Taxes

In the new marine headquarters in the New World.

"Haaaah…" Fleet Admiral Kuzan sighed and tried to rub the tension out of his temples.

He had just received the report on Harpin D. Cherry from Gion and Tokikake. He had tried his best to leave them room to avoid a confrontation in his orders, but they had gone and done it anyway.

"Bahahaha! As expected of Gion, she even dragged Tokikake into it. Youngsters these days sure do have a lot of guts. Bahahaha!" Garp laughed whilst stuffing crackers into his mouth.

"I guess we still got some more information from this. Harpin D. Cherry likely can't be pinned down without overwhelming force, or at least a devil fruit ability that can disable her." Kuzan pondered aloud.

Kuzan looked towards the older woman in the room.

"Don't look at me. I've got other duties to take care of." Vice Admiral Tsuru rejected him before he could speak.

"Come on, now. Just this once? We can't spare any admirals right now, not with all the chaos in the New World right now. If Harpin D. Cherry goes to the New World with the Straw Hats, we might have another Emperor to deal with sooner rather than later." Kuzan practically begged her.

"Damn straight! If that worthless grandson of mine is gonna be a pirate, he'd at least better become an Emperor! Bahahahaha!" Garp exclaimed.

"If I abandon my duties to chase after a rugrat, who do you think will need to pick them up in the meantime?" Tsuru asked.

Kuzan's eyes glanced over at Garp.

"No, not that old geezer! You'll have to do it, Fleet. Admiral. Kuzan." Tsuru pointed at him and emphasized his title.

"I already have so MUCH paperwork, though? Why can't I just shove it off on someone else?" Kuzan complained. The paperwork is what he hated most about this job.

"Sengoku tried to lighten his load for years to no avail. Unless you want Kong breathing down your neck, you should just give up and get over it." Garp advised.

Kuzan spun around in his seat to look at a large map of the Grand Line on the wall.

"Hmmm…" Kuzan hummed.

"Wasn't there a bounty hunter group on this island? If Cheap Shot continues on the same path, she'll run into them eventually. Maybe we can offer some support and let them have a go at her." Kuzan said.

"Them? Really? Plenty of pirates get past them." Garp dismissed, though he was a bit dismissive of bounty hunters in general.

"They aren't very consistent, no, but they have delivered a few super rookies in the past. They're also a bunch of rowdy thugs who cause issues for the local populace." Tsuru commented.

"We could loan them some Sea Stone armaments and restraints. All four of her party were devil fruit users back when they stormed the East Blue headquarters, so they might just manage to do it." Kuzan spoke.

Kuzan clapped his hands together. "That's what I'll do then. If it doesn't work, then… whatever."

Tsuru sighed at his nonchalant and lazy behavior that was unbefitting of a fleet admiral whilst Garp just laughed and stuffed more crackers into his face.

…

Things wrapped up quickly in Fungwood. Ricky was boiled in oil. Mayor Brack was found guilty of misuse/theft of taxes and deposed. Jilly was elected as the new mayor. Maggie had loads of new juicy gossip.

The week passed by uneventfully and they couldn't wait to get off the island.

A couple of months went by as they landed and moved on from two more islands. Though they had their own unique quirks and cultures, there wasn't much to write home about. It wasn't like when they traveled with the Straw Hats where every island would have something horrible happen to them.

They did learn about some of the pirate rookies that had passed through them earlier though. One such pirate crew left such a big impact that they refused to even speak its name, not out of fear though strangely enough. Rather they seemed hateful and… annoyed(?) just having to think about them.

That crew had passed through only a few weeks before they did. So given Cabernet's extraordinary speed, they were bound to catch up with them at some point soon.

They saw the next island on the horizon after the weather stabilized.

From the heat they could tell it was going to be a summer island. A quaint looking town was nestled around a bay and encircled on all sides by steep cliffs. Several ships were anchored by the docks, including a pirate ship that openly flew its jolly roger.

After they landed on the docks they could see the flag more clearly. It depicted a heart shaped red skull with spiky green hair and a red letter X beneath it.

"What an ugly flag." Robin ruthlessly stated her opinion.

"Agreed, not cute at all." Perona echoed.

"It's very original, I think?" Cabernet innocently found something nice to say about it.

"Ahem! Excuse me?" A bespectacled man announced himself.

Cherry felt that this man, more than anyone she had ever met, looked like the type with a stick up his ass.

"The ship docking tax is 1,000 Beri." He spoke writing on a notepad without even glancing at it, before holding out his hand with expectation.

"What ship? We didn't dock a ship here?" Cherry said with amusement.

"Hm?" He looked around with confusion. "I see, it seems you're correct."

Before they could pass by him he stopped them and spoke again, all the while writing in his notepad.

"Then you'll need to pay the 'Arriving without a ship' tax. That's 800 Beri." He said, holding out his hand again.

This left all four of them dumbstruck for a moment at the audacity of his words.

"This is an obvious scam! Besides, we're pirates! We aren't going to pay any taxes!" Perona recovered first and gave him a piece of her mind.

The man flashed an official looking badge of office that was clearly labeled "Sweethaven Tax Collector".

"'Questioning the Tax Collector' tax, 'Refusal to pay tax' tax, and 'Being a pirate' tax. Your total is 4,700 Beri." The Taxman stated bluntly, not seeming to care at all that they were outlaws.

Cherry couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity.

"'Laughing at the Tax Collector' tax. 5,200 Beri is your new total." The Taxman said, writing down what was presumably another notation of their balance.

Cabernet picked up the man and dropped him over the edge of the dock into the water.

Even as they walked away, the man breached the surface and started shouting at them about an 'Assaulting the Tax Collector' tax.

"I've got a funny feeling that this town is going to leave a good impression on me." Cherry said.