Chapter 351 A Bloodbath Triggered by a Fruit
Heading to the Grand Line on her own? You're quite the imaginative girl!
Koby was left speechless.
Apart from the major chamber of commerce and the Marine force suppressing the seas, there was only one type of person who could freely navigate between the Grand Line and the Four Seas.
And that was... a pirate!
It wasn't a mere constraint, but rather, besides them, anyone else going in would essentially face complete annihilation!
Experience, strength, luck, navigation, medical, logistics, and so on, every requirement related to sailing was essential. Without an excellent navigator to chart the course, sufficient logistical support, and enough strength for protection...
The Grand Line was like an unfilled graveyard!
The path of the major chamber of commerce was out of the question. Nami San in front of him was famously known as the Cat Burglar of East Blue. Even though Colonel Smoker turned a blind eye to her due to her mission to save the village, no major chamber of commerce would dare to take aboard a renowned thief.
If she didn't want to become a pirate, there was only one path left for her.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Come in..."
A deep voice responded from the office. Koby, feeling dejected, muttered, "Excuse me," and pushed open the door.
"Ding ding! Colonel Smoker, I'm here again!"
Koby pushed open the door, and Nami directly squeezed him against the door, jumping into the room first.
Then, at an even faster pace, she jumped back out, covering her throat and coughing loudly.
"Cough, Cough, Cough!! My goodness, do you really need to smoke cigars without opening a window?"
The whole room was shrouded in mist. From a distance, you couldn't even see a person clearly. And this wasn't morning mist; it was the choking, pungent smell of smoke.
Huff...!
Upon hearing this exclamation, inside the room, Smoker looked at her with a headache, exhaling a puff of White Smoke that slowly merged into the ceiling's smoke cloud.
"What do you need?" Smoker ignored Nami's complaint and asked immediately. The sooner she left due to the smoke, the better.
Nami looked at the White Smoke drifting into the corridor from inside the room, hesitated for a moment, then walked in with wide strides.
"Smoker, I'm here to pass your test!"
"I'm heading to the Grand Line!"
Indeed, as expected!
Smoker's headache worsened. He had just casually mentioned it, never expecting Nami to take it seriously. Despite repeated failures, her enthusiasm remained unquenched, and she became even more courageous and proactive.
"Big sister Nami, may I ask why you must go to the Grand Line with us?"
Koby asked in bewilderment. As far as Nami could remember, the only people she knew in the Marine were him and Colonel Smoker, who had gone to Cocoyasi Village last time. At most, one could add Staff Sergeant Tashigi.
To say she had a specific goal to achieve in the Grand Line and had to do it together with the Marines, was far from the truth!
"Don't worry about it. I just... Oh?!"
At this moment, Nami's eyes lit up. Through the smoke, she saw a newspaper in Smoker's hand. On the page was a familiar face. Even in black and white print, those calm and confident eyes were still captivating, like deep, starry skies.
"When was this newspaper published?!"
Nami pounced forward, but Smoker raised his hand to dodge the sudden attack.
If any other soldier dared to rush up and grab something from him, Smoker would have given them a lesson with a White Fist without a second thought. But in the face of this fearless little girl, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Troublesome!"
With a complaint, Smoker tossed the newspaper, covering Nami's head. He took a drag of his cigar and said, "It was delivered this morning. If you want to see it in East Blue, you'll probably have to wait another day."
But at this moment, Nami no longer had time to pay him any mind.
"It's Vice Admiral Soryu (Azure Dragon)!! Just as I thought!"
"What? Vice Admiral Soryu (Azure Dragon)?!"
Koby, paying no attention to the smoky room, rushed over excitedly. The two of them read the contents of the newspaper with growing confusion.
Because they simply couldn't understand what was written in the newspaper.
All they knew was that there was a major victory for the Marines, and even an "Admiral" was mentioned.
Nami looked up at Smoker and smiled awkwardly. "Colonel Smoker, who is this Yonko BIG·MOM?"
Restricted to her East Blue perspective, she could recognize individual characters in the newspaper, but when strung together, it was all a "mysterious and impressive" jumble!
"..."
Smoker impatiently blew a smoke ring and explained, "She's one of the four strongest pirates in the world, collectively known as the Yonko."
The four strongest pirates in the world?!!
Koby and Nami widened their eyes. Even though they didn't know who that person was, the term "world's strongest" was something they could understand.
With that, Smoker no longer hesitated to explain further, feeling a sense of wonder.
"Vice Admiral Soryu (Azure Dragon) is now on par with the Admirals... In the encounter with the Yonko BIG·MOM Pirate Crew, he stood alone against a hundred thousand and annihilated over half of the enemy forces. Then, he teamed up with Admiral Kizaru to directly confront BIG·MOM, forcing her to admit defeat and retreat."
"Marine hasn't been this triumphant in years!"
With one... standing up against 100,000?
Koby and Nami locked eyes, seeing the shock in each other's eyes.
Is that still a person?!
And to think that the mighty Vice Admiral Soryu (Azure Dragon) has to team up with Admiral Kizaru just to face off against the Yonko, BIG·MOM. What kind of monster is she?!
Before, Nami had always thought that a Fish-Man with the strength of an average adult man times ten was already a monster among monsters. But as her horizons expanded, she realized that her initial awe of Fish-Men, as fearsome as they were, didn't even scratch the surface of the vast sea!
Even Koby, who was two years younger, now possessed the strength of four to five grown men combined, after undergoing this period of intensive training.
And compared to the soldiers from the headquarters responsible for guarding the Independent Commission Against Corruption, they were utterly incomparable, to the point of being minuscule!
Seeing the cold sweat on Koby's forehead, Smoker sneered disdainfully and asked, "What's the matter? Scared just because you know the enemy is powerful?! Nami, a young girl, isn't afraid. What about you?!"
"Stand straight, Koby!"
"Yes, sir!"
Koby dared not lift his head and used the corner of his eye to glance at Nami. He could see her eyes shimmering with ripples as if she was envisioning something.
'I have to become stronger!'
Koby clenched his fists behind his back, silently making a vow.
...
On an unnamed island in the Whitebeard Pirates' territory.
A small island was just that, and a small town was just a small town.
This was a sparsely populated place, with a small land area that fell under no nation's jurisdiction, nestled in a remote corner.
However, in the chaotic era of pirates, living a secluded life away from the world was impossible. Pirates coming and going would occasionally use it as a foothold. When in good spirits, they would plunder, leaving the already scarce population even scarcer.
Later, Whitebeard discovered this island, learned of its situation, and handed over his flag to the town's mayor, bringing it under his protection.
At this moment, in "Mustache Town," named after the protection of Whitebeard Pirates' flag, a group of people slowly gathered.
The dimly lit room was illuminated only by a faintly glowing candle. After looking at the attendees today, the first person, cloaked and disguised, asked in a low voice.
"Is the information reliable?"
"I've interrogated those pirates. Although their testimonies differ, the core information is mostly accurate."
The cloaked figure sitting in the first seat nodded and reported, "Currently, World Government's spies, Marine agents, including all members of Whitebeard's Second Division, are already on their way here... If the information is false, this joke might have gone a bit too far!"
As everyone's attention was drawn to the grand battle between the BIG·MOM Pirate Crew and Soryu (Azure Dragon) and Kizaru, the news that had previously only circulated in a small range suddenly began to spread like wildfire, attracting attention from all corners.
World Government, Yonko, Underground World— one interest group after another started pouring into this tranquil sea, which had almost never been given much attention, to gather information.
However, everyone tacitly kept this widely known secret hidden. On the surface, everything still appeared harmonious and peaceful.
But every morning, residents waking up could find one to several corpses that refused to close their eyes in the dark corners.
There were pirates covered in dirt, obvious government agents, and even the renowned Hitman group from the Underground World.
Even the fish and shrimp in this sea were plumper than elsewhere.
If this was a joke, it might be a bit too exaggerated.
The cloaked figure nodded, instructing, "Whitebeard is dispatching all members of the Second Division for the clear purpose of pushing back the Marines and government agents. If necessary, we can assist him..."
"But after that, even if we can't obtain it, we must destroy it!"
"Yes, Leader!"
The others nodded in agreement.
If the current situation had to be described with one accurate phrase, "turbulence" would no longer be appropriate. Perhaps...
The entire northwest of the Grand Line had turned into a boiling pot!!
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(From Translator- Is there something wrong with this novel or my translation bcoz I am not earning anything from this novel? If there is something wrong than can you tell me what it is bcoz if the situation persist then I would have to focus my attention on new novels and I won't be able to do regular updates here and would probably make it into Patreon Exclusive novel. If there is something wrong then pls tell me and you can help me then Pls do so)