"Hey, hey! Sherlock? Sherlock!"
Nami called out softly, but the Sorcerer completely ignored her. He sat there silently in his chair, his eyes flickering as his mind raced with unknown thoughts.
(Honestly, what on earth did that little girl say to him before she left?)
Nami frowned slightly. Seeing that Sherlock looked completely weighed down by his thoughts, she refrained from speaking up to disturb him further.
(I remember the last time his expression changed this drastically was back on Skypiea...)
At that thought, Nami's expression shifted. The exceptionally clever navigator had already vaguely guessed something.
The man and woman sat quietly at the dining table, lost in their own sea of thoughts. Meanwhile, the surrounding Marine soldiers had redirected their attention elsewhere after Major General Alan disappeared.
After a long while.
Exhaling a long breath of turbid air, Sherlock slowly snapped out of it.
"I'm so sorry, I spaced out just now." Sherlock gave the Cat Burglar an apologetic smile. The slight upward curve of his lips was as elegant as ever, but Nami sharply detected the forced nature behind it.
Speaking of which, the Straw Hat Pirates were a bunch of mavericks—eccentric individuals with distinct personalities—and their most defining trait was their bizarre reactions to specific people or things.
For instance, a certain love-struck cook upon seeing a beautiful woman, or a certain money-grubbing navigator upon seeing treasure.
Among them, the Sorcerer Sherlock could be considered an incredibly normal, ordinary person compared to this bunch of dorks. Even so, whenever his older sister was mentioned, this glasses-wearing man—renowned for his composure—could never maintain his calm.
"It's fine, it's fine. You don't need to apologize, Sherlock. By the way, what should we do next?" Nami waved her hand with a smile, not uttering a single word about Major General Alan's earlier whisper.
Although the navigator was dying of curiosity, she managed to hold herself back.
Sherlock glanced at the Cat Burglar with a hint of surprise, and she responded with a bright smile, her large, watery eyes gleaming with a soft light.
"Nami, I have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"
"Uh, a good one and a bad one?"
The orange-haired navigator blinked, casting a suspicious glance at the Sorcerer. She murmured, "Tell me the good news first then."
"The good news is that the strongest Marine in this fortress currently intends to go easy on us, though I'm not entirely sure of her exact motives."
Sherlock rested his elbows on the table and interlaced his fingers. "Without her standing in our way, the chances of us making a clean getaway have increased by at least forty percent."
Although he hadn't witnessed the true power of the "Enemy of Nature" with his own eyes, he could deduce from the fact that his Observation Haki hadn't registered her at all earlier that the loli Major General's combat strength was definitely not something the Sorcerer could contend with right now.
"I see..."
Nami nodded thoughtfully and continued, "And the bad news?"
"The bad news is..."
A sudden, massive crash echoed from the direction of the kitchen, followed immediately by a chaotic commotion that only grew louder and wilder, completely destroying the peaceful dining environment of the mess hall.
All the Marines turned their heads in unison toward the sound, looking utterly bewildered.
"..." ×2. Sherlock and Nami exchanged a look, both entirely speechless.
This ruckus was way too familiar!
"Is... is this the bad news you were talking about?" Nami asked with a long face. Clever as she was, she naturally understood instantly what was happening.
Sherlock shook his head in silence. Just as he was about to speak, two familiar figures dashed out from the source of the noise in plain view of everyone, closely pursued by a massive crowd of furious chefs wielding ladles and iron frying pans.
"Don't run! You wretched pirates!"
"How dare you disguise yourselves as Marine chefs! The nerve!"
"Quick, stop them!"
Hearing this, the clueless bystander Marines instantly snapped out of it and rushed to block the escape route of the two suspicious individuals.
"%#¥%%#..." The Straw Hat boy made incomprehensible noises at his own cook while aggressively chewing the food stuffed in his mouth. Judging by his usual dim-witted expression, he didn't seem to possess an ounce of the tension one should have after their cover was blown.
"Can you swallow your food before talking, Luffy?" The curly-browed cook rolled his eyes. He glanced at the Marines surrounding them, then at the mess hall's main doors, which were already completely blocked. Without hesitation, he and his idiot captain darted toward the windows, planning to make their escape through them.
As fate would have it, Sherlock and Nami's table happened to be the closest one to the windows...
In the next instant, the eyes of the four pirates from the very same ship locked onto each other.
"..." Nami's lips twitched violently.
"..." The expression on Sherlock's face remained calm and composed.
"Na—" Seeing the beautiful and lovely navigator, a certain love-struck cook instinctively wanted to howl like a wolf to express his excitement, but he immediately noticed the Marine uniform Nami was wearing and quickly bit his tongue.
(It looks like Nami-san and Sherlock have disguised themselves too. To keep them from getting exposed, I have to pretend we don't know each other for now,) Sanji thought rationally.
Unfortunately, while Sanji could think logically, it didn't mean everyone else possessed the same foresight—especially a certain Straw Hat idiot whose brain functioned on an entirely different wavelength.
Seeing that his navigator was safe and sound, Luffy's face lit up with absolute joy. However, when his gaze shifted to the "strange man" in a Marine uniform sitting next to Nami, the idiot captain's expression changed dramatically. He hastily swallowed the food in his mouth and shouted:
"Nami! Don't be scared! I'm coming to save you! Gum-Gum... Pistol!!!"
After roaring his attack, Luffy's right fist shot out like a bullet toward the "Marine Lieutenant Commander" who seemingly held Nami "hostage," while his left hand stretched to an exaggerated length, reaching for the utterly dumbfounded orange-haired navigator.
"Σ(ΟΔΟ)!!!"
Sanji nearly coughed up a pint of blood at the sight. He suddenly remembered that this idiot Luffy had always considered Sherlock's silver-rimmed glasses to be the Sorcerer's "true body"!
At that moment, the curly-browed cook desperately wanted to kick this teammate-sabotaging, idiot captain to death!
"..." Blessed with the foresight of Observation Haki, Sherlock simply tilted his head. The idiot captain's indiscriminate straight punch missed entirely, easily dodged, and shattered the window behind the Sorcerer into pieces.
"Run, Nami!"
Luffy lunged forward and dove straight through the shattered window. At the same time, his left hand coiled around Nami's body like a snake before pulling back hard.
Driven by the rubber's incredible elasticity, the Cat Burglar—who still hadn't processed exactly what was happening—was instantly yanked outside, leaving behind nothing but a fading scream...
"Luffy, you absolute idiot..." Sanji cursed under his breath.
Suddenly, the curly-browed cook and the surrounding Marines simultaneously felt an extremely dangerous, oppressive aura. They quickly turned their heads, only to discover in shock that the source of this pressure was none other than the Sorcerer, who had just nearly been hit by his own teammate.
Sherlock sat quietly in his chair, his expression completely blank—devoid of both sorrow and joy. Even Nami being dragged away hadn't caused his face to twitch in the slightest.
Though his expression was as calm as still water, everyone present could vividly feel the intense irritation and rage being suppressed deep within the Sorcerer's heart.
It felt just like the ocean—beneath its serene surface hid monstrous, raging waves beyond normal comprehension!
Gulp... The look on Sanji's face was a sight to behold. He swallowed hard, then leaped out of the window without looking back.
The surrounding chefs and Marine recruits stared at this "Lieutenant Commander" with a mix of shock and suspicion. Oppressed by the Sorcerer's terrifying aura, let alone continuing their pursuit, none of these hundreds of people even dared to breathe heavily.
The aura unintentionally radiating from the Sorcerer alone actually managed to completely suppress hundreds of people like a massive mountain. The entire dining hall became so quiet that a pin drop could be heard, creating a thoroughly bizarre scene.
After a moment, the Sorcerer calmed his emotions and turned his gaze toward the Marines standing frozen on the spot.
"What are you all standing around for?" Sherlock asked, feigning surprise.
"Go after them! And remember, do not shoot. My adjutant has been taken hostage by those two pirates!"
"Y-Yes, sir!" shouted the crowd in unison.
These green recruits and mess hall cooks, who had never witnessed such a terrifying presence, felt as though they had just received a divine amnesty. Under the crushing weight of Sherlock's aura, they practically stopped thinking and rushed out in a frantic swarm. Soon, the dining hall was left with only the Sorcerer.
"How incredibly foolish..." Sherlock muttered to himself, though it was unclear whether he was criticizing his idiot captain for sabotaging his own team or talking about the Marines.
(I'm not surprised that Luffy and the others exposed their identities, but I never expected Nami to be... by him—)
Pulling his glasses out from the Mirror Space, he put them on and gave them a gentle push. Sherlock sighed helplessly, then activated his Devil Fruit ability, slowly fading from sight.
(It seems I really shouldn't take my glasses off so carelessly.)
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