East Blue, 16th Marine Branch.
"Sir! Sir!"
An anxious shout startled a dozing Captain Nezumi awake.
"You fucking bastard! Stop shouting!"
The Marine Branch Captain, Nezumi, whose nap had been interrupted, glared furiously at the marine who had burst into his office and roared.
"Sir, a pirate ship is approaching the base."
The marine who entered saw Nezumi's furious expression, quickly snapped to attention, and reported.
"Huh? Wait, a pirate ship?"
This news made the still-groggy Captain Nezumi's eyes widen as he looked quizzically at the marine standing at attention.
"Yes, sir!"
The reporting marine nodded repeatedly, confirming he had not misspoken.
"Has the Branch Commander not returned yet?"
Captain Nezumi stood up and asked with a frown.
"Uh, the Branch Commander went to Headquarters to report on his duties. He just left not long ago."
The marine answered cautiously.
"Sound the alarm! Prepare to engage the enemy!"
The somewhat sleazy-looking Captain Nezumi gave the order directly.
The marine who received the command saluted, turned, and ran out.
Grabbing the longsword by his side, Captain Nezumi's face still held a trace of doubt.
"There are no powerful pirates in the East Blue, let alone any who would directly attack a Marine base. What's going on?"
He walked out of his office with his sword in hand.
The base's alarm blared, and squads of marines quickly poured out to assemble.
Captain Nezumi led several hundred marines straight toward the port.
The residents of the small town outside the base were all puzzled by this development.
A large group of marines, led by Captain Nezumi, arrived at the seaside docks.
They looked up and saw a small pirate ship charging straight for the port.
"Prepare for battle!"
To have become a Marine Captain, Nezumi was clearly not that incompetent.
After all, he had worked his way up from a common marine to this position.
The marines formed ranks, weapons at the ready, waiting for the pirate ship to approach.
On the pirate ship, Cyrus stood at the bow, having already spotted the assembled marines.
Behind him on the deck, a group of pirates were squatting with their heads in their hands.
Except for the few controlling the ship's course, all the other pirates were behaving themselves.
"Slow down and dock!"
Cyrus turned his head and gave an order.
The rapidly sailing pirate ship began to slow down.
A moment later, the small pirate ship slowly pulled up to the dock.
Cyrus stepped directly off the ship, his gaze falling on the front of the Marine formation.
A man with a rat-like mustache and a somewhat sleazy-looking face step forward.
"I am Captain Nezumi, Vice Commander of the 16th Marine Branch, ID number 00733. are you a pirate? You dare to attack a marine base?"
As he spoke, Nezumi pointed his sword at Cyrus.
"I'm not a pirate. Well, I'm a Pirate Hunter. I'm here to turn in some pirates and collect their bounties!"
Cyrus paid no mind to Nezumi mistaking him for a pirate and directly told him the truth, even pointing a finger at the pirate ship behind him.
Captain Nezumi's expression froze.
He looked up at the pirate ship and saw a string of heads peeking over the ship's railing.
"A Pirate Hunter?" Captain Nezumi was a bit stunned.
The marines who had been on high alert looked at each other in confusion.
"Oh, right. And the treasure on the ship, help me exchange it for Belly and send it all over together."
Cyrus glanced at Captain Nezumi, walked past him, and the Marine ranks subconsciously parted to form a path.
Watching Cyrus walk through the path the marines had made and head toward the town, Captain Nezumi and his men were completely bewildered.
However, when they boarded the pirate ship and faced the pirates who, despite not being tied up, offered no resistance, they all began to speculate about Cyrus's strength.
After recognizing Doru, the pirate with a 2,500,000 Belly bounty, they immediately escorted him and his crew back to the base and conducted a brief interrogation.
Doru's crew had resigned themselves to their fate.
Most pirates, or people in general, were bullies to the weak and cowards to the strong.
Take Cyrus, for example.
After he merely displayed his power, this group of pirates, who had only been at sea for a year, lost all will to resist and obediently sailed their own ship to the Marine base.
"Controls fire? Wasn't injured even after being slashed by a sword?"
Captain Nezumi muttered the information he had just extracted from the interrogation about that Pirate Hunter.
"A Devil Fruit user? A fire-related one?"
Captain Nezumi, who had originally considered embezzling the treasure and taking credit for capturing the pirates, now behaved himself.
This group of pirates was ignorant, but Nezumi had been in the Marines for many years and naturally knew of things like Devil Fruits.
The moment he heard Doru mention fire, he immediately thought of a Devil Fruit user.
"Sir?"
A marine's call brought Captain Nezumi, who had just come out of the brig, back to his senses.
"That Pirate Hunter?"
"The bounty and the value of the treasure, convert it all to Belly and send it to that Pirate Hunter. Also, ask about him. At the very least, we need to know his name."
Captain Nezumi thought for a moment.
Until he figured out what kind of Devil Fruit user the man was, he didn't want to provoke him.
As for a Logia Type, he didn't even dare to consider it.
After all, the three Logia Type Vice Admirals in the Marines were currently in the spotlight, seemingly on the verge of being promoted to Admiral.
They were the famous Admiral candidates.
...
In the town's tavern, Cyrus sat at the bar, listening to the patrons discuss what had just happened.
The Marines escorting a large group of pirates back to the base was a rare sight here.
"I heard they were caught by a Pirate Hunter. A whole ship full of them."
Someone was clearly better informed.
"That's amazing. To catch so many pirates, he must be someone strong enough to set sail to Grandline."
"Definitely. They said there were dozens of pirates. To catch that many, he must be incredibly strong."
Listening to the tavern patrons discuss him, Cyrus, who was just taking his first steps into this world, found it quite interesting.
He listened quietly until the sudden arrival of Marine soldiers silenced the tavern.
"Mr. Pirate Hunter, here is your bounty and the converted value of the treasure. A total of 9,530,000 Belly."
The arriving marine saw Cyrus sitting at the bar, walked over, gave a salute, and handed him a bag.
In an instant, the gazes of all the tavern patrons who had just been gossiping shot toward Cyrus.
"Thanks!"
Cyrus looked at the bag and took it directly.
"Um, you need to register to collect the bounty."
Seeing Cyrus take the bag, the marine beckoned him.
A marine behind him holding paper and a pen stepped forward, staring intently at Cyrus.
"We need to register who collected the bounty. It has to be reported."
"My name is Cyrus. I just set out to sea."
Cyrus's gaze swept over the two marines as he answered.
"And?"
"That's it!"
Seeing Cyrus shake his head, the two marines exchanged a look, and one of them asked again.
"Then where are you headed next?"
"Next? I'll continue looking for pirates. After all, I'm a Pirate Hunter you know?" Cyrus said with a raised eyebrow.