Chapter 46: An Unexpected Guest Outside the Plan

Under the warm, cozy glow of orange lamps, the family was sharing dinner together.

Siano buried his head in his food and ate voraciously; after resolving his inner knot, everything he ate tasted even more delicious, and the plates before him stacked higher and higher, nearly piling up to the ceiling.

Bell-mère had long finished eating; she lit a slender cigarette and leaned against the doorway with a smile, watching the scene.

This child's appetite was becoming increasingly outrageous; eating hundreds of jin of food in one meal was now commonplace, so she had specifically expanded the kitchen and built a small wooden hut beside it to serve exclusively as a food storage room.

The issue of meals was solved.

It was just these clothes...

Bell-mère felt somewhat troubled; the shops she frequented most often now, aside from the fruit, vegetable, and meat stores, were clothing stores.

Roughly every month or two, Siano's stature would shoot up a notch and expand around the girth; clothes made by her alone could not keep up with the pace at all, requiring her to buy batches upon batches of ready-made garments as supplements.

Yet winter was approaching soon; knitted sweaters made by hand were ultimately warmer, but just how large should she make them?

She was racking her brain over it.

Siano, who was busy stuffing his stomach, was also pondering a similar problem.

Compared to his peers, his current physique was indeed a bit too monstrous; while his terrifying muscles exerted strong deterrence against enemies, they were not so convenient in daily life.

For instance, right now, he dared not shift his buttocks while eating; if he moved even slightly, the chair beneath him would emit a creaking sound.

He could not use the bathtub either; for bathing, he simply used a garden water hose to rinse himself.

As for the doors in the house, those that could be modified were modified; for those that could not, he had to turn sideways, bend his waist, and lower his head, proceeding with extreme caution just to pass through.

"It would be great if I could split into two forms: a daily form and a combat form, just like Frieza..."

Siano thought silently to himself.

Over the next few days, Siano busied himself with wrapping things up.

With the Arlong Pirates dealt with, several new problems lay before him.

First, what should be done with the treasure on the ship?

Genzo and Scar, among others, had gone to count it; there was a full three hundred million plus Berries.

Siano was no saint; if Arlong had plundered these assets along the Grand Line, he would have been too lazy to travel so far and expend such great effort to investigate and return them item by item, and would have simply accepted them with a smile.

But the tragedy had occurred in the neighboring islands and towns, especially Kosa Village, which had been destroyed into ruins and suffered heavy casualties because they could not pay; regarding this, he found himself unable to remain indifferent.

After much deliberation, finding it troublesome, he simply entrusted everything to Uncle Genzo.

Genzo would contact the surrounding villages to return these assets to their rightful owners, with any surplus used for the reconstruction of Kosa Village.

This action, combined with his previous feat of defeating the Arlong Pirates,

caused his reputation in Cocoyasi Village to suddenly reach a new height.

Merely taking a stroll through the town, shop owners on both sides would enthusiastically greet him proactively, and by the time he finished walking down one street, his hands were piled high with things everyone had forcibly pressed upon him.

However...

In the end, it still benefited his two younger sisters; upon returning home, they snatched everything away in a frenzy.

Additionally, Arlong's pirate ship now belonged to him.

However, this was easy to handle; with some slight modification and cleaning, removing the pirate flag, the shark-tooth prow, and such items, it transformed in an instant into a very fine civilian vessel.

The family's tangerine orchard business was now developing in full swing, and they were precisely lacking a transport ship with sufficient capacity like this.

The last remaining problem was where to go to claim the bounties on these pirates.

Arlong's bounty was 20 million Berries, and Kuroobi's bounty was 9 million Berries.

Hatchan, Chew, and other officers also had bounties of several million each; adding them all up sporadically, the total amount reached over 80 million Berries.

Siano was already very wealthy and was not particularly interested in earning more money.

However, heads could not be offered as sacrifices without purpose; failing to extract their proper value felt like a loss, and moreover, this money was rightfully his to claim.

Thus, he simply retrieved nautical charts of the nearby area from the books he had bought for Nami, severed the heads of this group of fish-men, and prepared to head to the nearest Marine branch to claim the reward.

There were two Marine branches closest by.

One was the 16th Branch to the northwest.

The other was the 77th Branch to the southeast.

As for the 16th Branch, there was no need to say more.

Siano asked Bell-mère for help to contact her former colleagues.

Upon learning that the current base commander had only taken office last year and was a Colonel named Nezumi, he immediately abandoned the idea of going to the 16th Branch to claim the reward.

As for the 77th Branch, Siano had some vague impression of this unit.

It seemed that in the original timeline, the warship that dared to fire cannonballs at Arlong Park belonged to the 77th Branch.

The base commander might have changed in the interim, but no matter how one thought about it, they would surely be far more reliable than Nezumi.

"So tomorrow morning, you want to set sail again and go to the 77th Branch?" At the dinner table, Bell-mère looked somewhat unhappy; "A round trip will take four or five days."

"Uh, perhaps four or five days won't be enough; it might take over half a month," Siano said; "I met some friends during my last voyage and plan to stop by and see them on the way."

And fleece them for another round of resources; this was actually more important.

"Over half a month?" Bell-mère widened her eyes, but after a moment's thought, she sighed; "Suit yourself, just remember to return as early as you can."

Previously, she had worried that Siano sailing alone lacked safety guarantees, but as for now?

Bell-mère snorted; even a whole nest of pirates from the Grand Line had been beaten down, so looking across the entire East Blue, who could possibly be a match for her son?

Although she did not usually boast about him everywhere like Nami did, deep in her heart, she was already bursting with pride to have such a son!

"Brother, I want to go too!"

"Me, me, and me too!"

The two younger sisters suddenly raised their hands in eager competition, causing Bell-mère to narrow her eyes, her expression instantly turning unfavorable.

Siano, however, smiled: "Just let them come along; staying cooped up at home is quite boring, so it would be good for them to broaden their horizons."

The two little ones looked up at Bell-mère with pitiful expressions.

"..." Bell-mère helplessly pressed her forehead. "Fine, but let's get one thing straight first: while we're out, you must listen to your older brother. If I find out you've been causing trouble again when we return, don't even think about going out ever again!"

"Yay!"

Nojiko and Nami cheered, slapping their hands together in celebration.

"Then it's settled! The navigator for this journey shall be none other than this Young Lady!"

Nami confidently wiped her nose with her thumb. "Hmph, who else knows more about this stuff than I do?"

"Then I'll be the helmsman!" Nojiko lifted her head. "I can even ride a bicycle; I'm best at operating vehicles!"

You're riding a children's bicycle, the kind I reluctantly modified by adding two training wheels for you.

Siano speechlessly patted the two little heads.

"Stop dreaming. The ship I'm taking out this time is the large vessel from the Arlong Pirates. I've already hired professional helmsmen and navigators from the village to help, and a few of Manba's group will be coming along too. It's fine for you two to stand by and learn from the experience, but actually taking the helm? Don't even think about it."

Nojiko and Nami's cheers instantly turned into wails:

"Ehh—how can this be—"

In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.

With everyone fully packed and ready to depart for Branch 77, Siano stood on the deck leaning against the railing, waiting for his two younger sisters to board while pulling out a sea chart to confirm the route for this voyage.

"Branch 77 and Shimotsuki Village are in the same direction, which should save quite a bit of time. As for going to the Goa Kingdom, Manba and the others are very familiar with that terrain, so they can help me find Luffy quickly."

Just as he was pondering this, he suddenly heard Nami's exclamation from the shore: "Huh? Brother! Look quick, a large ship is coming over! That emblem... wow, it's a Marine warship!"

A warship?

Puzzled, Siano lifted his head and looked in the direction of the sound.

Indeed, out on the distant sea, a warship was sailing straight toward Cocoyasi Village.

On the hanging Bai Fan, besides the Marine's iconic seagull-and-scales emblem, the two large black characters "16" fluttered conspicuously in the wind.

(End of Chapter)