Chapter 141: Treasure Hunting, Pay Back the Money!
Gion left Tsuru's office, planning to finish her own work first.
In a few days, she would head to the East Blue to investigate a cold case that had been buried for decades.
A child who already had an ironlike defense comparable to Big Mom, in theory, no one in the East Blue should have been able to do anything to him.
Gion held a document file that had been transferred in from the East Blue, an old archive from decades ago. As she flipped through the pages, she kept wondering why that boy had vanished back then.
A legendary figure who had completely outplayed the Navy and Cipher Pol, even to the point where Sengoku ended up beating Garp for it.
What kind of person was he?
Even someone as sharp as Gion could not make sense of it.
If nobody in the East Blue could defeat him, then who could possibly trick a man who had the Navy running in circles?
Strange…
"But that makes sense," Gion chuckled. "If it were not strange, it would not be an unsolved case for decades."
"Hey, it's Gion! Want to grab a drink?" A commodore passed by and greeted her with a smile.
Perfect timing, it was almost time to get off work.
"No, I have something to handle." Gion smiled politely and shook her head, as she always did.
Gion was beautiful, her voice was sweet, her figure was excellent. Her strength was solid too, and her future prospects were bright.
A woman like that naturally attracted plenty of single Marines who wanted a chance.
But she was also extremely proud.
Ordinary men were never going to catch her eye.
"Oh, it's Gion. Let's go eat, my treat."
Off in the distance, Tokikake stood with his hands behind his back like he was hiding something, wearing a grin that looked a little too eager.
"No need. I'll just get something from the cafeteria, then go back. I have information to look up today." Gion shook her head with a smile.
She saw through his little scheme instantly. He probably had some other trick ready.
He had sent flowers like every straightforward man would, she had refused, and this was the nth time.
It was not about looks. It was not about character.
She simply was not attracted to Tokikake at all, and only considered him a friend.
"Tokikake, distance makes the heart grow fonder. Maybe you should try living further away from Gion, hahaha!"
"Pfft, hahaha!"
Teasing voices rose from the surrounding Marines.
Tokikake rubbed his forehead and sighed, half numb at this point. He had been rejected so often his skin had practically thickened into armor.
"Then I'll help you look up the information!" Tokikake said, acting like a complete sycophant.
"No need. Vice Admiral Tsuru will be angry if she finds out." Gion shook her head, waved goodbye to Tokikake, and turned to leave.
Seriously. She was helping Tsuru investigate a man's disappearance. Why would she drag Tokikake into that?
"Hey, how many times has Tokikake been rejected now? Want a hint?" A rear admiral hooked an arm around Tokikake's neck, grinning.
"I think this is the forty fifth time, counting from when you joined the Naval Academy… hmm…" A cute female captain counted on her fingers, then shook her head at him. "Give up. Even if you get rejected a hundred more times over the next few years, Gion still won't say yes."
"You're talking nonsense!" Tokikake snapped, glaring at her.
"Who knows, Gion might get married someday. If you keep clinging then, you might get killed."
"Pfft, hahaha!"
A bunch of bored Marines used gambling and teasing to entertain themselves after work.
…
Now, back to the present.
East Blue, Foosha Village.
Garp watched the red haired man, hand in hand with that woman, lead his grandson and the blond boy toward the village bar.
No matter how hard he forced his brain to work, he still could not connect this Roy to the red haired boy in Tsuru's photo.
Foosha Village, Bar.
Behind the wooden counter, shelves and cubbies held stemmed glasses, stacked neatly upside down.
Every glass had been polished until it gleamed.
A ship wheel decoration hung beside a pillar, and the whole place felt like the inside of a sailor's cabin.
Bright sunlight drifted in through the window, warm and lazy.
A woman wearing a pink floral headscarf stood behind the counter. Two strands of dark green hair fell along her fair cheeks as she hummed a cheerful tune, holding a glass and wiping it with a clean cloth.
She wore a neat light blue and black striped shirt, a romantic pale red long skirt, and high heeled boots.
"Oh? Luffy's here…"
She did not even need to look up. Just from the lively humming outside, she could tell who it was.
After all, she was one of the villagers who took the best care of Luffy.
Luffy coming to her bar for a free meal was basically a daily event.
Makino looked up, smiling, already waiting for him to burst through the door laughing.
The decor leaned nautical, but the door itself looked like something out of an old western film.
The waist high swinging doors were paired together, and outside, a child ran in, humming happily.
The doors blocked most of his body, so Makino could only see a little short legged kid hustling toward her.
"How cute," Makino said with a smile.
"Huh?"
Makino's eyes shifted past Luffy, and she saw a handsome man with fiery red hair walking over. He was very tall, and he was holding the hand of a stunningly beautiful woman.
Little Luffy had brought her guests.
Oh, and there was another short legged kid beside Luffy too.
Creak.
Luffy pushed the door open and dashed in, greeting Makino with excitement.
"Sister Makino! Me and my friend are hungry. One meal for me, three meals for my friend, and bring some wine!"
Luffy ran straight to the counter and climbed up onto a stool.
"Okay," Makino smiled, turned, poured two glasses of wine, and handed them to Roy and Hancock as they approached.
"Please enjoy. I'll go prepare the food."
Makino smiled at Roy, then went into the kitchen.
Roy sat beside Luffy. Hancock sat on Roy's other side.
Roy patted Hancock's hand, then looked at Luffy.
"So you said you'd treat us. How are you going to pay?" Roy asked.
"Oh, right!" Luffy nodded, like he had only just remembered the concept of money.
"Sister Makino, I'll pay you back from now on!"
"Oh?" Makino's voice called from the kitchen, and there was a hint of relief in it.
Luffy was so cute, and he was even being sensible.
"Do not celebrate yet," Roy chuckled.
"Huh? You don't believe me?" Luffy whipped around to glare at him.
"How are you going to pay it back? You've been eating here for years. You must owe a lot by now," Roy said, laughing.
"I…I can…" Luffy thought hard, then his eyes lit up like fireworks.
"When I find treasure in the future, I'll use it to pay Makino back! Yeah! I'll use treasure to pay her back!"
"Hahaha!" Roy burst out laughing.
Imagine the future Pirate King finding treasure, only to use it to settle a tab. That was too funny to even picture.
<><><><><>
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]