“What are you trying to do?!” Nami shouted angrily as she stared at the massive lion in front of them.
“Obviously I’m here to destroy the Straw Hat Pirates’ ship!” Mohji yelled while poking his head out from behind Richie.
“If their ship’s gone, they won’t be able to leave the island!”
“Huh?!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be that Straw Hat kid’s companions?!”
The moment Mohji recognized them, his face twisted with rage.
“Richie, tear them apart!”
Anyone connected to the Straw Hat Pirates deserved to die!
“What do we do?!” Nami panicked.
“That lion’s huge!
We’re going to get eaten!”
“I’ve got an idea!” Usopp suddenly said.
Earlier, he had heard Richie’s stomach growling.
Maybe the beast was just hungry!
With that thought, he quickly pulled an egg from his pocket and loaded it into his slingshot.
“Special Attack: Egg Star!”
Nami froze when she saw what he fired.
Then she smashed a fist straight into Usopp’s face.
“How is an egg supposed to do anything?!”
“At least use gunpowder!”
“Or a lead shot!”
“Relax!” Usopp pushed her hand away proudly.
“Just watch!”
“Watch what?
Watch you ge…”
Nami turned toward Richie and immediately went speechless.
“It actually worked?!”
The giant lion had completely ignored them and was happily licking the egg off the ground.
How food-obsessed was this thing?!
Nami did not even know how to react anymore.
“Hey, Richie!
This isn’t lunchtime!” Mohji shouted in embarrassment.
His own lion was ruining his intimidation act.
Unfortunately, Richie had no interest in listening to him.
The lion only cared about eating.
“Fine, I’ll handle this myself!” Mohji snorted.
He was the vice captain of the Buggy Pirates.
Taking down two small fry should have been easy.
Right then, several bullets suddenly flew in from the distance, nearly hitting him.
“Who the hell fired that?!” Mohji roared furiously.
“Do you idiots know you almost shot me?!”
But after seeing who had arrived, his expression instantly changed.
“Ma…
Marines?!”
Why were Marines here?!
“The Straw Hat Pirates are surrounded!” the leading Marine officer shouted.
“Surrender peacefully, or we open fire!”
“Wait, I’m not part of the Straw Hat Pir…”
“Fire!”
Mohji screamed and flattened himself against the ship hull, trembling in fear.
“Why are you only shooting at me?!”
“There are two other people standing right here!”
“And I’m not even with the damn Straw Hats!”
The Marines paused for a second.
That…
actually made sense.
A portion of them immediately redirected their rifles toward Nami and Usopp.
“What do we do…” Usopp swallowed nervously.
At this distance, his sniping skills were practically useless.
Then his eyes suddenly lit up.
“Wait!
Nami!
Didn’t Kai give you those three balls before we came here?!”
“Throw one!”
“Oh, right!”
Nami immediately remembered.
She reached into her mysterious storage pouch, pulled out one of the metal spheres, and hurled it toward the Marines with all her strength.
“Woman, did fear fry your brain?!” Mohji mocked.
“You think a tiny little ball can actually do anyth…”
BOOM!!
A massive explosion erupted across the street, instantly blasting the Marines away.
Mohji: ???
He stared blankly at the smoking battlefield.
Then he sucked in a cold breath as snot nearly dripped from his nose in terror.
That woman had such a horrifying weapon?!
And she had three of them?!
Thank goodness she had not remembered to use them on him earlier…
Nope.
He was leaving.
Right now.
Otherwise he might actually die here.
Mohji quietly kicked Richie, signaling retreat.
Richie immediately understood.
The lion scooped Mohji onto his back and bolted away at top speed.
Nami did not even get a chance to say anything.
“Hahahahaha!” Usopp burst out laughing while watching the fleeing pair.
“Looks like they ran away because they were scared of me!”
“Fine!
I’ll spare your lives today!”
“If you see Captain Usopp again, make sure to take the long way around!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Enough already.
Get on the ship,” Nami said while glancing at the darkening sky.
“A storm’s coming.
We need to prepare.”
“Hurry up!
Get on board!”
“We’re finally heading to the Grand Line!
I’m so excited!”
“Luffy and the others are back!” Usopp shouted happily as he leaned over the railing.
Sure enough, Luffy and the others were running toward them.
“Over here!” Usopp waved wildly.
“Hurry!”
“Coming!”
Kai glanced at the scorched ground nearby and the unconscious Marines scattered everywhere.
“Good thing I gave her something for self-defense in advance,” he muttered.
“Everyone, hurry!” Nami called from the deck.
“The storm’s about to hit!”
“But the wind is blowing in our favor!
We can use it to escape the harbor!”
As soon as everyone boarded, Smoker burst onto the scene, furious.
“Stop right there!”
“You bas…”
Before he could finish speaking, a powerful sense of danger exploded through his mind.
Without hesitation, Smoker activated his Logia transformation.
At that exact moment, Kai raised his hand.
“Explode.”
BOOM!!
A violent explosion tore through the area where Smoker had been standing, blasting a crater into the ground.
At the same time, the Going Merry caught the shockwave and surged away from the harbor at incredible speed.
“Damn it!” Smoker slammed his fist into the ground as he watched the ship disappear into the distance.
“That damn Straw Hat brat!”
“And that damn scientist!”
“Just you wait!”
On his honor as a Marine captain, he swore he would personally capture those two idiots!
“Tashigi!”
“Yes, sir!”
Tashigi, who had just arrived, instinctively snapped into a salute.
“Prepare a ship.
We’re going after them!”
“Yes, sir!”
She turned immediately and rushed off to carry out the order.
“Captain…
that violates procedure…” a Marine lieutenant said hesitantly.
“Leaving without authorization from headquarters…”
“Don’t try to use those old men to pressure me,” Smoker replied coldly.
“Since when have I ever cared about that?”
Everyone in the Marines knew Smoker was a notorious troublemaker.
They could notify headquarters later and send someone else to take over Loguetown.
As for him?
He was going after the pirates.
No matter what, he had to capture the Straw Hat crew.