"All right, then. My condition is that you take good care of my idiot apprentice. As for your country, don't worry. I've already prepared a backup plan."
For some reason, Vivi always felt an inexplicable sense of reassurance around Barn. Hearing that he had a backup plan, she stopped worrying and began looking forward to reuniting with her friends.
Yuba...
Koza, whose wounds had almost healed, was wielding a shovel alongside his father, who had put on quite a bit of weight.
"Pops, take a break. I'll handle this."
Koza smiled at Dodo as he spoke.
"No need. These old bones can still swing a shovel. Let's hurry and dig Yuba out."
Dodo stubbornly raised his shovel again.
Seeing how stubborn his father was, Koza could only smile helplessly and raise his own shovel.
Just then, someone wearing a huge green cloak walked over.
"Excuse me, do you know where Koza is?"
"Looks like those Marines haven't followed us..."
Zoro stood at the bow and spoke seriously, but all he got in response were a few listless murmurs.
"Yeah..."
"Yeah..."
"Yeah..."
"We must have shaken them off..."
The oblivious Zoro still hadn't noticed anything wrong with his companions and continued speaking at his own leisurely pace. Once again, he received the same dispirited replies.
"Yeah..."
"Yeah..."
"Yeah..."
"Hey... why do you all sound so lifeless?"
Zoro finally noticed something was wrong with his companions, though he looked helpless as he spoke.
"We're lonely..."
Nami, Luffy, and the others slumped dejectedly over the railing...
Even so, Zoro couldn't bring himself to get angry. After being their companion for so long, she had suddenly left. He hated parting with her, too.
"Stop sniveling! We should've just dragged her aboard and made her join us!"
Zoro shouted.
"Wow! You brute!"
"You're the worst..."