On the rough sea, two pirate flags fluttered atop a ship, one bearing the emblem of the Beasts Pirates, and the other a skull with three horns around its neck, indicating the presence of Sasaki, one of the Tobiroppo.
Sitting on a chair on the deck, Sasaki grumbled about being tasked with such a trivial matter as gathering information. "King is such a bastard! I can't believe he sent me on this mission," he muttered with a tone of annoyance.
Holed'em, who stood nearby with a star-shaped machine knife hanging from his waist, couldn't help but interject. "Only someone like you, with a bounty of 472,000,000 million berries, would dare to speak so disrespectfully about the boss. You're such a troublemaker," he said with a sneer.
Despite his own dissatisfaction with the mission, Holed'em didn't want to incur the wrath of King, by speaking out of turn.
"Even if King is worried, he could have sent Page One and Ulti instead of me," Sasaki grumbled, still annoyed.
Although they both held positions of power in the Beasts Pirates, Sasaki believed that there was still a gap in strength between him and the likes of Ulti and Page One. In his own opinion, they weren't even worthy of polishing his shoes.
"Master Sasaki, Master Holed'em, a small boat has been spotted ahead. It's suspected to be a patrol boat of the Whitebeard Pirates," a crew member reported to them.
Holed'em looked to Sasaki for orders. "This kind of place probably only has a few small fry. Holed'em, have your men capture them and interrogate them for any useful information. Whatever the company needs will do, and then we can return to business."
Sasaki gave a faint order, showing his dissatisfaction with the sea journey and his intention to do things perfunctorily.
"I understand, Lord Sasaki," replied Holed'em.
With a grin, Holed'em turned to the kangaroo man who had just reported to them. "You, take a few men and give those sand sculptures from the Whitebeard Pirates a little bit of color. Bring them back alive!"
The kangaroo man received orders and gathered a few pirates to head towards the front of the deck. Sasaki's pirate ship quickly approached a patrol boat suspected to belong to the Whitebeard Pirates.
The kangaroo man addressed his crew, "Listen up, we're about to encounter two patrols from the Whitebeard Pirates. With me leading the charge, we'll show them what we're made of! But remember, we're not here to kill them. The higher-ups want them alive!"
One of the crew members replied, "Understood, Lord Kangaroo!"
Another chimed in, "Ha! I've dealt with these Whitebeard Pirates before. We'll make sure they never forget the name Beasts Pirates!"
The kangaroo man nodded in agreement, "That's right, let's show them who the real strongest pirates are!"
Several Beast pirates, including the kangaroo-man, jumped off the ship's deck and landed on the patrol boat. The assault boat powered up and came to the front of Gin and Adolf's boat.
"What are you doing in our territory, Beasts Pirates? If this is a mistake, leave now and we won't pursue it," Gin said calmly.
As the acting captain, Majima had ordered the Whitebeard Pirates to focus on training and not provoke other pirate groups unless necessary. Gin was following those orders.
However, the Beasts Pirates laughed loudly at his statement.
"If a captain of the Whitebeard Pirates said that, it would be pretty reliable. But for a patrol member like you to say it? What does the patrol team represent? That's the bottom of a pirate group! You don't even get to participate in battles, you just patrol borders and such," they mocked.
"You have no right to tell us to leave. Sasaki-sama and Holed'em-sama are still on our ship. You need the owner to beat the dog, and in this case, that's us, the Beasts Pirates," they sneered.
[A/N: That kangaroo man is one of the gifters, They are Beast Pirates crew's elite soldiers, comprised of nearly 500 Artificial Zoan users. Having eaten SMILEs, they have Zoan-like abilities, equipped with the strength and bodily attributes of animals. ]