As they listened to Garp, question marks appeared all over everyone's faces. Why had Garp burst out laughing after looking inside the bag?
"Um... Vice Admiral Garp, what are you laughing at?" Willis asked, puzzled.
Seeing their confused expressions, Garp tossed the bag to Willis.
"Take a look for yourself and you'll know. Hahaha!"
Everyone hurried forward to look inside the bag.
When they saw what was inside, however, they didn't burst out laughing like Garp. Instead, they froze in horror, unable to recover for a long time...
What lay inside the bag was nothing amusing, but a bloody head.
Seeing their horrified expressions, Ages's lips curved slightly upward.
Garp stepped forward and patted Ages on the shoulder, asking curiously,
"Ages, boy, you said what was in the bag was your ticket into the Marines, right?"
Ages nodded.
"Hahahaha, interesting, interesting! Then, Ages, boy, can you tell me why this thing is your ticket into the Marines?"
Far from being horrified by the head in the bag, Garp kept calling it interesting as he asked, his face full of curiosity.
Ages was also amazed that Marine Garp the Hero wasn't horrified at all, but instead looked as though he had discovered something interesting. He smiled and said,
"Hehe, here's what happened. I went to enlist in the Marines before... And that's how it happened."
After Ages told him about trying to enlist in the Marines, Garp gave him a thumbs-up, laughing until tears came out of his eyes. He laughed heartily and said,
"Hahahaha, Ages, boy, you're really too interesting! Hahaha, I never thought you'd actually go hunt pirates! Hahaha!"
Garp was now full of fondness and curiosity toward the young Ages for actually taking Johnny's words to heart and going pirate hunting.
By then, Johnny and the others had come back to their senses, but they still looked horrified, not yet recovered from their shock.
Johnny pointed at the head in the bag, swallowed, and asked Ages,
"Th-that... Ages, this pirate's head... c-could it be... Don Krieg, the one with a bounty of 17 million Beli?"
Ages grinned and nodded in admission.
"Hehe, yeah."
Hearing Ages admit it, Johnny's eyes widened until they were as big as a bull's. His heart, which had nearly settled down, began to boil again like water over a fire. He said,
"Don Krieg was the pirate with the highest bounty in the East Blue, 17 million Beli! Most importantly, he had over 5,000 men under him! And as far as I know, Don Krieg was naturally cunning and almost never went anywhere alone!"
"But judging by Don Krieg's expression, he died full of unwillingness and resentment, unable to rest in peace! Ages, how on earth did you kill Don Krieg when he had over 5,000 men under him?!"
Hearing Johnny's words, Garp grew even more curious and pressed Ages as well.
"Over 5,000 men?? Ages, boy, hurry up and tell us how you killed Don Krieg!"
The others didn't speak, but the expressions on their faces were just as curious as Garp's and Johnny's.
As though describing an ordinary affair, Ages said casually,
"It was simple. I just had to kill Don Krieg and all his men directly."
"What?!!!"
Hearing Ages's words, Garp and the others shouted in unison.
Even Garp, who was usually calm and composed, couldn't help looking surprised now.
Ages dug at his ears, which were ringing from everyone's shouts, and said,
"Damn... Did you have to be that surprised? You nearly deafened me."
Garp strode over and grabbed Ages by the shoulders with both hands, excitement written on his face.
"Ages, boy, did you really kill Don Krieg and over 5,000 men all by yourself??"
Ages shook his head, then nodded, and said,
"I only killed Don Krieg and his men by using a few tricks."
A flicker of disappointment passed through Garp's eyes. He had thought that, at such a young age, Ages already possessed the formidable strength to kill a pirate with a bounty of 17 million Beli and over 5,000 men in one fell swoop.
But Garp's disappointment didn't last long. Ages's next words made him look surprised once again.
"I just used my Devil Fruit ability to trigger three volcanic eruptions and let the lava swallow up Don Krieg and all his men, that's all. Hehe..."
Silence...
Deathly silence...
Everyone present except Garp was so shocked by Ages's words that they stood rooted to the spot, left reeling...
Garp also froze for a moment because of Ages, then burst out laughing again.
"Hahahahaha, interesting! That's fucking interesting! Ages, I never thought you were a Devil Fruit User! You can even trigger volcanic eruptions! Hahaha! Can you tell me which Devil Fruit you ate?"
Garp had seen what the island looked like after the three volcanoes erupted, but he had never imagined that the eruptions weren't natural, but caused by someone. And the person who had caused them was none other than the ten-year-old Ages standing before him.
This raised Garp's curiosity and fondness for Ages to an unprecedented level.
Ages didn't think there was anything worth hiding about his Devil Fruit ability, so he said,
"The Devil Fruit I ate was the Gravity Fruit."
"The Gravity Fruit!"
Garp's laughing expression froze in an instant, as though the scene had stopped. He stared wide-eyed at Ages and thought,
It's actually the Gravity Fruit! If used properly, the Gravity Fruit's destructive power can rival that of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit possessed by Whitebeard, the man known as the "World's Strongest Man"!
Garp looked at Ages with a gleam in his eyes, as though he had discovered an exceptionally rare treasure.
Under Garp's "hungry wolf" gaze, Ages couldn't help shuddering. He folded his arms across his chest and took a step back.
"Vice Admiral Garp, what are you doing? I'm not into guys!"