, I'm f*****."
Hina pursed her lips, "Hina will keep it secret, but there is no guarantee that Barthur won't find out."
"Haa..." I sighed, "I can only hope that we will get to the Marineford before that happens."
With the conversation having ended, we went back to our chores. It seemed as if this was going to continue until the evening, until,
"Land, ho!!"
We heard the cry of a marine lookout from the above, causing us to perk up in excitement.
"C'mon, let's go check it out," I said giddily, to which Hina responded with a shake of her head.
"No, Hina didn't finish the chore yet—wait!!"
"To hell with them!" Grabbing Hina by an arm, I dragged her up to the deck.
When I opened the door and enjoyed the bask of sunlight that greeted us,
"Commodore Barthur!"
We saw the numerous marines saluting at Barthur, who was standing at the edge of the deck.
Sneaking on the nearby marine, who was standing still as the greetings went on, I asked in a whisper, "Sir, where are we right now?"
The marine smiled as he answered, "We're currently on the Marine Base G-4. Although the starting point of the Grand Line splits into 7 different paths, we used the Eternal Pose to bypass those islands that are booming with pirates, and came here right away."
"Ohh, I see. Thank you for the answer." I thanked the marine, having got the answer that I wanted.
"Heh, why don't you wait just a little longer though?" Then, the marine pointed at the base ahead of us, "It was reported that this base also harbours a troublesome boy like the two of you."
Hina immediately stepped up with a huff, "Troublesome? Hina believes you meant extraordinary."
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say," The marine rolled his eyes, before placing his hand below his chin, "And also, I heard that he's 14 years old."
"Huh," I exclaimed, "So he's 2 years older than me."
"Hina is 4 years younger than him."
I froze upon hearing Hina's words.
"Hang on," I turned and asked Hina with squinted eyes, "you're 10?"
Hina crossed her arms, "You got a problem with that?"
Forming a smile on my face, I raised my hand up and ruffled Hina's head, "Nope, not at all."
"Get your hand off of Hina!" With a frown, Hina immediately slapped my hand away, causing the marine and me to chuckle.
Hina glared at me, "What are you laughing about—"
"Hello-dara!"
Before we were suddenly interrupted by one huge boy suddenly appeared next to us.
Raising my head up, I was met with shaggy orange hair that reached all the way to his chest, along with the gray metal mask to cover his facial appearance.
"So you two are Smoker and Hina, right-dara? I've heard of you from Commodore Barthur just now-dara. I'm Bastille. Nice to meet you-dara!"
'Bastille...!'
I certainly recognized that name; it was a name belonging to a Vice Admiral in the canon, though I couldn't remember at which part he came out.
Grinning wide, I raised my hand up and shook hand with Bastille, "Just as you heard, I'm Smoker. Nice to meet you as well."
"And Hina is Hina. Welcome on the board," Hina nodded with her arms still crossed, but didn't shake Bastille's extended hand. Eventually, Bastille retracted his hand and scratched the back of his head in awkwardness.
He then turned and asked me, "Did I do something wrong-dara?"
I shrugged, and looked at Hina, "Why won't you shake hands with him?"
Hina motioned me to come closer, which I complied. She then leaned on my ear and whispered, "He smells."
I instantly understood. Turning at Bastille, and spoke while pointing a finger at Hina,
"She said that you smell like a pile of dog crap—ow!"
"SMOKER!!!" I was instantly bombarded by the barrage of punches from Hina, causing me to curl up in a ball, "Since when did Hina say that he smells like a dog's feces?!"
However, the words got through Bastille already. With a depressive aura around him, he hugged his knees after collapsing on the deck, while muttering, "I... smell...?"
Hina looked at Bastille in an apologetic manner, before lashing out at me again, "Smoker!! Why did you have to say that?!"
to which I dodged this time around by rolling my body across the ground.
"Muahaha, osoi!"
"Smoker needs to be punished!"
I continued rolling as Hina didn't cease her violent tendencies,
"Osoi, osoi, osoi—"
before my rolling was stopped by the feet of someone. Raising my head up, I was met with the face of Barthur.
For few seconds, we stared at each other awkwardly, before I slowly raised my body back up, and went back into the lower level of the ship along with Hina, to continue our mopping.
"...Just now," Barthur shook his head while looking at me with a disdain, "I was this close to exploding, chore boys. What are you two doing up here?"
A stroke of luck it was, especially since he seemed to be in a bad mood for some reason.
As we returned back to the hallway, we heard Barthur shouting from the above,
"You get back down and mop as well!!"
along with the frightened response from Bastille,
"Y-yes sir!"
"And no dinner until you finish the task!!"
"...F***, what is he? A child?" I groaned while reluctantly mopping the floor, "Someone, please, kill that guy already."
Hina looked so done as she grabbed her mop, "Hina might become that 'someone' at this rate."
It was another peaceful day here, with Barthur becoming more and more unlikable.