As soon as Dunn said this, Colonel Mouse's suspicious expression froze. He stared at Dunn in shock, pointing at him with all his sharp teeth showing.
"You—you—you—you... You're that Pirate Hunter? You're still in the East Blue?"
Colonel Mouse looked utterly bewildered.
"Of course I'm still in the East Blue. Where else would I go?"
Dunn smiled at Colonel Mouse, his gaze seeming to carry a hidden meaning.
At the reminder from Dragon and Garp's arrival earlier, Dunn had realized that this guy had reported information about him.
"You didn't join the Navy? Did Vice Admiral Garp not find you?"
Colonel Mouse made no attempt to hide what he knew. He stared at Dunn with wide eyes.
He knew the Navy had sent Vice Admiral Garp to look for someone.
But he genuinely didn't know how it had turned out.
Still, he figured that since Vice Admiral Garp had personally gone, there was an eighty percent chance he'd found the man and taken him back to Marine Headquarters.
That was what he'd always believed, and it was why he'd frozen when he recognized Dunn.
Dunn studied Colonel Mouse for a few moments, unable to tell whether the man was truly stupid or just pretending. But he didn't particularly care about that now.
"The two pirates have a combined bounty of 3.9 million Beli. Let's round it up to 4 million."
As he spoke, Dunn got to his feet and headed for the door.
"Oh, right. Bring the money to the usual place."
Only when Dunn stood did Colonel Mouse notice how much his build had changed.
"Sir!"
A nearby Marine saw Colonel Mouse staring blankly after Dunn and called to him cautiously.
"Oh, right. Lock these two scumbag pirates up and get the bounty money ready."
Coming back to himself, Colonel Mouse kicked the two captured pirates and gave his orders, then headed outside.
Dunn's sudden appearance left Colonel Mouse puzzled.
He wondered whether he should report Dunn's situation again.
But what had happened on the Navy's end before?
Had they failed to find him?
With that thought, Colonel Mouse returned to his office and immediately picked up a Den Den Mushi to contact Marine Headquarters.
Buru-buru.
After a short while, the Den Den Mushi's appearance changed.
Seeing this, Colonel Mouse instinctively stood at attention.
"I'm Colonel Mouse, base commander of the 16th Branch of the East Blue. My ID number is 00733. I have something to report."
Colonel Mouse then reported that Dunn, who had appeared a year earlier, had shown up again, and asked why he was still in the East Blue.
"Please wait a moment, Colonel Mouse."
A woman answered from Marine Headquarters. A moment later, she spoke again.
"Regarding the matter you mentioned, Marine Headquarters sent Vice Admiral Garp to the East Blue to search a year ago, but he didn't find him."
So they really hadn't found him.
Colonel Mouse understood, then asked what he should do now.
"Colonel Mouse, you may invite him to join the Navy at your discretion. If he really is a Devil Fruit user, Marine Headquarters will record your contribution and report the matter to the higher-ups."
"Understood!"
Colonel Mouse nodded immediately.
An invitation was a chance to earn merit. There was nothing shameful about it.
After hanging up, he was told that a Marine had brought the bounty money. Mouse didn't hesitate and went to find Dunn in person, taking a group of men with him.
The tavern in town.
It hadn't changed much from a year ago. The owner was still the same.
"One glass of juice!"
Dunn set the sword in his hand on the counter as he spoke.
The tavern owner was used to this. He skillfully poured him a glass of orange juice.
It was fresh!
Dunn took a sip, and his eyes lit up.
It was perfectly tart, with bits of pulp mixed in. The texture was excellent.
"Pretty good, isn't it, young man? These oranges come from Cocoyasi Village, and they're famous throughout the East Blue. If the base weren't so close to the village, I couldn't get oranges this fresh."
Seeing Dunn's expression, the tavern owner said with a smile.
At the name of the village, Dunn's expression shifted.
"Is Cocoyasi Village nearby?"
"Of course it is. It only takes half a day or so by boat!"
The answer came not from the tavern owner, but from a customer inside. A middle-aged man dressed like a sailor held a large mug of beer and looked over at them.
"Are there boats going there?"
Dunn asked.
"Of course. There's one every day. Cocoyasi Village is in the Conomi Islands, where they grow all kinds of fruit. There are boats every day, especially when the fruit is ripe."
Dunn nodded at this, said nothing more, then turned to look at the tavern wall.
Rows of wanted posters hung there.
There were no posters for the great pirates of the New World. Most were for pirates from the East Blue, along with a few who had left the East Blue for the New World.
Admiral Krieg, with a bounty of 12 million.
Klahadore, captain of the Black Cat Pirates, with a bounty of 10 million.
Dunn glanced over the two conspicuous wanted posters and examined them closely.
"These two are major pirates in the East Blue."
Noticing Dunn's gaze, the tavern owner set down the glass he was polishing and spoke.
"Ten million makes someone a major pirate?"
Dunn looked a little bemused.
"Of course. The East Blue is the Weakest Sea, and pirates here don't dare stay for long. If a pirate's bounty gets too high, the Navy comes after them.
"This is the hometown of the Hero of the Marines, Garp."
The tavern owner spoke with reverence.
"His hometown? The East Blue is pretty big."
Dunn understood where the tavern owner was coming from, but the planet's surface covered roughly a quarter of the world.
Dunn shook his head slightly.
"That's true. The East Blue is huge, and even the Navy can't wipe out every pirate. Be careful when you go out to sea, young man."
The tavern owner clearly hadn't understood what Dunn meant and offered a kind warning.
"I will."
Dunn appreciated other people's kindness.
But the ones who might need to be careful were the pirates.
Dunn's gaze swept across the wanted posters one by one.
The first two had bounties of over 10 million Beli. The rest were worth only a few million.
Even so, those were considered fairly high bounties in the East Blue.
Of course, the pictures were also highly abstract.
They perfectly captured the spirit of this world.
"Here are the wanted posters for the pirates in the East Blue who haven't been caught yet."
Just then, the tavern owner revealed his true intentions. As if by magic, he produced a stack of wanted posters and laid them in front of Dunn.
"Only 150,000 Beli."
At this, the other people in the tavern couldn't hold back.
"Old Komodo, you're way too greedy!"
Evidently, 150,000 Beli was no small sum for them.
"You bunch of idiots don't know what you're talking about. I gathered a lot of information and compiled all this myself. Look, the back of each poster has the location where the pirate was spotted."
As he spoke, he picked up one and showed it to the others.
Sure enough, there was plenty of writing on the back of the wanted poster, recording where the pirates had been seen and the general areas where they operated.
It even noted what they'd done.
The information was indeed detailed.
"Did you recognize me?"
Dunn fell silent, then asked.
"Heh. Young man, your build may have changed, but I'm Old Komodo. I've got a good eye. A year ago, you brought in pirates to collect their bounties."
The tavern owner, Old Komodo, didn't deny it.
A lot of people must have come through here every day, yet he'd remembered Dunn. That was some memory.
"After all, those guys don't even look human, unlike you, young man."
Was that supposed to be a compliment?
Dunn was taken aback and felt a little speechless.
Still, he did look different from the other people in the tavern.
"Well? Want a copy, young man? I'll even take 100,000 Beli."
"Then I'll take one."
Dunn nodded.
While he waited for Arlong, he'd been planning to stretch his legs a little.
If he could find Krieg or Kuro, that would be great.
But at this point in time, Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates probably hadn't faked his death and gone into hiding yet.
As for Krieg, that guy probably ranged over a wide area.
After all, when he later set out to sea, he'd been known as the overlord of the East Blue.
But with a pirate crew of five thousand men, Dunn wasn't sure whether Krieg, like Arlong later on, had been in cahoots with the Navy.
He tossed his money pouch onto the counter, leisurely sipped his juice, and picked up a wanted poster to read the notes on the back.
"A pirate with a bounty of only three million led his crew in slaughtering the villages on three islands and killed at least five hundred people?"
Reading the notes, Dunn's eyelid twitched.
Though it was only a written record, it still represented hundreds of lives.
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