“Oh, Smoker-san… I suppose you’re a nice person?”
As an adorable silly girl with glasses, she dutifully carried out her superior’s orders—handing him a proverbial ‘nice guy’ card.
“You may look fierce and intimidating, but you’re still fighting for justice…”
“Alright, that’s enough. You don’t need to say any more.”
Smoker was certain of one thing—his assistant wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Tashigi clearly hadn’t caught the deeper meaning behind his words.
Thinking back, Kuzan’s string of orders had completely cut off any chance for him to respond. It seemed his reputation really was problematic.
“So, Smoker-san, what’s our next move?”
“Our next move? Obviously, we’re going after the Straw Hat kid.”
His desk was cluttered with wanted posters, and right on top were Yamato’s and Luffy’s.
Yamato’s track record made it clear—that was someone beyond his capabilities. But the one behind her? That was a different story. A rookie who had the audacity to laugh on the execution platform, not to mention his baffling ties to Dragon.
Kuzan had prohibited him from getting involved in Yamato’s matter, but there was no such prohibition on going after Straw Hat.
As for Yamato’s wanted poster on his desk…
It was the standard Marine style—we may not be able to deal with you for the time being, but we can increase your bounty. So, the bounties of the Four Emperors became meaningless.
Bounties were originally meant to lure bounty hunters into hunting down pirates. But no bounty hunter had ever been reckless enough to challenge the Four Emperors.
People constantly rose to challenge the Four Emperors, but none of those warriors did it for the Marines’ bounty. They were all ambitious individuals with far greater aspirations.
To them, money had long ceased to be the goal.
The Marine forces in Loguetown remained largely unchanged. Smoker took a small team and set off in pursuit of Luffy. At present, East Blue had seen the complete annihilation of Krieg Pirates, and Buggy Pirates had vanished without a trace. As a result, there are no pirates left that require his particular attention.
Although the 16th and 8th Branch had suffered heavy losses, they were still within acceptable limits.
As for the one who had stirred up this storm—Yamato was just about ready to leave East Blue.
The Millennial Dragons had already returned to their dwelling on Onigashima, leaving only the Corviknight behind as their means of transportation.
During this time, Yamato had been trying to find the possible locations of the plates as described by the Millennial Dragon.
Unfortunately, the sheer passage of time had rendered maps useless. So, she decided to seek out a professional to handle it instead.
Sure, she could have contacted someone remotely using Rotom, but that would take away all the fun. A face-to-face meeting was much more interesting.
“They are quite difficult to find. Where the heck did the red-nose pirates run off to?”
“It’s not ‘red-nose,’ it’s the Buggy Pirates. Can you not just randomly rename people?”
“Same thing. From what I read, that guy was once the sworn brother of Red-Hair and even a crewmate of Roger. That means their strength should be about the same, right? Sounds like it could be pretty fun.”
Yamato completely ignored Ulti’s correction. As far as she was concerned, it was all the same. If Buggy was Red-Hair’s sworn brother, then naming his crew after his most distinctive feature made perfect sense.
“A pirate of that caliber would never stay in East Blue. Every ship has its blemishes, so don’t dwell on such things. Anyway, that guy has gone into hiding, and no one knows where he is now.”
“Yeah… this comment is quite spot-on. That guy’s luck is pretty good.”
In the intel Yamato had obtained from the Beasts Pirates, there was one particularly noteworthy entry under Buggy’s profile—his luck was off the charts. At this point, it was the only explanation she had for why she still hadn’t managed to find him.
Hercules hadn’t just complained about Captain Nezumi—Buggy was on that list too. But unlike Nezumi, who was the Marine base captain and easy to locate, Buggy was a completely different story.
The Marines couldn’t track down Yamato as she roamed East Blue, and Yamato, in turn, couldn’t find Buggy who had mysteriously vanished.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in…”
Yamato responded absentmindedly to the sudden knocking before realizing she was in the sky. And more importantly, Corviknight hadn’t attacked whoever it was. No, scratch that—it wasn’t even a person.
When she turned to look, she saw a silly-looking yellow creature flying just outside the Corviknight Taxi. A bag with a postal express delivery service logo was strapped across its chest, and in its hands was a special envelope, sealed shut with a wax stamp bearing the Beasts Pirates’ Jolly Roger.
“Huh?”
……
Corviknight made a temporary landing on a nearby island, and the other promptly handed the envelope to Yamato.
“Are you… one of Dad’s newly created Pokémon?”
Yamato was certain that before she left Onigashima, she had never seen this type of Pokémon. It was clearly a new kind of Pokémon, created just recently.
“Roar.”
Confirming her guess, the Pokémon shoved the envelope into Yamato’s hands. This was a trial run—a test for the new express delivery service that the Beasts Pirates were planning to soon implement within their territories.
Den Den Mushi and Rotom were sufficient for communication, but certain things still required physical delivery. The unique environment limited the transportations, and flying was far faster than traveling by ship.
Previously, the Beasts Pirates’ approach to deliveries was simple: sail leisurely for unimportant shipments, and if it was an emergency—call Zeraora.
But with the seas growing increasingly unstable, even Zeraora had his hands full. After all, being a courier wasn’t his primary job. To strengthen connections between islands within their territory, a new generation of couriers had been introduced to the seas.
As the name implies, the most important thing for express delivery is speed and security—and Dragonite was the perfect candidate for the job. [TN: Direct translation of Dragonite’s name is Fast Dragon.]
Dragonite is predominantly orange in color, with two long, slender antennae and a small horn atop its head.
It has a pair of relatively small wings on its back. Although it is a Dragon-Type Pokémon, it had an endearingly goofy and cute appearance. Coupled with some unique translations, Dragonite is often jokingly referred to as “Fatty.”
But beneath this exterior lies immense power.
Dragonite possessed intelligence on par with humans—it could perform almost any task a human could. With systematic training, it could probably even learn to write code.
As a Pokémon introduced in the very first generation, Dragonite’s flight speed seemed to increase every time the Pokémon world expanded. According to records, it could fly around the entire earth in just sixteen hours.
With that kind of speed, Dragonite could ensure “one-hour delivery” across all Beasts Pirates-controlled territories and even provide emergency reinforcements during wartime.
Beyond its speed, Dragonite also possessed incredible physical strength. Even in the middle of raging storms on the sea, it could soar through the skies without being affected—making it a perfect fit for the sea environment of the New World.
This was only a trial run. Once everything was confirmed to be working smoothly, Dragonite’s business would officially roll out across Beasts Pirates’ territories, connecting every island in a tightly woven network.
At this moment, the Dragonite pulled out a small notebook from its bag and gestured to Yamato to sign for receiving the letter.
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