A moment later.
Marine Headquarters leader Garp attached great importance to the matter, tackled it with determination, personally led the operation, launched a fierce offensive against violent criminal activities in the East Blue Sea, and achieved remarkable results.
The task force successfully rescued the Marine officer Smoker, who had been injured in the line of duty, captured the violently resisting unidentified armed suspect Garen and his accomplices, greatly deterring crime and encouraging the public.
Victims of violent crime represented by Buggy the Clown applauded Garen's capture, and the public's sense of security was effectively enhanced.
Suspect Garen stated regarding his criminal acts:
"I'm really not a pirate!"
"That red-nosed guy over there is!"
With a group of Marines pressing gun barrels against his forehead, Garen spoke with an agitated expression.
But none of the Marine soldiers said anything, and the guns aimed at Garen did not shift in the slightest.
They were merely following Vice Admiral Garp's orders and escorting everyone they had arrested back onto the warship's deck.
Behind Garen, Wallace and Nami, his "criminal accomplices," were likewise being escorted by a cluster of blades and gun barrels.
Nami looked somewhat nervous. As she followed closely along, she clutched the three treasure chests she had tied up as tightly as a mother hen protecting her chicks.
Wallace, however, remained exceptionally calm. Not only did he not appear flustered, he even casually took out his camera and began photographing the giant Marine warship before him.
As a reporter for a legitimate major news outlet, Wallace naturally was not afraid of dealing with government officials.
Once he showed his identification later, the misunderstanding would be easily cleared up.
Besides, this Marine Headquarters warship, rarely seen in the East Blue, could become the news material Wallace had been painstakingly searching for.
Further behind them were Buggy the Clown, Mohji, Cabaji, and Richie, all being escorted by the Marines.
While rescuing Smoker, the kind Marine soldiers had also spent quite some effort fishing Buggy's foot out of the sea.
"Captain Buggy."
Mohji nervously glanced at the righteous-looking ranks of Marines around them before lowering his voice.
"What do we do now? We've all been arrested by the Marines!"
"So what?"
Cabaji, however, wore a relaxed expression as he voiced what he truly felt.
"Getting arrested by the Marines is better than getting chopped to death by that Pirate Hunter!"
"Small fry like us from the East Blue will be released after a few years in prison!"
Cabaji turned his gaze toward Buggy again and casually asked:
"Right, Captain Buggy?"
Buggy said nothing. As though trying to hide something, he deliberately kept his head lowered.
Cold sweat silently slid down his forehead. Buggy could not help secretly glancing back at the old man closely following behind him—the Marine hero Garp, an old acquaintance of sorts.
For the moment, Garp was not paying attention to the criminals he had personally arrested. He merely laughed heartily at the drenched Smoker beside him.
"Hahaha!"
"I never expected your first battle after arriving in the East Blue would end in such a miserable defeat!"
Smoker was soaked through from head to toe, and even the cigar butt he habitually held in his mouth had been extinguished by the seawater.
Though his strength had returned, he still looked utterly bedraggled.
Suffering defeat in his first battle in the East Blue, the weakest sea, naturally left Smoker, a Marine Headquarters colonel who had always been confident in his strength, feeling rather bitter.
"I did lose."
Smoker did not make excuses for himself. He merely said unwillingly:
"That guy was clearly weaker than me, but his ability was extremely strange."
As he spoke, he habitually reached into his pocket for a fresh cigar, only to discover with annoyance that his entire supply had been soaked through by seawater.
Smoker casually tossed away a wet cigar, his mood growing even more irritable.
"His sword wasn't Sea Stone. It shouldn't have been able to hit my elemental body at all."
"But the moment I was accidentally struck by its edge, my Devil Fruit Ability immediately failed."
"I can't make sense of it."
"Haha."
"That young man's ability is indeed rather strange."
But Garp did not take it too seriously. He simply reached out and patted Smoker on the back.
"Still, there are plenty of strange things in this world!"
"In the end, you lost because you were careless."
"Never underestimate any man who ventures across the seas!"
"Yes!"
Smoker nodded with complete conviction, and his turbulent emotions finally calmed down.
Without realizing it, his impression of this East Blue assignment—which had felt like exile—had improved considerably.
At that moment, pulleys turned atop the giant warship's towering deck, lowering a broad lifting platform toward the sea.
The captured criminal suspects and the Marines who had gone into action finally arrived on the Marine warship's spacious deck.
The Marine soldiers had Garen's group stand in formation and wait for interrogation. Garp, meanwhile, swaggered back to his own recliner, dropped into it without the slightest concern for appearances, and began wolfing down rice crackers in front of Garen and the others.
While eating rice crackers, Garp lightly swept his gaze over the several "criminal suspects" standing before him.
His eyes lingered on Garen with interest for a moment before quickly moving away, finally settling on Buggy the Clown, who had kept his head down like an ostrich.
Buggy shuddered all over and quietly buried his head even deeper.
Yet Garp's gaze at Buggy grew increasingly focused, and a hint of nostalgia appeared on his face.
Taking advantage of this brief silence, Garen carefully studied the terrifyingly muscular old man who had effortlessly subdued him.
From the terrifying strength the man had displayed earlier and that inexplicably familiar face, Garen vaguely guessed the identity of this muscular old man standing over two meters tall—
One of the world's peak combatants, the man known as the Marine hero, Iron Fist Garp.
Running into a top-tier final boss on his very first voyage left Garen with an absurd feeling.
While Garen was studying Garp, the surrounding Marines could not help pointing at Garen and discussing him.
"That unknown swordsman from the East Blue actually defeated Colonel Smoker from Headquarters!"
"That Logia user is a Marine Headquarters colonel?"
Wallace precisely caught this rather shocking piece of information, and his nose for a major scoop immediately kicked into high gear.
"Sir Garen actually defeated such a formidable Marine officer?"
The weight carried by Marine Headquarters ranks was entirely different. The strength and status represented by the same rank were a full three tiers above the cannon fodder in the Four Blues' Marine branches.
Smoker's Headquarters colonel rank was practically equivalent to a Marine governor commanding an entire region in the East Blue.
And the newly risen Knight of Justice Garen had actually defeated such a powerful Marine officer within only a few exchanges?
Wallace's long-prepared feature report, "Knight of Justice Garen," suddenly gained a great deal of explosive new material.
The enthusiastic discussion of the surrounding Marine soldiers continued providing Wallace with even more news material.
"If that guy could defeat Colonel Smoker, he probably has the strength of a Headquarters colonel too!"
One Marine soldier said with a serious expression.
"Heh."
Another soldier shook his head disdainfully.
"Colonel Smoker is an outstanding officer personally trained by Admiral Zephyr. How could he be compared to an ordinary Headquarters colonel?"
"I'd say that greatsword knight definitely has the strength of an elite rear admiral!"
A gleam flashed in Wallace's eyes. The speed of his pen across the page increased severalfold, and he quietly edged closer to the Marines providing this information.
"Your knowledge is far too shallow!"
At that moment, yet another Marine soldier stepped forward to lecture them.
"Colonel Smoker is a Logia Devil Fruit Ability user rarely seen even on the Grand Line. He possesses the same grade of elementalization ability as the three admirals!"
"And that knight took only three moves to cut down Colonel Smoker. He only surrendered after Marine hero Vice Admiral Garp personally stepped in."
"I'd say he has at least the strength of a Headquarters rear admiral!"
Marine hero Garp?
That old man was Marine hero Garp?
The legendary Iron Fist Garp had actually needed to personally deal with Garen?
Wallace was so excited that his breathing grew heavy, and even the pen in his hand trembled nonstop.
He wrote with even greater enthusiasm.
Even while taking notes, Wallace did not forget to use his camera to snap several more pictures of hero Garp.
Smoker, listening to his subordinates' enthusiastic discussion nearby, had already turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
Before you continue