East Blue, Syrup Village.
After a fairly long voyage, Rengoku's warship arrived in a small village called Syrup Village in East Blue.
"Vice Admiral, your Marine coat..."
A Marine handed Rengoku his coat.
But Rengoku refused it.
"No need! It may actually be better not to make it obvious that we're Marines. For now, just Lieutenant Tashigi and I will go ashore!"
"Ah... yes, sir!"
Having served in the Marines in the New World, Rengoku understood all too well what it meant for Marines to arrive in a local village.
Sometimes they were treated like honored guests, with the locals squeezing out money they could barely afford just to entertain them. Sometimes they were treated like free labor.
Rengoku disliked both.
There was no reason to be treated like a VIP just because he was a Marine.
And there was no need to help people who treated Marines like free labor.
He was a Marine and a seeker of justice, but he was neither a warlord nor a pushover.
Rengoku and Tashigi both landed in Syrup Village in plain clothes with swords at their hips, while he ordered the Marines to hide the ship somewhere and anchor it discreetly.
Perhaps because it was a small village on a small island, Syrup Village was peaceful overall.
"Excuse me, sir! Do you happen to know where the local notable lives?"
Rengoku grabbed an old man at random and asked.
Good or evil, everyone gathered where the money was!
He planned to visit the local notable, assess the situation, and leave immediately if nothing seemed amiss.
"The local notable? Then you must mean Miss Kaya's place."
"Miss Kaya?"
"Yes, if you go down that way, you'll find a lavish mansion that doesn't quite fit in around here. Miss Kaya lives there."
"Ah, I see! Thank you!"
Tashigi kept thanking the old man over and over.
"By the way, who are you two?"
The old man looked Rengoku and Tashigi over and asked in confusion.
"Ah, we're travelers passing through. We used to work as police on Chiroro Island."
Rengoku held out the fake Chiroro Island police ID card he had prepared in advance.
Since they were supposedly police from a nearby island, the old man nodded in understanding.
After greeting the old man, Rengoku and Tashigi headed straight for Miss Kaya's mansion.
"Still, it's a relief Chiroro Island cooperated with us."
When the people on Chiroro Island heard that a Marine vice admiral had come all the way from the New World, they treated him with the utmost respect.
This police ID card was a genuine one made on the spot at the time.
If he moved around the islands of East Blue under the name of a Marine Headquarters vice admiral, pirates would hear about it and steer clear in advance.
"I'm grateful to the Chiroro police department!"
**
After walking for quite a while, a splendid mansion finally came into view.
It wasn't exactly luxurious, but its materials and size were clearly those of a house a local notable would live in.
"That must be it!"
"P-pirates!!"
Just as Rengoku and Tashigi were about to visit the mansion, a small boy came running from far away, shouting about pirates over and over.
"Pirates?"
Rengoku listened closely to the boy's words.
But even with the child's frantic warning, the bodyguards watching the mansion did not budge.
"Hello, sir. I have a question!"
Rengoku immediately approached one of the bodyguards and asked.
"Huh? What is it?"
The bodyguard, who looked somewhat arrogant, answered.
"That boy says pirates have come, but I'm curious why none of you are moving at all."
In the direction Rengoku pointed, there was a boy with glasses and onion-shaped hair.
The bodyguard looked at the boy, snorted, and replied, "That kid follows the village's famous liar. Usually that liar's the one shouting every day that pirates have come, but today it looks like this brat's doing it."
Hmm... a liar, huh...
"Thank you for the answer!"
Despite the bodyguard's rudeness, Rengoku thanked him politely and headed toward the boy.
"Vice Admiral, do you really think pirates came?"
Tashigi asked Rengoku with some doubt.
"If they came, we'll catch them. If not, that's fine too!"
Rengoku didn't care whether pirates had truly arrived or not. He simply approached the boy and asked about the pirates.
"Child, could you tell me a little more?"
**
According to the boy with the unusual name "Onion," the story was this.
Two small boats had landed on the opposite shore over there.
One of them bore a skull emblem, the symbol of pirates.
The skull emblem was the Jolly Roger of "Buggy the Clown," and there were three people aboard the ship.
After sending the child away, Rengoku asked Tashigi, "How likely do you think it is that they're really Buggy the Clown's crew, Lieutenant Tashigi?"
"It's suspicious whether Buggy the Clown, with a bounty of 15 million berries, would send only three people. And it's also strange that only one of the two ships has a Jolly Roger painted on it."
At Tashigi's speculation, Rengoku nodded and said, "Most pirates are weak! That is why they prefer to travel in groups, and a Jolly Roger was originally made to intimidate people! But for only three pirates to have a Jolly Roger on just one of two ships suggests the possibility that they split off from Buggy's crew! Therefore, either way, the chances are high that they are real pirates. Even if the words come from a child who follows a liar, they cannot simply be ignored!"
Rengoku immediately set off at a run using his footwork, heading toward the direction the boy named Onion had pointed out.
"Ah, Vice Admiral, wait for me!"
Lieutenant Tashigi also used Rokushiki: Soru to follow after Rengoku.
**
Meanwhile, in a small restaurant in Syrup Village.
"Really? My dad was on Shanks's ship?"
"That's right, that's right. Your father's marksmanship was top-notch~ Heeheehee!"
"Gulp, gulp, gulp!"
"Seriously, do these people have any sense of money or not... Ah, Zoro! Don't spill your drink!"
The boy with the long nose and the boy wearing a straw hat were chatting warmly as if they were old friends.
Meanwhile, the green-haired drunkard and the girl with the orange bob cut were eating as quietly as possible.
"Vice Admiral, do you think those two are really Buggy the Clown's crew?"
Watching the boys and girls happily eating inside the restaurant from outside, Tashigi felt doubtful.
"If they are Buggy the Clown's crew, then maybe that's why they're laughing like clowns."
Rengoku's instincts told him they weren't very strong.
At the very least, that straw-hat boy laughing over there and the drunkard who only drank alcohol were not at the level one would expect to find in East Blue.
Ding-a-ling.
They opened the restaurant door and decided to observe them more closely from inside.
"Welcome."
The elderly owner reading a newspaper greeted them.
"Owner, please bring me the same meat and alcohol those boys are eating!"
"Yes, yes. Please wait a moment."
"Then I leave it to you!"
After placing their order, Rengoku and Tashigi took seats near the boys and girls.
They intended to listen in from nearby.
"By the way, Usopp, is there any way to get a big ship and a crewmate who knows how to handle one here?"
The one who spoke was the girl with the orange bob cut.
"A big ship? Sorry, but this is a small farming village. We don't have anything like that, and even if we wanted to build one right away, we don't have any craftsmen."
"But Nami, there's a big mansion up there. It looks like the local notable's place, so why not ask to borrow some money?"
The drunkard pointed toward Miss Kaya's mansion as he spoke.
Then the boy with the long nose, Usopp, reacted quite violently.
"No way! Absolutely not! Under no circumstances are you going there!"
"What, do you know them? That's an extreme reaction."
Nami asked in confusion at Usopp's behavior.
"Anyway, you absolutely cannot go there. For now, just eat. My name carries weight around here, so eat up!"
After that, Usopp quickly got up and ran out of the restaurant.
"What's wrong with him..."
"Who knows..."
"Whatever, let's eat!"
While the boys and girls suspected of being Buggy the Clown's crew ate, Rengoku's group also received their meal.
"Well then, let's eat too!"
"Yes! L-Lieutenant Rengoku!"
Tashigi almost said "Vice Admiral" by mistake.
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