Bandit Suppression Plan

After Garen's information-heavy description, Arlong instantly became, in everyone's mind, a seasoned and formidable bandit who could only be dealt with by Garp himself.

Then, Garp had his subordinate bring out a bounty poster book.

A bounty of twenty million.

"Indeed..."

Garp glanced at Garen thoughtfully: "Were you just spouting nonsense?"

"Cough, cough."

Garen's eyes darted around as he said somewhat awkwardly, "Everything I said is true."

"Fisher Tiger's right-hand man?"

Garp's gaze towards Garen became even more oppressive.

"Uh... he is indeed a member of the Sun Pirates."

Garen continued to introduce Arlong's impressive resume.

Arlong was indeed a member of the Sun Pirates, but compared to the captain, Fisher Tiger, Arlong's strength as a small fry...

...was basically at the level of shouting "Captain's awesome!" from the back.

"Close acquaintance with the Shichibukai Jinbe, kept his life in front of Kizaru?"

Garp retorted again.

"That's also true."

Garen said, biting the bullet, "It's just..."

Arlong did indeed keep his life in front of Kizaru...

...because Kizaru was too lazy to kill that small fry after beating him up.

Later, the great Jinbe saved Arlong's miserable life by accepting the Shichibukai position as a condition.

Garp had roamed the seas for many years and was a high-ranking Marine who knew the inside story of what happened back then, so he naturally wouldn't be fooled by Garen's few words.

He saw through Arlong's true level at a glance.

Garp pondered for a moment, then asked his subordinate next to him, "Where is Cocoyasi Village?!"

"I, I know!"

It was Nami's excited, slightly trembling voice that rang out first.

Looking at the legendary Marine hero in front of her, Nami's eyes were filled with unprecedented hope:

"Just head west along the East Blue Current we're on, and with the natural power of the current, we can reach Cocoyasi Village in three days!"

"West along the East Blue Current?"

Garp muttered to himself, "That's completely out of the way!"

Garp's destination was the Goa Kingdom. According to plan, after arriving in the East Blue from the Calm Belt, he should part ways with Smoker and return to his hometown, the Goa Kingdom, via a completely different route.

Hearing Garp's casual remark, Nami's heart sank.

In the years she had spent drifting on the sea, the Marines in Nami's mind were almost synonymous with hypocrisy, incompetence, and greed.

They were unwilling to handle small cases and dared not handle big cases. The credibility of the Marines as a law enforcement agency was almost non-existent.

So even after boarding the Marine Headquarters' giant warship, Nami couldn't bring herself to actively seek help from the Marines.

Compared to the legendary Marine hero Garp, Nami was even more willing to place her hopes on Garen, whom she had only just met and whose strength was limited.

Because she had tried such things too many times before.

Garp's nonchalant words quickly brought Nami back to the disappointment and powerlessness of being turned away by the Marines countless times in her dark memories.

"Smoker?"

Garp suddenly looked at Smoker, who was quietly smoking a cigar, and asked:

"The Loguetown where you're going to be stationed for a change of guard should be on this route, right?!"

"That's right."

Smoker had also checked the route of this stationing trip in advance:

"Loguetown is also on the East Blue Current, and should be located in the middle between here and Cocoyasi Village."

"That's conveniently on the way."

Garp's smile carried a hint of anticipation:

"Smoker, I'll leave this Arlong Pirates to you to clean up!"

"Make sure you work hard in your first battle in the East Blue!"

Smoker was slightly stunned, but his expression quickly returned to its usual calm and sternness:

"No problem."

The true owner of this giant warship was Marine Vice Admiral Garp.

Whether it was Smoker, who had been with it from Marine Headquarters, or Garen, who had coincidentally boarded the ship not long ago, they could only be considered along for the ride.

And Garp's destination, the Goa Kingdom, was not on the same route as Loguetown and Cocoyasi Village at all.

So, after the warship sailed for a while longer, Smoker, who was rushing to Loguetown for a change of duty, would part ways with Garp, who was busy going home to see his grandson, and then take a small boat with Garen and his party to sail along the East Blue Current.

Smoker's plan for suppressing bandits was:

First, go to Loguetown to complete the handover with the outgoing garrison Marines, then integrate the local garrison in the Loguetown Marine base, and finally lead a large army to Arlong's pirate crew.

And there was still some time before Smoker and Garp parted ways, so the Marine soldiers arranged for Garen and the others to rest in the warship's living quarters for the time being.

Walking along the long corridor, Nami's face was full of happy and satisfied smiles.

For the first time in so many years, she saw real hope.

"Thank you."

Nami suddenly said softly to Garen, who was walking side by side with her.

"It's nothing."

Garen replied casually, "I just..."

His voice stopped abruptly.

Because Nami had already blocked Garen's path, then slowly walked in front of him, and finally looked up to stare directly into Garen's eyes.

From this perspective, Garen read complex emotions that were difficult to distinguish in those clear and moving eyes.

"You..."

Nami was silent for a long time, and then asked, "Why do you know so much about my affairs?"

"This..."

Garen blurted out the prepared words without thinking:

"I am a knight who came to the East Blue to train, and I have collected a lot of information about evil people in advance."

"And Arlong's pirate crew is one of my targets."

"Then that means..."

Nami's face suddenly became very interesting: "You knew my identity from the beginning?"

"That's right."

Garen replied very frankly:

"Arlong's pirate crew's executive, and also a well-known thief in the East Blue, Cat Burglar."

In order not to cause too much suspicion, Garen did not say deeper details, but only said Nami's real identity as it was shown on the outside.

And these two identities, at first glance, were not good people...

So, Nami asked curiously:

"In that case, why did you still help me?"

"Well..."

Garen thought for a while, and then said seriously:

"Didn't I say it yesterday? You are the Knight's Lady I'm optimistic about!"

"Dream on!"

Nami spat at Garen in shame and anger, but an alluring blush had already risen on her pink and white cheeks.

Garen and his party continued to move forward under the guidance of the Marine soldiers.

"Garen?"

Nami walked leisurely beside Garen, and then started chatting, "Do you think those Marines can defeat Arlong?"

Although the topic was still heavy, Nami's expression was full of ease and liveliness;

Just like an ordinary young girl, asking questions about the new life that was about to come.

"Of course there's no problem."

Garen noticed Nami's emotions, and also cooperated with the answer:

"Smoker is a Captain of Marine Headquarters, and also a Logia-type fruit ability user, it will definitely be no problem to deal with Arlong, this kind of trash."

"Hmph!"

Nami snorted lightly, and then said meaningfully, "That guy can't even beat you."

"Being able to fight me for three rounds, isn't that strong enough?"

Garen shouted exaggeratedly, and then praised himself with a brazen face:

"You have to know that in the training match just now, Garp punched me away, and I also punched Garp away."

"What kind of strength am I, Garen?"

"I'm evenly matched with Garp!"

"Bah!"

Nami spat at Garen with disdain, only to be amused by Garen's exaggerated performance and break into a smile.

"Everyone, your rooms are here!"

The Marine soldier leading the way suddenly stopped and respectfully said to Garen, "Please rest well."

Regardless of his actual skill level...

Garen's "glorious achievements" of defeating a Marine Headquarters Captain and cutting down a Marine hero had ultimately made the Marine soldiers on this warship look at him with new respect, even worship.

After leading the way, the Marine soldier prepared to turn and leave.

"Wait..."

Nami called out to the Marine soldier and said with a smile, "Excuse me, could you help me get some suitable clothes?"

"My clothes all fell into the sea during the previous naval battle."

Having been blasted into the water twice by cannons, Nami's clothes were already soaked and in a terrible state.

"No problem."

The Marine soldier readily agreed.

"Please get me a set too, thank you!"

Wallace also made the same request.

"That..."

Garen suddenly thought of something, and his expression immediately became very strange:

"Could you get me a set of clothes too?"

The Marine soldier agreed to each request, turned, and left to find a change of clothes for the three of them.

"Huh?"

Nami noticed something was amiss and couldn't help but ask, "Garen, now that you mention it..."

"Ever since I met you at the restaurant yesterday, you've been wearing this heavy armor all the time. I haven't seen you take it off."

"Don't you feel hot?"

Garen's armor and greatsword could, of course, be removed; he only needed to deactivate his Data-Driven Combat Mode to shed that equipment.

But...

"Ugh..."

Garen replied with a gloomy expression:

"Please don't delve too deeply into that question."