"Ahhh—
we finally shook those guys off."
Standing on the deck, Usopp let out a huge sigh of relief.
Being surrounded by so many warships had been absolutely terrifying.
Luckily, they hadn't all fired at once—
otherwise, the Thousand Sunny probably wouldn't have survived.
"Something still feels off," Nico Robin said while looking back.
"Would the Marines really make such a massive move just to hunt us here?"
"And if Aokiji were present, there's no way he would've just watched us escape."
If that man truly took action, the entire sea would've frozen solid—
just like before they reached Water 7.
But the ocean remained untouched.
That was why Robin felt something was wrong.
"Could it have been a trick by those guys?" Jin raised an eyebrow.
If it wasn't the Marines, then the only possibility left was that bounty hunter group.
"Bounty hunters? That seems unlikely."
"Yeah, that was clearly a whole fleet of Marine warships."
"Whether it is or not," Jin said, glancing toward the pirate ship still being carried by the water dragon behind them,
"we can just ask them."
"Perfect timing—we can bring Chopper back too."
Using Water Release on the sea didn't consume much chakra,
but maintaining it for a long time still caused strain.
Besides, they had no obligation to keep carrying these people.
"Right, right—bring Chopper back!" Usopp said quickly.
He ran to the stern and shouted at the ship behind them.
"Hey! You guys back there!
Hurry up and return our ship's doctor!"
Stansen: ???
"Huh? What?"
Stansen, who had just climbed up from the deck, looked completely confused.
What did he mean, return the doctor?
He hadn't seen any doctor at all.
"You bastard!" Usopp glared.
"Are you trying to kidnap Chopper?!"
Whoosh—!
Bang!!
Luffy jumped over, landing heavily on their deck.
The impact alone crushed two deep dents into the boards.
"Ah—sorry, sorry."
"N-no problem…"
Cold sweat poured down Stansen's face.
Just jumping over had done this much damage?!
What kind of monster was this guy?!
Luffy didn't care and looked around.
"Hey, Chopper! Where are you?"
"We're here to pick you up!"
"You already beat us up once," Kayle said while struggling to sit up.
"Are you really going to keep attacking us?"
"If that's the case, I'll fight t—"
"Relax," Jin said calmly as he jumped over while holding Merry.
"We're not interested in you."
"If we were, you'd already be dead."
He had no intention of bullying people who were already down—
and Luffy had already let them go.
Kayle opened his mouth, then closed it again, lowering his head with a quiet sigh.
In the end…
they were just too weak.
Weak enough that they weren't even worth the enemy's attention.
Just then, Chopper came running out of the cabin.
"Hey, Luffy! I'm over here!"
"Ah—Chopper!"
"Why is everyone here?" Chopper asked in confusion.
"You still have the nerve to ask?" Zoro snapped.
"You ran off without saying anything—what if something happened?"
"Yeah! Even if you wanted to treat someone, you should've told us!"
"What if there was danger?"
"Chopper."
Merry jumped down from Jin's arms and looked at him seriously.
"Don't run off without telling us again, okay~?"
"We'll worry about you!"
"Merry… everyone…"
"I'm sorry. I won't do that again."
Chopper realized his mistake.
If there really had been an ambush on that ship,
he might've been taken out without even getting a chance to call for help.
"As long as you're okay," Luffy said with a grin.
"Let's go back."
"P-please… wait!"
Gino suddenly stepped in front of Chopper with his arms spread wide.
"You can't take Doctor Chopper away yet!"
"What do you mean?" Merry puffed up angrily.
"Are you trying to steal our crewmate?!"
"C-child?" Gino froze.
"You look younger than me—why are you calling me a kid?"
"Hmph! I'm a spirit, not a human!" Merry said proudly, hands on her hips.
"So I'm already a big kid!"
Gino: ...
What even was this conversation?
Stansen glanced at Merry in surprise but didn't think too deeply about it.
"I'm not trying to take your crewmate," Gino said sincerely.
"I just hope Doctor Chopper can stay a little longer."
"Mr. Pazel is still in critical condition.
He needs Doctor Chopper's help."
"Y-you…"
Chopper suddenly began twisting shyly.
"E-even if you call me a famous doctor, I'm not happy at all, you jerk~!"
"That definitely looks like happiness," Jin muttered.
"Chopper, what do you think?" Luffy asked.
"I want to stay a bit longer," Chopper said.
"I just finished surgery on their captain. He's not out of danger yet."
"Alright. Got it."
"Hey, Luffy—"
"It's fine," Luffy said with a grin.
"I'll stay with you."
"Chopper, go do what you want to do."
"O-okay!"
Chopper beamed.
Being understood like that…
felt really good.
"Then please come with me," Gino said, tugging Chopper's arm.
"Doctor Chopper, let's go."
"Y-you idiot! Even if you praise me, I still—"
"Hahahahaha! Chopper's hilarious!"
As Luffy laughed and followed them into the cabin,
Jin turned his gaze toward Stansen.
Just that single look made Stansen tense instantly.
In that moment, he recalled the terrifying sight he had seen before—
That enormous blood-red eye hanging in the sky,
covering the heavens.
And that eye…
belonged to this man.
"Y-you…"
"I've got a few questions," Jin said calmly.
"Y-yes!"
"Those Marine warships just now—what were they really? Do you know?"
"T-this…"
"What, can't say?" Jin raised an eyebrow.
"N-no, it's not that—I just really don't know," Stansen said awkwardly.
"When we passed through here before, we encountered the same thing."
"Those warships appeared, formed an encirclement, and left a single opening for us to escape."
"It was exactly the same as what you just experienced."
"So they weren't real Marines," Franky said, pushing up his sunglasses.
"The Navy wouldn't bother surrounding nobodies like you."
"If they were here for us, that'd be more believable."
"Then it must be the bounty hunter family's method," Robin nodded.
That explained the sense of discomfort she'd felt earlier.
"But how did they do it?" Usopp asked.
"Those Marine sails looked completely real!"
"We… don't know."
"You don't know?!"
"It's true!" Stansen raised his hands quickly.
"They never explained it to us."
"Looks like our enemies don't have a habit of explaining their tricks," Jin said calmly.
That matched what he'd heard from Luffy's phone call earlier—
they weren't idiots.
"Go on. What happened after that?"
"After passing through the encirclement, we slowly entered the Ice Sea Route, and then—"
Halfway through his sentence, Stansen's face suddenly changed.
Because he realized—
They were already in the Ice Sea Route.
"Ice Sea Route…"
Jin glanced at the towering icebergs on both sides.
"You mean this place?"
"Why are we here so fast?!"
"That's impossible!"
"When we came before, it took us hours to reach this area!"
"Did those people move the icebergs?!"
Ael and the others stared in disbelief.
This wasn't just a few pieces of ice—
this was an entire region.
Everyone slowly turned their heads.
All eyes landed on Jin.
"…Jin," Merry said sweetly,
"your water dragon was just a little too fast~"
"Jin! Why were you going so fast?!"
Jin: ???
"Nami, you're really one to talk," Jin said helplessly, looking at her.
"When you were clinging to me earlier, you were shouting for me not to stop—
telling me to keep charging forward so the 'Marines' wouldn't catch up."
"And now you're blaming me?"
If she hadn't been screaming faster, faster,
he wouldn't have gone at full speed.
Nami coughed awkwardly.
…She had said that.
But that was to escape the Marines!
"Well, we're already here," Zoro said calmly.
"No point arguing now."
He looked at Stansen.
"So what happens after entering the Ice Sea Route?"
"The icebergs will be moved by ferocious penguins," Stansen said honestly.
"They'll form a complete enclosure around the ship."
"And then… the bounty hunters appear."
"That's how they took our pirate flag and sails."
Just recalling it made him shiver.
That group of bounty hunters was far too strong.
They never stood a chance.
"Ferocious penguins?"
"They're carnivorous animals they raise. Extremely dangerous."
"I see." Franky nodded.
"Pretty clever."
With this method, pirate ships really could be trapped—
After all…
Not every ship could fly.
"Looks like we're still running into them," Jin said with a grin.
"So it comes to a fight after all."
Zoro rested his hand on his sword hilt.
"But they won't be getting our heads so easily."
"H-hey, fighting bounty hunters…"
Usopp's legs trembled.
"Anyone who dares come after us probably isn't weak, right?"
"What, scared?"
"N-no! I just have a disease where I'll die if I fight bounty hunters!"
"Huh?!"
Merry panicked instantly.
"Quick! Usopp, I'll take you to Chopper!
Don't die!"
Usopp: ...
"Hahahahaha!"
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