Major Nezumi and the Devil Fruit User

The 16th Marine Branch in the East Blue.

"Sir, sir!"

The anxious shouting startled Major Nezumi, who had been squinting his eyes in a nap.

"You bastard, what are you rushing for?"

Woken up from his slumber, the Marine branch major, Nezumi, glared at the Marine who had burst into his office and roared.

"Sir, there is a pirate ship heading toward the base."

Seeing the angry expression on Nezumi's face, the Marine who had entered quickly stood at attention before reporting.

"Huh? Wait, a pirate ship?"

This news made Major Nezumi, who hadn't fully woken up yet, widen his eyes, looking at the Marine standing at attention with a puzzled expression.

"Yes, sir!"

The reporting Marine nodded repeatedly, indicating that he had not reported incorrectly.

"Has the base commander not returned yet?"

Major Nezumi stood up and asked with a frown.

"Uh, the base commander returned to headquarters to report, he only just left a short while ago."

Hearing the inquiry, the Marine answered cautiously.

"Sound the alarm, prepare to engage the enemy!"

The somewhat sleazy-looking Major Nezumi gave the order directly. Upon hearing the instructions, the Marine saluted and turned to run outside.

Grabbing the long sword beside him, Major Nezumi still had a look of confusion on his face.

"There aren't any powerful pirates in the East Blue, let alone ones who would directly assault a Marine base. What is going on?"

Clutching his sword, he walked out of the office. The alarm at the Marine base began to blare, and squads of Marines quickly poured out to form ranks. Major Nezumi led hundreds of Marines directly toward the harbor.

Residents of the town outside the base discovered the situation and were all filled with confusion.

A large group of Marines, led by Major Nezumi, arrived at the seaside pier and looked up to see a small pirate ship heading straight for the port.

"Prepare for combat!"

Able to become a Marine major, Nezumi was clearly not someone who knew nothing; after all, he had walked step by step from a mere Marine to his current position.

The Marines formed ranks, holding their weapons and waiting for the pirate ship to approach.

On the pirate ship, Dunn stood at the bow, having already seen the lined-up Marines.

Behind him on the ship's deck, a group of pirates were huddled in a defensive crouch. Aside from the few pirates controlling the ship's course, the others were all behaving themselves.

"Slow down, dock the ship!"

Dunn turned his head and gave the order, and the pirate ship, which had been sailing quickly, began to lose speed.

A moment later, the small pirate ship slowly pulled up to the pier. Dunn stepped off the ship and his gaze fell upon the front of the Marine formation.

He had whiskers like a mouse, and his face looked somewhat sleazy.

"I am Major Nezumi, vice-commander of the 16th Marine Branch, serial number 00733. You pirates actually dare to attack a Marine base!"

As he spoke, Nezumi pointed his sword at Dunn.

"I'm not a pirate. Well, I'm a pirate hunter. I'm here to deliver pirates and collect the bounty!"

Dunn didn't care that Nezumi had mistaken him for a pirate; he told the other party the truth directly and even pointed at the pirate ship behind him.

Major Nezumi's expression stiffened. He looked up at the pirate ship and saw a row of heads poking out from the ship's railing.

"A pirate hunter?"

Major Nezumi was a bit dazed, and the Marines who were standing by in full battle readiness looked at each other in confusion.

"Oh right, there's also the treasure on the ship. Help me exchange it for Beli, and then send it over together."

Dunn glanced at Major Nezumi and walked past him. The Marine formation subconsciously parted to create a path.

Watching Dunn walk past the path cleared by the Marines and head toward the town, Major Nezumi and the group of Marines were completely baffled.

However, when they boarded the pirate ship and faced these pirates who were not tied up yet offered no resistance, they began to speculate about Dunn's strength.

After recognizing the pirate Doru, who had a bounty of 2.5 million Beli, they escorted Doru and the other pirates back to the base and conducted a brief interrogation.

Doru and his gang of pirates had resigned themselves to their fate.

Pirates—or rather, people—on the high seas were all bullies who feared the strong.

Just like with Dunn, after he merely demonstrated his strength, this group of pirates who had only been at sea for a year had no thoughts of resistance and obediently sailed the pirate ship to the Marine base themselves.

"Manipulating flames? And he wasn't injured even after being slashed by a sword?"

The returning Major Nezumi muttered about the intelligence he had just interrogated regarding that pirate hunter.

"A Devil Fruit user? A user with flame-related abilities?"

Major Nezumi, who had originally been thinking about embezzling the treasure and the credit for these pirates, decided to behave himself.

This group of pirates lacked experience, but Major Nezumi had spent many years in the Navy and naturally knew of the existence of Devil Fruits.

Upon hearing Doru mention flames, he immediately thought of a Devil Fruit user.

"Sir?"

The reminder from the marine brought Major Nezumi, who had just stepped out of the prison cell, back to his senses.

"That pirate hunter?"

"Take the bounty and the converted value of those treasures in Beli, and send them over to that pirate hunter. Also, ask about his situation; at the very least, we need to know his name."

Major Nezumi thought for a moment; without knowing what kind of ability the other party possessed, he did not want to provoke him.

As for a Logia type, he didn't even dare to imagine it.

After all, the three Logia-type Vice Admirals currently in the Navy were at the height of their fame and seemed to be on the verge of promotion to Admiral.

Those were Admiral candidates.

Inside the town tavern, Dunn sat at the bar, listening to the patrons discuss what had just happened.

The Navy escorting a large group of pirates back to their base was truly a rare sight here.

"I heard they were caught by a pirate hunter, a whole ship's worth of pirates."

Someone clearly had better sources of information.

"That's truly impressive. To capture so many pirates, he must be an expert on the high seas."

"That's for sure. They say there were dozens of pirates. To be able to capture that many, he must be very powerful."

Hearing the tavern patrons discussing him, Dunn, who was just beginning to step into this world, found it quite interesting and listened quietly until the arrival of Navy soldiers suddenly made the tavern go silent.

"Mr. Pirate Hunter, this is the bounty and the Beli converted from the treasures, totaling 9.53 million Beli."

The arriving marine saw Dunn sitting at the bar, walked over to salute him, and then handed over a bag.

In an instant, the eyes of the tavern guests who had been gossiping just moments ago were all fixed on Dunn.

"Many thanks!"

Dunn glanced at the bag and took it directly.

"Um, we need to register the collection of the bounty."

Seeing Dunn take the bag, the marine waved his hand, and a soldier behind him holding paper and a pen stepped forward, staring straight at Dunn.

"We need to register who collected the bounty to report it up the chain of command."

"My name is Dunn, I just set out to sea."

Dunn swept his gaze over the two marines and answered.

"And then?"

"That's all!"

Seeing Dunn shake his head, the two marines exchanged a look before one of them asked again.

"Then what is your next destination?"

"Next? I'll continue hunting pirates; after all, I am a pirate hunter."

Dunn raised an eyebrow and said.