The Reason

A cargo hold was hardly the proper place for a conversation, so the group moved out onto the deck. At that point, the appearance of the "stowaway" revealed itself fully to Xie Wen.

Well, she was indeed a great beauty.

The woman was somewhat older than Xie Wen was currently, looking to be in her early twenties, and she was very tall, not differing much from Xie Wen himself. Her slender figure, paired with that West Blue-style women's black suit, made her naturally fair skin stand out even more. Her pitch-black hair was tied into a high ponytail, giving her an efficient and capable air. Most importantly, that figure of hers was truly stunning...

Yet, women in the pirate world were universally stunning-especially in this age group that had yet to be struck by the "Oda Curse." Even if their facial features were nothing special, their bodies remained formidable.

"My name is Ottilia, and I am a maid of the Buono Family," after a brief self-introduction, Ottilia explained her reasons for being here: "The Capone Family and the Simter Family suddenly launched an attack on the Buono Family's stronghold. I escaped amid the chaos, and to keep them from catching me, I sneaked onto this ship... Because shortly after escaping, I heard that the owner of this vessel had made the Capone Family suffer a massive loss, so I wanted to hide here. I figured their men wouldn't dare come up to search."

"Um... could you take me in? I'm very capable." Ottilia bowed and pleaded, "I don't want to fall back into the hands of the gang!"

"Brother Xie Wen, why don't we help her, meow? This big sister looks so pitiful, meow."

Although she had intimidated Ottilia earlier without a shred of deterrence, that was only because she had mistaken her for a thief. At her core, Klee Meow was a pure and kind-hearted good child.

However, Xie Wen was not as easily coaxed as the little plush cat. He rubbed his chin and questioned, "If you're only a maid, why would the Capone Family want to capture you? Even though you're quite pretty, you shouldn't be worth their effort in launching a heavy search."

"That's because..." Ottilia gritted her teeth and replied, "I overheard a secret, and the Buono Family being attacked has a certain connection to this secret as well."

"Oh?"

Xie Wen raised an eyebrow, doubts stirring in his mind... Could it really be this much of a coincidence? Could it be related to Uncle Cody's identity?

Before he could even ask Ottilia for confirmation, the other party spoke up of her own accord: "This secret also involves your previous employer, and it pulls in quite a few factions... Are you certain you still want to hear it?"

It really was...

Xie Wen habitually smacked his lips, then nodded.

Granted, he had not intended to pry into Uncle Cody's identity before, but now that this secret had delivered itself right to his doorstep, he naturally wished to satisfy his own curiosity.

Besides...

He glanced sideways at the two Palicos whose ears had already pricked straight up.

Even if he didn't want to listen, the intensely curious cats probably wouldn't agree to it.

"Alright then..." Ottilia took a few deep breaths before saying with a grave expression, "The Buono Family has always wanted to turn Gures into an Affiliated Nation, and the pivotal figure in their plan is that merchant named Cody. His true identity is an agent of Cipher Pol 4, a secret espionage agency directly under the World Government."

"Ha?!"

Xie Wen was genuinely shocked this time, because Uncle Cody's good-natured personality didn't look like an agent's no matter how one saw it...

No, wait, Rob Lucci and the others were also trusted, good companions of the Water 7 shipwrights before their exposure.

Just as Xie Wen was reeling from shock over Uncle Cody's identity, Klee Meow, who was being held in his arms, began discontentedly swatting at his nose with her little paws, "Brother Xie Wen, what does an agent mean, meow? Hurry up and explain it to Klee, meow!"

"An agent..." Xie Wen, recovering his wits, thought for a moment and explained it in the way Klee Meow could understand best, "It's a guy similar to Kabuto Yakushi."

"Ah! So Uncle Cody is a bad guy, meow?!"

"How should I put this... Even though these agents frequently do terrible things, they still belong to an official organization after all, so it's really not all that easy to define them as purely good or bad."

Xie Wen scratched his head somewhat distressedly, unsure how to explain such a complex matter to the innocent Klee Meow.

Despite the fact that, judging by the past actions of Cipher Pol agents, they certainly were not nice people, from the perspective of names and rulers, they genuinely belonged to the side of "justice"-even if this "justice" had long since rotted.

"What's there to define, meow? Uncle Cody is an agent, and our relationship with him isn't that close anyway, meow." Sanji Meow still saw things the most clearly, piercing straight to the core: "Aren't we heading to the East Blue later, meow? There's no telling if we'll even be able to see them again in the future."

"That's true." Xie Wen stroked Klee Meow's cat head and agreed, "It has nothing to do with us anyway, and he treated us quite well previously, so there's no need to dwell on these things."

Klee Meow nodded with a look of half-understanding, then very obediently tossed the matter out of her mind.

Although Uncle Cody's true identity made Xie Wen feel it was incredible, this also explained why Buono John and Capone Bege held that attitude toward him.

Yet, one more question remained that Xie Wen couldn't figure out...

"Do Cipher Pol agents have the ability to influence the World Government's decisions?"

"I'm not clear on that," Ottilia shook her head. "I only overheard their conversation. Prior to that, I didn't even know what a Cipher Pol agent was."

Uh... That was true. Cipher Pol organizations usually operated covertly. Let alone commoners like Ottilia, even some lower-ranking minor royalty wouldn't necessarily know such an organization existed.

Having figured out the origin of the "stowaway" and additionally learned the secret of Uncle Cody, Xie Wen scratched his head and said to Ottilia, "Leaving you behind temporarily is no problem at all, but as you heard just now, we'll be running around everywhere hereafter, so it's not suitable to keep carrying you along. However, I don't plan to alter my course, so how about we drop you off the ship once we reach a suitable island?"

Even though Capone Bege would become one of the five major gangs of the West Blue in the future, Xie Wen did not believe he would remember an insignificant maid for that long. Therefore, as long as Ottilia didn't actively jump out to court attention, the Capone Family would mostly likely be too lazy to go looking for trouble with her.

"Of course there's no problem! Thank you all so, so much!" Ottilia bowed repeatedly in agitation, then continued, "When I was with the Buono Family, I also underwent some combat training. Moreover, I've dabbled quite a bit in navigation knowledge and am fairly familiar with the nearby waters, so I absolutely won't drag you down."

She was actually this capable... Xie Wen even had some urge to keep Ottilia on the ship, though he ultimately abandoned the thought.

The primary issue preventing Xie Wen from abandoning such a capable and stunning beauty was that they harbored a few too many secrets...

Spatial storage equipment was still only a minor problem; he could explain it away as some kind of Devil Fruit ability or the like, and the Grand Line also contained plenty of magical items like Dials. But when summoning new Palicos in the future, he couldn't possibly hide from Ottilia every single time, could he?

Still, considering the circumstances when Klee Meow was originally summoned, it seemed avoiding her completely wasn't strictly necessary? Yet there were still too many uncertain variables.

Additionally, another issue was that they would inevitably head toward the Grand Line in the future. Although Ottilia claimed she had undergone some combat training, the Buono Family had already been wiped out; how strong could a mere maid possibly be? It would be far better for her to peacefully and securely live as an ordinary person in the West Blue...

While ordinary people in this world lived rather precarious lives, it was at least vastly safer than the Grand Line. At worst, they could eventually send Ottilia to Uncle Cody's hometown; under the care of the Marines and a Cipher Pol agent, she shouldn't encounter any further danger.

Aside from that, Ottilia's identity actually carried some suspicion as well. Compared to a maid, Xie Wen felt she was more likely an important member of the Buono Family. Of course, he wasn't afraid of people from the Capone Family tracking them down for revenge, but he also had no interest in sheltering a mobster.

The most crucial point was... the woman evidently had no intention of following him indefinitely.

Thus, Xie Wen smiled at Ottilia and said, "Then, welcome to temporarily joining the Palico Research Commission."

Clever little partners had already guessed before that Cody was Cipher Pol.

Additionally, I certainly know that Cipher Pol agents are merely the Celestial Dragons' dogs, and the majority of CP lacks the authority to influence the World Government. The subsequent plot will explain it, so don't rush.