"You can't leave."
Feeling the force on his shoulder, Danitz instantly came to his senses and realized he had run into someone formidable.
"S-sir, this is just a misunderstanding... I mistook you for someone else."
Danitz forced a laugh as he explained, tensing his shoulder to try to break free. Yet the hand pressing down on it was like an iron clamp, utterly immovable.
"You seemed to mention Brando just now?" Klein looked at him and asked coldly, "Monkey Brando?"
He knows Brando? Danitz's heart jolted.
Right, the gossip about that female pirate throwing herself at Brando is so famous at sea now. It's only natural that he's heard of him.
This fellow looks like trouble. Could he be a bounty hunter after Brando's bounty?
Danitz swallowed, his eyes darting away. "N-no, you misheard."
"You hesitated." Klein cut straight to the point.
"I..."
He suddenly gritted his teeth, tensed every muscle, and twisted hard at the waist, trying to use the momentum of turning around to wrench himself free.
However, thanks to a Clown's bodily control, Klein keenly detected the intended movement of his muscles. An instant before Danitz exerted himself, Klein suddenly let go.
"Ow!"
Danitz used too much force and immediately lost his balance. He stumbled forward, nearly falling flat on his face, and caught himself clumsily against the moss-covered wall.
"Shit!"
He steadied himself and turned around angrily. "Do you know who I am?!"
Whatever else he might be, he was a notorious pirate with a bounty of several thousand pounds, someone with a reputation at sea. Being toyed with by a nobody sent his temper flaring.
"Oh? Who are you?" Klein looked at him, his tone level.
The man before him had clearly disguised himself with a false beard, but Klein felt he had seen those