The Pirate Who Refused Red-Hair's Invitation

"Oh, then forget it." Aokiji wasn't like Garp, who would badger people relentlessly and even play dirty. If Lin Mo wasn't willing, that was that.

Aokiji took another quiet sip of wine. "I'm not arresting you now, but that doesn't mean I won't later. I promised Smoker I'd help him on the anniversary of Roger's death. If either of you does anything suspicious then, I won't hesitate to arrest you."

Rayleigh laughed. "Haha, I'm only here to pay my respects to Roger. Once I've done that, I'll leave. Don't worry. Unless something forces my hand, I won't cause any trouble. Hahaha."

"You'd better not." Aokiji finished the last of his wine and prepared to leave.

"Not staying for a few more bottles?" Rayleigh asked with a smile.

Aokiji waved a hand. "No. I still need to call Garp back."

Lin Mo: "..."

Lin Mo finally understood why Aokiji had come to the tavern.

Garp was behind this...

That old fox was still making trouble for him even from afar...

After Aokiji left the tavern, he called Garp back.

On the other end of the line,

Garp asked eagerly, "Well? Did that brat Lin Mo agree?"

Aokiji scratched the back of his head and laughed. "Heh, he turned me down."

Garp: "..."

Garp sighed helplessly. "Honestly. Just as I thought. Forget it, forget it. Let him do what he wants."

Aokiji went on, "Oh, right. I saw Rayleigh when I went to the tavern to find Lin Mo."

"Huh? Who did you say?"

"Dark King Rayleigh."

"What's he doing in Loguetown?" Garp paused. "No, wait. What's he doing with Lin Mo?"

"No idea. They seem to be drinking buddies." Aokiji scratched his head. "Rayleigh said he's retired from piracy, and Lin Mo made it clear he won't join either the Marines or the Pirates. Nothing wrong with the two of them becoming drinking buddies, I guess."

Garp: "..."

Garp: "Ahahaha, I suppose so! Hahaha. Then it's fine, as long as that kid Lin Mo doesn't become a Pirate... Hey! Luffy, get back here! What? You want to be a Pirate? You little bastard! You and Ace are going to be Marines, and that's final!"

The last thing Aokiji heard was Garp landing several blows on Luffy with his fists before the call ended.

Aokiji put the Den Den Mushi back in his pocket, yawned, and ambled toward Loguetown Marine Base.

Inside the tavern,

once Aokiji had left,

the Tavern Owner finally breathed a sigh of relief. "That Marine Aokiji seems pretty easy to talk to. Much better than Smoker. And he knows Mr. Rayleigh. He must be at least a vice admiral, right?"

Rayleigh took a drink and said casually, "No. He's an Admiral at Marine Headquarters."

The Tavern Owner froze, then cried out, "Huh? An Admiral at Marine Headquarters? Him?"

Rayleigh smiled. "That's right. But Aokiji being an Admiral isn't what you should be surprised about."

The Tavern Owner looked puzzled. "What could be more shocking than an Admiral from Marine Headquarters coming to Loguetown?"

Rayleigh looked at Lin Mo, who was still drinking quietly. "Isn't it more surprising that Lin Mo made the laziest Admiral at Marine Headquarters come personally to invite him to join the Marines?"

The Day of Remembrance Arrived

Rayleigh... Would it kill you to say a little less?

Lin Mo shot him a speechless glance.

The Tavern Owner paused, then exclaimed, "You're right! Why didn't I think of that? Lin Mo, just... just who are you? Why would a Marine Admiral come invite you in person?"

Why? Lin Mo wanted to know that himself.

He had turned them down countless times, yet they kept shamelessly coming, one after another, to invite him.

Did none of them have any shame?

At least Aokiji was lazy enough to give up after one rejection.

If Lin Mo ran into a few more people like Garp, they would drive him mad.

Lin Mo didn't answer the Tavern Owner. He kept drinking in silence.

Rayleigh burst out laughing. "Haha! With that state of mind, you really are suited to swordsmanship. You might even become the world's youngest Master Swordsman."

"Not interested," Lin Mo said flatly.

Rayleigh continued, "Reputation isn't something you can refuse just by saying you don't want it. Once your strength reaches a certain level, everyone will call you the strongest. Even if you don't want to be a Master Swordsman, it won't be up to you."

That was true.

Being the strongest wasn't something you could declare yourself. When your strength exceeded everyone's expectations and surpassed the person they considered the strongest, they would naturally give you that title. You didn't get to decide whether you wanted it; it was something others placed on you once they acknowledged your strength.

And that was exactly why Lin Mo found it annoying.

He didn't need those labels.

He didn't want to deal with people, much less fight them.

He would rather stay unnoticed in the crowd, quietly complete his check-in tasks, see the whole world, and drink its finest wines. That would be enough.

But troublesome people kept crossing his path...

Lin Mo finished the last sip in his bottle, wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth, and said, "Whatever. Labels don't matter. As long as they don't get in my way, I don't care."

"You really do take things in stride." Rayleigh smiled. "You're unlike anyone I've ever met. Plenty of adults can't do what you do. Lin Mo, are you really just a child?"

Lin Mo glanced at him and gave a small laugh. "Ten years old, thanks."

"Hahaha!" Rayleigh laughed. "Ten years old, huh? You really are interesting."

The Tavern Owner looked between them, utterly lost.

Rayleigh turned to him. "Bring us a few more bottles, Shopkeeper. Lin Mo and I are drinking until we drop tonight. Hahaha!"

"Coming right up." The Tavern Owner nodded, took bottles down from the shelves one by one, and piled them on the counter in front of Lin Mo and Rayleigh.

That night, Lin Mo and Rayleigh drank until they were both nearly sick, and still neither had proved he could hold his liquor better.

For the first time since coming to this world of Pirates, Lin Mo came close to getting thoroughly drunk.

The Tavern Owner led Lin Mo to the guest room he had prepared for him.

Just as Lin Mo was about to fall asleep,

the system's notification sounded in his mind again.

Beep! Drinking contest with Dark King Rayleigh: check-in progress +10%. Current total progress: 70%.

Lin Mo paused, then let out a dry laugh.

He hadn't expected a drinking contest with Rayleigh to trigger a check-in task.

There was no reward, but he had still gained something.

Without thinking any more about it, Lin Mo closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Over the next few days,

Lin Mo wandered around town whenever he had nothing to do, then went to sleep at the excellent napping spot he had found earlier.

Aokiji had his eye on the place too. They often slept there together, one lying in a deck chair and the other standing up.

As for Rayleigh, he sometimes caught a few Bounty Criminals during the day and had the Tavern Owner take them to Loguetown Marine Base to collect the rewards. Then he took the money straight back to gambling. In just a few days, he single-handedly got the Casino, which had been on the verge of closing, running normally again.

At night, Lin Mo and Rayleigh happily drank together at the tavern.

Just as Smoker had said he would, he stopped by Roger's Tavern several times almost every day. He did catch a few Pirates who had heard of the place and secretly come ashore.

As for Bartolomeo, he followed Lin Mo almost every day.

Lin Mo had to admit Bartolomeo was better at tailing people than Zoro.

Even so, no matter how far away Bartolomeo hid, he couldn't escape Lin Mo's level-five Observation Haki.

Then came the anniversary of Roger's death.

Early that morning, Rayleigh asked the Tavern Owner for two bottles of Rum and took Lin Mo out with him.

Lin Mo hadn't wanted to go, and he had no reason to.

But he thought it might trigger a check-in task, so he followed.

The sky outside was overcast, and a light rain was falling.

Rayleigh held a black umbrella over them as they walked side by side.

Before long, they reached the mouth of an alley at the edge of Central Square.

Because of the weather, hardly anyone was in the square.

They couldn't see a single Marine,

but both Lin Mo and Rayleigh could sense that large numbers of them were lying in ambush inside the surrounding buildings.

Anyone suspicious who approached the Execution Platform where Roger was Executed would be arrested.

"Getting to the Execution Platform won't be easy," Rayleigh said, looking at it barely two hundred meters away. "I wasn't there when Roger was executed. Want to know why?"

Lin Mo said nothing.

He wasn't particularly interested.

Rayleigh glanced at him and smiled. "I figured you wouldn't. Heh. If I'd been there, I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from saving that fool, even if he'd hated me for it."

"So." Lin Mo pointed to the two bottles tucked under Rayleigh's arm. "What are you going to do with those?"

Before Rayleigh could answer,

a massive explosion sounded from the direction of the main street.

Screams erupted across the square.

There had been few people there to begin with. Now every last one of them fled.

"Oh, that's unfortunate." Rayleigh gave a wry smile. "I was hoping to blend into a crowd on the way over. If I go now, I'll be a sitting duck for the Marines. Hahaha."

Lin Mo gave him a flat look.

With your strength, you're afraid of the practically useless bullets in this world?

Lin Mo turned toward the main street, where the explosion had happened and thick smoke was billowing.

When the smoke cleared, there was no one there. The only sign of the blast was a large crater in the road leading into Central Square.

It was as if the bomb had appeared out of nowhere and detonated on its own.

Inside one of the buildings,

Smoker watched the main street through binoculars, a cigar clenched between his teeth. When the smoke cleared and no one appeared, he frowned deeply.

A Marine came up beside him. "Report! Two suspicious individuals at the alley entrance to the southwest."

Smoker immediately turned his binoculars in the direction the Marine had indicated.

Sure enough, two figures, one tall and one short, stood beneath a black umbrella at the mouth of an alley.

The taller one wore a hood that hid his face, but Smoker could see the shorter one clearly.

"Lin Mo?" Smoker frowned slightly. "What's he doing here? And the person beside him isn't the owner of Roger's Tavern. Who is he...?"

Rayleigh Remembered His Closest Friend

Early that morning, Smoker had stationed hundreds of Marines in the buildings around Central Square, lying in wait for Pirates who came to pay their respects to Roger.

To many people, Pirates with no blood ties to Roger—Pirates who had never even met him—had no reason to risk coming here on the anniversary of his death.

But Roger's death had ushered in the Great Pirate Era.

Pirates who set out from East Blue, in particular, mostly admired Roger and dreamed of following in his footsteps.

So before attempting to enter the Grand Line, many chose to visit Loguetown and see the place where the former Pirate King had grown up.