Pirates: Invincible from the start

But then she thought that a notorious pirate who treated her so politely probably wasn't some vicious, bloodthirsty criminal.

Besides, the newspaper had said that Kuta's crew had fought the World Government and the Navy to save Bass.

At that thought, her expression quickly returned to normal.

She said calmly to Kuta, "I've seen you in the papers. Your name's Kuta, right?"

"Yeah!"

Kuta nodded.

"Did you just call me an old

granny?"

"Yeah!"

Kuta kept nodding.

Then he looked up at Kureha in confusion. "What's wrong, Granny?"

Kureha frowned, raised the axe in her hand, and hurled it at Kuta.

"Drop dead, brat! Watch your mouth!"

"Uh!"

Kuta froze for a moment. A red gleam flashed in his eyes, and he swayed his head from side to side, easily dodging the axe Kureha had thrown.

Then he looked up at Kureha, utterly baffled by her sudden, inexplicable fury.

"What's wrong?"

Kureha picked up the liquor bottle from the nearby table, tipped her head back, and took several deep swigs.

"Whew..."

Then she looked at Kuta and said earnestly, "I'm still a youthful, beautiful woman in her hundred and thirties!"

"Uh!"

"Caw, caw, caw...???..."

A flock of crows flew over Kuta's head, leaving him even more confused.

He stared at Kureha, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"You got angry just because of that?"

"What else?"

Kureha looked at Kuta, her lips curling into a smile.

"Heh heh heh heh heh!! I'm still plenty young, brat!"

"All right!"

Kuta shrugged helplessly, then looked up at Kureha. "You win. I'll call you beautiful. Happy now?"

He straightened himself up and looked at Kureha with a perfectly serious expression. "Hello, beautiful. Could you let us come inside and rest for a while?"

With that, he flashed Kureha a toothy grin, looking as