Keeping a Killer by His Side

"Captain, someone wanted to join us," Ham said to the battered Rogge.

"I'm not interested in just any stray cat or dog." Rogge kept his head down as he ate, clearly uninterested.

"I think this person is worth considering," Ham said.

Rogge paused, then looked up at Ham. "Are you serious?"

He had high standards for his companions. He would rather have fewer people than accept anyone but elites. Although Ares looked useless, he could still be of great use at critical moments, especially since he was a doctor.

As for the other three, before obtaining the Chop-Chop Fruit, he himself was probably the weakest one.

But that was also part of his plan. He did not need too many people for now. After entering the New World, he would recruit stronger subordinates there. If he was still in the first half of the Grand Line, he would only select elites as potential officers, developing like Blackbeard rather than gathering thousands of people from the start to build a flashy but worthless pirate crew.

"Who is it?" Rogge stopped eating and looked at Ham.

Jelly was also curious. He had only just returned and heard someone wanted to join them. He wanted to see who was blind enough to join their pirate crew.

"Golden Hunter, Simon. A famous bounty hunter in the Grand Line," Ham said.

"What can he do?" Rogge picked up another piece of meat, stuffed it into his mouth, and mumbled.

"A sniper," Ham said.

"Oh."

The moment he heard that Simon was a sniper, Rogge became interested.

Ham continued, "Simon used to be a bounty hunter in the North Blue and had quite a reputation there. He once hunted down more than a dozen wanted criminals by himself. After entering the Grand Line, he killed plenty of pirates too. But now someone has set their sights on him. He appeared on Tavern Island because he was being hunted."

"Are you sure he isn't after my head?" Rogge asked.

"There's an eighty percent chance he's after your head," Cook said.

Jelly laughed. "Eighty percent, and you still want to take him in? Are you that eager for Rogge to die?"

"What's your decision, Rogge?" Ham ignored Jelly and looked at Rogge.

"Take him in. If he came to kill me, even better. I need someone like that." Rogge grinned cruelly.

"Have you lost your mind?" Jelly shot to his feet. "That Simon wants to kill you, yet you want to keep him by your side? Isn't that like keeping a ticking time bomb beside you? I don't want to stay with an enemy."

"Ham probably wants to put pressure on the captain," Ares said.

"Madness. This is madness. Ham, you've gone mad following Rogge, haven't you? You want to put an enemy on the ship for something like this, and keep watch on him all the time. If that isn't madness, what is?" Jelly shouted.

"It's fine, Jelly. This is really for our own sake. Maybe letting Simon join us would be good. Didn't you say this voyage was too boring? This will give us something to do. Once Simon comes aboard, we can watch him perform. A killer we all know about will be right on our ship, while we watch him every day and guard against him. Wouldn't that be fun?" Rogge said with a smile.

Jelly thought such a voyage might indeed be more entertaining, but with a bomb that could explode at any moment right beside them, he still found it hard to accept. Gritting his teeth, he said, "You really are crazy. Ham, Cook, do you both think so too?"

"I think it's necessary. This sounds fun, Jelly. Besides, his main target is the captain, so the pressure is all on the captain. Don't you trust him?" Ham smiled.

Jelly said nothing more. Since even Rogge had made this decision, what else could he say? He could only help Rogge keep an eye on Simon and make sure Rogge did not actually get killed. For a training madman like Rogge, having another killer around might actually be fun and exciting, making him more vigilant.

"Where is he?"

Rogge stopped moving. He had wiped out all the food on the table before him.

"You... you finished it, you bastard! I haven't even eaten yet!" Jelly stared dumbfoundedly at the empty table.

"You'll see him tomorrow. I told him to wait in town," Ham said.

Rogge waved a hand. "Then we'll meet tomorrow. Hoo, hoo, hoo~~~"

"He fell asleep?!" The four of them stared wide-eyed at Rogge, who had fallen asleep in a second.

"Ham, I think we did something bad," Cook said grimly.

"Gulp." Ham swallowed, then looked at the other three. "How about we go kill Simon right now?"

"Do you think Rogge would agree?" Jelly sneered.

"Forget it. Let's trust him," Ham said with a sigh.

Looking at Rogge, who was sleeping soundly, none of them had the confidence they had moments ago. One after another, they sighed.

But just as they turned to leave the room, a ball-like thing bounced inside. Seeing the bloodstains on Rogge's body, it immediately leaped at him with its claws spread wide.

Bang!

Something was plastered against the wall as Rogge slowly lowered his hand.

"This..."

The four of them stared at Rogge in utter shock. He was clearly still asleep, yet he had reacted instantly and sent the thing flying.

"An instinctive reaction?" Cook said in surprise.

"Looks like our worries were unnecessary." Ham smiled.

"Pigtaro!"

Jelly cried out mournfully and hurried over to pull Billy down from the wall. The stupid dog had its tongue hanging out and was still panting. It had not died.

Ares leaned in for a look. "It's fine. It just passed out."

"He held back. If that punch had been reinforced with his ability, Billy would probably have exploded," Cook said.

"Let's go."

Jelly held Billy in his arms. Over the past few days, he had grown somewhat attached to the dog. It was just that whenever he called it Pigtaro, the dog would tilt its head and look at him as though he were an idiot, which made Jelly very unhappy.

But when he called it Billy, it became quite cheerful and bounced around everywhere.

Early the next morning, Rogge got up. He was covered in bloodstains, so he immediately took a bath, changed clothes, and walked out of his room.

The entire inn was empty. They had taken it over, and even the owner had fled.

By the time Rogge got up, the others were more or less awake as well. They greeted one another.

Jelly went to busy himself in the kitchen. Billy seemed to have forgotten what had happened after Rogge sent it flying with one punch yesterday. One punch, it passed out; it woke up today without so much as a scratch. It had even forgotten how it had been beaten yesterday. It bounced over to Rogge's feet and bit his pant leg.

"Get lost. Go away." Rogge kicked the stupid dog aside. Every time he saw that dog face, he felt like it was looking at an idiot. As for who the idiot was, that depended on whom it was looking at.

Ham walked in from outside, followed by a man nearly three meters tall. He was at least comparable in height to Aokiji. He wore a baseball cap and a white cloak, with a two-meter-long rifle strapped across his back.