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The Strongest Frost Loli (159)
🕑 Added 2024-11-18 17:00:05 +0000 UTCChapter 159 - Lunes
The seasons of the Grand Line were notoriously erratic. While this applied to the entire sea, the first stretch, influenced by the seven magnetic currents emanating from Reverse Mountain, was particularly chaotic. Warm, sunny weather could give way to blizzards, followed by thick fog and spring gales. In this sea, trusting anything related to the weather was folly.
Nami, her navigational confidence slowly eroding, nevertheless managed to guide the ship through the turbulent waters, finally reaching their first island.
***
According to Crocus, it was a bustling port town known for its fishing industry. At least, it wasn’t an island inhabited by monsters. Relieved by this information, the Straw Hats prepared to disembark on Lunes, their first island in the Grand Line, only to be met with a scene of utter devastation.
The view from the ship alone painted a grim picture. Ships capsized in the harbor, the town reduced to rubble. Shops crushed as if by a giant’s foot, a church cleaved in two by some unseen force. The sheer scale of destruction, leaving only the barest hint of a once-thriving town, left the Straw Hats speechless. The strangest detail, amidst the uncleared debris, was a single, massive pile of scrap metal.
“W-what happened here?!”
Usopp’s voice trembled with shock. The scene, resembling the aftermath of a monstrous rampage, left him at a loss for words.
“Some kind of monster must have gone on a rampage… This is worse than what Arlong did.”
“Yes… It’s not normal for an entire town to be reduced to rubble like this.”
The most troubling thought was that whatever had caused this destruction might still be on the island. If a monster capable of such devastation was lurking nearby, landing would be incredibly dangerous. Usopp, clutching his stomach, broke out in a cold sweat.
“Guys, I think my chronic ‘I’ll-die-if-I-set-foot-on-this-island’ disease is acting up…”
“I don’t want to land either! …But the Grand Line is different. Remember, we have to stay on this island for a few days.”
Nami pointed at the Log Pose. As a device that recorded an island’s magnetic field to point towards the next island, it required time to store the necessary data. A few hours, a few days, or even a few months. It varied from island to island, but they needed to stay on the island for a certain period, regardless. Staying on the ship wouldn't change anything. They were stuck here until the Log Pose was set.
“So, we’re stuck here until we gather some information…”
“Even if we’re staying for a while, we still need to find food.”
In this state, the prospect of finding fish in a town known for its fishing industry seemed bleak. There was even the possibility of being attacked by survivors scavenging for food.
Landing and gathering information was unavoidable. Luffy, ever the captain, was the first to jump off the ship, exploring the surroundings.
“Luffy!!!”
The crew’s simultaneous yell went unheeded as Luffy approached a nearby pile of rubble. He rummaged through the debris for a moment, then returned, carrying a small figure on his shoulder. Despite being found amidst the wreckage, the figure wasn’t bleeding profusely. Judging by their size, it was a child, though their unconscious state and pale complexion were cause for concern.
“Nami, can you do something?!”
“Do something…? I’m not a doctor. I can only provide basic first aid.”
They regretted not having a doctor on board. Nami could handle minor injuries, but serious treatment required specialized equipment and knowledge. She cleaned the child’s wounds and bandaged them, doing the best she could with what she had.
It was dusk. Exploring the town in the fading light would be too dangerous. They decided to stay on the ship for the night and explore the town in the morning. Luffy, understanding the risks of wandering an unfamiliar town at night, agreed without complaint.
***
Having decided to take turns keeping watch, the Straw Hats ate their dinner and settled down for the night. Zoro, taking a nap before his watch, and Usopp, currently on watch, were the only ones absent from the cabin, where Luffy, Nami, Sanji, and the unconscious child were listening to the radio and reading the newspaper.
“—Radio, ‘From the New World’!!! Another exciting day! Alright, Monet, give us a summary!”
“Yes. A brief overview of today’s events –”
“Her voice is so cute… Monet… I bet she’s incredibly beautiful…”
“You can’t tell what someone looks like from their voice.”
“Shut up. It’s fun to imagine.”
Luffy rolled his eyes at Sanji, who was swooning over the voice on the radio. With dinner finished and nothing else to do, but too early to sleep, they chatted idly, the lamplight illuminating the cabin. Entertainment was a necessity on a long and arduous voyage.
Suddenly, the child stirred, waking up.
“Hmm…?”
“Oh, you’re awake.”
“Are you alright, kid? Are you feeling better?”
“…Who are you?”
The boy, still groggy, tried to move his arm, wincing in pain. He hadn’t realized he was injured. He looked down at his bandaged body and tried to sit up, groaning.
“Hey, take it easy. You’re badly hurt.”
“…Who are you?”
He glared at Sanji, then at Luffy and Nami. His wariness towards strangers was understandable. Nami, unfazed, asked him a question.
“Do you remember what happened to the town?”
“The town…? The town!”
He tried to sit up again, but the pain made him cry out, his face contorted in a mixture of pain and anxiety.
“What happened to the town?!”
“…You don’t know?”
“…I don’t know. I woke up in a pile of rubble… I heard people shouting and gunshots…”
“Was it a monster?”
“A monster? No, it was a person.”
The boy hadn’t heard anything about a monster. All he remembered was seeing scrap metal converging from all over the town, crushing buildings in its path. And before that…
“…Pirates.”
“Pirates?”
“The day he attacked, everyone was talking about it. That pirates had arrived. The adults were laughing, saying it was ridiculous, looking for One Piece in this day and age.”
He recounted the events of that day. How a few days ago, pirates had arrived at the port, asking questions. How he and his friends, their curiosity piqued, had followed them around town. How the next day, rumors spread, and some adults had mocked them for being old-fashioned pirates. And how, that night, the town had been destroyed.
The Straw Hats listened quietly, their faces grim.
“Well, that figures.”
“Yeah. It can’t be helped.”
The rumors must have reached the pirates’ ears. Destroying an entire town was excessive, but Luffy understood their anger. Pirates, who valued their dreams and pride above all else, wouldn’t tolerate being mocked.
“The ships in the harbor are all capsized. Unless they anchored their ship in a hidden cove somewhere, they’re probably gone.”
“There’s no other place to anchor a ship. My dad’s a fisherman, and he always complains about the reefs.”
“Reefs… If there are no ships in the harbor, then it’s safe to assume they’re gone.”
The pirates responsible for the destruction were no longer on the island. That was a relief. The problem, however, was that if they had chosen the same route, there was a high chance they would encounter them again. The question of how they had caused such widespread destruction remained.
“No one but a Devil Fruit user could do something like this.”
“I guess Devil Fruit users are common in the Grand Line.”
“I haven’t seen many. But everyone says the Twilight ships that come here have Devil Fruit users on board.”
“Twilight again…”
Their name seemed to pop up everywhere. Sanji and Nami knew they were a powerful organization, led by a Warlord, with a vast trading network, but this was the second time they had heard their name mentioned since entering the Grand Line. They must have traded with this island as well.
“Wait… does that mean the pirates who attacked this town were messing with Twilight’s territory?”
“No, this isn’t anyone’s territory.”
Not every island Twilight traded with was under their protection. If that were the case, then Nami’s home, the Conomi Islands, would also be considered Twilight territory. Nami had witnessed the negotiations between Nojiko and the Branch Manager, and there had been no mention of territorial claims. The contract hadn't mentioned anything either.
There was no point dwelling on it. They would search for survivors in the morning. And they needed to find a way to treat the boy’s injuries properly. Sanji, as if remembering something, asked,
“Kid, what’s your name?”
“Martin.”
“Martin. Nice name.”
Luffy, deeming the conversation over, stood up.
“Alright, we’ll search the town tomorrow morning. It’s a mess, but there must be some survivors somewhere.”
It was an optimistic statement, but… neither Nami nor Sanji contradicted him. They all needed rest, especially with their injuries. It was a little early, but they decided to sleep to prepare for an early start. Just then, Usopp’s panicked voice echoed through the ship.
“Enemy attack!!!”
Gunshots rang out, and Luffy and Sanji burst out of the cabin. Nami, turning off the radio, grabbed a nearby weapon, ready to protect the child if necessary, and cautiously peered out the door. The moon, hidden behind clouds, offered little light. Usopp didn’t carry a gun, only his slingshot. Gunshots meant they were under attack.
“Nami, stay inside!”
Zoro approached, his swords drawn.
“Zoro! What’s happening?!”
“We’re outnumbered! We’ll handle this! Protect the kid!”
She couldn’t see what was happening, but Zoro seemed to have grasped the situation. Besides, Nami wasn’t a fighter. She worried about Usopp, but it was best to leave this to Luffy and Zoro. Gripping her staff tightly, she closed the door and watched from the window.
***
Under the faint moonlight, Luffy and his crew fought off wave after wave of attackers. They weren’t particularly strong, but there were a lot of them. Over a hundred, easily. She wondered where they had all come from, but asking wouldn’t yield any answers.
“What’s going on?! How many are there?!”
“I don’t know! Just keep fighting!”
Usopp whined as he shot down a man trying to climb onto the ship with his slingshot. Sanji kicked a swordsman in the face, then tripped another attacker from behind, finishing him with a swift kick to the jaw. Every fallen enemy was replaced by two more.
“Damn it, there’s no end to them…!”
She saw Zoro, at the edge of her vision, facing off against a swordsman. Luffy continued to plow through the attackers, while Sanji, careful not to kick any women, mercilessly took down the men.
It was a grueling battle of attrition, but… within an hour, every attacker lay defeated.
“What was that all about…?”
“I don’t know… Hey, what are you doing, Zoro?”
“This guy seems to know something.”
Zoro, having captured one of the attackers, slapped him awake.
“Ugh… what do you want?!”
“I should be asking you that. You attacked us out of the blue. You called yourself Mr. 11, right?”
“Gah…”
Zoro tightened his grip on the man’s collar. Mr. 11 frantically searched for his sword, but it was gone. Surrounded by Luffy and his crew, he seemed to have lost the will to fight.
“I… I can’t talk.”
“What?”
“Our organization’s motto is ‘mystery’! I can’t reveal any information, no matter who you are!”
Despite his bravado, a punch to the face quickly changed Mr. 11’s tune.
“Aagh! I’m sorry!”
“Weak.”
“What is with this guy…”
Surrounded and unarmed, there was no escape. He had no choice but to confess. Yet, Mr. 11 remained silent.
“I can’t talk! I don’t know anything!”
“You know something, Baroque Works.”
Mr. 11’s eyes widened at Zoro’s words. Luffy, curious, asked Zoro what he knew. Zoro explained that he had been approached by them once, back when he was a bounty hunter in the East Blue.
Baroque Works, a secret organization whose members operated under code names, their true identities and even the boss’s identity unknown. They simply followed orders. These attackers were likely Baroque Works bounty hunters.
Mr. 11, realizing they knew, sighed and admitted it.
“So, you attacked us thinking we were easy targets, even after seeing what happened to this town?”
“I see… So, that’s what happened.”
“We stumbled into something dangerous right off the bat… We’re unlucky.”
“It’s not a big deal. They were weaklings.”
According to the boy, pirates had attacked the town. They must have been attacked and defeated by whoever caused this destruction. It would explain the scale of the damage. The pirates, overwhelmed by their numbers, must have decided to destroy the entire town. Luffy and Sanji, having already heard the story from the boy, shared the information with Usopp and Zoro, who nodded in understanding.
“But how did they have enough manpower to attack us, after being defeated by pirates so recently?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Huh?”
Zoro, impressed by their tenacity, was met with a confused response from Mr. 11. The four of them stared at him.
“What are you talking about… we arrived on this island before noon today. We haven’t fought any pirates.”
There was no other place to anchor a ship besides the harbor, and all the ships in the harbor were capsized and unusable. The Straw Hats had arrived in the evening. This meant Mr. 11 and his crew had arrived, and within a few hours, all their ships had been sunk. The pirates who destroyed the town must have left by morning. So, who had sunk Mr. 11’s ships?
“What’s your purpose on this island?”
“…We’re looking for a certain woman. Our organization's motto is ‘mystery,’ but this woman somehow learned our boss’s true identity… We were ordered to capture and kill her, or at least learn her whereabouts.”
The woman had been in another town, but realizing she had been discovered by Baroque Works, had fled to this island. Her bodyguard had apparently fought against Baroque Works’ numerous agents, the Millions, in that town, but Mr. 11 hadn't encountered him, nor did he know what had become of him.
Zoro’s face hardened. This was starting to sound complicated. Usopp voiced his suspicion.
“Maybe the woman sank your ships? Stole one, and sank the rest?”
“No. Someone saw her after our ships were sunk. She’s still on this island, and she doesn’t seem like the type who could sink ships.”
“Really? Then who…”
“We can’t move without a ship either. We figured we’d take you down first, in case you tried to stow away on our ship.”
“And you got beaten up instead.”
There was no point continuing this conversation. The woman was still on this island. They didn't need any more trouble.
“So, who is this woman you’re after?”
“That’s…”
Mr. 11 hesitated, so Zoro cracked his knuckles menacingly. Mr. 11, his hands raised in surrender, quickly complied.
“W-wait! No violence!”
“You’re one to talk about violence.”
He was probably afraid of being silenced for revealing too much. But if he didn’t talk, his life was in danger. Resigned, he pulled a photograph from his breast pocket.
“It’s this woman – Princess Nefertari Vivi of the Alabasta Kingdom!”
The photograph depicted a beautiful young woman with blue hair. Sanji, predictably, was smitten.
