After the warship departed.
Smoker and Lynn made their preparations as well, boarded the small boat, and prepared to head for Loguetown.
Smoker watched Lynn fumble around, his brow furrowing.
"Hey, let me ask first—you do know how to sail, right?"
"What kind of joke is that? Of course I do!"
Lynn answered confidently, "I rowed all the way here following the warship. Didn't you see?"
Thinking about it, Smoker realized that was indeed true and relaxed.
After all, conditions at sea were complicated. Compared with a steady warship, a small boat was much harder to control. Even he was not particularly skilled at such things.
With an experienced sailor who could handle a small boat, this journey would be much safer.
Lynn placed the Log Pose at the bow, sat in the boat, and gave the shore a gentle push, sending the little vessel away from the harbor.
Then he picked up the oars, spread open his book on his knees, and sailed while reading.
Taking this chance, Smoker satisfied his curiosity.
He had long wanted to know what exactly was in the book Lynn read while sailing.
Yet after only a few glances, his expression began to turn strange.
Written inside were the words:
Beginner's Section: Chapter Three.
How to Control a Boat's Direction on the Sea.
"Hey..."
Smoker recognized the contents and called out to Lynn, asking:
"Isn't that book called A Beginner's Guide to Operating Small Manually Powered Boats?"
Lynn nodded.
Smoker's expression worsened. "Isn't that a book for beginners who don't know how to sail?"
Lynn nodded and sighed. "It's such a good book. Everything is explained in great detail."
"..."
Smoker fell silent for a long time before cautiously asking, "Hey, you're a devil fruit user, right?"
Lynn nodded.
"You know I'm a devil fruit user too, right?" Smoker asked again.
Lynn nodded again.
"Then you know Devil Fruit Users can't swim, right?"
Lynn looked at Smoker as if he were an idiot and picked at his ear. "Doesn't the Navy teach you even that?"
"..."
Smoker fell silent once more.
He had the urge to lose his temper.
But the steadily receding island kept telling Smoker—no, you can't.
If this little boat capsized, he might become the most humiliatingly dead Logia Devil Fruit User in the world.
And the culprit responsible for his humiliating death would probably die alongside him.
There was nothing more humiliating in the world.
Smoker could only sit grim-faced at the back of the boat without saying a word.
Looking at the gradually receding island, Smoker silently prayed in his heart—
I hope that book is actually useful!
Rowing a small boat from the Uninhabited Island to Loguetown by hand would take over twenty hours.
But Lynn's stamina was astonishing, and he hardly needed to rest, shortening that time to just over ten hours.
Fortunately, Lynn and Smoker did not encounter any storms or huge waves along the way.
Thus, after a journey Smoker found utterly nerve-racking, the two finally caught sight of land.
According to the plan.
Lynn did not head directly to Loguetown's harbor. Instead, he first moored the small boat along a remote stretch of coast.
Smoker jumped from the boat, rubbed his shoulders, and finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Tch. If you try pulling something reckless again, I won't go along with it!"
After tossing out his usual threat, Smoker turned and left.
He needed to find somewhere to change clothes, then infiltrate Loguetown as an ordinary person and wait for an opportunity to act.
Elsewhere.
After seeing Smoker off, Lynn rowed the small boat in a wide circle, pretending that he had come directly to Loguetown, and landed openly at Loguetown Harbor.
The instant Lynn's foot stepped onto the harbor.
A surveillance Den Den Mushi in the distance transmitted the scene to somewhere within Loguetown.
Inside that dark room, Kuro quietly watched the image displayed on the monitor, a smile curling across his lips.
He was finally here!
As long as he could kill that man, his plan would succeed. He would completely shed his identity as a pirate and never again have to live every day in constant fear!
At the thought, Kuro could not help bursting into laughter as he savored carefully selected wine.
Yet when he looked back at the screen, he discovered that the surveillance angle had changed.
The surveillance Den Den Mushi's viewpoint was bobbing up and down, as though someone had taken it away.
Seeing this, Kuro hurriedly picked up an ordinary Den Den Mushi beside him and made a call.
To prevent accidents, he had long arranged for people to keep watch near the harbor, and they carried another Den Den Mushi for communication.
Brrr, brrr, brrr... Brrr, brrr, brrr...
Click!
"Hey, what happened over at the harbor?" Kuro asked.
However, an unexpected voice came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi.
"Hundred Plans Kuro? This is our first time speaking, isn't it?"
Kuro instantly recognized the owner of that voice. It was the target of this operation, the boss Lynn Barek, with a bounty of 100 million Beli!
Kuro frowned. "Lynn Barek? How do you have that Den Den Mushi?"
"I took it."
Lynn answered honestly, but then a completely ill-timed voice came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi.
"Yes, yes, boss. Fifty skewers, with extra chili."
"..."
Kuro was silent for a moment before asking in confusion, "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing. Rowing and fighting are both tiring, so I need to eat something beforehand," Lynn said through the Den Den Mushi.
Then, while speaking, Lynn fiddled with the surveillance Den Den Mushi he had taken.
"How did this thing work again? Oh, right, like this."
After a bout of shaking, Lynn's face appeared on the surveillance screen.
He was currently chewing on skewers in huge bites, with the Den Den Mushi he was using to speak with Kuro still in his hand.
"Hey, hey? You can see me, right?"
Kuro pushed up his glasses with his palm and replied with a cold laugh, "As expected of a major figure who caused chaos in the Sabaody Archipelago and declared war on the Celestial Dragons. Your conduct truly cannot be judged by common sense."
"Oh my, you flatter me."
Lynn wolfed down the skewers at an astonishing speed as he asked, "Where's Makino? Is she alright?"
"Of course."
"I need to hear her voice."
Kuro waved a hand, and a subordinate beside him brought Makino over before tearing the tape from her mouth.
Makino saw Lynn on the screen and hurriedly cried out, "Lynn, don't come... mmph!"
After she had only said a few words, Kuro had his subordinate cover Makino's mouth again.
"You and I are both people who keep our promises, Lynn Barek."
Kuro smiled as he asked, "Can you tell me now how you discovered the men I stationed at the harbor, as well as that surveillance Den Den Mushi?"
"Who do you think I am, Kuro? There's a limit to how much you can underestimate people."
Lynn ate the last skewer and smacked his lips.
The next instant, Lynn's expression darkened, and a suffocating fury nearly burst through the screen!
"Do you know? You've made an enemy of the one person you should never have provoked."
At the harbor—
The three Black Cat Pirates members assigned to surveillance had been brutally smashed headfirst into the brick pavement!
Before you continue