On the wide deck of a Navy warship—
Garen stood tall in a crisp, form-fitting white suit. The sharp, clean lines of the outfit accentuated his broad, muscular frame, giving the otherwise elegant suit a sense of powerful structure.
Combined with Garen's ruggedly handsome features, the whole look radiated masculine charm.
At first glance, the suit didn't seem much different from the kind worn by your average professional elite. Unless pointed out, no one would guess it was anything special. In truth, however, it was the standard dress uniform issued to commissioned officers of Navy Headquarters.
Wearing this white uniform paired with a Navy "Justice" cloak could take anyone's appearance to the next level.
The original owner of the suit was none other than Captain Smoker of Navy Headquarters. Smoker was a straightforward guy who usually threw on a leather jacket and walked out half-naked. He had no interest in this kind of formal, cumbersome attire, so when a subordinate asked about it, he casually gave it to Garen.
Smoker was slightly taller than Garen, but their builds were similar enough.
Once Garen put on the stylish uniform, he took on an aura completely different from when he was clad in armor and wielding a greatsword. He now exuded both the strength of a warrior and the grace of a gentleman.
The Grand Line was full of bizarre-looking individuals, so for the young girl Nami, it was rare to meet a man who was both decent-looking, around her age, and had a fairly good character.
Standing next to Garen, Nami couldn't help but stare, slightly entranced—not out of romantic fantasy, but simply from admiration.
"Nami?"
Suddenly, Garen turned to her and called her name.
"What is it?"
Nami snapped out of her daze, but she didn't show the slightest hint of panic.
"How old are you again?"
Garen asked abruptly, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Sixteen,"
Nami answered reflexively, but as soon as the words left her mouth, her usually calm face turned slightly red with embarrassment.
Annoyed, she pouted and shot back, "Why are you asking that?"
"Just curious."
Garen replied lazily, then added rather bluntly,
"Sixteen, and you've developed this well already…"
"You…!"
Nami gave up trying to reason with his shamelessness and turned her head away with an angry huff.
Meanwhile, Garen was mentally calculating the timeline. He remembered that in the original story, Nami joined Luffy's crew at age eighteen. That meant she was only sixteen now—two years, or maybe slightly less, before the start of the original plot.
No wonder Smoker had only just been assigned to guard Loguetown.
With the timeline sorted in his mind, Garen continued to idly watch the deck, where a group of Navy logistics personnel were busily working. They were assembling some kind of machinery to help Garen and the others transfer to a smaller vessel.
After a long wait, the sailors finally constructed a large apparatus resembling a crane.
What happened next left Garen rather amazed. The rear deck of the massive warship split open down the middle. Under the operation of some hidden mechanism, it gradually unfolded to reveal a large storage hangar beneath.
The hangar was vast—like a military depot—and inside it rested a small seafaring vessel, looking tiny compared to the warship above.
Thick ropes from the newly built crane were lowered and fastened tightly to the small vessel's hull under the direction of the sailors.
"Get aboard."
Smoker, chewing on a lit cigar, addressed his subordinates and the trio of Garen, Nami, and Wallace.
The Navy soldiers from Headquarters were all elites—the future backbone of the Navy. Naturally, the brass wouldn't dispatch large numbers of them to the peaceful and uneventful East Blue.
In fact, the elite unit Smoker brought from HQ only consisted of about thirty soldiers.
As a colonel, the rest of his command staff would be filled out after arriving at Loguetown, when he officially took over from the current commanding officer of the East Blue branch.
That was why Smoker planned to handle the base transition in Loguetown before heading to Cocoyasi Village to deal with the pirates.
Including Garen's group, the thirty-some people climbed aboard the small ship, packing it completely full.
Before Garen could comment, the pulley system began turning. The large crane lifted the small vessel out of the hangar and slowly lowered it into the ocean like dropping a dumpling into soup.
Before long, a second, much smaller ship had "sprouted" from Garp's massive warship.
Standing on this tiny vessel, Garen looked up once more at the colossal battleship beside them. The contrast was like a grandson looking up at his grandfather.
"Smoker…"
Garen couldn't help but tease,
"Is there really such a huge difference in treatment between Navy officers?"
"Your ship as a Captain doesn't even seem as big as the anchor on Garp's warship."
Two veins instantly popped on Smoker's forehead.
He said nothing, but the tip of his cigar flared more brightly.
"Garen-senpai…"
Unexpectedly, Tashigi stepped forward. What puzzled Garen was that this beautiful, unfamiliar swordswoman treated him with unusual respect—and even addressed him as "senpai."
With a serious tone, Tashigi explained:
"We're not actually riding a standard Navy warship. This is just a regular armed civilian vessel."
"A Captain of Navy Headquarters should be assigned a third-rate warship—one with dual gun decks and 60 cannons."
"But since Captain Smoker was sent to East Blue, which has always been peaceful, and…"
Smoker's expression darkened further, the White Hunter now resembling more of a Smoggy Storm.
"And what?"
Garen paid Smoker's mood no mind. After all, he was the kind of man who could go toe-to-toe with Garp.
Tashigi hesitated, but still continued explaining to the swordsman she admired:
"Captain Smoker once got into fights with officers from the logistics department back at HQ."
The more Tashigi spoke, the more animated she became, even elaborating enthusiastically:
"Actually, our detachment was originally supposed to have more than thirty people, but—"
Before she could finish, Smoker's dark face suddenly loomed in front of her.
"Um…"
Even without hearing the rest, Garen could guess what happened.
Now he understood why Smoker had been sent to the East Blue boondocks as a glorified security captain—talented but hot-tempered, a guy who definitely needed some time "in the field" to mellow out.
"Captain Smoker is going to be the new commanding officer at the Loguetown base, right?"
At that moment, Wallace spoke up with an offhanded question.
"That's right."
Smoker himself answered. He was standing nearby, facing the wind and puffing on his cigar.
"In that case, if Lord Garen wants to claim a bounty reward…"
Wallace said meaningfully,
"Wouldn't it make sense to just ask Colonel Smoker directly?"
"Oh, true!"
Garen's eyes lit up. The NPC who was supposed to give him the bounty reward was right next to him the whole time!
Nami's eyes sparkled as well. She'd been dying to turn in that head and get cold, hard cash.
"Hold on…"
Smoker interrupted,
"There's no cash on board."
"A Captain without any money on him?"
Garen pulled a face full of disgust.
"Actually, Navy vessels are supposed to carry reserve funds, but…"
Once again, Tashigi popped up at just the right time, ready to recount more of Smoker's "glorious" record.
Steam practically hissed from Smoker's head—literal, visible smoke.
Avoiding her superior's death glare, Tashigi quietly added:
"You'll have to wait until we get to Loguetown and the command handover is complete before we can process your bounty."
"Fair enough."
Garen wasn't too bothered. They were less than a day from Loguetown, so there was no rush.
"Loguetown's garrison commander, huh…"
Wallace muttered under his breath with a strange expression.
"What is it?"
Tashigi asked, puzzled.
"Nothing,"
Wallace shook his head and replied vaguely,
"Hopefully, nothing unexpected happens."
With that, the small ship full of soldiers bound for Loguetown set sail. Smoker and the others stood on the deck and saluted Vice Admiral Garp aboard the massive warship.
As they parted ways, Garen also waved goodbye to Garp, who had been particularly kind to him.
The two ships gradually grew distant, heading off in completely different directions.
"That clown, Buggy…"
"He really did become Garp's lackey."
Garen recalled the sight of Buggy during their farewell. He couldn't help but feel slightly amused.
Buggy had tied his hair into a simple blue ponytail and donned the Navy's white uniform and "Justice" cloak. He actually looked somewhat righteous for once.
"Haha, who cares!"
Nami laughed lightheartedly and said without a hint of concern,
"Luckily, that red-nosed idiot didn't ask for his treasure back."
"Wait, what?"
Garen blinked, suddenly remembering how he'd extorted a good chunk of wealth from a certain newly appointed Navy officer.
"How much did we make this time?"
Garen quickly moved next to Nami, eager to dive into the spoils of war.
"A massive profit!"
Nami's face was full of joy and satisfaction, her eyes practically sparkling with Berries.
"That red-nosed guy isn't like that broke loser Steel Blade. The big chest alone had 8 million Berries worth of treasure!"
"And the small chest was full of jewels and gems. After appraising them, they'll sell for at least 30 million Berries!"
Her excitement only grew as she started counting on her fingers in front of Garen:
"Then add the 25 million Berries in bounty rewards we'll get from Loguetown…"
"In just two days, we've earned a total of 63 million Berries!"
This kind of money-making speed was unimaginable for Nami.
Following this big oaf Garen for just two days had earned her what would've taken four or five years of hard work to save.
"Wait a minute…"
Garen noticed something wrong.
"Where'd that 25 million bounty come from?"
"What do you mean?"
Nami had already calculated that number in her heart and revisited it countless times with joy.
"Steel Blade was 10 million, and the clown…"
Her smile froze.
The once gleeful Nami, who had just been celebrating the red-nosed idiot's stupidity, suddenly wore a pained and regretful expression:
"15 million…"
"It's gone."
(End of Chapter)