In the East Blue, at the Isshin Dojo in Frost Moon Village.
Inside the tearoom, Koshiro was calmly sipping tea while reading the newspaper. However, when his eyes landed on a particular article, his usual serene expression faltered for a moment.
"Father, I'm about to have my 4,765th match with Zoro. Please be the judge," a tall, slender girl with short blue hair, radiating an aura of confidence, appeared at the door of the tearoom.
She was accompanied by a boy with green hair, and three swords hanging from his waist.
The two were none other than Kuina and Zoro.
"No matter how many matches we have, the result's always the same," Zoro smirked confidently. "You're not getting Wado Ichimonji back."
"Hmph! Don't get cocky." Kuina glared at Zoro, then smugly added, "Sure, I haven't beaten you recently, but don't forget, I won 2,001 matches before we started drawing every time. You've never beaten me."
Zoro: "..."
"Alright, that's enough bickering," Koshiro sighed, setting the newspaper aside. "Come over here, both of you."
Kuina and Zoro exchanged curious glances and stepped inside. Before they could ask what was going on, Koshiro spoke again, "There's news about Takumi."
At this, both Kuina and Zoro's faces lit up with excitement as they asked in unison, "How is he?"
The two paused, exchanged looks, and once again, in perfect sync, asked, "Where is he now?"
"You two sure have gotten in sync," Koshiro chuckled as he pulled out a wanted poster from the newspaper and placed it on the table. "That kid... he's made quite a stir recently. He's now a wanted man."
"A wanted man?" Kuina frowned. "This must be some kind of mistake. I remember he had a bounty of 100 million berries before, but it was retracted. Isn't this just another misunderstanding?"
"No, this time it's different," Koshiro shook his head. "No one will be able to retract this bounty."
Zoro glanced at the wanted poster, a small grin appearing on his face. "That guy's still the same, huh? He never changes."
At the Baratie, a floating restaurant.
A blonde boy in a black suit, cigarette dangling from his lips, approached a table of guests who were happily chatting. He poured wine into their nearly empty glasses.
As he prepared to head back to the kitchen on the second floor, a group of patrons reading a newspaper suddenly gasped.
"Whoa! Can this be real? How old is this kid? And he's already got such a massive bounty?"
"And it's a bounty issued directly by the World Government... He actually killed a Celestial Dragon!"
"No way... Who kills a Celestial Dragon? What kind of person is this kid?"
"No idea, but apparently he's not a pirate. The bounty poster says he's a traveler."
Sanji, who usually didn't care about bounties, froze when he heard the word 'traveler.' He turned back toward the table and asked, "Sorry, did you say this wanted man is a traveler? What's his name?"
The guest reading the paper checked the name on the poster. "Let's see, it's... Takumi. He's only about fifteen years old, it seems. Man, what a reckless kid."
"Takumi?" Sanji's eyes widened. He rushed over, snatching the poster from the guest's hand. Seeing the face on it, a flash of excitement crossed his features, but as his eyes landed on the bounty amount, his expression stiffened. "This bounty... Are they serious?"
In Loguetown.
Smoker sat in his office, smoking a cigar as usual.
The door to his office swung open, and a marine holding a stack of wanted posters entered.
Cough cough The marine was immediately choked by the thick smoke. "Captain Smoker, cough here are the latest wanted posters."
The marine, covering his nose, approached Smoker's desk.
Smoker opened a window to let some of the smoke out, the air clearing a bit.
When he casually glanced at the top poster in the stack, his normally indifferent gaze sharpened with surprise.
"Takumi?" Smoker grabbed the poster, his brow furrowing. "So, that kid became a pirate after all?"
"No, sir," the marine stood straight, continuing, "This time, two of the bounties aren't for pirates. This Takumi fellow killed a Celestial Dragon a few days ago. He's been directly targeted by the World Government. He wasn't alone; another man named Enel was involved."
"Enel?" Smoker shifted his attention to the wanted poster beneath Takumi's, which featured Enel. He fell silent for a moment.
That kid said he wanted to be a traveler.
And now he's got himself a companion...
"Captain Smoker, the new interns are here," another marine announced from the doorway, accompanied by a group of young recruits.
Smoker glanced at them briefly, then said, "Introduce yourselves."
The recruits snapped to attention.
"Sir, I'm Helres from Class 58, Rank 2 overall!"
A girl next to him pushed up her glasses before introducing herself. "Sir, I'm Tashigi from Class 58. My overall rank is decent."
On Drum Island.
Chopper had begun studying medicine under Doctor Kureha.
Doctor Hiriluk, however, had already passed away due to one of Wapol's cruel schemes.
Inside Kureha's treehouse.
Chopper stood on a small stool, carefully working on a medicinal mixture he had just learned from a book.
Kureha strolled in with a bottle of plum wine in one hand and a newspaper in the other. "How's it going, Chopper?"
"Dr. Kureha, I'm in the middle of something important. Please don't distract me," Chopper said, his focus entirely on the mixture in front of him.
"Busy, huh?" Kureha grinned as she took a seat at a small round table, sipping her wine and flipping open the newspaper.
As she skimmed through it, her eyes flicked back to Chopper, who was still hard at work. "I've got some pretty big news. Wanna hear it?"
"Not now, Dr. Kureha..."
"Oh? Not even if it's about Takumi?"
"Huh?!" Chopper's hoof slipped, accidentally pouring half a bottle of liquid into his experiment. The mixture turned from a light pink to a dark black instantly... a clear failure.
But Chopper didn't care about the failed experiment. He excitedly jumped down from the stool and ran over to Kureha, his hooves clattering as he approached. "Really? How is Takumi? Is he super strong now?"
"Hmm, you could say that," Kureha smirked and handed Chopper the wanted poster for Takumi.
Chopper stared at the poster with wide, sparkling eyes. "It's him! It's really him!"
Kureha rested her chin on her hand, smiling. "But that kid's stirred up quite the trouble. At fifteen, he's already killed a Celestial Dragon and racked up a huge bounty."
Chopper blinked, looking at the bounty amount and asked, "Does a higher bounty mean someone's stronger?"
"More or less."
"Wow, Takumi is so cool!" Chopper's eyes sparkled even more. "I want to be that strong someday! I want a huge bounty too!"
Kureha bonked Chopper on the head. "You silly reindeer. Do you even know what happens when you get a bounty?"
************
Please support me on Ko-fi at ko-fi. com/gered to read up to chapter 263!