The Haunting and the Plot Against Caitlyn

North Blue.

Snowpielt Island.

19th Navy Branch.

The 19th branch is now just an obscure rural branch, completely incomparable to the 16th Branch, which is at its peak in East Blue.

However, more than twenty years ago, the 19th branch was also a famous and popular force.

Because during the spring conscription season 29 years ago, two young men joined the 19th branch at the same time.

One of them was named Borsalino, and the other was named Sakazuki.

What happened next is known to people and pirates all over the world.

Therefore, Branch 19 is a branch with a glorious tradition.

At least that's how Colonel Pieru, the branch leader, saw it.

However, the reality is that with Borsalino and Sakazuki's promotions, the 19th Division has never produced any reliable figures since.

Especially in recent years.

The East Blue is known as the weakest sea area, not only because the pirates East Blue are weak, but also because the navy East Blue is lackluster.

However, the tide has completely turned in the last few years.

The East Blue is not only teeming with great pirates and Supernovas, but the Navy is also producing a steady stream of commendable role models.

Twitch, the Root of Justice, and Garen, the Sword of Sword of Justice, were both rapidly promoted to the rank of Colonel at Marineford. Even the lecherous Kappa, who had been repeatedly reported by Marineford for harassing local women, had become a prominent figure in the Navy.

Don't think that being repeatedly reported is a bad thing.

This is a privilege reserved for promising newcomers who reach a certain level and attract the attention of Marineford's top management.

After all, there are plenty of cases of women being harassed in the navy, for example...

"Colonel Pieru and Captain Fullbody have stirred up trouble again..."

A naval communications officer rushed into the colonel's office, saluted, and delivered the disheartening news.

"Okay, you can go now..."

Pieru shook his head helplessly.

Fullbody, who calls himself "Iron Fist Fullbody," has a completely different "Iron Fist" from that of the veteran Marine Garp. (See picture)

He was parachuted from Marineford to the North Blue, but he has been causing trouble and womanizing ever since.

However, Pieru didn't have many options against him.

Because this guy is a spoiled brat, he was sent to the lower ranks to gain experience, and it won't be long before he's transferred back to Marine Headquarters.

By then, this guy might have a higher rank than me.

Pieru is different from Twitch. Although both are branch officers and colonels, Twitch's colonel is a high-ranking headquarters colonel, while Pieru's colonel is just an ordinary North Blue colonel.

In other words, once Fullbody is transferred back to Marine Headquarters, as long as he serves as a captain, his rank will be equal to Pieru's.

Thinking of this, Pieru couldn't help but take out a cigarette, light it, and take a deep drag.

In fact, his guess was not wrong.

Fullbody is a minor character who appears very early in the One Piece manga Pirate King, and he remains active in the cover stories.

According to the original plot, Fullbody would be transferred back to Marineford a year later and awarded the rank of colonel.

He then went to the East Blue for a vacation and took a beautiful woman to the famous Baratie. In an attempt to show off, he mispronounced the name of the wine and was exposed by Sanji, which made him angry and embarrassed. He tried to attack Sanji, but was completely defeated by Sanji.

He later became friends with the pirate Jango, and eventually fell for Hina's charms...

Of course, Pieru was unaware of all this.

He took a deep drag on his cigarette, a look of ecstasy on his face.

"Strange, why are the cigarettes they're giving out this time different from before?"

Pieru muttered to himself, then pulled the cigarette pack out of his pocket to examine it.

Since the discovery of tobacco, cigarettes have been a necessity for the military.

In fact, cigarettes were invented by soldiers in the Egypt army.

During World War II, German soldiers were rationed six cigarettes a day, American soldiers smoked seven packs a week, and Soviet soldiers were notorious heavy smokers.

Smoking might be prohibited in military camps during peacetime, but the Marines in the pirate world are obviously facing the test of actual combat at any time, so cigarettes are an indispensable resource for them.

Aside from the officers and soldiers buying their own cigarettes, a large portion of the cigarettes used by each branch were allocated by Marineford as military supplies.

Generally speaking, cigarettes allocated from headquarters are synonymous with inferior quality.

These cigarettes not only taste bad, but they also often become moldy and infested with insects due to improper storage.

Therefore, people generally don't have high expectations for this kind of cigarette.

But Pieru didn't expect that this experience would be so good.

"Short-Lived Ghost cigarettes? What an unlucky name..."

Pieru shook his head, completely ignoring the small print at the bottom of the cigarette pack:

[Smoking is harmful to your health. Smoking this cigarette may result in a loss of lifespan, which will be transferred to Party A. Opening the packaging constitutes acceptance of this contract. The final interpretation right belongs to Big Bird Tobacco Company.]

Despite saying it was unlucky, Pieru couldn't wait to light one for himself.

"That's impressive! Those guys in the quartermaster department have finally done something decent!"

Pieru puffed on his cigarette while complaining about his former colleagues.

Before being transferred to the North Blue as the base commander, he had worked in the Quartermaster Department of the Marine Headquarters.

To be fair, Marineford has a lot of talented people.

Guys like Fullbody are a minority, after all.

However, Pieru had to admit that in recent years, there have been more and more spoiled rich kids like him.

A prime example is Vice Admiral Flying Momonga's nephew, Twitch considerable influence in the East Blue.

Of course, Twitch's abilities are indeed very strong, something Pieru can only admit defeat to.

However, it was precisely Twitch's success that gave more spoiled rich kids an excuse.

That guy, Fullbody, always brags that he and that Nezumi were inseparable back in the day, and they even shared the same girl.

"Report!"

Just then, a clear, cool female voice rang out from outside the door, accompanied by a knock.

Pieru quickly stubbed out his cigarette, opened the window to let the smoke dissipate, and then said, "Please come in!"

The reason he made such a big fuss is very simple.

Because the owner of this clear, cool female voice is the most beautiful woman in the entire 19th branch.

Captain Caitlyn.

She graduated from the Naval Academy at the Headquarters along with Fullbody and came to the 19th Squadron in the North Blue for an internship.

However, if Fullbody is like a pile of dog poop, Caitlyn is like a Holy and flawless flower.

All the young people in the 19th branch were captivated by her beauty.

The same is true of Pieru.

Although he is already forty years old.

However, there are many people in the One Piece world who are against marriage.

He was also an old bachelor.

Pieru secretly adjusted his shirt collar and then quickly combed his hair a few times.

Then the office door was pushed open.

"Kaiser..."

Pieru almost bit his tongue halfway through his sentence.

Caitlyn was wearing a pristine white naval uniform with some bloodstains on it.

That's not the point. The point is the thing she's dragging around like a dead dog; that pink hair looks kind of familiar...

"Captain Fullbody?"

Pieru quickly stood up and went to take the Fullbody, whose head had been beaten into a pig's head.

"There are always too many bad guys, but too little time." (Caitlyn's line)

Caitlyn shook her head and prepared to leave.

"Wait... wait a minute!"

Although Pieru was Caitlyn's senior, he knew he was no match for this thorny rose, but the current situation required a proper resolution:

"Captain Caitlyn, why did you assault Captain Fullbody? Assaulting a fellow officer is a violation of naval discipline..."

"Do you prefer a good cop or a bad cop?" (Caitlyn's line)

Caitlyn left without looking back, showing no respect whatsoever to her superior.

"Damn it!"

After a while, Fullbody slowly woke up.

He vaguely remembered that he had just had a few drinks at a bar and then put his arm around a sexy woman, and in the blink of an eye, he was hit with a gun butt.

Then came Caitlyn's face, a face that evoked both desire and utter detestability.

The cold butt of the rifle slammed down mercilessly until Fullbody lost consciousness.

"Damn it, just a test-taker from a small town!"

Fullbody once pursued Caitlyn at the Naval Academy, and the outcome was predictable.

However, Fullbody had investigated Caitlyn's background before, and found that she was just the daughter of Peacekeeper in a small town in the East Blue.

She was able to get into the Naval Academy simply because of her genuine talent.

Of course, the world of One Piece is an extraordinary world, and the disadvantage of individual strength compared to organizations and groups is not as great as it was in Ma Qiao's previous life.

However, there is a critical point to this strength.

In other words, only those who are strong enough, at least at the level of Smoker, have the capital to challenge the system to a certain extent.

Only at Garp's level can one truly do whatever they want.

And Caitlyn...

At this point, he can only be described as a promising newcomer.

Because of the presence of Darius and Sett, Caitlyn was only the third-ranked graduate of this year's Naval Academy.

Compared to Darius, who saved half of the Celestial Dragons during his internship and was promoted directly to Colonel of the Headquarters upon graduation, Caitlyn's aura is far too dim.

Such a dim aura is not enough to make her so arrogant!

A cold glint appeared in Fullbody.'s swollen eyes.

Pieru saw through his thoughts and quickly warned, "Captain Fullbody, you can't do anything reckless."

"It's none of your business."

Fullbody stood up abruptly, showing no respect whatsoever to the local official, and left without looking back.

Pieru glanced worriedly at Fullbody's retreating figure, hesitated for a moment, and then pressed the bell on his desk.

A moment later, his assistant came running over with the documents in his hand.

"Sierte, what case has Captain Caitlyn been working on lately?" Pieru asked.

The assistant quickly checked the document, saluted, and replied:

"Recently, rookie pirate crews like the Bellamy Pirates, X Drake Pirates, Heart Pirates, and Hawkins Pirates have been very active..."

"Captain Caitlyn defeated the Bellamy Pirates last month and arrested Hyena Bellamy. Five days ago, she attempted to capture the Heart Pirates on Marson Island, but the operation failed. Currently, Captain Caitlyn is reinvestigating the whereabouts of Trafalgar Law and his group!"

"This woman... she's really fierce..."

Pieru was also taken aback.

To be honest, as a former logistics officer, he never thought about making a name for himself in this remote countryside, let alone dealing with these vicious and ruthless pirates.

That's right, to the 19th branch, these rookie pirate crews are all formidable pirates.

If those two monsters from 29 years ago were still in the 19th Branch, whether the North Blue would be in chaos or not would be up to the Navy.

But nowadays, these rookie pirates with bounties of fifty or sixty million, or even close to one hundred million, are simply not something the 19th branch can handle.

I never expected Caitlyn to be so fierce.

Although Bellamy is the weakest among these people, his bounty is still over 20 million, making him a very dangerous individual.

As for the Heart Pirates, they defeated several branches of the North Blue in succession, but were still chased away by Caitlyn.

With her good looks and fighting skills, given time, Captain Caitlyn could very well become the next Hina...

Pieru took a deep breath. "Go tell Captain Caitlyn not to leave the branch base for the time being. Just say... just say I have a special mission for her..."

"Yes!"

The assistant officer saluted and turned to leave.

On one side is a privileged second-generation rich kid with a powerful family background, and on the other side is a promising newcomer with outstanding abilities. Pieru, this old scoundrel with only experience, really doesn't want to offend either side.

However.

The assistant officer rushed back in a panic a moment later. "Colonel, Captain Caitlyn has gone out on a case!"

Pieru frowned and said, "A case? What case? I don't know anything about it."

"Haunted Sea Area 75!"

The assistant officer said with some alarm, "According to some witnesses, there are ghosts lurking in the sunlight near Sea Area 75... Colonel, Sea Area 75 is a forbidden sea designated by the World Government. Could there really be something unclean there?"

"Nonsense, how could there be ghosts in this world?"

Pieru, after all, was a veteran of the Marineford Navy, well-informed and knowledgeable, and didn't believe in ghosts or gods at all.

"I reckon it's some kind of rare Devil Fruit user causing trouble. Caitlyn should be able to handle it, after all, she just captured and defeated a Devil Fruit user."

"It's not a ghost, it's someone with special abilities? That's reassuring."

The assistant officer breathed a sigh of relief, "And Captain Fullbody has already gone to provide support, Captain Caitlyn will definitely be alright..."

"What?"

Pieru grabbed the assistant officer by the collar. "Fullbody went too? Did he go alone?"

"It's... it's one person..."

The assistant officer stammered, "He said... he said our branch's teammates are all nobodies, completely useless, and he... he's going to request reinforcements from Marine Headquarters..."

"Support? What kind of support?"

Although being reported to a higher level was unpleasant, Pieru couldn't care less about saving face.

Fortunately, like many talkative villains, Fullbody also has the habit of loudly plotting his plans.

The assistant officer replied, "He said... he said he was going to ask his best friend, Captain Nezumi, and also his older Spandam, to help him uphold justice..."

"Nezumi?"

"That was Twitch's former name."

"Hiss--"

Pieru -Jacques gasped.

One uncle is Vice Admiral colonel at headquarters; the other is a veteran bureaucrat whose family has been rooted in the Cipher Pol for generations...

These spoiled brats...

Can't afford to offend them, can't afford to offend them...

"Captain Caitlyn... sigh..."

Pieru closed his eyes in anguish; he could already picture Captain Caitlyn being humiliated by a group of wicked spoiled brats in the wilderness.

No second watch, do not wait...