Shameless?

Under Nojiko's explanation, Rodney understood that the Marine branch Captain who colluded with Arlong was Rat.

The Captain of the 16th Marine Branch was in league with Arlong, officials and bandits colluding, an unscrupulous Marine scoundrel oppressing the villagers, accepting bribes. Without him, Arlong wouldn't have been able to rule the villages near Cocoyasi Village so rampantly.

This guy, under the guise of the Marines, had done a lot of dirty things. In the storyline, he even stole the 100 million Berries that Nami had painstakingly saved to redeem the village.

Truly despicable and shameless.

This guy came to Arlong today to collect the usual bribes, but he didn't expect Arlong to be wiped out.

So he sent people to inquire about the situation. A villager let slip that Rodney was still lying in bed, so he had malicious intentions, wanting to make a buck off Rodney.

Too bad they picked the wrong person.

"Let's go, Big Slug Sister. My body has recovered enough to move, so I don't take a few Marines seriously," he said.

Nojiko worried, "But, your body..." She was still worried about Rodney's body, after all, he had been lying down for several days.

Rodney shook his head and said, "That's what makes it interesting. A bunch of rabble—there's no need for me to use my full strength. Heh, Miss Nojiko, please support me. I'll go take a look."

"...Okay." Seeing him insist, Nojiko had no choice but to help him towards Captain Rat's location.

Near Nami's house was an orange grove, planted by Nojiko and Nami's adoptive mother, Bellemere, to sell oranges and supplement the household income. She was a strong person and an excellent Marine.

Outside the orange grove, the villagers of Cocoyasi Village were blocked by the Marines. The leader was a guy wearing a rat hat, with shifty eyes and a wretched face, and even had six rat-like whiskers.

He chuckled coldly, "What do you guys want? Don't you know I'm a Marine Captain? I'm here to comfort the great hero who killed the vicious pirate! What are you doing? Are you trying to oppose the Marines?"

"Hmph! Comfort the hero? Why weren't you willing to take action when the Arlong Pirates were around? Are you even a Marine?" The person who spoke was a middle-aged man wearing brown clothes with a spinning windmill on his hat, and several scars crisscrossing his face.

Mr. Arlong's underling, Arlong, a real man, was seriously injured by Kuroobi in order to protect Nami's adoptive mother, ending up like this.

He treated Nami like his own daughter. If there were no accidents, he might have formed a family with Nami's mother, which would have been a happy family.

Nami, who was beside him, also said, "Hmph, a bunch of guys who collude with pirates!"

Captain Rat looked at her and sneered, "I remember you were also a member of the Arlong Pirates, weren't you, little girl? What's wrong? I suspect you're related to the Arlong Pirates, arrest her for me!"

"You dare touch little Nami?"

"Try touching her!"

"No one is allowed to hurt our treasure!"

Originally, the villagers spontaneously came to stop this excessive Captain Rat, not saying much. They were grateful to Rodney, but they wouldn't clash head-on with the Marines. They would delay here and then let Nojiko take Rodney away, but it was different when Captain Rat spoke about arresting Nami.

Who was Nami?

She was their darling, this child who they had watched grow up, like their own family. Moreover, Nami went through thick and thin for the village, stealing treasures on the sea, and could lose her life if she wasn't careful. How could they not feel sorry for her?! How could they not be angry?

Captain Rat's words were like lighting a fuse, enraging the villagers.

We can tolerate you colluding with the Arlong Pirates normally, but you can't touch our treasure!!

The villagers' aura changed, scaring Captain Rat back a step. He reacted, pulled out a pistol, and pointed it at Mr. Arlong, saying, "Lowly commoner! How dare you oppose the Marines? You're courting death!!"

Seeing him draw his gun, the villagers were afraid, but they didn't retreat, glaring at Captain Rat, which had already shown their determination.

At this moment, a voice rang out, "I am Rodney, who's looking for me?"

When everyone heard this voice, they voluntarily made way. Rodney came here supported by Nojiko, while the huge slug had become the size of a palm, staying on his shoulder.

This was the slug's split body. Her body was too big, so she had her split off a small one to stay with him.

"Mr. Rodney?"

"Your body hasn't recovered yet, Mr. Rodney, why did you run out?"

"That's right, Mr. Rodney, leave this to us. You don't have to worry."

"Mr. Rodney, why did you come out?! Your body..." Seeing Rodney, Nami said in surprise, signaling her sister to take him back. How could he be here in such a sickly state?

Nojiko shook her head, indicating that she was powerless.

Rodney said, "I am Joestar J. Rodney, what do you need me for?"

Captain Rat put away his gun, seeing that he looked weak and felt like his body had been hollowed out, so he relaxed his vigilance. Although you killed Arlong of the Arlong Pirates, who even I couldn't beat, your body is so weak, you probably can't withstand a bullet, right?

He naively thought that he could handle the weakened Rodney.

He coughed and said, "I am Captain Rat of the 16th Marine Branch. I heard that you defeated Arlong of the Arlong Pirates?"

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"Of course!" Captain Rat suddenly said loudly, "You killed our target! We had been planning for so long! You suddenly disrupted our plan, Joestar J. Rodney, do you know what you've done?"

How shameless!

The villagers were angry. "All you do all day is accept bribes! You haven't done anything right, colluding with Arlong to oppress us. And now you're suddenly trying to clear yourself of your crimes, even turning around to threaten our benefactor? How can anyone be so shameless?"

Rodney blinked, equally stunned. He'd never seen anyone describe accepting bribes as undercover work. What was the plan? Wait until he became second-in-command of the Arlong Pirates and then make a clean sweep?

Performing an Infernal Affairs?

"Bullshit! You're clearly colluding with the Arlong Pirates! Oppressing the good people! If it weren't for Mr. Rodney, we don't know how long we would have lived that kind of life! Where are the Marines? You're taking money!! And now you're actually slandering Mr. Rodney, you people don't deserve to be Marines!"

"That's right!"

"You people don't deserve to be Marines! Get out of our village!"

"Yes! That's right, get lost, get lost!"

"Get out of our village!"

"Get out!"

"Get out!"

The crowd was furious. Seeing this, Captain Rat was annoyed and fired a shot into the sky, shouting, "What's all the noise about? Bounty Hunter Joestar J. Rodney, I now suspect you of colluding with other pirate groups! Come with me to the Marines branch."

What is shamelessness? This is shamelessness!

Big Slug Sister said softly, "Lord Rodney, this human is really shameless."

"Yeah, it's the first time I've seen someone so shameless." Rodney nodded, "Dissolve the pistol in his hand."

"Okay." Big Slug Sister spat out sour acid, accurately landing on the pistol held by Captain Rat.

Chi!

Big Slug Sister's few attack methods, the tongue-tooth adhesive acid, is extremely corrosive. Even Snake-bro acknowledges that this is a technique that can kill him. Just attaching to the pistol dissolved it, leaving only the grip.

"This... this..." He mustered his courage and looked at Rodney, saying, "You are attacking the Marines! There are people here."

Rodney looked at him with the eyes of an idiot and said, "Please, use your brain, okay? Everyone is just here today to see how my injuries are. There are no outsiders in the village, right? Didn't everyone see it?"

The villagers were stunned for a moment, then left one by one.

"Yeah, looks like it's going to rain, I need to go back and collect my clothes."

"Let's go together, let's go together."

"Me too."

It was a sunny day, but everyone said it was going to rain.

Rodney smiled. You can be shameless, and so can I.