East Blue, Loguetown.
This place was known as the "Town of Beginnings and the End." It was the hometown of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, and also where he had ultimately met his death.
The grand Great Pirate Era had begun here.
And Roger's throne still stood in Loguetown's square to this day—the famous execution platform.
After seven days aboard a merchant vessel, Bane had finally set foot in Loguetown's port.
"So just how absurdly fast were the Straw Hat Pirates?" Bane sighed as he felt the exhaustion of a week at sea.
In less than half a year, the Straw Hat Pirates had gone from the East Blue, through all sorts of adventures, all the way to the end of the first half of the Grand Line—the Sabaody Archipelago.
At a merchant vessel's pace, it was questionable whether they could even cover half that distance in a year.
Standing at the harbor and enjoying the pleasant sea breeze, Bane turned to look over the docks. Loguetown truly deserved its reputation as one of the more famous and prosperous island towns in the East Blue. The shipyards were packed with vessels of every size from all over.
To his surprise, Bane even spotted a pirate ship!
As far as he knew, the commander of the Loguetown Marine base was Smoker, a Marine Headquarters colonel known as the White Hunter.
And in the original story, Smoker had confidently told his subordinates that during his time in Loguetown, he had never let a single pirate escape.
In other words, any pirates traveling from the East Blue to the Grand Line who had made it through—like that so-called East Blue overlord Krieg—had likely bypassed Loguetown entirely and never come here at all.
That meant the owner of this pirate ship would probably be out of luck before long.
Honestly, public safety in the East Blue was pretty good. Bane had spent an entire week sailing and had not encountered a single pirate.
After taking a closer look at the pirate flag and confirming that it belonged to some unknown small fry, Bane stopped paying attention. He left the harbor and headed into town. He planned to collect his bounty from the Marine base first, then visit Roger's execution platform, experience Loguetown's local culture, rest for two days, and catch another merchant vessel to Shimotsuki Village.
Whether it was luck or not, Bane had barely stepped into the town's commercial street when he heard a piercing whistle. At its sound, the nearby vendors froze for a moment, then hurriedly packed up their goods as they ran about shouting, "It's the Marines' emergency whistle! Run! They're probably catching pirates again!"
In less than three minutes, the entire commercial street had been emptied, leaving behind stalls and small shops that had not been packed away in time, as well as a somewhat bewildered Bane still standing in the street.
"Ah? They're this practiced at it?" Bane looked around at the deserted block, unsure how to comment.
The next second, a burst of rapid gunfire rang out from the end of the street. Then a group of pirates came charging out, with a large force of Marines in pursuit.
The pirate leading them was tall and powerfully built, bald and one-eyed. He held a pistol in his left hand and a machete in his right, radiating a vicious aura.
"Damn it! Didn't they say that White Hunter had gone back to Marine Headquarters to report in? Why did he suddenly show up—" The pirate captain cursed as he urged his men to run.
Just then, a large amount of white smoke surged out from behind them. The dense smoke rushed toward them at incredible speed. In the span of only a few breaths, it engulfed the few pirate lackeys at the rear, silencing them. Without pausing in the slightest, the smoke accelerated again and chased after the pirates ahead.
The pirate captain did not care in the least whether his men lived or died. He only wanted to escape. After running over a hundred meters, he saw Bane standing in the middle of the road as though he had been frightened senseless.
"Get out of the way!" the pirate captain cursed, raising his blade and slashing at Bane.
But before the blade could fall, his vision suddenly went black. In that instant, he felt as if endless darkness had swallowed him whole!
"What's going on?" the pirate captain cried out.
Before he could react, a huge hand emerged from the darkness and seized his throat with perfect precision. Tremendous force surged from that hand, yanking his entire body off the ground. Then the pirate captain felt weightless for a moment.
The next instant, with a bang, Bane slammed him into the ground. The solid stone paving shattered beneath him. Blood flowed from the back of the pirate captain's head, and after twitching a few times, he stopped moving.
At the same time, the dense white smoke swallowed up all the remaining pirate lackeys.
The surging white smoke and the thick Darkness Element faced off in the street for a moment. Soon, Smoker slowly emerged from the smoke, while the darkness gradually dispersed to reveal Bane. A bright smile was on his face as he looked at Smoker across from him.
"You're not an ability user related to space, are you?" Smoker looked at Bane for a moment before speaking.
Clearly, as a Marine Headquarters colonel, he paid close attention to the situation on the seas. At a glance, he recognized Bane as the man who had killed Thatch, commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' 4th Division!
Of course, that was how the Whitebeard Pirates described it. To Smoker, Bane had merely rid the people of a menace. Well done!
"I never said I was an ability user related to space." Bane chuckled.
Smoker held no hostility toward Bane, but he remained properly wary. Standing where he was, he asked, "Come to think of it, no one knows your name yet. Would you mind introducing yourself?"
"Bane." Without hiding anything, Bane gave him the answer directly. After a brief pause, he added with a smile, "As for my profession, I suppose I'm a pirate hunter? I just turned twenty this year. Anything else you want to ask?"
Smoker had not expected him to be so forthcoming, revealing everything in one go. After thinking for a moment, he added, "Yes. What are you doing in Loguetown?"
"Collecting a bounty. I told you, I'm a pirate hunter. I was avoiding retaliation from the Whitebeard Pirates, so I kept moving around and never had the chance to collect Thatch's bounty. Now that I've reached the East Blue, it's finally a little safer, so I came to collect the reward from you Marines. Three hundred and sixty million Belly. Don't try to shortchange me." Bane grinned.
Smoker looked at the half-dead pirate beneath Bane's feet before saying, "Looking at it now, it should be three hundred and sixty-two million, two hundred thousand Belly."
Bane naturally understood what he meant. He did not refuse, merely nodding. "You're paying, so you call the shots."
While the two were talking, the main Marine force caught up as well. Without needing any instructions from Smoker, the Marine soldiers efficiently began "packing up" the pirates.
Seeing this, Smoker said, "This isn't the place to talk. Would you mind coming to the Marine base for a seat? We Marines are quite interested in you as well."
Bane had been planning to visit the Marine base anyway. Smoker could only pay him there, and Bane trusted Smoker's character. He had never had any conflict with the Marines, so he did not mind. After openly agreeing to Smoker's invitation, the two headed together for the Loguetown Marine base.
The moment they entered the gates of the Marine base, a cute girl wearing glasses hurried out from inside, looking somewhat flustered.
Bane recognized her immediately. This female Marine was Tashigi.
"Colonel Smoker, are you all right?" Tashigi stepped forward and asked with concern.
But Smoker merely waved his hand coldly. "What could possibly happen to me?"
Then, before Tashigi could speak, Smoker ordered, "Report the situation to Headquarters. Tell them that the man who took down Thatch has come to our Loguetown Marine base to collect his bounty. He's a pirate hunter named Bane."
"Oh." Tashigi responded instinctively at first, then finally processed what he had said and looked at Bane beside her in astonishment.
But Smoker was not about to indulge her. Seeing her standing there in a daze, he barked harshly, "What are you staring at? Go!"
Before you continue