CHAPTER 4: SCAPEGOAT

"A portion of seafood noodles."

When he came to a small restaurant in town, Ross found a place to sit down and greeted the owner before giving his order.

The restaurant owner naturally knew Ross. After grinning at him, he poured a glass of water for Ross and then he walked into the rear room of the restaurant and tied his apron.

Ross drank the given water while thinking about what direction to take for the next training.

Suddenly…

A disturbance on the street interrupted Ross's thoughts. He looked up and saw a large team of Marines holding guns and swords walking through the streets and searching around for something or someone.

"What are they doing?"

Ross's face showed a strange expression.

Could a pirate have sneaked into the town?

As he sat there and watched the Marines search around, a Marine soldier suddenly saw him sitting in the restaurant.

"He's here!"

The Marine first glimpsed at him and then immediately bellowed for his comrades as he raised the gun in his hand and pointed it directly at Ross.

Almost in the exact moment, the Marines on the entire street rushed over surrounding the restaurant and Ross in the center as numerous guns aimed at him.

"Criminal Ross surrender now!"

"Don't try to resist you are surrounded by us!"

A Marine Lieutenant Commander rushed to the front, raised a long sword in his hand and shouted at Ross with a serious look.

Ross was still holding the glass of drinking water in his hand as he looked at the scene in front of his eyes change suddenly. For a moment, he stared blankly.

"You…what are you doing?"

He looked around in his surroundings.

He was alone in the entire restaurant. His eyebrows gradually wrinkled and he put down the glass of water he was holding and asked the numerous Marines.

"Um?"

The Marine Lieutenant Commander frowned but he immediately put a cold expression on his face, and shouted loudly: "Don't feign ignorance, the crime you have committed is impossible to disappear. Allow yourself to be seized without putting up a fight. "

"Me? Committed a crime?"

Ross had a strange expression on his face, annoyed, doubtful and a multitude of expression crossed his face.

I am a Pirate Hunter and I hunt pirates, am I guilty for that? What the hell?

The Marine Lieutenant Commander saw that Ross was still "feigning ignorance" and he couldn't help but shout: "Quickly come out and surrender, otherwise we will use attack!"

"…"

The expressions on Ross's face gradually turned cold.

He chose to be a Pirate Hunter because, on one hand, he needs to hunt and kill pirates for the Talent System and, on the other hand, he didn't want to be pursued by Marines and get into conflict with them.

But not wanting to be in conflict with Marines does not mean that he is afraid of them. Without rhyme or reason, Marines are saying that he is a criminal and wants him to surrender and put him in handcuffs. What the hell is this?

"Can you tell me first what crimes have I committed?"

Ross looked coldly at the Marines outside.

The Marine Lieutenant Commander heard what Ross said and his expression turned to anger: "When you are being judged, you will know what crimes you have committed!"

After his voice fell, he directly issued the order and the numerous Marines pulled the trigger and fired countless bullets towards Ross.

Bang!

Almost at the instant the Marines opened fire, the ground under Ross burst and broke like a spider web and the table in front of him also shattered at the same time. He was like a ghost as he rushed out of the restaurant.

"Where is he? How did he vanish?!"

The Marine Lieutenant Commander was shocked. He slashed with his sword but nothing was cut as Ross had disappeared from the restaurant into thin air.

Not far from the restaurant Ross stood on a roof behind a chimney, glancing at the town below him and found that the entire town had been surrounded by the Marines, and on the distant shore there were two Battleships docked. He could not help but frown at this situation.

Such a big movement…

Besides hunting the pirates, I have not done anything that will alarm the Marines. Now it seems that something has happened and the charges have been thrown on my head.

Ross was annoyed from the bottom of his heart and his eyes were showing traces of anger, whoever framed him will pay. This is not over!

But first, he needs to figure out what is going on here.

Ross came down from the roof and came to an alleyway waiting for a moment a team of Marines passed by him and he pulled the last Marine from the team into the alley with one hand on his mouth.

"If you dare to scream you will lose your head."

Ross took out a dagger from his pocket and pressed it against the marine's neck. He looked at him coldly and slowly let go of his hand from the marine's mouth.

The marine soldier was terrified and he wanted to shout out loud, but the sharp and cold dagger on his neck made him feel as if his neck was pinched.

Ross asked coldly: "The first question, what is your purpose?"

"I...I….."

The marine soldier looked at Ross while trembling in fear. He was afraid that if Ross's hand shook, his neck will be cut off.

Ross put the dagger a little farther away and said coldly: "Quickly speak!"

"The orders are to arre….. arrest Ghost Hand Ross…"

The marine soldier saw the dagger move away and he breathed a sigh of relief, but he was still looking at Ross with fear and a stuttering answer came out of his mouth.

Ross nodded and stared at the marine soldier's eyes, asking coldly: "The second question why are you trying arrest me?"

The soldier took a moment as he didn't expect Ross to ask such a question.

A strange and confused look passed in his eyes, but he still answered with a stutter under the threat of the dagger.

"Yes… it is because of the massacre of the Tarot town… you are the prime culprit."

When he heard this, Ross frowned and was about to ask what the Tarot town massacre was, but suddenly there was a big noise outside the alley.

"He's here!"

Seeing that he has been discovered by Marine, Ross was too lazy to ask again.

He was obviously bewildered that he was framed for Tarot town massacre. As for what the Tarot town massacre was he knew of a place where he can ask about it.

Whiz!

Ross once again uses shave(soru) and his body flashed and disappeared into an alleyway, leaving behind the marine soldier who had just survived a disaster. He leaned against the wall with a puzzled and doubtful expression.

"He doesn't know why we want to arrest him?"

...

The West Blue's Marines were completely different from the original work's East Blue Marine.

In the original work's East Blue, after catching a big pirate with a bounty of 1500 million Berries, you can directly rise to the captain level from a military officer. The reason for that is that in the East Blue the highest bounty a pirate have is only at 20 million Berries.

But, in the West Blue, the highest bounty pirates can have gone as high as 50 million Berries.

Even in this sea area where Ross is currently located, the highest bounty is more than 30 million Berries.

Therefore West Blue's Marines face much more difficulty in promoting than East Blue marines. That is to say, the overall strength of West Blue Marines is much larger than East Blue marines and the marines in the West blue are stronger than any Four seas except for the Grand Line.

If any pirate with a bounty of 20 million or so meets a Marine Captain, he will basically turn around and ran away because the possibility of his escaping is very high, as it is almost impossible to win against such marine because each Marine Captain has at least arrested pirates having a bounty of 30 million berries.

But, after Ross selected 'shaving(soru) ', this talent, his strength is enough to overcome any of the average pirates having a bounty of 30 million Berries.

So under the encirclement of Marines, Ross did not take much effort to get rid of Marine on his tail and left the town behind.