Chapter 154

"A rookie pirate invades a kingdom, publicly executes the king... eh?" Old Jim muttered to himself with a smile, suddenly holding his chest as he began coughing violently.

"It looks I won't be able to see how far you can take my ship... kid," Old Jim said with a sigh, holding his chest in pain. "But at least I know you'll take it far..." he added, looking at Johnny's wanted poster in the newspaper.

"And that's more than enough for an old man like me," he concluded, smiling through the pain.

"What are you doing smiling like that, Jim?" His brother exclaimed, rushing towards him with a concerned expression. "Do you want to die that badly?" he reprimanded as he patted his elder brother's back.

"So what if I die, you fool? It'll happen sooner or later," old Jim replied with another violent fit of coughing. "I'm smiling because now I know my life's work hasn't gone to waste..."

...

As she sat in her battle ship's captain quarters, Hina closed her eyes in relaxation, taking a break from the ungodly amount of paperwork stacked on her desk.

You'd think she would be spared from such tasks, but no, she still needed to write reports for every incident she came across while on her voyage to hunt pirates, no matter how trivial.

"Hina... exhausted..." Hina muttered, slumping on her desk, but a sudden knock on the door made her quickly adjust herself as she sighed. "Come in," she remarked in a calm voice as she turned to look at the door.

"You might want to see this, captain," Ensign Obrien said after making his way inside as he stood in front of Hina's desk, carrying a newspaper.

"Let Hina see," Hina replied as she took the new paper from ensign's hands, frowning as she began reading the article about Johnny's supposed crime on Drum Island.

"Nothing strange for Hina to see here, ensign," Hina said as she looked at the ensign, bemusement in her tone. "Merely pirates, doing pirate things... dismissed," she added, dismissively waving her hand to the side.

"Yes, captain," Obrien didn't argue, merely saluting as he turned around and walked to the exit, though there was a smile on his face.

He already expected Hina's reaction to the news, but he still brought it to her attention nonetheless. She might have seemed unconcerned, but Obrien knew better.

Whatever that bastard did to his captain, it hasn't lost effect even now after so long, and Obrien knew it despite Hina's best attempts to hide it.

He only wished he was strong enough to teach the smug bastard a lesson or two about taking responsibility.... People's dreams never end, after all.

In any case, Obrien knew the article was a load of crap, and Hina most likely knew it as well since they had some dealings with Wapol, the now-dead king of Drum kingdom.

Regardless of what that waste of air did to provoke Johnny, he had it coming, one way or the other, though the way Johnny handled things did leave him somewhat unsatisfied.

...

"Shachi, Penguin, Charles, come take a look at this," Wolf, the inventor, said with a smile as he gestured for the three youngsters to come and look at the newspaper in his hand.

"There's some new about, Law, and the others," Wolf added upon noticing the trio's curious expressions as he pointed at the newspaper.

"Oh, Already? Let me see," Penguin said with an eager smile, rushing towards Wolf as he took the newspaper, followed by an equally impatient Shachi and a calm-looking Charles.

"Eh, isn't this bad?" Shachi said with a concerned expression as he read about Johnny executing a king in the grand line. "They didn't seem like that kind of people..." he added, scratching his head.

"They're not," Wolf flatly said, shaking his head. "Don't believe everything you read in the newspaper, you moron," he added, smacking Shachi on the top of his head, causing the latter to take a sharp breath in pain.

"Then what could have really happened in Drum Island?" Penguin asked, scratching his head with a confused expression.

"Who knows?" Wolf replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "But at the very least, I know this article is just a bunch of nonsense," he added with a smile.

"All we need to take from this article is that Law and the others are doing good in the grand line," Wolf explained as he put away the newspaper. "Don't you think so, Charles?" he asked, turning to look at Charles, who seemed lost in thought.

"Like I care," Charles snappily said as he turned around and jogged away to the training room, Shachi, and Penguin, taking a look at each other and following behind him after shrugging their shoulders.

"It's good to be young..." Wolf said with a fond smile, shaking his head as he too left, making his way towards his lab to work on another one of his gimmicky inventions.

...

As vice-admiral Garp stood at the bow of his battleship, his arms crossed in front of his chest, he smirked, feeling the sea's salty breeze hitting his face.

He turned to the side, still smirking as a tall man, roughly half a head higher than himself, wearing a marine coat, draped over his shoulders matching beige suit and hat, approached him.

"What is it, Bogard?" Garp asked as he looked at his right-hand man. He was Garp's oldest and most trusted subordinate, more of a confidant and a friend than anything else.

If only he could drop his stiff attitude, then he might as well be Garp's best friend, but that was neither here nor there.

"It's about your grandson, sir," Bogard calmly reported as he stood beside Garp.

"Oh, which one?" Garp asked in an unconcerned tone, seemingly unsurprised at the topic of conversation.

Garp might not look like it, but he was, in fact, very meticulous when it came to the safety of his grandkids, evidenced by the strict training he put them through and one or two marine intelligence agents he had keeping an eye on Ace.

"He fought another pirate crew and lost in the grand line several days ago..." Bogard said, trailing off as he paused, waiting for Garp to reply.

"That idiot! How dare he bring shame into my name like that?!" Garp said in an angry tone. "to think he'd go and lose after all the training I put him through! I'll make sure to teach that foolish grandson of mine a lesson when I see him," he added, cracking his knuckles with a smirk.

"Why am I not surprised that's what you're mad about?" Bogard mattered under his breath, messaging his forehead in frustration.

"Hmm? what's that?" Garp asked, tilting his head to the side as he turned to look at Bogard, having not heard the man's words clearly.

"Nothing, sir. I'm just thinking out loud," Bogard replied with a calm expression, shaking his head.

"You sure act weirdly sometimes, Bogard, you know that?" Garp said while picking his nose, his head suddenly slumping down as he fell asleep while standing.

"I don't want to hear that from you..." Bogard muttered again, his eyes twitching in annoyance.

"What's that?" Garp suddenly exclaimed, his head jerking upwards as his nose bubble exploded and he woke up. "Anyway, who that stupid grandson of mine loses to, by the way?" Garp asked after a second's pause, scratching his head.

"A rookie pirate called Johnny Silver Hand," Bogard briefly replied.

"Johnny Wiener Hand?" Garp remarked while scratching his head. "Who the hell is that, and does he have a wiener for a hand?" Garp asked with a confused expression, looking at Bogard as if the latter were an idiot.

"It's Silver Hand, sir, not Wiener Hand," Bogard said, struggling to hold back a sigh and keep a calm expression.

"Then why didn't you say so from the start?!" Garp asked, giving Bogard a dirty look. "Now that you mention, isn't he the brat Sengoku wanted to recruit or something...?" he added, tilting his head to the side, trying to remember as Bogard nodded.

"What an interesting brat," Garp said with a smirk. "I can't wait to meet him and give him a taste of my love fist! Maybe that will set him straight!" he added, blowing a breath on his fist as he brought it in front of his mouth.

"Yes, just like it straightened your grandsons..." Bogard muttered under his breath, giving Garp a side-eye glance.

"What's that?" Garp asked, having not heard Bogard's words clearly again.

"Nothing, sir, just thinking out loud again," Bogard replied with a poker expression, causing Garp to shrug as he dropped the subject and resumed gazing into the horizon with a smirk.