Captain Mouse and Captain Smoker sounded as if they were equals.
But everyone within the Marines knew:
A Marine Headquarters rank carried three grades more weight than the same rank in a branch, whether in personal strength or an officer's status.
So Mouse, this worthless captain from the East Blue's Sixteenth Branch, could only bow and scrape like a grandson before Smoker, an elite captain from Marine Headquarters.
Smoker, stationed in Loguetown, could already be considered the highest-ranking Marine officer in the East Blue, the Marine governor guarding an entire sea.
Seeing his superior—especially while doing something shady—naturally left Captain Mouse trembling with fear, as though walking on thin ice.
"You—"
Smoker's somewhat menacing voice slowly rang beside Captain Mouse's ear. "What are you doing in Cocoyasi Village?"
"This..."
Captain Mouse's body stiffened. His normally eloquent tongue seemed tied in knots, unable to produce a word.
What was he doing in Cocoyasi Village?
Could he tell his superior that?
Was he supposed to say that he had left the barracks, gone deep among the people, and come to put on a heartwarming display of military-civilian unity with Comrade Arlong, the local model supporter of the troops?
The cold sweat on Captain Mouse's forehead instantly doubled, eventually gathering into bean-sized drops that streamed down his cheeks.
Then, on further thought...
Captain Smoker was the commander of the Headquarters garrison in Loguetown, the East Blue Marines' final line of defense. His main duty was guarding the entrance to the Grand Line, and he would not lightly leave his jurisdiction.
What were the East Blue's most elite Marines from Loguetown doing in a remote village like Cocoyasi Village?
Captain Mouse only needed to use his brain a little to realize that those fish-men of the Arlong Pirates, born with faces made for provoking