Without a word of hesitation, Tsuneo immediately turned around and looked toward Konan at his side. As the only woman aboard their pirate ship, her assigned role was that of navigator.
For Konan, this was an entirely new challenge—she had to start learning everything from scratch. Fortunately, her unique ninjutsu, Paper Dance, provided her with tremendous assistance.
Konan was also one of the Akatsuki's top elites. In terms of status, she ranked second only to Pain (Nagato). Within the organization, no one had ever dared to underestimate her.
Though she appeared cold and aloof on the surface, Tsuneo—well-versed in the world of Naruto—knew very clearly that beneath that exterior, Konan was actually gentle and considerate at heart.
At this very moment, Konan was standing atop her paper constructs, carefully and meticulously sketching every route they had traveled, as well as mapping out all the seas they could currently see.
It was truly astonishing. Empowered by her paper-based techniques, any sea they had passed through—or even any waters within their line of sight—could be reproduced by Konan with flawless accuracy.
At this rate
It wouldn't take long at all
Before Konan became an outstanding navigator.
Perhaps even Nami, in the future, would find herself hard-pressed to compare.
"Konan."
"Yes, Captain. What is it?"
"Mapping the seas is exhausting work, isn't it?"
"It's manageable."
"Hahaha! Konan, with your abilities, I have no doubt you'll become an exceptional navigator. But today, your captain will teach you a little trick."
"A… little trick?"
In an instant, Konan turned her head, fixing her gaze firmly on Tsuneo.
"What trick? Please enlighten me, Captain."
"Come, come—Konan. Look behind us. What do you see?"
As he spoke, Tsuneo grabbed her hand and pointed toward the distance behind them. At that moment, a small wooden raft could be seen desperately chasing after them.
"A small raft."
"Then tell me, Konan—what does the appearance of that raft signify?"
"In the middle of this vast, endless sea, the sudden appearance of a small raft can only mean one thing," Konan replied calmly.
"Captain, it must have come from a nearby island."
"Hahaha! Exactly! Well done. No need for me to explain further, then. You already know what to do, don't you?"
"I understand, Captain. If we follow that raft, it will lead us to the nearest island in this area."
"Very teachable!"
The moment those words fell, Konan swept her right hand forward and issued an order to Kisame Hoshigaki, who was serving as both helmsman and crew.
"Kisame, change course immediately!
Pursue the raft behind us!"
"No problem! Hehehe—Captain and everyone else, hold on tight!"
At once, Kisame threw the helm hard over. The small ship performed a dramatic drift across the open sea, charging straight toward the raft behind them.
Meanwhile
In order to avoid being discovered by Tsuneo and his crew, two senior officers of the Buggy Pirates—the vice-captain Mohji and the chief of staff Cabaji—were standing atop that tiny raft.
Each of them had balanced a large wine barrel on their heads, hiding themselves as best they could against the open sea.
Mohji, the Beast Tamer:
"Hey, Cabaji… do you think following them this closely might get us noticed by Tsuneo—the most dangerous rookie pirate in the world?"
Cabaji, the Swordsman:
"Don't be ridiculous. We're perfectly disguised. How could we possibly be discovered?"
Mohji:
"That's true. We're senior officers of the Buggy Pirates! In the entire East Blue, no one can see through us!"
Cabaji:
"Yeah, yeah! Keep it up, Mohji—we're about to lose them!"
At this point, Tsuneo could barely bring himself to watch. He felt genuine secondhand embarrassment for their intelligence.
Sure, they were hidden flawlessly
But their raft was sticking out like a beacon on the open sea.
Unless someone was blind, how could anyone not see it?
Absolutely ridiculous.
However, just as Mohji and Cabaji continued rowing, they suddenly realized something was wrong—the distance between them was shrinking fast.
Mohji:
"Cabaji… don't you think we're getting a little too close?"
Cabaji:
"You're right! We can't row any harder, or we'll crash straight into them!"
Mohji:
"But… Cabaji, our raft doesn't seem to be moving at all!"
Cabaji:
"What?! Then that means—
Ah! This is bad! Very bad!
We're not chasing them… they're chasing us!"
Mohji:
"Then what do we do?!"
Cabaji:
"Run!!"
The instant the two finally understood their situation, Mohji and Cabaji wasted no time. They began rowing with everything they had, not even stopping to think, fleeing straight toward their headquarters
Orange Town, the base of the Buggy Pirates.
Before long, when the two finally stumbled back into Orange Town, Tsuneo and his group arrived just as effortlessly, landing right behind them.
At that moment…
The most miserable person present was undoubtedly Buggy the Clown.
From afar, when he saw Mohji and Cabaji leading Tsuneo and his crew straight toward him, Buggy was so frightened that his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets again.
"Hey! You two idiots!
I told you to monitor Tsuneo's crew
Not to bring them straight to me!"
"Ah! Captain Buggy, we were wrong! Please spare us!"
"Oh? So it really is you, Big Buggy," Tsuneo said with a grin.
"Thanks a lot for sending us two guides. Otherwise, we might never have found this place."
Tsuneo took a closer look and immediately recognized the pirate leader ahead—Buggy the Clown himself.
Well, that explained everything.
With a captain like this, it was no wonder his subordinates were such idiots.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Ugh!!!"
In the next instant, Buggy collapsed on the spot, fainting outright.
At the same time
What Buggy never anticipated was that on the other side of Orange Town, another group was landing at the very same moment as Tsuneo's crew.
...