Seeing that there was nothing urgent for the moment, Jin went over to tease Chopper a bit. The little guy was more than happy to play along with him.
Chatting before battle was a good way to pass the time.
"Hey, big bros!" Zambai ran down in a hurry. "We found a detached Sea Train carriage up ahead. It's blocking the tracks!"
"Is it Sanji?!"
Luffy's eyes instantly lit up.
Did this mean Sanji had already rescued Robin?
"Not sure," Zambai shook his head. "But we can see silhouettes inside."
"Let's go take a look," Jin said as he walked over to the window. "Even if Sanji isn't there, we might be able to get some information about him from the others."
With the Sharingan, extracting information from people wasn't difficult at all.
"I'll come too," Luffy said.
"No need. I'll go alone."
"No way—I'm going too!"
Jin looked helplessly at Luffy, who had followed him out, and pointed into the distance.
"That's pretty far. How exactly are you planning to get over there?"
He could dash across the sea at full speed by himself, but Luffy obviously couldn't.
"Heh, leave it to me."
Luffy grinned, jogged toward the front of the train, and shot out both arms to grab onto the ends of the Rocket Man.
Then, completely naturally, he wrapped one leg around Jin's waist.
Seeing that, Jin's pupils shrank.
"Don't tell me you're planning to—"
"Hahaha, let's go together, Jin!"
Before Jin could protest, Luffy released his grip and launched himself forward like a cannonball!
"You bastard—I can run on my own!!"
Jin's furious shout echoed through the air, leaving the Franky Family behind completely dumbfounded.
"You still don't understand Luffy," Zoro said with schadenfreude.
He'd experienced this kind of treatment more times than he could count.
When things were dangerous, Luffy was extremely reliable.
But when things were safe, Luffy himself was the greatest danger of all.
"Duang—!"
A dull, heavy impact rang out as Jin smashed headfirst into the distant carriage.
Just from the sound alone, it was clearly a very solid head.
"Luffy… one day I'm really going to kill you…"
"Hahahaha, that was a safe landing!"
"Huh?"
"R-Really sorry…"
With a long blade suddenly resting against his neck, Luffy apologized without hesitation.
"Hmph. If I weren't tough, that hit would've killed me," Jin said irritably.
Most ninjas were glass cannons. Someone as durable as him was the exception, not the rule.
"But nothing bad happened…" Luffy muttered quietly.
Rolling his eyes, Jin couldn't be bothered to argue with this single-celled organism any further.
He glanced at the group of people staring at them in shock, then put on a friendly smile.
"I'd like to ask you something."
"P-Pirates! They're pirates!!"
"Hurry, open fire—kill them!"
"They're chasing the train ahead! We can't let them pass!"
"Get them together!"
Their response, however, was met by a pair of pitch-black eyes spinning with three tomoe.
"So troublesome."
"Everyone—look at me."
...
After a round of "friendly" communication from Jin, the entire group immediately behaved themselves.
Those who didn't were still lying on the ground.
Judging from their expressions, they'd experienced something unimaginably terrifying.
Whether they were dead or unconscious, no one knew—and no one dared go check.
"Wouldn't it have been better if you behaved from the start?" Jin said calmly.
"Jin, what did you do?" Luffy stared at him wide-eyed. "Why did everyone suddenly fall down?"
Not only that—before collapsing, they all looked like they'd seen something horrifying.
"Nothing much. I just showed them something interesting," Jin replied indifferently.
Genjutsu was the most efficient method—one move to make everyone obedient.
"Oh… okay."
Luffy scratched his head. He didn't understand how Jin had done it, but… the problem was solved, wasn't it?
"Hey! Have you seen Sanji?" Luffy asked loudly.
"Sanji is… who?" one man asked cautiously.
"Hm?"
"B-Big bro, we really don't know!"
That single hm from Jin almost made the man wet himself.
There was no helping it—this guy was terrifying. Just one look from him and most of their people were already down.
When he'd seen those blood-red eyes earlier, he'd genuinely thought he'd gone to hell.
"Forget it. I'll find him myself," Luffy said, losing interest. He ran toward the front on his own.
"Sanji! Are you here?!"
"Sanji!"
"I came to find you!"
Meanwhile, Jin pointed at one of the men.
"You. Come here."
"B-Big bro, please don't kill me…" the man in the suit begged in terror.
"If I wanted to kill you, do you think you'd still have time to talk?" Jin said flatly. "Stop wasting time. Come here."
"Y-Yes, big bro…"
The man approached trembling, his lips pale.
Though the distance was only a few meters, it felt to him like he'd walked through an entire lifetime.
Watching this, Jin almost found it amusing.
Was he really that scary?
"Relax. As long as you behave, I won't kill you."
The man didn't reply—he only glanced at his unconscious companions.
His expression seemed to say: Boss, that doesn't sound very convincing…
"Talk," Jin said. "Why are you here? What exactly happened?"
He was curious.
Were they left behind to intercept the Rocket Man?
But that didn't quite add up.
From what Chopper had said earlier, not many people even knew they'd escaped Water 7 aboard the Rocket Man.
And even if someone did, there was no way they'd leak that information to the enemy.
Besides… crossing the Aqua Laguna was something the enemy probably wouldn't even believe possible.
Jin still vividly remembered how terrifying that tsunami had been.
"If I tell you, you won't kill me, right?"
"You don't have the right to negotiate," Jin replied coolly.
"Then…"
The man pursed his lips, hesitating.
If he talked and still died, maybe it was better not to say anything at all.
"…Forget it. I'll do it myself," Jin said.
"Y-You'll do it yourself?"
The man looked at him in confusion, not understanding what he meant.
But the moment he met Jin's Sharingan, the light in his eyes vanished—like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
"Is Sanji here?"
"I don't know who Sanji is. Only our people are here."
"I see…" Jin frowned. "Then how did you end up like this?"
"Someone lured us into the last carriage of the Sea Train, then disconnected the link between the cars. That's how we were thrown off."
"So that's how it is."
Yeah—that really did sound like something Sanji would do.
That man's mind was sharp.
Which meant Sanji was still on the Sea Train ahead.
The others stared at Jin in shock and fear.
They couldn't understand why the suited man was suddenly answering every question so obediently—as if he were being controlled.
"T-That's terrifying…"
"Is he a Devil Fruit user?!"
Combined with what they'd just witnessed, the fear in their eyes deepened even further.
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