Chapter 168: Gin
Ace and Luffy were deeply shaken by the events of the day. They left the palace in a daze, carrying a lot of treasure, and headed straight back to Dadan's house.
The wealth they brought back shocked Dadan, who thought the two little brats must have robbed a noble.
After asking what had happened, Dadan found out that the Eric Pirates had stormed the palace, massacring the royal family and most of the nobles, leaving only a small number of nobles barely surviving.
These treasures were the payment for Ace and Luffy's "work" from Esdeath.
"Did you two go and kill people with them?" Garp 's eyes were filled with a terrifying look.
"No, no!" Ace and Luffy hurriedly waved their hands, "They just gave us the image phone bug and the spotlight. While Esdeath was interrogating people, they told us to turn our heads and not look, but..."
Garp 's intelligence kicked in: "But you two peeked, didn't you?"
The two boys nodded with pale faces. Seeing them hang their heads, Garp couldn't continue scolding them.
Even the pile of treasures from the palace left Garp unsure of what to do with it.
Should he return it to those bastard nobles? They wouldn't thank him, and he'd probably get cursed out.
Should he let Ace and Luffy keep it? But then he'd be worried about teaching his grandsons the wrong lessons.
Garp rubbed his head and smiled, "Well, let's just pretend we didn't see this."
Ace, Luffy, and Dadan were furious. "Hey!"
Garp 's serious expression returned, "Ace, Luffy, no more involvement with the Eric Pirates. They've caused a huge mess."
"No way!" Luffy jumped up in opposition.
"Luffy~!" Garp clenched his fists and struck again.
...
On a deserted island in the East Blue, the Eric crew was leisurely vacationing on the beach.
The sea was clear, and you could see the bottom with a glance.
Esdeath stood in the water up to her knees, shouting toward the beach where Deidara was sitting, "Hey, Deidara, make a few shark clay puppets for us to play with."
"My art is not for you to play with!" Deidara refused with his words, but his body quickly betrayed him as he started molding clay sharks.
"Hahaha, the sharks you made are hilarious!" Da Vinci laughed wildly, mocking the shark figures.
Deidara's eyes widened in fury, threatening, "Don't laugh at my art, or I'll blow you up!"
"Hahaha, your expression is so funny now! I have to paint it!" Da Vinci quickly grabbed a sketchpad and began drawing.
"Damn it!"
Standing by the shore, watching the beautiful women swim, Eric muttered to himself, "A bunch of Devil Fruit users, why do they all want to vacation at the beach..."
'Although the scenery is quite pleasing to the eye...' Eric stared intently at the view.
White, straight thighs, held up by a tight, bulging swimsuit...
Young Eric suddenly looked up, 'Are you calling me?'
Eric looked down, angrily scolding, "I wasn't calling you!"
"Eric, hurry and come swim!" Akame's voice interrupted Eric's internal monologue.
"No, I'll short-circuit."
Kurumi teased, "Ha? Short-circuit? Don't joke around~"
No one believed him, and in the ensuing tugging, Eric was pulled into the water.
"Splish!"
Everyone standing in the water had their hair instantly stand on end from the electric shock. The clay sharks lost their vitality, and Esdeath, who was surfing on them, fell into the sea.
"Freeze!"
The sea surface instantly froze, including the people standing in the water...
"Ah-choo!"
The normally empty infirmary was now filled with crew members who caught a cold from the rapid temperature drop.
"Open your mouth, ah..." Da Vinci had taken up the role of a doctor.
"Ah~" Akame obediently opened her mouth to reveal her tonsils for Da Vinci.
"Captain, while I have some knowledge of anatomy, I'm not very good at internal medicine. We should find a professional doctor soon."
Meanwhile, Esdeath was making sarcastic comments from the infirmary, "How embarrassing, catching a cold from a simple temperature drop..."
The crew members, who had been frozen by Esdeath's attack, gritted their teeth, "It's still your fault!"
The vacation activities ended with everyone catching colds, and the curtain fell on their little vacation.
...
"Captain, we found a young boy stranded in the sea."
At that moment, Eric, as if possessed by Jack, ordered, "Move closer."
"Cough, cough," the saved boy coughed out seawater and rasped, "Water... water..."
Eric remembered an old joke, "You drank too much seawater, do you need some fresh water to neutralize it?"
The atmosphere instantly froze, and the rescued boy stayed motionless, holding his hand out but not moving, though Esdeath did not use Mocha Bo's abilities.
Eric, who had just made a bad joke, blushed slightly, and luckily, Akame brought over some water to ease Eric's embarrassment.
"Gulp, gulp"
The boy drank eagerly, finally looking up and thanking Akame, "Thank you so much!"
Eric raised an eyebrow, 'Isn't this Gin from the Creek Pirates... Didn't expect to meet him here. Looks like it was Creek who saved this guy, and then he became devoted to him.'
"No need to thank me," Akame smiled gently, "It's been a long time since you've eaten after the shipwreck, right? There's food in the kitchen."
"..." To Gin , Akame seemed like an angel descended from heaven, surrounded by white holy light, and the others faintly heard divine background music, "Angel..."
"Hey," Eric interrupted Gin 's fantasy, "Why are you holding onto a piece of wood floating in the sea?"
Gin hesitated to speak. He had just joined the pirate crew as an apprentice pirate. Two days ago, a sea battle broke out between two pirate crews. He was knocked into the sea, but his pirate crew, being at a disadvantage, didn't rescue him and fled instead.
The enemy wasn't interested in attacking someone in the sea and continued to chase after the pirate ship, trying to capture it. Gin could only cling to the wood, struggling to survive.
How could he admit he was a pirate in front of such a beautiful angel?
"You're a pirate, right? You lost in a battle with another crew and fell into the sea."
"How do you know?!" Gin was surprised. He hadn't said anything, and there were no pirate marks on his clothes.
Eric couldn't say, "I've seen you in anime, so I know you're a pirate," so he made up a lie, "It's a gut feeling."
Gin was silent for a moment, then knelt down and performed a deep bow, saying, "Thank you, all of you, for saving me. If you hand me over to the navy, I won't hold any grudges."
Akame placed her hand on Gin 's shoulder.
Feeling the weight on his shoulder, Gin looked up and saw the angelic smile in his heart.
Akame smiled and said, "We're pirates too."
"Click."
Gin 's vision of an angel shattered in an instant.
(END CHAPTER)
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