"Roger, you bastard! I'll catch you next time!"
Watching the Roger Pirates sail away, Garp spoke furiously.
But he couldn't abandon the Marines from the sunken warships to chase Roger, so he could only shout angrily after Roger from afar.
Fortunately, the Roger Pirates had left them a warship, and Kuzan had frozen a stretch of sea to give the Marines who had lost their ships somewhere to stand.
"How was it, kid?" Garp asked as he came over to Kuzan.
"Strong. Unbelievably strong," Kuzan said with a bitter smile.
He had thought that possessing a Logia Devil Fruit ability would let him roam the seas unhindered and capture pirates at will.
What happened today had taught him a proper lesson.
"Hahaha! Now you know how tough they are, huh? The pirates in the New World are no pushovers!" Garp said with a laugh.
He had brought Kuzan into the Marines and could be considered his guide.
After joining the Marines, Kuzan had first entered Zephyr's Marine academy.
But Kuzan had found that even among the elite Marines selected from all over the world, few were a match for him apart from Sakazuki and Borsalino.
That had made Kuzan somewhat arrogant lately.
This time, Garp had brought him to the New World not only to test whether his ability could trap Roger's ship, but also to let him see the pirates of the New World and knock the arrogance out of him.
"But that guy is an exceptional existence even in the New World," Garp said, his expression turning grave.
"The Tremor-Tremor Fruit has always had enormous side effects. Many people forced themselves to use it, and the result was often death. That's how the Tremor-Tremor Fruit became the notorious Suicide Fruit. But once someone adapts to its side effects, or can withstand them, its power becomes an enormous disaster for anyone!" Garp said.
"Is it really that serious? Didn't you just break through his attack?" Kuzan asked.
Although he also felt that the Tremor-Tremor Fruit was indeed powerful, there was no need to be so tense about it.
"At the very least, it's more serious than you imagine. Otherwise, why would the World Government deliberately publicize the dangers of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit? Do you think stories about a single Devil Fruit would become world news without the World Government fanning the flames, to the point where everyone knows about it? There was once a Tremor-Tremor Fruit user who unleashed a massive tsunami with it to take revenge on his country, wiping an entire nation off the sea in an instant. This is a Devil Fruit capable of destroying the world and humanity," Garp said solemnly.
"N-no way!" Kuzan said in disbelief.
"That kid is dangerous!" Garp said, looking into the distance.
"More news about Whitebeard!"
"We've clearly been making a huge scene too!"
"Looks like that newly joined samurai from Wano Country has been acting up again!"
Aboard Roger's Oro Jackson, Shanks and Buggy spoke as they read the newspaper.
"A samurai has come out of that closed-off country? I'd really like to meet him!" Roger said.
"Huh? A bounty poster! This is Big Bro Zesi's bounty poster!" "Big Bro Zesi, your bounty poster is out!" Shanks and Buggy seemed to spot something just then and cried out loudly.
"Zesi's bounty poster is out?"
"I figured it was about time!"
"Hahaha! Zesi really messed up the Marines' plans in that last battle!"
"Let me see. How much is Zesi's bounty?"
"Ninety million Beli."
"I feel a little insulted. Only ninety million? Looks like I'll have to stir up some more trouble!" Zesi said with a smile.
"Well, that's pretty high for a first bounty!"
They didn't know that when Garp reported Zesi's situation to Marine Headquarters, he had originally wanted Headquarters to issue a higher bounty.
At least three or four hundred million.
But for certain reasons, the Marines couldn't issue a bounty higher than one hundred million, so they ultimately settled on ninety million.
"To celebrate Zesi's bounty poster, let's have a feast, lads!"
"Don't make excuses. You just want to drink, Roger."
"Time for a feast!"
"Yeah!"
Everyone cheered!
"But, Captain, we're almost out of booze, and we've used up the brewing ingredients too!"
"All right! Full speed toward the next island! I need to restock the brewing ingredients!"
"So you're the great pirate Roger!"
To replenish their supplies and food, the Roger Pirates stopped at an island to rest.
Just then, a young man in a military uniform blocked the Roger Pirates' path.
The military uniform he wore wasn't a Marine uniform.
It looked more like the uniform of some country's army.
"Hahaha! Are you here to capture me?"
"No. I want to challenge you."
"Before I set sail, I thought pirates were something special. After setting sail, I found that pirates were nothing much after all. I hope you won't disappoint me!" the young man said flatly.
"What do you mean? You're looking down on pirates!"
"You're pretty arrogant!"
"I can't pretend I didn't hear that."
"If you want to challenge the captain, beat us first!"
"Exactly! If anyone could challenge the captain, wouldn't he be worked to death?"
Seeing how arrogant the young man was, the Roger Pirates all grew displeased.
"Heh, I'm a newcomer to this pirate crew, so let me do it. As long as you can beat me, you can challenge Captain Roger."
Seeing the young man, a gleam flashed in Zesi's eyes, and he stepped forward with a smile as he spoke.
Zesi had already recognized who this young man in military uniform was.
A future member of the Roger Pirates, Douglas Bullet, known as the Devil's Descendant.
This was an incredibly powerful guy. If he could...
At this point, Zesi was already making preparations to establish a pirate crew in the future.
That was why Zesi stepped forward now.
He would defeat and conquer Bullet before Roger did.