"Hm? Is that..."
He narrowed his eyes, a flicker of delighted surprise flashing through them.
He immediately pulled a Den Den Mushi from inside his clothes and placed a call.
"Hey! Headliner!"
He lowered his voice, but could not suppress his excitement. "I've made a major discovery! A ship really has entered the country illegally and appeared by the coast!!"
A jumble of noise came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi, followed by a voice asking:
"What about the crew? How many are there? Who are they?"
"I don't know who they are yet. They look like a bunch of idiot pirates who have no idea what they're getting themselves into."
He leaned halfway out and carefully counted them, a cruel smile spreading across his lips.
"Not many. Only about ten!"
"Don't worry. Leave them to me!"
"I'll capture them all with tranquilizer darts and send them to the Quarry as laborers. They should at least be good enough for that!"
"This is practically free credit delivered right to my doorstep! Hahahaha!"
After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, he drew an oversized heavy tranquilizer gun from beside his dragon-shaped mount's saddle.
The gun was loaded with a potent tranquilizer dart capable of instantly dropping an elephant.
He poked the muzzle through the thick foliage. His crosshairs swept over everyone on the Sunny Merry's deck before finally settling on Luffy, who stood at the front looking completely unguarded.
"Just lie down quietly, you idiots."
His finger slowly tightened on the trigger, his eyes gleaming with sinister cruelty. "Once you wake up, I'll give you plenty of 'love' with my whip!"
"Bang!"
A muffled gunshot echoed through the dense forest.
A steel tranquilizer dart gleaming with a ghostly blue, poisonous sheen tore through the air, hurtling toward the