The Dog-Head Battleship (Thanks to Lishang for the 5,000-coin tip)

The virtuous, impeccably upright and all-around Good Guy Twitch actually came from a distinguished Navy family!

Morgan was overwhelmed by the favor shown to him by such an important figure and could find no reason to refuse.

Laughing heartily, Twitch brought Garen and the others over and introduced them one by one. He also made a point of explaining the identity of Ma Qiao, who was busy stuffing his face.

Though surprised that Officer Twitch held a Pirate Hunter in such high regard, Morgan made sure to remember that this gentleman had the most say aboard the ship.

Transferring a mere East Blue captain was a simple matter for a veteran Vice Admiral like Momonga, and Morgan's transfer orders were soon on their way.

Now, the 118 sailors under Morgan's command, along with his warship, all belonged to Twitch.

The two warships sailed toward Loguetown together.

Once their supplies were replenished, they would set out to deal with the parasites of the 16th Branch.

Recruiting Morgan wasn't exactly a spur-of-the-moment decision; it was more a matter of the opportunity presenting itself.

As a low-ranking East Blue officer who had lost an arm and had his jawbone crushed by Captain Kuro with ease, Morgan was even weaker than Qiangsen, a Headquarters Petty Officer First Class.

But at this very moment, Twitch happened to need an upright, passionate and motivated core subordinate.

Although Qiangsen was very loyal to Twitch, he wasn't an East Blue native and didn't know much about many things. Besides, though he could be said to have turned over a new leaf, a leopard couldn't change its spots. The longtime men under Nezumi were all hardened old hands at heart.

All the way from the Grand Line to the East Blue, the storeroom of the Good Guy Twitch had been empty.

It wasn't that no one had noticed something so obvious; they were simply used to it.

If he didn't embezzle, would that still be Lord Nezumi's style?

If he didn't embezzle, would he still be living up to the justice in his heart?

Of course, Lord Nezumi used to embezzle without doing a decent thing. Now, although he still embezzled money, he had led from the front and shown concern for his subordinates throughout the journey, with Corporal Garen's assistance. He had truly made them see him in a new light.

Everyone had become considerably more loyal to him.

Still, no matter what, these old hands certainly couldn't be relied on to govern a region and maintain peace.

If these guys were sent to garrison the various islands, every last one of them would deserve a bullet.

Fortunately, there weren't many of the old hands, only about a hundred.

They could serve as Twitch's trusted inner circle, doing things that couldn't be brought to light.

For example, protecting Mr. Ma Qiao's justice!

Ma Qiao had even thought of a name for this unit.

[Navy Justice's Huge Root]

[Root Division] for short.

By the first light of the next morning, Ma Qiao was still sitting on the rail of the Good Guy Twitch, fishing.

He looked just like a man who had offended his wife and didn't dare go home.

He couldn't help it. He had obtained a hundred million through his earlier "operations," but had spent it all in one extravagant spree, completely forgetting that he still had to teach Vivi the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Seeing the young girl's increasingly murderous gaze, Ma Qiao had no choice but to pack up and flee again, taking up the life of an angler.

Today, however, Ma Qiao held his fishing rod with complete confidence.

After the past few days of "never going home empty-handed," Ma Qiao had realized where his problem lay.

He had been using the wrong bait.

Influenced by the fixed habits of his previous life, Ma Qiao had still been using earthworms, bloodworms and the like to fish in the world of pirates.

How could he catch fish with these worms around?!

Furious, Ma Qiao stuffed the earthworms and bloodworms into Twitch's mouth.

"Praise you! My master!"

Twitch smacked his lips. They tasted wonderful!

After dealing with the odds and ends, Ma Qiao prepared to make something that could actually catch fish.

When fishing in the world of pirates, of course he had to use great big chunks of meat!

Ma Qiao switched to a large hook and threaded it with the kind of huge piece of meat Luffy often ate.

He also planned to mix a big bucket of strong liquor and minced meat as chum to draw the fish in.

Ma Qiao refused to believe he still couldn't catch a fish this way!

However...

Before Ma Qiao had finished preparing, the Good Guy Twitch suddenly began to rock violently.

This time, it wasn't the Good Guy Twitch firing its cannons. Shells from another ship had landed in the nearby waters.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

The piercing alarm rang out from the lookout tower once more.

"Have some more blind little crooks shown up?"

Wearing his justice cloak, Twitch emerged smugly from the cabin.

His two aides, Qiangsen and Morgan, followed close behind, one on either side.

As for Garen, whose position was more elevated, he stood in front of Twitch.

That made perfect sense.

Garen wasn't a squishy support like a healer or Janna.

As a tanky support, why would he stand behind the ADC?

Garen held his greatsword across his body, looking loyal, just, reliable and above it all.

Of course, there was one person aboard the Good Guy Twitch whose position was even more elevated: a certain angler sitting to the side, pouring liquor and mixing chum.

Even the East Blue sailors under Morgan knew that Mr. Ma Qiao was Officer Twitch's benefactor, and that Officer Twitch obeyed his every word.

"Men, take out the pirates! Don't let them disturb Mr. Ma Qiao while he's out enjoying the scenery!" Twitch shouted.

"Lord Twitch!"

Sergeant Major Qiangsen hurriedly handed him a telescope and pointed at a black dot slowly growing larger in the distance. "It's not a pirate ship, it's a warship—a huge one!"

"What?"

Twitch jumped onto Garen's back. Not far away, a gigantic warship adorned with a dog's head was sailing slowly across the sea. (As shown.)

"That's... that's Headquarters Vice Admiral Garp's flagship!"

A sailor who recognized it shouted.

"What? Is it that legendary Navy hero?"

"I heard he's strong enough to be an Admiral, but he's always been held back because of his volatile and brutal temperament!"

"..."

The sailors exchanged the rumors they had heard.

Just then, a sharp-eyed sailor spotted a tall figure standing on the deck of the great Dog-Head Battleship.

He had two cigars in his mouth, his silver hair was slicked back, and he wore a biker-gang jacket, giving him the look of a tough guy.

"That's... that's Captain Smoker, the White Hunter!"

"That guy's no pushover either! I heard he's beaten up more sailors in Marineford than he has pirates!"

"Is that why he was exiled to the East Blue?"

"But come to think of it, standing next to Vice Admiral Garp, Captain Smoker suddenly doesn't look so scary anymore!"

"Lord Twitch, should we keep our distance?"

Sergeant Major Qiangsen lowered his telescope and offered his assessment. "That shelling just now was probably an accident. Vice Admiral Garp and the others are probably chasing some pirates."

Morgan suddenly cut in. "Speaking of pirates... in these waters, there's probably only one guy who could draw the attention of a Headquarters Captain and a Headquarters Vice Admiral..."

"You mean?"

"Ace, Spade Ace!"

Morgan explained with a grave expression, "He's a newcomer who only appeared in the East Blue within the last year. As soon as he made his debut, he defeated a succession of long-established, notorious pirates!"

"This Ace you're talking about, has he ever hurt any civilians?"

Garen asked a question that seemed rather unrelated.

"No, he hasn't."

Morgan shook his head. "There are always some guys who call themselves pirates even though they don't rob anyone. Although they haven't done much evil, they still disrupt order at sea and set a bad example for young people. My good-for-nothing son is always going on about wanting to become a pirate..."

Ma Qiao, who was sitting to the side kneading the liquor-scented chum, was a little surprised.

He hadn't expected that Helmeppo, who walked his dog, carried his bird around and bullied men and women alike, had actually gone through an edgy phase of wanting to be a pirate before his father turned bad.

Still, Morgan had a point.

Guys like Ace couldn't be called thoroughly wicked, but they did waste the Navy's resources in practice, indirectly helping other pirates.

At the same time, they inspired many impressionable young people to blindly idolize them.

Garp's own grandson was also a victim of such blind idolization.

In any case, since it was hard to say whether the people on the other ship were actually chasing Ace, Ma Qiao ordered Nezumi to find a reason to go over and take a look.

They were Navy men themselves, colleagues, so of course he had to go watch if there was fun to be had.