Above the sea, the mast of a pirate ship bearing the flag of the Redhorn Pirates cut through the waves.
On the deck, laughter and cheer filled the air.
"Brothers, we finally have a proper ship!"
A man wearing a pirate hat raised his cup high, his face slick with oil.
"Ho ho!"
Around him, seven or eight pirates raised their cups in excitement.
"Drink this to celebrate our first great step!"
"Cheers!"
The group enthusiastically emptied their wooden cups filled with fresh water.
After they had taken the ship, they discovered that all the alcohol had been emptied. Thankfully, fresh water and food had been left behind.
Now, they could only drink water in place of liquor.
The man with the pirate hat finished his drink, wiped his mouth with his hand, and then grabbed a pig's leg, roasted to the point of being charred, and took a hearty bite.
"Brothers, I promise you this. When we reach Kaka Island, I'll make sure the kitchen is stocked with plenty of strong liquor, and we'll drink to our heart's content!"
"Captain is mighty!"
The crew shouted in unison.
"Hahaha!"
The pirate in the hat laughed heartily, enjoying the moment.
Above them, Marine Captain Robby crouched on the horizontal beam of the mast, coldly observing the pirates devouring their food below.
"Is this it?"
Robby looked at the back of the pirate in the hat, speechless.
These scoundrels didn't even have the basic knowledge to man a lookout tower. No wonder the naval warship had entered their firing range without any reaction.
Moreover, even though he had used the Moonwalk to reach the mast, the idiots hadn't noticed him at all.
Was this why headquarters had sent him to the West Blue branch? To deal with a group of imbeciles?
He couldn't understand how the Redhorn Pirates had managed to capture the Platinum Guild's merchant ship.
Moonwalk.
Robby stepped onto the air and, in a flash, appeared behind the pirate in the hat.
The lively atmosphere on the deck immediately stilled.
The pirates, who had been gorging themselves, stared blankly at Robby, who had appeared out of nowhere, wearing a white coat.
"What's going on?"
The pirate in the hat asked, puzzled.
Following the eyes of his crew, he sensed something was wrong. Slowly, he turned his head, and his face suddenly turned pale when he saw Robby, dressed in a commanding officer's uniform.
Robby stared at him and furrowed his brow. "You're not Kazte."
Without warning, the pirate in the hat sprang into action, his right hand quickly reaching for the hilt of his sword.
However, before he could even draw his blade halfway, Robby swiftly twisted his neck, breaking it with a single motion.
"Trash."
After discarding the body, Robby coldly looked at the remaining pirates.
"Alright, let's have a proper conversation."
Three minutes later, several corpses lay on the deck.
Robby walked to the edge of the deck and raised his hand, signaling the warships to approach.
Soon, two naval warships arrived beside the Redhorn Pirate ship.
Wooden planks were extended from the warships, bridging to the pirate ship's side.
Naval personnel, all of them physically robust, quickly crossed the planks, stepping onto the pirate ship's deck.
"Captain Robby!"
The navy personnel first glanced at the bodies on the deck, then stood to salute.
Robby nodded at them.
A Marine Lieutenant stepped forward, puzzled. "These people aren't from the Redhorn Pirates."
"Of course not."
Robby gave a cold glance at the bodies and then at the uncleaned bloodstains on the deck.
"I've already asked around. The Redhorn Pirates are done for, taken out by a guy named Usopp. These idiots, on the other hand, simply took advantage of the situation and hijacked the Redhorn Pirates' ship."
"Pirates killing each other?"
"I don't know, nor do I care to know."
Robby kicked aside a body blocking his way and started walking toward the warships.
The Lieutenant, watching Robby's retreating figure, asked, "Captain Robby, how should we conclude the eradication of the Redhorn Pirates?"
"Do I really need to teach you this?"
Robby glanced back at the Lieutenant, his expression slightly tense.
"Do you really want to hand the credit over to some unknown guy?"
"…."
"Once the search is complete, sink this pirate ship. Also, take a few photos for evidence, as a report for the Platinum Guild."
"Understood!"
Ten minutes later, the two warships fired several cannons, sinking the Redhorn Pirate ship.
On the warship's deck, Robby watched as the pirate ship slowly sank into the sea.
"Usopp, huh… There's no such figure in the West Blue."
Robby mused silently.
At any rate, he was here to resolve the matter of the Platinum Guild's merchant ship being raided.
And in such cases, less trouble was better than more.
A reward so conveniently offered shouldn't be passed up.
Quietly noting down Usopp's name, Robby entered the ship's cabin.
Three pirate crews had taken part in the raid of the Platinum Guild's merchant ship.
The Redhorn Pirates were just one of them. He would have to lead a team to deal with the other two.
As long as he continued to patrol the waters, it was only a matter of time before the targets showed up.
Nightshade Bar.
The wounds of Wolfrat had healed well as he sat at the bar, listlessly toying with his cup.
"Tatamu, you tell me. It's been three days. Why hasn't Usopp shown up yet?"
"He said he'd meet tomorrow, but now it's three days later, and there's still no sign of him."
Wolfrat sighed, his demeanor as if he had lost his purpose in life.
Tatamu raised his head and shook it.
Including this one, Wolfrat had already repeated similar statements at least ten times.
Tatamu was too tired to respond anymore.
"Could it be that he's too scared to show up?" Wolfrat muttered to himself.
Over the past few days, nearly every tavern had been talking about Maude's exploits.
Had it not been for Lafitte causing another major event, which diverted the attention, Maude would've been celebrated to the skies by now.
After all, in a large town like Mad Hat Town, there were only a few pirates with bounties exceeding thirty million who stayed long term.
But then, out of nowhere, two unreasonable individuals like Maude and Lafitte showed up and killed off the likes of Kazte and Dennis.
To the pirates in Mad Hat Town, they assumed Maude and Kazte had some personal grudge, so their fight made sense.
But Lafitte was different—he was a dangerous individual who killed without reason.
Most of the people Lafitte had killed didn't have any prior conflict with him.
Wolfrat couldn't understand why Maude stayed in hiding, and he didn't dare to visit the Sol's Weapon Shop to check things out.
If it was because of his reputation, that didn't make much sense either.
In this place, reputation was a perfect pass and something many pirates yearned for but couldn't get.
"Usopp… Usopp, what's going on with you?"
Wolfrat sighed again, but suddenly felt something was wrong.
Slap—!
He slapped himself, an action that caught Tatamu's attention. Wolfrat's eyes widened, his face turning serious.
"What's wrong with me? It's like I've caught a sickness for someone! Ugh, no, no, I don't like men!"
Wolfrat's face turned pale, then green, then back to pale, as if he had seen a ghost.
Tatamu silently stared at the transformed Wolfrat, a few black lines appearing on his forehead.
...
The Navy bases in the four seas were usually named with numbers.
West Blue, Navy Branch 158.
Gion sat behind her desk, reading through the latest reports sent by the intelligence agency.
A moment later, the door was knocked on.
"Come in."
Gion didn't even look up from her papers.
A Navy officer with the rank of Major entered.
"Rear Admiral Gion, we just received a report from Captain Robby. He successfully eradicated the Redhorn Pirates with no casualties."
"No need to report such things to me."
A hint of helplessness flashed in Gion's eyes. She was only temporarily stationed here, but because of her rank, she had to be informed of every major event.
"Understood!"
The officer saluted and turned to leave.
"Wait."
Gion suddenly lifted her head and looked at the officer.
The officer froze and turned back, looking at Gion's delicate face. He quickly hid the admiration in his eyes and asked formally, "Is there anything else, Rear Admiral?"
"You said the Redhorn Pirates?"
"Yes."
"Nothing else. You may go."
"Understood!"
The officer left, and Gion lowered her gaze to the papers in front of her, muttering to herself, "The Redhorn Pirates…"
With the information Wolfrat had provided, she quickly pieced things together and understood what had happened with Robby's report about the eradication of the Redhorn Pirates. But she couldn't bring herself to care too much.
She knew that in any large organization, things like this were inevitable.
"Bacardi Maude."
Gion turned her attention to the names in the report.
One was Usopp, the other was Bacardi Maude.
Usopp's name had been crossed out with a line, while the name Bacardi Maude had been marked with the word "Dangerous" next to it.
Next to this report, there was another one detailing the pirate raid on the Bacardi Trading Company.
Notably, the name Capone Bege was listed there as well.
----------------------------
Join my patreon to access advance chapters: patreon.com / emperorgarus