At the entrance of Arlong's territory, the sea was in chaos as the Navy's 77th Division warship was sunk by the Fish-Men, who returned to their lair to celebrate their victory.
"Great job, everyone!" Arlong, seated at the head of the table, hadn't lifted a finger; he had only sent three of his subordinates to sink the 77th Division's ship.
To Ryu's surprise, the Marines had truly come to take down Arlong, even sending the 77th Division's commander, Rear Admiral Pudding Pudding. Unfortunately, they hadn't even made it through the gates of Arlong's territory before being wiped out.
"Haha, we know these waters like the back of our fins! As long as we have Nami's charts, we're invincible!" Hachi laughed.
"Speaking of which, didn't you promise Nami that if she gathered 100 million berries, you'd set her free and return her village?" Hachi said to Arlong.
"Of course, I will uphold my monetary promises until my last breath!" Arlong replied with a sly grin, his intentions unclear.
However, just as Ryu was about to descend, he spotted Luffy and the others on the road from Back Sand Town to Arlong's territory.
"How did they get here before me?" Ryu was puzzled; he had lost track of the earlier plot details. All he remembered was that Luffy helped Nami defeat Arlong and that she boarded a ship afterward.
"Whatever, I should head to the orange grove first. Even if I don't run into Captain Mouse here, he'll eventually come out to put a bounty on Luffy!" Ryu chuckled, recalling that Luffy's first bounty was likely issued after Captain Mouse reported back to HQ, possibly even crafted by his former boss, Lieutenant Brandnew.
Soon enough, when Ryu arrived at the orange grove, he noticed a blue-haired beauty with tattoos picking oranges.
"Do you sell these oranges? They look delicious!" Ryu approached her with a friendly smile.
Nojiko was startled to see him in the orange grove and asked, "You're not from around here? What's going on today? So many people have suddenly appeared!"
Ryu had changed out of his Navy uniform before coming, so he now appeared just as a somewhat handsome youth.
"What's wrong? Aren't these oranges for sale?" Ryu frowned.
"If you want to eat, go pick some yourself. I don't know how you got here, but I advise you to leave this island quickly!" Nojiko replied softly.
"Ah, I appreciate it, but I don't like taking things for free. If there's anything I can help you with, don't hesitate to ask!" Ryu smiled.
"No need! Just picking oranges and leaving would be the best help you can give me!" Nojiko turned her back to Ryu, her tone now cold, sensing something off about him.
Ryu shrugged and walked into the grove, casually selecting a few nice oranges before returning to Nojiko and slowly starting to eat one.
"Now that you've had your oranges, shouldn't you be leaving?" Nojiko asked coldly, still watching him.
"Do you think I'm a bad guy? If I were, I should be escaping or surrendering right away!" Ryu chuckled, finding a spot to sit casually.
"Who are you really? What's your purpose here?" Nojiko asked, her gaze wary.
"Me? I'm a Marine, but I have some personal matters to attend to on this island. I just happened to stop here to rest a bit. These oranges are quite tasty!" Ryu peeled another orange and took a bite.
"A Marine?" Nojiko was taken aback, surprised at Ryu's identity. Then it seemed she realized something. "Are you from that warship? The kids in the village sent a distress signal, and you actually came, but now your entire force has been wiped out. You must have realized how dangerous it is here!"
Nojiko's words left Ryu stunned. His expression darkened; at first, he thought it was a bunch of rogue Marines who came to negotiate with Arlong. He hadn't realized that genuine Marines had been sent. Had he known, he might have been able to save some of them; now, it was too late.
Just as Ryu was about to speak, a stick pressed against the back of his head, and another female voice came through: "Who are you? Why are you here?"
"Nami, wait! This guy is a Marine!" Nojiko hurriedly stopped Nami.
"Hah, a Marine? Where's your Marine uniform? A Marine officer wouldn't go into battle without their uniform!" Nami kept her guard up, staring at Ryu.
"Well~~ I really am a Marine, but I'm here for personal matters, so I'm not wearing my Marine uniform!" Ryu shrugged and said lazily.
However, it was clear that both Nojiko, who had previously believed him, and Nami no longer trusted him, watching him warily and paying close attention to his movements.
"Okay, since you don't believe me, can I leave?" Ryu stood up, brushed the dust off his pants, and smiled.
The two remained silent, only watching Ryu.
"Tell me your purpose, and I'll let you go!" After a moment of silence, Nami said.
"Alright~ alright~!" Ryu turned back to look at the stubborn Nami and said helplessly, "I'm here to find Captain Nezumi. I heard he has some dealings with the Arlong, so I came to see if I could find him. We have some personal grudges, which is why I'm not in uniform."
"Captain Nezumi?" Nami frowned and asked.
Having been in the Arlong's territory for so long without seeing any Marine personnel, she said directly to Ryu, "Your information must be wrong. The Marines has never come here, and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to leave like those people earlier."
"Ah~ yes, I've realized that now. I was thinking it might be time to capture the Arlong, after all, he's been causing trouble in the East Blue for quite a while. Even Jinbe shouldn't be so lenient with the Fish-Men!" Ryu stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Nami was startled; she was somewhat familiar with Jinbe's name, as she had heard it mentioned during conversations among the Arlong's crew.
"You have the ability to defeat the Arlong? He is a Fish-Man!" Nami asked, surprised.
"What? Are you thinking of informing the Arlong? You seem to be one of his subordinates, right?" Ryu pointed to the tattoo on Nami's arm and said with a smile.
"No, Nami isn't!" Just as Nami subconsciously tried to cover her tattoo, Nojiko stepped forward to explain.
She realized that this person who claimed to be from the Navy might become their savior, and it would be bad if there was a misunderstanding regarding Nami.
"Ah~ forget it, this is too troublesome! Thanks for the oranges, but I'll be leaving now!" Ryu rubbed his head, feeling a bit of a headache, and directly turned to leave.
"Wait!" Nojiko saw Ryu leaving and immediately chased after him.
Nami initially intended to follow as well, but feeling the tattoo on her arm, she stopped and turned back toward the wooden house.
Nojiko chased after Ryu but found that he had completely disappeared. She had to return to the little house in the orange grove, only to find Nami asleep at the table, with the gloves from earlier lying beside her injured hand.
After thinking for a moment, Nojiko turned to leave again. She knew that Nami's current concern was about Luffy and the others, so she planned to go persuade them to leave.
Not long after Nojiko left, Nami woke up from her sleep and was just about to go out when the town's guard, Aken, and a group of Navy soldiers appeared.
"Squeak squeak squeak, I am Captain Nezumi from the Sixteenth Division of the Navy. Are you the criminal named Nami?" The leading Navy soldier looked at Nami and said with a smile.
"Oh? Marine? Criminal? I'm a pirate and indeed a criminal, but I'm a subordinate of Arlong. Since you are a captain, I think you should understand what that means!" Nami paused for a moment and then smiled, though the name Captain Mouse sounded somewhat familiar to her.
"Pirate? Squeak squeak squeak, we haven't received any intel about pirates here. Instead, we've heard there's a thief. Even if you stole treasures from pirates, a criminal is still a criminal, and stolen goods are considered spoils. Since they are spoils, they should be recovered by us, the Marines!" Captain Mouse said with an expression that implied it was only natural.
"What are you saying? Is this what the Marines are supposed to do?" Nami could hardly believe what she was hearing.
"Search!" The Marines ignored Nami and directly planned to search the house.
"Bastards, who told you to go in? Stop! Is this what the Marines are supposed to do? Don't you have more important things to do? Like eliminating pirate crews!" Nami pulled out a stick and knocked down several Navy soldiers trying to enter the house.
"Squeak squeak squeak, don't mind her, and don't engage with her, just continue searching!" Captain Nezumi looked at the furious Nami as if she were a clown, smiling as he spoke.
"Captain, there's a problem with this field!" A soldier reported.
"Dig!" Captain Nezumi ordered with delight.
"Bastards, don't touch Aunt Belmare's orange grove with your filthy hands!" An enraged Nami knocked down several Marine soldiers near the orange grove.
However, the Marines continued searching indiscriminately, seemingly knowing that Nami had hidden a lot of money here.
"Is this how you treat a young girl? The money Nami stole is to redeem the town!" The guard Aken finally couldn't stand it any longer and shouted loudly.
(TL: Anyone know who Aken is?)
"What? Aken, you all knew?" The Marine soldiers showed no reaction, but Nami was somewhat stunned.
"Idiot, how could we not know such an obvious thing? We already learned the truth from Nojiko long ago." The guard Aken adjusted his hat and said quietly.
"That's right, since you Marines can't protect us, just leave here!" After informing the Nami of the truth, Nojiko also stepped forward to say.
..............
Started editing the chapters now ^^
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