Chapter 25

Half a quarter-hour later,

from the deck of the massive warship, a small wooden raft was lowered by several marines operating the ropes.

"Kid, don't let your guard down."

"Every single one of those pirates is a cold-blooded killer who wouldn't blink before slitting a throat!"

"The moment you grow careless or slack, the Bijiang Society will surely face a frenzied counterattack and assassination attempt from those pirates!"

"In short."

"Facing these viciously brutal pirates, you absolutely cannot be soft-hearted—cast aside that softness of yours and throw it away hard! Otherwise, you might die!"

Garp solemn spoke his admonition to Lu En.

"Understood."

Lu En drew in a deep breath, then turned around without a hint of hesitation and walked to the railing at the edge of the warship's deck.

He kicked off with both feet,

and his body leapt up in a single bound.

In an instant,

his feet landed steadily on the small wooden raft.

Under the gaze of the many marines on the warship,

the raft carrying Lu En drifted farther and farther away, bobbing gently with the waves, leaving the marine warship behind and steering toward the pirate ship not far off.

Watching the departing figure of Lu En,

Bokato, a trusted subordinate of Garp, asked with a note of worry in his voice: "Vice Admiral Garp, is it really all right?"

"Relax, this old man's grandson isn't that fragile!"

Garp's eyes flashed with a sharp gleam, his words brimming with deep trust in Lu En. "You think he's some nobody? He's a once-in-an-age prodigy who awakened his Conqueror's Haki at the mere age of three!"

"He is this old man's grandson!"

"And a peerless genius unseen in a hundred years!"

"This old man believes that, for this kid Lu En, a pirate crew with a bounty of a mere ten million Beri is nothing that could possibly be his match."

"Keep your eyes wide open and watch."

"This kid, whether in talent or in strength, will surely far surpass anything you can imagine!"

White Ostrich Pirate Crew.

Amid the noisy, lively atmosphere, a scream tinged with panic suddenly rang out.

"This is bad!"

"Captain, there are marines!"

"The marines have dispatched a warship to come after us!"

A pirate rushed hurriedly up to Captain Kukali, his voice filled with fear and anxiety.

His words had barely fallen

when, in the span of a single breath, the entire ship erupted into panic and chaos.

Even though not long ago the White Ostrich Pirate Crew had just repelled a marine warship, when faced with the marines sending another warship to pursue them, fear was still inevitably gnawing at their hearts.

Being pirates by birth, they were naturally cowed by the marines.

"Captain, what do we do?"

"Should we run?"

A group of pirates, their eyes brimming with mingled terror, all turned to look at Captain Kukali.

Under the gaze of the crowd,

Kukali's expression remained calm and composed, utterly untouched by any fright; instead, he appeared perfectly at ease, as though he didn't take the marines seriously at all.

"A mere handful of marines—what's there to be afraid of?"

"Did you forget? Not long ago, the marine warship they sent to deal with us was driven back by us without the slightest effort!"

"This isn't the Grand Line—this is the East Blue!"

"The marines of the Grand Line are people we can't afford to provoke, but the marines of a measly East Blue? They're nothing more than a bunch of soft-shrimp weaklings—not worth fearing."

Kukali shouted out in a ringing voice.

His words finished,

and the several hundred pirates who had been panicking suddenly calmed down.

"Right, the captain's right—the East Blue marines are no threat to us at all."

"Unless the marines dispatch three warships at once to encircle and wipe us out. Otherwise, even if we can't defeat them, we can still pull off a clean getaway without breaking a sweat."

"The marines want to capture us? That's nothing but a pipe dream."

"……"

Everyone chimed in with their own opinions.

The atmosphere aboard the entire ship eased somewhat.

Just then,

another cry of alarm rang out: "Captain, look! That warship has stopped. Are they trying to bombard us? No—no, that's not right—they've lowered a small wooden raft from the warship!"

The gazes of several hundred pirates turned in that direction.

Then,

they saw it.

A small wooden raft was slowly drawing closer to where they were.

"What are they trying to do?"

"Could it be that the Navy actually dares to send a single person to negotiate with us?"

"And…"

"It's just a little brat!"

"A greenhorn kid!"

"Has the Navy gone mad?"

An uproar broke out.

Even Captain Kukali, a Devil Fruit user with a bounty of eleven million Berries, could not make heads or tails of the scenes unfolding before his eyes.

"What's going on?"

"The Navy actually sent a little brat to negotiate with me?"

After a brief moment of puzzlement, Kukali stopped overthinking it. He grinned, and the centipede-like scar across his forehead grew even more menacing.

"Whatever the Navy's purpose is—"

"In any case…"

"Since the Navy is willingly stepping forward to negotiate with us, it's obvious they're afraid of our strength!"

"Perhaps, because the Navy doesn't want to provoke a counterattack from us, they specifically dispatched a greenhorn kid to tell us that the Navy harbors no ill intent."

For a moment, Kukali thought through a great many things.

Gradually,

a wild, arrogant smile spread across his face.

"My boys, later on, don't you dare scare the living daylights out of the envoy the Navy has sent us!"

Kukali let out a great laugh.

"Don't worry, boss. Since the Navy has taken the initiative to back down before us and sent a little brat to negotiate, naturally we can't scare this adorable little Navy brother of ours."

"What I'm afraid of is that this little brat, the moment he steps aboard our pirate ship, pisses himself from our sheer presence."

"Ain't that the truth…"

The band of pirates, no longer panicked, one after another revealed wild, arrogant postures.

Finally—

the little wooden raft drew close to the pirate ship.

On the raft,

Lu En stepped forward and, one step at a time, boarded this pirate ship.