At that moment.
Nami was startled when she heard Natsuya's words.
She instinctively followed Natsuya's gaze toward the stern of the pirate ship.
There was someone there!?
Sure enough, moments later.
A blood-soaked figure slowly crawled out from beneath a sheet at the stern.
That area had originally been piled with cargo. Who would have thought someone was hiding there!
The person was a man in his twenties, with a gloomy face, a thin build, and a blue-and-white striped headscarf around his forehead.
"Eh, it's you!?"
Nami was shocked again.
She actually knew this gloomy-looking man.
As if afraid that Natsuya did not know the man, she quietly explained beside him, "Lord Natsuya."
"This man is Demon Gin, the commander of the Krieg Pirates!"
"Have you heard of the Krieg Pirates? They were the former rulers of the East Blue, before Arlong arrived."
That's right. The blood-soaked, gloomy-faced man hiding aboard the pirate ship was none other than Gin of the Krieg Pirates!
After hearing Nami's words, Natsuya could not help but smile.
How could he possibly not know the Krieg Pirates?
As for Demon Gin, there was even less need to mention him.
But why was this guy hiding on their pirate ship?
Nami had thought of the same question and immediately looked at Gin warily.
Judging by his reputation, he was hardly a good person!
As if he had guessed Natsuya and Nami's doubts, Gin spoke first. "Don't misunderstand. I mean no harm."
"I was seriously injured earlier and happened to hide on your ship, that's all."
As he spoke, Gin pulled open his clothes, revealing a huge gash across his abdomen.
Without a doubt, it had been caused by Hawkeye's slash.
Before Natsuya fought Hawkeye, the Krieg Pirates had already been nearly wiped out by Hawkeye's rampage.
Even Admiral Don Krieg had not escaped, having been cut in two.
As for Pearl the Iron Wall, who was somewhat famous as well, there was no need to say more.
The iron wall he had been so proud of had been utterly worthless before Hawkeye's slash.
Gin had been luckier. He had merely been grazed by the attack, then happened to hide aboard Natsuya's pirate ship and escape disaster.
Because of that, he had watched the entire battle between Natsuya and Hawkeye.
As a result, Gin felt immense pressure under Natsuya's gaze.
This man had defeated the world's greatest swordsman!
Upon hearing Gin's explanation, Nami's doubts immediately vanished.
Natsuya, however, asked with interest, "By the way, why was Hawkeye hunting you down this time?"
It was worth mentioning that Natsuya had actually discovered Don Krieg and the others long ago.
After all, when he woke up, countless shipwreck fragments had been drifting around him.
That made it clear that before dealing with them, Hawkeye had casually destroyed a large pirate crew.
Originally, Natsuya had not known that it was the Krieg Pirates.
After all, in the original story, Hawkeye's pursuit of the Krieg Pirates was supposed to happen four or five years later.
Yet unexpectedly, that large pirate crew had still been the Krieg Pirates!
And now, Gin, one of the people involved, stood before him.
That naturally stirred Natsuya's curiosity.
In the original story, Hawkeye hunted the Krieg Pirates four or five years later. Why had it happened so much earlier this time?
A bitter look immediately flashed across Gin's face.
"We provoked him first. We thought a lone man would be easy to bully."
"Then, after he learned we were from the East Blue, he hunted us for several months."
So that was it!
Natsuya nodded. In the original story, Hawkeye seemed to have hunted the Krieg Pirates out of boredom.
Who would have thought the Krieg Pirates had brought this upon themselves this time!
Still, chasing them for several months... Hawkeye really had a lot of free time!
Wait, had he only hunted them for months after learning that the Krieg Pirates were from the East Blue?
At that moment, Natsuya suddenly realized something crucial.
Perhaps, whether in the original story or now, Hawkeye had only one reason for hunting the Krieg Pirates.
Their East Blue origins!
But why was Hawkeye so fixated on pirates from the East Blue?
On second thought, Natsuya understood.
This probably had to do with that straw hat.
Simply put, Red-Haired Shanks had lost his left arm in the East Blue and had even lost the straw hat he treasured most.
So after Hawkeye learned of it, he began paying attention to pirates from the East Blue.
Thinking of this, Natsuya immediately understood why Hawkeye had chased the Krieg Pirates all the way back to the East Blue in the original story.
He had probably wanted to see whether he could find any clues.
And this time, if not for them, perhaps Hawkeye would have followed the Krieg Pirates to the East Blue as well.
After all, their current location was not too far from the East Blue.
Wait, could Hawkeye have helped the Marine Government deal with him because he was connected to the East Blue!?
All at once, Natsuya seemed to understand why Hawkeye had helped the Marine Government target him.
This situation had actually been rather strange.
The Shichibukai were not the Marines' dogs.
More precisely, both sides merely took what they needed from each other!
Therefore, when the Marine Government issued a summons, the Shichibukai responded according to their own wishes.
Or rather, they would only act when doing so better served their own interests.
At the Summit War, Hawkeye had clearly answered the call because he intended to fight Whitebeard.
But why had he helped the Marine Government this time?
Natsuya had been deeply puzzled before, but now he suddenly understood!
He regretted even more that he had failed to keep Hawkeye there.
That guy had wiped out the Krieg Pirates for such an almost nonexistent reason, and now he had even attacked him!?
Was there no justice? No law!?
He really should have punched him a few more times earlier!
Seeing Natsuya's shifting expression, Gin immediately thought he had said something wrong and became uneasy.
Nami also misunderstood Natsuya's meaning. Thinking he was displeased, she immediately said to Gin, "Since everything has been explained, you should leave."
"Looking at you now, even if we save you, we probably won't get any reward."
By the end, Nami could not help feeling a little resentful.
If they saved someone else, they might have been able to extort some gold, silver, or jewels.
But Demon Gin's crew had been wiped out. He was surely penniless. Hmph, what rotten luck.
Yet Gin did not move after hearing that. Instead, he turned to Natsuya and said something that caught both Natsuya and Nami by surprise.
Before you continue