Cocoyasi Village. Read
Genzo appeared to be chatting casually with Natsuya at the dinner table, but the tension in his eyes was impossible to hide.
Earlier, he had warmly invited Natsuya to eat.
But as he looked at Natsuya's handsome face during the meal, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he finally remembered something!
At last, he understood why Natsuya had seemed so familiar.
It was because he had seen that face on a wanted poster not long ago!
As the village sheriff, Genzo paid close attention to such things.
And with such a high bounty on Natsuya's head, there was no way Genzo could have overlooked it. In fact, the impression had been especially deep!
So although he had not recognized him at first, he remembered soon enough!
The Natsuya before him was a wanted criminal with a bounty of one hundred million Beli!
Realizing this, Genzo did not know whether to feel relieved or worried.
He was relieved because Natsuya seemed capable of helping with their current predicament.
This man's bounty was even higher than Arlong's. If he could help them deal with Arlong, perhaps their long-standing predicament could finally be resolved!
But he was worried because why would someone like him help them?
Natsuya had already done Nami a favor. They should have been repaying him, so how could they possibly ask him to do something for them!?
Besides, with such a high bounty, it was hard to say what kind of person he really was.
What if he was another evil scoundrel, just like Arlong?
With all that on his mind, Genzo naturally could not remain calm.
Natsuya, however, looked as composed as ever, as if he had not noticed Genzo's tension.
And so it went.
After dinner, Genzo arranged a place for Natsuya to stay.
Only then did he get the chance to quietly tell Nojiko and Nami the news.
"What!? That Natsuya is a wanted criminal with a bounty as high as one hundred million Beli!?"
Nojiko's little mouth fell open in shock.
Nami's expression did not change.
Seeing Nami's reaction, Genzo immediately understood that she had known Natsuya's identity all along.
So Nami had brought Natsuya here to deal with Arlong and the others?
Thinking of that, Genzo could not help feeling heartbroken for this little girl, who was only eleven or twelve.
She had taken on far too much.
Just then, Nami suddenly spoke coldly. "Genzo, if Natsuya is a wanted criminal, we should quickly report this to the Marines!"
Genzo froze at once.
Nojiko's eyes widened as well.
But Nami continued on her own. "If we report him to the Marines, we should get quite a reward. Then we might be able to buy the village back from Arlong."
"If the Marines can't catch him, that's fine too. I'll tell him I'm an officer of the Arlong Pirates and tell him to wipe them out if he's capable!"
Hearing that, Genzo fell silent.
Sure enough, Nami had brought Natsuya back with the intention of dealing with the Arlong Pirates.
No, it would be more accurate to say she intended to solve their predicament.
If the Marines could handle Natsuya, the massive reward they received should be enough to buy the village back from Arlong.
Of course, the more likely possibility was that the Marines would be unable to deal with Natsuya. Then Natsuya would take his anger out on Nami, and she would shift the disaster onto the Arlong Pirates.
As long as the Arlong Pirates were destroyed, their village would naturally be freed from suffering.
But just as Genzo was thinking this, Nojiko said, "Nami, you can't do this. Didn't you say that man saved you?"
"We should be thanking him, not harming him!"
This time, Nami was the one who froze.
She suddenly recalled what had happened over the past few days—how Natsuya had saved her from Olig and the others.
After thinking for a moment, Genzo agreed. "Nami, this really isn't right. And you could be in danger too."
He said this mainly because even if Natsuya did go after the Arlong Pirates, he would most likely deal with Nami first.
If anything happened to Nami, then even if Cocoyasi Village was freed, it would be meaningless.
The other villagers surely felt the same way.
That was why Genzo opposed Nami reporting him.
Hearing that, Nami was completely stunned.
She had thought that Nojiko and Genzo would be happy to hear there might be a way to save Cocoyasi Village.
But why were their reactions like this!?
As she thought that, Nami's little face suddenly turned cold. "If you won't report him, I'll go myself!"
The moment she finished speaking, Nami rushed outside.
"No, Nami!" Nojiko called out.
Caught off guard, Genzo failed to stop Nami.
Then, watching her fleeing figure, he simply chose not to stop her.
He knew that saving Cocoyasi Village was Nami's obsession.
For that obsession, the little girl had made efforts beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
Since that was the case, he would let her go.
If Nami truly ended up in danger, he would lead every villager and stand before Natsuya, even if it meant fighting to the death.
And so, Nami ran all the way out.
But in the end, she did not report him. She stopped halfway there, crouched down, and tears fell in large drops like pearls.
The little girl kept them suppressed, covering her mouth and refusing to make a sound.
What she did not know was that, inside the Different Dimension, a figure in a suit was silently watching everything.
Time passed.
Soon, three days had gone by.
At the Marine Branch, Colonel Mouse hung up after speaking with Arlong.
During the call, Arlong had expressed strong dissatisfaction.
The reason for his displeasure was that three days had passed, yet Colonel Mouse still had not sent out troops.
Thinking back on it, Colonel Mouse could not help feeling frustrated.
It was not that he did not want to deploy! After reporting the news to his superiors, they said they would notify Vice Admiral Garp, who was vacationing in the East Blue, and have him deal with Natsuya!
In other words, they only needed to follow Garp when he made his move.
But to his surprise, three days had passed and he had not even caught a glimpse of Vice Admiral Garp.
Calls to him could not get through either.
Of course, given Vice Admiral Garp's stature, no one would dare blame him even if he arrived late.
But the problem was that if this dragged on any longer, Natsuya might leave Cocoyasi Village!
And that was probably the main reason for Arlong's dissatisfaction.
If this kept dragging on, what if Natsuya left!?
Colonel Mouse also felt that this was a major problem.
If Natsuya left, his one hundred million bounty would fly away!
If Natsuya was no longer in this area, he would have no reason to deploy troops at all!
So after much deliberation, Colonel Mouse made a bold decision.
He would not wait for Vice Admiral Garp. He would send troops to deal with Natsuya first!
Of course, Colonel Mouse knew the combat strength of the Marines in his branch.
Trying to deal with a wanted criminal worth one hundred million Beli was nothing but a pipe dream!
So he quickly came up with the same idea Arlong had: borrow the other side's strength!
Arlong wanted to borrow the Marines' power, while Colonel Mouse wanted to borrow the power of the Arlong Pirates.
Driven by the same idea, the two scoundrels quickly fell into cahoots and struck a deal. Then they each gathered their men and headed for Cocoyasi Village.
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