Heh Heh~ Biological Surveillance Kid!

In the afternoon, the weather was clear. The sea breeze was damp and stifling, and sunlight spilled across the deck, making the polished redwood gleam.

Jogo emerged from the cabin and stood beneath the sun.

His bandage-wrapped hand shielded his eyes, but the scorching sunlight still left him feeling slightly dizzy.

After getting his bearings, he picked up his tools and headed toward the stern deck.

Countless mocking and hateful gazes swept over him along the way.

Clearly, after a noon of explosive gossip, what had happened that morning had already spread throughout the entire ship.

"I heard an insanely strong slave came aboard!"

"Is that him?"

"I heard even the Deputy Pillar wasn't his match. Let's go teach him a lesson!"

"Huh? Won't we get beaten to death?"

"Idiot, if you're too afraid of dying to teach him a lesson, what's the difference between that and being dead?"

"Where did these villagers come from?"

Jogo withdrew his Observation Haki with a strange expression and went to his assigned spot to start working—slacking off.

Slaves had the busiest job on the entire ship.

Cleaning was only the most basic task.

When necessary, they were also called upon to help control the sails, organize the rigging, move cargo, clear away standing water...

In any case, there was always more work than they could finish.

Jogo's response was simple—slack off! Slack off without end!

One rag, one bucket of water, one railing to wipe for an entire day.

When he was feeling alert, he switched to "Historian" and "Spy," pretending to clean while binge-watching little movies, learning new moves, and honing his Observation Haki along the way.

Once his head was crammed full of every kind of useless information and could not hold another drop, he found a shady spot to sit and rest, gazed up at the sky, babbled nonsense, and emptied his mind.

The only slight imperfection was that

bottles of alcohol, spit, smelly socks, troublemaking pirates, and other filth occasionally spawned around him.

Jogo did not get angry. He was not really cleaning anyway.

He simply changed locations, leaving behind a patch of garbage and pirates lying on the ground, babbling nonsense with faces swollen like pig heads.

Before long, someone came looking for him.

But it was not the slave guard he had expected.

"Hey, you! That slave!"

A pirate wearing a short front-buttoned jacket and loose blue trousers ran up the stairs, pointed at Jogo, and shouted,

"Get to the rear cabin, now! The Pillar wants you!"

"Me?"

Jogo withdrew his Observation Haki.

"What for?"

"A slave dares to ask questions?"

The pirate impatiently shouted,

"If you're told to go, then go! Move too slowly, and wait for the Pillar to beat you!"

"..."

"Fine, I'll endure it."

Jogo shrugged, picked up his tools, and slowly headed toward the cabin.

"After all, one has to bow under another's roof. I'm just too good-tempered."

As he pushed open the wooden door, he slightly turned his head and glanced at the blue-trousered pirate leaning against the railing and chatting animatedly with the other pirates.

"...So what if he beat the Deputy Pillar? Hahaha, look at that guy, does he dare to—"

The blue-trousered pirate was in the middle of speaking excitedly when his eyes suddenly rolled back and he toppled over the railing.

Creak—bang!

The wooden door shut, cutting off Jogo's footsteps from the startled cries on the deck.

Not long after, Jogo stood inside the rear cabin.

Sunlight streamed in through the porthole.

A broad, solid wood table was fixed in the center of the cabin, several chairs were scattered around it, and the pirate flag of the Happo Navy hung on the wall.

A massive nautical chart was spread across the tabletop.

Sai and Abu stood beside the chart, seemingly discussing something.

When they saw Jogo enter, Sai pointed at a bulging burlap sack beside the table.

"These are antiques sent by wealthy merchants from Iris Island."

"Appraise them."

Jogo said nothing. He carried the sack to the other side of the table, asked Sai and Abu for paper, a pen, and a Den Den Mushi for taking pictures, then selected several antiques. He studied them against the light while lowering his head to write.

Unlike his previous arrogance and overbearing manner, this appraisal was silent and quiet. Only the scratch of his pen racing across the paper and the occasional sound of photographs being taken could be heard.

Sai and Abu exchanged looks. Though they regretted not being able to hear any stories, amusement also flickered in their eyes.

They felt that Jogo had finally been "tamed."

...Until Jogo kept writing for three hours straight.

"What exactly are you writing?!!!"

Sai slammed his palm against the table in fury.

The clutter on the table all bounced at once.

"A thesis!"

Jogo did not even raise his head.

A thesis?

The two men in the room whose combined education did not even amount to finishing elementary school looked at each other, seeing the same confusion in each other's eyes.

What a high-class word!

How could it possibly appear in their lives?!

"That's not the point! Who told you to write a thesis?!!"

Sai snatched the pen from Jogo's hand and glared at him grimly.

"Are you trying to slack off?"

More than that!

Jogo sighed, raised his head, and looked at the two furious men before him with pity in his eyes for the illiterate.

"If I don't write a thesis to establish this item's origin, history, and value... why would the black market believe the price you quote?"

The two froze.

That seemed... somewhat reasonable!

"No!"

Sai frowned and glared viciously at Jogo.

"The appraisers in the Flower Country just give a price directly. They've never needed any thesis!"

Jogo gave a short laugh and replied unhurriedly,

"Then are the prices they give higher than mine?"

Sai was left speechless.

The reference prices Jogo had given were indeed very high, generally three to four times higher than the quotations Sai had seen in the Flower Country before!

That was also one of the reasons he wanted to keep Jogo tightly in his grasp.

Originally, he had thought Jogo's reputation added value to the items.

He had not expected that value was written out through theses!

No... it would be more accurate to say that these antiques had been worth that much in the first place.

They simply had no way to prove their value before, so they could only sell them cheaply in confusion.

"The pen!"

Jogo held out his hand.

Sai looked at Jogo, then at the pen in his hand, and finally at the antiques on the table—after several hours, only one had been appraised...

His expression changed several times. In the end, he tossed the pen onto the table, pulled a long face, and strode outside.

"I'll give you one more hour at most!"

"You'd better write faster!"

Abu followed close behind him.

Bang—thud!

The heavy wooden door was slammed shut.

Jogo acted as though he had not noticed and lowered his head to continue writing.

Only after the two men's presences had moved away within the range of his Observation Haki did he rise and begin wandering around the cabin.

"Curtains, speaking tubes, weapons... spoils of war?"

He searched through everything in the room.

Before long, he found a Den Den Mushi in a drawer that looked eighty or ninety percent like Sai.

"Found it." Jogo smiled faintly.

He had not lied to Hina.

Obtaining information really was not difficult for him. He simply needed to find the right item.

Trait switch!

[...

Observation Haki (Awakened)

Traits Equipped: "Flower-Flower Fruit (Gold)" "Otherworldly Soul (Silver)"

...]

[Trait Effect: Your Observation Haki can designate any number of points within your line of sight as expansion points, then unfold Observation Haki with those points as centers.]

Jogo set an expansion point on the Den Den Mushi's head.

From then on, this Den Den Mushi would become his eyes and ears. Wherever it went would fall within the sensing range of his Observation Haki!

Even if he left and could no longer see this Den Den Mushi, it would not matter.

As long as he did not equip the "Flower-Flower Fruit" onto another type of Haki, that expansion point would remain!

He could activate it remotely at any time!

Heh heh~ Biological Surveillance Kid!