The Straw Hat Pirates' Concern

The next day, the sky was clear and stretched endlessly.

Sunlight shone across the sea, glittering with golden light. At that moment, a ship approached from afar. The spray kicked up by its bow looked like clusters of white plum blossoms from a distance, scattering into the seawater like fine rain.

On the Thousand Sunny, every member of the Straw Hat Pirates lay sprawled on the deck, utterly exhausted. Bathed in the warm sunlight, they somehow felt even more tired.

The wrecked ship still bore traces of the abnormal weather. Oranges and orange leaves, covered in droplets, were scattered across the deck. Even under the sunlight, the dampness aboard had yet to dry.

Nami laboriously removed an orange leaf from her head. Exhausted, she looked heartbrokenly at the orange trees that had weathered the storm, then almost crawled forward bit by bit, wanting to straighten them properly.

Nami's full, alluring figure moved across the deck like a mermaid, her enticing curves revealing flashes of skin.

Even though Sanji was weak all over, the sight made his eyes shine as blood sprayed from his nose, mixing with the puddle of seawater on the deck.

"I feel completely worn out. My arms and legs are useless, and I have no strength anywhere," said Brook helplessly. The prone skeleton, dressed like a gentleman and sporting an afro, suddenly laughed again. "Though I don't have arms or legs! Yohohoho!"

"Luffy, Zoro, when you went to attack the Marines, weren't there only two Marine colonels on that warship? Why did it take you so long?" Robin asked, shading her eyes from the sun with one hand.

Logically speaking, if their captain Luffy and combatant Zoro went out, even people at vice admiral level should have been dealt with in minutes.

Though they had not gone all out, being delayed for so long was still truly unexpected.

"Yeah, Zoro. If you'd come back any later, we probably wouldn't have gotten out," Usopp said, still shaken.

The situation had been truly dangerous. Even after using Coup de Burst, they had nearly failed to escape. If the Thousand Sunny had not been made from Treasure Tree Adam, an ordinary ship would surely have been destroyed and sunk into the sea.

Hearing them, Sanji looked at the soundly sleeping Luffy and said, "Moss-head, you said before that you had to defeat that Marine colonel. Why?"

As Sanji and the others fired off question after question, Nami stopped what she was doing. Zoro glanced at Luffy as well, remaining silent for a long while before finally saying, "You might not believe this, but that man understands Luffy better than any of us."

"Maybe he knew Luffy long ago, so that's why he understands him," Sanji said as he lit a cigarette.

"But it was Luffy's first time meeting him. Yet he spoke as though he was very familiar with Luffy, and he understood Luffy extremely well—at least better than any of us."

Everyone on the ship was startled. They were Luffy's companions, together with him day and night, yet a Marine they had never met understood their companion better than they did.

Robin suddenly spoke from the side. "He's a Marine, so he has plenty of sources for intelligence. Perhaps he has been gathering information about Luffy all along. If someone wanted to target a person, it wouldn't be impossible for them to collect information from every angle."

She understood that well. Her life had once been like that, so she did not find it surprising.

"There hasn't been any news saying that Red-Hair, one of the Four Emperors, lost an arm!" Zoro said with a frown.

Though he did not usually read newspapers—and perhaps could not read at all—even he would have learned of such major news through the sheer impact it would cause.

"What?!"

Sanji and the others cried out. That news was far too shocking. He was one of the Four Emperors—what kind of person could have done something like that?

But the seas had been calm, with no news about it whatsoever. The latest news related to Red-Hair, one of the Four Emperors, was from two years ago, when he appeared at Marineford to end the Paramount War. After that, there had been nothing.

Robin was absolutely certain of that.

"Red-Hair, one of the Four Emperors—Shanks, Luffy's benefactor—actually lost an arm. How credible is this information? Can we believe it? And should we let Luffy know?" Robin said, pointing at the snoring Luffy.

"Luffy knows."

"Huh?!" Robin and the others stared at Luffy in surprise. Given Luffy's personality, shouldn't he have made a huge fuss after learning this? How could he be so calm? This was far too unlike him.

"Four Emperor Red-Hair Shanks lost his arm saving him. It should have happened a long time ago," Zoro said.

"No wonder Luffy said Shanks was his benefactor. So that's what happened," Usopp said, already sitting up and stroking his chin in thought.

"That was all said by that Marine colonel? And the information was completely accurate?" Sanji also sat up and relit his extinguished cigarette.

The information was accurate—but just how much did he know, and where had he learned these things?

"Someone like that really is terrifying, especially since he's a Marine. No matter how much he knows about Luffy—or rather, about us—it is extremely unfavorable for us," Robin said with a frown.

Robin had once been with Cipher Pol, so she naturally knew the importance and danger of intelligence. If it was specifically used against someone, such information could become the sharpest and deadliest weapon.

"Do you know that Marine's name?" Sanji asked.

"That Marine colonel is called Wuli," Zoro said flatly, though there was a trace of regret in his voice.

"We can only resolve some of our doubts the next time we meet him—such as where he got his intelligence and how much he knows," Robin said. If much of the information had come from within the Marines, then the situation would be greatly troubling.

"I have a feeling we'll run into him again sooner or later. He's not some ordinary nobody," Zoro said.

Zoro and the others all sank into thought, wondering when they would encounter that Marine colonel again.

On the calm sea, without wind or waves, a warship sailed beneath the Marine flag.

"Ah... choo!" Wuli suddenly sneezed. He rubbed his nose and looked toward the distant sky, muttering, "Who's thinking about me?"

Hina's face surfaced in his mind, but he soon shook his head. That was impossible. No way.