33 Chapter 33

In peace, Gambia walked across the quiet street. As if the pirates just a day ago were nothing but a dream, the street was now clean and pleasant to look at.

"So Desire also left, huh."

Shortly after, Desire left with followers of her own. She said that she'll become the top even if Bartolomeo were not to be with her. Gambia couldn't help but shake his head and pray that the foolish girl would stay safe.

"Barto Club disbanded, and I'm back to my rural life... is this what I really want?"

Immediately after muttering, Gambia came to a stop. In front of him was a man wearing an orange hat with two smiley badges attached to it: Ace.

For some reason, Gambia couldn't draw his eyes away from Ace. He remembered how Ace chased after Buggy Pirates fearlessly. He couldn't help but ask,

"...Are you a pirate?"

"Huh? Wha?"

Ace lifted his head up with a mild surprise. Placing his spoon down and halting the consumption of the food in front of him, he grinned confidently,

"I indeed am!"

Gambia gulped. It was a dark desire, he thought, but in his heart, there always had been this one dream that he wanted to achieve. With nervousness—which he didn't know why he had it—Gambia asked,

"Why have you sailed out? What goal do you have?"

Ace's grin died down into a dull smile upon hearing Gambia's question.

"Let's just say that..." Ace replied with his eyes dozing off into the air, "I want to feel alive—"

"I, I...!!!"

Gambia, full of excitement all of a sudden, interrupted Ace's words. Ace sweatdropped, wondering what was wrong with this guy.

"I WANT TO BECOME A HAREM KING!!!"

"Hm?"

In confusion, Ace tilted his head, which also brought Gambia into confusion. Then, Ace asked,

"What is harem?"

Gambia's eyes became bloodshot, unable to believe that a fellow man didn't know the meaning of the profound word.

And this was the first encounter between these two.

__________

"Why do you want to go to Logue Town anyway?"

Relaxing in his seat, Rowan asked Carina who was sitting across from him.

"We're bound to be the greatest threat to Smoker and his marine folks. By staying with us, you too will be noted as one of us, you know?"

Carina puffed her chest out in confidence. Revealing a grin, she replied,

"For me to answer that, you must first guess what I've been doing for the past three years!"

Nami snorted, "Dish-washing!"

"What? No!"

Nami and Carina bumped their foreheads against one another. Rowan facepalmed, wondering how they fight for even the smallest matter.

On the other hand, Bartolomeo, standing awkwardly, scratched the back of his head. Looking at Deuce who was quietly writing a logbook, Bartolomeo asked,

"Um, Deuce-senpai."

"Eh? Senpai?"

Unused by the term, Deuce momentarily halted his work and looked at Bartolomeo. Bartolomeo then asked,

"W-Where is the washroom?"

Deuce then noticed that Bartolomeo's legs were shaking with his hands clenched on his nether region.

"Oh shit."

"Y-Yeah, I'm about to shit, so please, save me..."

As Deuce struggled to lift Bartolomeo up and carry him to where the washroom lied, Rowan was busy pulling Nami and Carina away from each other.

"For fuck's sake, can you two stop fighting for one second?!"

Carina pouted, "But she started it!"

Nami huffed while crossing her arms, "Why did you let her in our ship, Rowan? Who knows what this witch is going to steal from us!"

"Steal? Hahh? Look, I know I'm a thief, but even I have standards!!"

"Standards? Standarddddssss, you say?! Haha, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard from you!"

"Speaking from—"

"SHUT UP!!" Rowan finally exploded and barked at them. Nami and Carina instantly became docile as they replied,

""Hai~!""

Groaning, Rowan fell into his chair. He then turned to look at Carina,

"...So, what have you been doing for the past three years then—"

Boom.

There was a small noise of collision from the outside of the ship. Rowan's eyes immediately narrowed as his Observation Haki detected a presence. Standing up, he opened the doorway and walked out. Nami as the Vice Captain followed him. Upon the exit, they found... an enigmatic man standing on their deck.

"Who are you?"

Nami placed her hands at ease, such that she'll be able to attack anytime. Noticing her behaviour, the man raised his hands up to show that he had no malicious intent.

"Whoa whoa, I'm not here to fight."

Rowan snorted at that while cracking his knuckle.

"Then get out of my ship."

Rowan then began approaching the man. However, the man simply made a light laugh as he reasoned, "Why so hostile? It doesn't hurt to listen to what I have to say, right?"

Through the use of Observation Haki, Rowan came to understand that the man truly had no harmful intent—at least at the current moment. In addition, his Haki indicated that the man was weaker than him and Nami. There is no reason to be overly cautious for this exact moment, Rowan thought.

Eventually, Rowan stopped his approach and motioned at the man, allowing the man to speak.

"Wow! You really are oppressive, alright. Anyway,"

The man then lifted the hat off of his head and made a salute,

"Hello, dear Grimheart Pirates. I am Mr.6, the executive member of Baroque Works."

"Baroque Works?" Nami whispered with a slight frown, never having heard the name before.

"Ahaha, it isn't strange for you to never have heard of us. After all, we operate in the Grand Line."

Said Mr.6, placing the hat back on his head, formed a smile on his face. He then held his hand out,

"Today, I am here to make an offer."

Rowan watched impassively. Nami's frown deepened as she crossed her arms.

'...Baroque Works?'

On the other hand, Carina, who was listening to the conversation from the door behind, gritted her teeth with an immense anger in her.

Unaware of Carina in the ship, Mr.6 stated the main reason of his visit,

"Join Baroque Works, Grimheart Rowan. I've monitored your feats and have been trying to locate you for years. Geez, I thought you're dead, you know?."

Rowan didn't react in the slightest. Mr.6 then added on,

"But anyway, you can make tons if you join us! As far as I can tell, you may even be able to become an executive member!"

Nami rolled his eyes, "And what's the purpose of the organization? Who's the boss?"

Mr.6 shook his head, "No one knows. But does that matter?"

Nami seemed flabbergasted, "Of course it does! Why would I serve a nobody whom I don't even know?"

Mr.6 sighed. Turning to gaze at Rowan, he asked, "And so, your response?"

Without any hesitation, Rowan gave the man a middle finger.

"Fuck off."

Mr.6 sighed for the second time. Then, his eyes suddenly turned sharp, before he revealed a pistol from his sleeve—

"K-Kurgh..."

Before Mr.6 could do anything more, he found his neck crushed under Rowan's grip.

"This is the level of Grand Line? It isn't as strong as what I heard."

Rowan's grip became stronger. Mr.6's neck bone broke, and his mouth foamed. Feeling that the man's presence disappeared within the body, Rowan threw the body into the ocean and turned around.

"Baroque Works... "

Meanwhile, Carina seemed to have calmed down, taking in a deep breath.

"So you folks returned... after the Dance Powder incident with Gunbac Gang."

"Dance Powder?"

Standing behind Carina were Deuce and Bartolomeo. Deuce, hearing Carina's words, muttered questioningly.

"Gunbac Gang?" On the other hand, Bartolomeo seemed to have heard of the other part, "That's the name of the gang who were annihilated by the unidentified enemies over one night!"

"Care to explain?"

Returning to the indoors of the ship were Rowan and Nami. Nami, having smelt money, spoke to Carina with her eyes sparkling with opportunity.

Carina eventually ended up shrugging with a sigh, but putting a smile on her face, began to explain.

"Three years ago, I utilized the money we made big to make an investment. It initially began within a small store in Logue Town, which managed to grow big in such a short time thanks to my brilliant intelligence!

Having heard of this achievement of mine, a rumour—saying that I am some princess of a kingdom—began to spread. Naturally, those underworld gangs and pirates started targeting me for boons of their own, but as if I'd let those thugs catch me!

The business was flourishing. I was making loads and loads of money, until..."

"Baroque Works?" Rowan guessed. Carina lost her smile and massaged her temple as she nodded.

"They, unlike any other, made a thorough background search of who I am. They, using my cases of thievery against me, blackmailed me, saying that they would reveal my acts to the public if I were not to heed their demands. In the end, all my works for two years were gone, and I was left poor once again. So within my third year, I gathered as much information as I could about them!"

"And there was nothing you could do to tweak out of the situation?"

Carina shook her head, "There was this guy among them... named Daz Bonez the 'Killer'. He was the infamous bounty hunter of West Blue, and upon defection, received a bounty of 75 Million! Back then, his folks called him 'Mr.1', so I'm assuming that he's the boss of the organization!"

"75?!" Bartolomeo's jaw dropped, "That's a whole lot bigger than my 7, alright?!"

"At least you have 7," Said Deuce, dryly, "I got none so far."

They then turned Nami, which made her raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"What's your bounty at, Nami-senpai?"

Carina answered Nami's question in her stead, with a smirk,

"3 Million, ta-da!"

"Oh, it was 3—wait," Nami paused as she looked at Carina, "I... I have a bounty?"

Carina stared at Nami as if looking at something weird.

"Well duh, why wouldn't you have it?"

Nami collapsed to the floor. Her body began to tremble as she mumbled to herself,

"The marines... the bounty hunters...! They are going to start hunting me now! This can't be happening... my life is over..."

Sweatdropping, Carina gazed at Rowan. Rowan shrugged.

"She's joking."

Looking back at Nami, they saw that her face was pale.

'''She doesn't seem to be joking though?''' Thought Carina, Deuce, and Bartolomeo.

"But anyway, back to the topic!"

Clapping her hands, Carina gathered attention to herself once more.

"For what they've done to me, I must take my revenge! I am someone who must make my enemies pay for what they've done!"

Recovering from her state, Nami snickered, "Yeah, say that to all those people whom you stole from."

"E-Ehem!"

Sweating profusely, Carina pretended as if she didn't hear what Nami said. She nonetheless continued,

"Anyway, I need to go to Logue Town because... I need to purchase an eternal pose!"

"Ah, I remember reading about that."

Deuce and Bartolomeo looked at Nami for an explanation upon her remark. Nami therefore explained,

"It's basically a variant of log pose that always points at a certain island."

Then turning to Carina, Nami asked,

"Which island though?"

"Alabasta!"

Rowan hummed upon hearing Carina's answer.

"Alabasta? Isn't that one of the twenty kingdoms of the World Government or something?"

"Yes, exactly!" Carina nodded with a serious expression on her, "As far as I know, Alabasta is where Baroque Works headquarter lies!"

"Cool."

Rowan nodded, before asking,

"But after you get the eternal pose in Logue Town, how are you going to get there?"

Carina paused for a moment. Then, she revealed a pleading smile,

"Teehee..."

Rowan deadpanned.

"GET OUT!!!"

And Nami angrily barked in response.

__________

[Logue Town]

"Petty Officer Buy!"

"Mm."

"A small- to moderate-sized ship is found coming in!"

"Ya?"

"There is no pirate flag, and from the outward glance, there is only one light-blue-haired man visible!"

"Ya?"

"He doesn't seem to be matching any of the bounty posters! In addition, he seems to be holding the official World Government's grant upfront! Should we let the ship in?"

Buy nodded, "Ya."

"Roger that! Following their dock, we will immediately get started with the inspection!"

Upon the exit of the marine, Buy leaned his face into his palm. Then, he chuckled at a funny thought that he made.

"It's not like that tiny ship's going to be belonging to Grimheart Pirates or something. That lad got to learn how to spend his energy wisely."

All that he could bother to do was to brainstorm on what to get for dinner.