Tina had clearly spotted this ship a while ago—and with it, the strange fisherman sitting alone on deck.
The East Blue might be known as the weakest of the Four Seas, and her direct superior, Garp, did make frequent trips back to the East Blue, keeping local pirates too scared to move too boldly.
But that was only part of the story.
No matter which sea you looked at, the pirate threat only kept getting worse.
Under those circumstances, whether merchants or fishermen, very few people dared sail out alone.
And as for drifting out into open waters just to enjoy sea fishing—
That was even rarer.
Anyone bold enough to do that usually fell into one of two categories:
Either they were fearless because they knew nothing…
Or they were extremely confident in their own strength.
As for this strange fisherman named Kairo, Tina leaned strongly toward the second possibility.
"Hey there, lady officer!"
Noticing the curiosity hidden beneath Tina's cool, distant gaze, Kairo decided not to stay passive. As the warship drew near, he waved first and greeted her warmly.
"You're here to hunt that red rabbit and Droopy too, right? I just remembered something—I forgot to tell the long-legged lady officer who came before you!"
When she heard him refer to Vice Admiral Gion as "the long-legged lady officer," Tina lowered her eyes slightly and looked at Kairo.
"Long-legged lady officer? Her name is Gion. She's a Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters."
"Ah, right, right—Vice Admiral Gion!"
Kairo smiled with perfect harmlessness.
"You've seen the red rabbit and the Droopy dog?" Tina blinked, still looking puzzled. "Tina is confused. What exactly is your relationship with them?"
There it was.
That signature verbal tic.
Kairo almost laughed.
She looked sharp and cold, but maybe… she'd actually be easier to fool.
"What relationship?" Kairo thought for a moment, then said, "I guess you could call it a chance encounter. I ran into them at sea. They were floating in the water crying for help. At first I thought I'd seen monsters and was scared half to death. But heaven cherishes all life, right? So I still pulled them aboard. Sigh. If I'd known they were going to cause this much trouble, I never would've saved them. I should've just let them drown and been done with it."
"Been done with it?"
Tina blinked again.
"Tina doesn't understand. What does that mean?"
Damn.
A face that looked so cool and intelligent, and yet she was saying something this adorably airheaded?
That contrast was lethal.
Looking into those clear eyes that somehow radiated both intelligence and pure confusion, Kairo fought to keep from smiling.
"That's not important. What matters is that I did see them about two or three hours ago. They said they were heading for a village called Cocoyasi Village. I already told that to the long-legged officer."
Then he lowered his voice just slightly, as if remembering something important.
"But what I wanted to tell the pretty officer is this—before heading to Cocoyasi Village, they said they'd be passing through a place called Syrup Village. They mentioned they had companions there."
Tina's eyes sharpened a little.
"Companions? What companions?"
Kairo frowned as though searching his memory.
"Something like… let me think… Ah, right. I remember now. I think they called them the Black Cat Pirates."
"Syrup Village… Black Cat Pirates?"
Tina blinked.
Although she was only a Headquarters Captain, she did occasionally patrol the East Blue and had some awareness of the pirate crews currently making names for themselves there.
The Black Cat Pirates were one of the rising crews of the last two years. Their captain, Kuro, was known as an extremely cunning pirate.
At that thought, Tina stopped wasting time.
She didn't even bother waving goodbye to Kairo. After signaling for the warship to increase speed, she turned away in her usual cool fashion and pulled out a Den Den Mushi.
The moment the call connected, she spoke first.
"Gion. Did the man on that ship tell you the red rabbit was heading to Cocoyasi Village?"
"He did," came Vice Admiral Gion's warm voice through the snail. "That traveler didn't seem to be lying. In any case, we have no solid lead, so we may as well check."
"I'm going to Syrup Village," Tina said crisply. "He told me the red rabbit has companions there—something called the Black Cat Pirates. Black Cat, red rabbit, Droopy… maybe they really are connected."
"Fine, we split up."
Far away on the deck of the warship already sailing off, Gion turned to look back at Tina's vessel, now only a blurred outline in the mist, and smiled.
"Tina, that traveler was rather nice. If we really do find the red rabbit in Cocoyasi Village or Syrup Village, then after this incident is over, you should patrol the East Blue more often. We can't have anything bad happen to that poor traveler."
"What do you mean?" Tina's voice turned blank again. "Tina doesn't understand."
"You don't want to end up like me, do you?"
A trace of helplessness entered Gion's eyes.
"Vice Admiral Gaji has gotten more and more aggressive lately. The moment he has free time, he starts confessing to me again. He's a good man, but I'm not interested. And you're young, pretty, and single. The officers around you are still relatively restrained for now—but if you stay single too long, their thoughts are only going to get worse. Someday they'll be a hundred times more troublesome than Gaji. After all… our Tina is very beautiful."
Hearing the sudden concern in Gion's voice, Tina frowned slightly and said flatly,
"Tina only wants to capture that outrageously reckless red rabbit. If that's all, I'm hanging up."
At the same time—
Far away on his lonely little fishing boat, looking every bit like the old poem about a solitary fisherman in snow, Kairo suddenly sneezed.
"Huh?"
He blinked in confusion.
He hadn't sneezed in ages.
Then he looked around instinctively.
He had just successfully fooled Vice Admiral Gion into heading for Cocoyasi Village and Captain Tina into going toward Syrup Village.
At a moment like this, Droopy absolutely could not bring Da Hong back to the ship.
If Da Hong and Droopy returned right now, then Kairo's dream of peacefully touring the seas and experiencing the customs of the Grand Line in comfort would become a lot less peaceful.
And the reason he had pointed Gion and Tina toward Cocoyasi Village and Syrup Village in the first place…
Was because those were already places he intended to visit eventually.
But Syrup Village had the Black Cat Pirates.
And Cocoyasi Village had the Arlong Pirates.
Kairo didn't like fighting.
So this was the perfect chance to have the Marines go ahead and clean up those problems for him through Gion and Tina.
A lot of times, back in his old world, whenever he read One Piece transmigration stories, the protagonists—whether they joined the Marines or became pirates—could have easily used their information advantage in the early stages to let the Marines eliminate future threats for them.
But they never did.
They always insisted on charging in personally just to show off.
Maybe everyone just wanted different things.
Kairo certainly didn't want that.
If Da Hong hadn't created this huge mess, Kairo would have preferred to use Garp to quietly wipe out future trouble spots one by one before traveling there himself.
Travel peacefully.
Enjoy himself.
That was enough.
Why get your own hands dirty when you could borrow someone else's blade?
Doing it yourself was such a hassle.
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