In the small tavern in Windmill Village, Shanks' crew watched the images An had sent back, not particularly concerned about Buggy's appearance.
"I thought Buggy and the others had already left the East Blue. I didn't expect to run into him here."
"What's special about that kid? To make Buggy come recruit him personally."
"His talent seems quite strong—feels about the same as Ace at that age. A good prospect," Beckman said.
"Buggy must have seen that we have two apprentices, so he specifically found another kid to compete with me," Red-Hair said.
"He wouldn't be that bored, would he…"
Actually, Buggy was even more bored than they imagined.
After taking Sabo out of the East Blue, the Buggy Pirates held team-building events every day.
Relying on the special material of their pirate ship, which wouldn't burn, they held banquets on board daily.
Pirate apprentice Cabaji performed circus acts on a unicycle, while Mohji cracked his whip at the lion Richie. Though the performances were dull, Buggy watched with great enjoyment.
Although Cabaji and Mohji had technically joined the Buggy Pirates, they lacked status, strength, and experience, so they could only be apprentices.
Their main job was cleaning the deck and maintaining hygiene every day.
In comparison, fellow apprentice Sabo's life was much harder.
He was no longer on Buggy's ship, but had gone to Inazuma, becoming its youngest student at the Inazuma Elementary School.
As a potential future Fatui Harbinger "Childe," Ren had high expectations for Sabo. The kid needed to reach Admiral-level combat strength before age twenty to be considered qualified.
The power of the Mera Mera no Mi would be perfect for him.
But first, Sabo's physical combat skills needed strengthening. Many Logia users looked down on physical combat, which was incredibly foolish.
Humans, as a type of animal, could develop tremendous vitality when trained to the extreme. The combination of conviction and will could unleash even greater power in desperate situations.
Sabo himself was very diligent. He had turned the humiliation of being ambushed and still losing into motivation, training constantly.
Among the group of kids in Inazuma, Sabo was currently the weakest. Even Robin, who rarely fought, was much stronger than him.
Black Maria and the others might not have exceptional talent, but the age gap was clear.
Surrounded by such strong older siblings, Sabo felt intense pressure.
However, this year Black Maria, Yamato, and Rob Lucci were planning to set sail.
Though they were setting out, unlike Buggy and his crew, Yamato and the others would represent Inazuma's main fighting force to the world.
Of the three, Yamato was the youngest at sixteen. Black Maria was a year older, and Lucci was two years older.
Their strength hadn't reached its peak, but they could show the world Inazuma's generational transition.
Yukiko and the others had been active across the four seas for years with almost no change in appearance. If this continued, others would eventually notice.
Moreover, now that Inazuma had new personnel, Ren naturally didn't need to keep Yukiko and the others working so hard.
The appearance of new faces Yamato and Lucci didn't draw much attention from the Marines. Newcomers emerged constantly on the high seas—every year saw many new pirate rookies, and there were too many promising newcomers.
Meanwhile, in the East Blue, the mountain bandit Higuma appeared as if by destiny.
The development was basically the same as the original story. Ace's hot temper naturally couldn't tolerate such an insult.
A small East Blue mountain bandit with an 8-million-berry bounty dared spout such nonsense, claiming to have cut down fifty-six Four Emperors? Did he think Ace was raised scared?
He was about to lunge and teach that old goat what pirates were like, but other crew members held him back.
Actually, Ren didn't agree with Shanks' actions, but as the core of the pirate crew, Shanks' decisions were absolute.
Thus, through a series of events, Luffy still became the Nika Fruit user, and Shanks still lost an arm.
But then again, since cutting off enemies' arms had become something of a Four Emperors tradition, the thrones of Higuma and the Near-King of the Sea as the culprits behind a Four Emperor losing an arm were indeed "fitting."
In the end, the Red Hair Pirates left the East Blue with their new crewmate, Yasopp. Before departing, Ace gave his straw hat to his little brother.
Actually, Red-Hair and the others could have left later, but their intelligence reported Garp's return to the East Blue, so they hurriedly departed.
Their crew's odds against Garp were already low. Now with one fewer arm—not to mention reduced fighting strength—they were somewhat unprepared.
When Garp returned to Windmill Village, seeing Luffy had already been shaped by Red-Hair, he flew into a rage.
"That damn Red-Hair brat!"
Garp roared angrily, but seeing Luffy's determination to become a pirate, he was helpless.
Sending him directly to Marine training was impossible. On one hand, the kid kept shouting about becoming Pirate King, which wasn't good for other Marines to hear.
On the other hand, Dragon's precedent made Garp cautious.
After much deliberation, he decided to send Luffy to the mountain bandit Curly Dadan's family on Colbon Mountain.
"Mountain bandits? I don't want to go! I hate mountain bandits!" Luffy resisted strongly.
Because of Higuma, he had a terrible impression of mountain bandits.
Or perhaps Garp should show this kid the cruelty of pirates. Make him completely give up on the dream.
"Shut up!" Garp punched Luffy's head, giving him a large bump.
"Ow!"
Luffy held his head, tears streaming: "Why does it hurt so much? I'm supposed to be made of rubber now."
"Because this is a fist full of love!" Garp dragged the kid up the mountain without looking back.
"Listen up, Luffy! You must become a righteous Marine!"
Garp emphasized.
In this corrupt era, the Marines and World Government were somewhat dark, but compared to pirates who burned, killed, and plundered, they were much better.
No matter what, the Marines, representing justice and order, were better than those pirates.
After all, pirates who killed for fun and slaughtered civilians for fame were extremely common.
Like the Supernova Kid from over a decade later—that guy, to be honest, was several times more cruel than characters like Arlong whom everyone hated!
[
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