East Blue, 16th Marine Branch.
"Sir! Sir!"
The urgent shouts woke Major Nezumi from his doze.
"Damn it, what's the rush?"
Woken from his nap, the Marine Branch major, Nezumi, glared furiously at the Marine who had rushed into his office and roared.
"Sir, a pirate ship is heading for the base."
The Marine who had entered saw Nezumi's angry expression and quickly snapped to attention before reporting.
"Huh? Wait, a pirate ship?"
The news made Major Nezumi, who was still half-asleep, open his eyes wide. He looked at the Marine standing at attention in confusion.
"Yes, sir!"
The reporting Marine nodded repeatedly, assuring him that he had heard correctly.
"The base commander hasn't returned yet?"
Major Nezumi stood up and asked with a frown.
"Um, the base commander went back to headquarters to give a report. He only just left."
The Marine answered cautiously when questioned.
"Sound the alarm! Prepare to engage the enemy!"
Major Nezumi, whose appearance was rather shifty, gave the order. The Marine saluted and immediately turned to run outside.
Major Nezumi picked up the long sword beside him, still looking confused.
"There aren't any powerful pirates in the East Blue, let alone any who'd attack a Marine Base head-on. What's going on?"
He walked out of his office with his sword in hand. The alarm rang across the Marine Base as squads of Marines hurried out and formed up. Major Nezumi led several hundred Marines toward the harbor.
The residents of the town outside the base saw what was happening and looked on in confusion.
Led by Major Nezumi, a large group of Marines reached the seaside dock. They looked up and saw a small pirate ship heading straight for the harbor.
"Prepare to fight!"
Nezumi had clearly not become a Marine major by being useless. He had worked his way up from an ordinary Marine, after all.
The Marines formed ranks and waited for the pirate ship to approach, weapons in hand.
On the pirate ship, Dunn stood at the bow and had already spotted the assembled Marines.
Behind him, on the deck, a group of pirates crouched with their hands over their heads. Aside from the few steering the ship, the rest were behaving themselves.
"Slow down and pull in!"
Dunn turned and gave the order. The pirate ship, which had been moving at full speed, began to slow.
A moment later, the small pirate ship eased up to the dock. Dunn stepped off and looked toward the front of the Marine formation.
He had whiskers like a mouse, and his face looked rather shifty.
"I'm Major Nezumi, deputy commander of the 16th Marine Branch. My serial number is 00733. You pirates actually dared to attack a Marine Base!"
As he spoke, Nezumi pointed his sword at Dunn.
"I'm not a pirate. I'm a Pirate Hunter. I'm here to turn in these pirates and collect the bounty!"
Dunn didn't bother correcting Nezumi's assumption that he was a pirate. He simply told him the truth, then gestured toward the pirate ship behind him.
Major Nezumi's expression stiffened. He looked toward the pirate ship and saw a line of heads poking over the railing.
"A Pirate Hunter?"
Major Nezumi was dumbfounded. The Marines standing ready for battle exchanged baffled looks.
"Oh, right. There's treasure aboard the ship too. Convert it to Beli for me and bring it over with the rest."
Dunn glanced at Major Nezumi, walked past him, and headed toward the town. The Marines instinctively parted to let him through.
As they watched Dunn walk through the gap the Marines had made and head toward town, Major Nezumi and the other Marines were left utterly confused.
But when they boarded the pirate ship and faced the pirates, who weren't tied up yet weren't resisting at all, they all began to speculate about Dunn's strength.
After recognizing Doru, a pirate with a bounty of 2.5 million Beli, they escorted him and the other pirates back to the base and gave them a brief interrogation.
Doru's crew had accepted their fate.
Pirates out at sea—or people in general—tended to bully the weak and fear the strong.
Take Dunn, for example. He had only needed to demonstrate his strength, and these pirates, who had gone to sea just a year ago, had given up on resisting. They had obediently sailed their own ship to the Marine Base.
"Controls fire? And wasn't hurt even after being cut by a sword?"
On his way back, Major Nezumi murmured the information he had just obtained during the interrogation about that Pirate Hunter.
"A User, then? Someone with a fire-related ability?"
Major Nezumi, who had initially considered pocketing the treasure and taking credit for capturing the pirates, quickly thought better of it.
The pirates knew little about the world, but Major Nezumi had served in the Marines for many years. He knew about the existence of Devil Fruits.
As soon as he heard Doru mention fire, he immediately thought of a Devil Fruit User.
"Sir?"
A Marine's reminder brought Major Nezumi back to his senses as he emerged from the cellblock.
"That Pirate Hunter?"
"Convert the bounty and the treasure into Beli and deliver it to that Pirate Hunter. Also, ask about him. We need to at least find out his name."
Major Nezumi thought it over. Until he knew what kind of ability the man had, he didn't want to provoke him.
As for a Logia, he didn't even dare entertain the thought.
After all, the three Logia Vice Admirals in the Marines were currently in the limelight, and it seemed they would soon be promoted to Admiral.
They were candidates for Admiral, after all.
In a tavern in town, Dunn sat by the bar and listened to the patrons discuss what had just happened.
It was rare to see the Marines escort such a large group of pirates back to the base.
"I heard a Pirate Hunter caught them. A whole ship full of pirates."
Someone clearly had good sources.
"That's impressive. He caught so many pirates. He must be a real expert out on the sea."
"Of course. They say there were dozens of them. Anyone who could catch that many must be incredible."
Dunn had just begun exploring this world, and he found it rather interesting to hear people discussing him. He listened quietly until a Marine suddenly arrived and silenced the tavern.
"Mr. Pirate Hunter, here's the bounty and the money from the treasure. It comes to a total of 9.53 million Beli."
The Marine who arrived spotted Dunn sitting at the bar, walked over, saluted, and handed him a bag.
In an instant, all the tavern patrons who had been talking turned their eyes toward Dunn.
"Thanks."
Dunn glanced at the bag and took it.
"Um, you need to register to collect a bounty."
Seeing Dunn take the bag, the Marine gestured. Another Marine carrying paper and a pen stepped forward and stared directly at Dunn.
"We need to record who collected the bounty and report it to headquarters."
"My name is Dunn. I've only just gone out to sea."
Dunn looked from one Marine to the other as he answered.
"And after that?"
"That's all!"
When Dunn simply shook his head, the two Marines exchanged glances. One of them asked another question.
"Where are you headed next?"
"Next? I'll keep looking for pirates. I'm a Pirate Hunter, after all."
Dunn raised an eyebrow as he replied.
Before you continue