"Shh, look outside, someone came onto the island."
The pirate leading the group, who was holding a rabbit, made a gesture of silence and lowered his body to look toward the forest's edge.
Hearing this, the others quickly crouched down and hid in the thick bushes.
Following their leader's gaze, they looked through the overlapping shadows of trees, finally seeing a man in a marine uniform.
On the empty beach, Alan's moving figure was extremely eye-catching.
"A marine?"
"Don't tell me he's here to arrest us."
"How could that be? Don't tell me the plan to raid the Syrup Village has been exposed."
"This... What should we do?!"
Seeing Alan's figure, the pirates immediately panicked and looked toward their leader.
However, their leader simply smacked one of them on the back of the head with disdain and scolded in a whisper: "Idiot. The other side is alone. When have you ever seen a single marine take on an entire pirate crew? Obviously, he has gotten separated from his teammates."
"Oh, oh, sorry hahaha, as expected of you, boss."
The pirate, who was slapped, touched the back of his head with an awkward laugh.
He did not look very smart.
"Boss, look there."
At that moment, another pirate suddenly spoke while pointing toward a small boat behind a rock, his tone filled with excitement.
Following the direction he pointed, they could vaguely see a huge backpack stuffed full on the small boat.
The moment they saw this, the pirates' eyes instantly lit up, already having a plan for this marine who had drifted onto this uninhabited island after being separated from his team.
Before long… Alan finally walked into the forest, humming a tune leisurely, hands in his pockets, looking completely defenseless.
"Tch, looks like he's a rookie marine. His whole body is full of openings."
Seeing this, the leader hiding in the bushes let out a cold, mocking laugh.
His words made the eyes of his subordinates grow even more feverish, as if killing the marine and seizing his supplies was already a predetermined outcome.
The pirates held their breath, eyes locked tightly on Alan as he approached while counting down the shrinking distance in their hearts.
"Six... Five... Four..."
Finally, when Alan stepped within two meters of the ambush, the leading pirate's eyes hardened. His crouched legs kicked off the ground, and his whole body launched out of the bushes!
"Kyahahaha! Tough luck for you, stupid marine!"
The pirate who shot out cackled sharply while gripping his large blade with both hands as he thrust fiercely, the cold gleam of the blade aiming straight for Alan's chest!
But in the next second, a large hand abruptly appeared in his field of vision.
Pa!!
The scene of the blade piercing flesh and drawing blood did not appear.
Accompanied by a crisp slapping sound, under the stunned gazes of the other pirates, their leader seemed to be struck by some invisible force and flew sideways at extreme speed for no reason!
Bang!
The pirate's body slammed heavily against a tree trunk before slowly sliding down like soft mud.
A red handprint swelled on his face as his eyes turned white; he had fainted on the spot.
Alan withdrew his hand and put it back into his pocket, then turned his head toward the few pirates standing up from the bushes.
Each held a weapon, still in mid-ambush posture, but their bodies trembled uncontrollably; they were completely frozen in place.
What on earth just happened...?!
Why was their leader defeated instantly?! His movement wasn't even visible!
This was exactly like Captain Kuro back then!
This guy was terrifying!
At this moment, the remaining pirates screamed internally while looking at Alan as if he were a monster.
Alan stared at them for a few seconds and asked, "Who are you?"
One pirate trembled and answered: "P-pirates..."
"Nonsense! I know that."
Bang!
Alan kicked one pirate to the ground and said impatiently, "You looking for death? I'm asking which crew you belong to."
"Wait!"
"We're members of the !"
"Please don't kick me!"
The remaining pirates immediately raised their hands and knelt to beg for mercy.
"Black Cat Pirates...?"
Hearing this, Alan frowned and asked: "The pirate crew formerly led by Kuro of a Hundred Plans?"
"Y-yes... But... Our captain now is Jango."
One pirate nodded repeatedly, afraid that if he replied too slowly, he would get kicked again.
Alan touched his chin while falling into thought.
Kuro of a Hundred Plans, the former leader of the Black Cat Pirates, was a strong and ruthless pirate in the East Blue.
Later, Kuro grew tired of being endlessly harassed by the marines. During a battle, he killed everyone on a marine ship except for one.
Then he ordered his cadre, Jango, to hypnotize a surviving marine, making him believe he had defeated Kuro. They then captured a decoy and sent the fake Kuro to be executed.
Kuro himself faked his death and went into hiding.
The hypnotized marine gained promotion to Captain Rank due to this achievement, eventually becoming the base commander of the local Branch Base.
Yes, that marine was Axe-Hand Morgan, whom Alan had killed just a few days ago.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Alan was suddenly quite interested.
This had to be a special kind of fate for them to end up as enemies like this.
"Wait a moment... I remember you guys disappeared for a long time. Why are you here now?"
Alan asked again in confusion.
Hearing this, the pirates exchanged panicked looks.
Seeing this reaction, Alan seemed to recall something.
He took out the detailed map of the Gecko Islands he had brought and glanced at it.
…
The sea area of the Gecko Islands was quite vast, with more than twenty inhabited and uninhabited islands of various sizes.
Traveling from one end to the other would take a full day.
And from where Alan was now, on the other side of the island group, was a small island with several villages scattered across it. Among them, the name of one particular village caught his attention.
As expected, it was Syrup Village...
Alan murmured silently, then looked again at the several pirates kneeling before him. The answer was already clear in his heart.
The time he had crossed over was the same day Luffy recruited Zoro.
Adding two days of sailing, then the closest event should be when Kuro, who had been lurking for years, was preparing to reel in his net.