"Is Baby5 pretty?"
"She's quite pretty."
"And her figure?"
"Also quite nice."
But Luo Lan didn't feel anything special. Honestly, the woman was just too clingy for his taste.
Still, he wasn't one to waste a beautiful resource. He figured he might as well pass her along for 'internal processing.'
Thus, Ian became the top candidate.
After all, that loyal follower of his had been by his side for years—it was only fair to give him priority.
Luo Lan sighed inwardly. He really did worry about Ian like a mother hen.
After finishing the meeting and hanging up, Luo Lan gave himself a mental thumbs-up.
---
"Luo Lan, they said it'll take them another eight days to reach the Prosperity Zone. We're not seriously just going to sit here doing nothing, are we?" Hina asked suddenly.
"Of course not," Luo Lan replied, shaking his head. "We'll use this time to take a quick tour around the area."
As he spoke, he drew a circle on the navigation chart.
"What's in that area?" Hina asked, eyeing the map.
"The intel division reported something before, but they hadn't pinpointed the exact location. Since we're here, might as well check it out. Who knows, we might get lucky."
"Explain it properly!" Hina snapped, glaring at him. She was visibly annoyed.
This guy always had to make things sound like riddles—he had to be doing it on purpose!
"Fine, fine," Luo Lan relented. "According to the reports, there's a surviving remnant of the Roger Pirates in this area. If we run into him, we'll just bring him in."
"What?! A Roger Pirate?!" Hina's expression shifted to shock.
Anyone from Roger's crew? That's not someone people like us can handle.
Don't joke around. Even the ship's doctor from that era would require a Navy Admiral to deal with. And you want to casually bring him in?
"With what strength, exactly…?" she muttered.
"Relax. The guy we're looking for isn't strong. Back in the day, he was just an intern," Luo Lan explained, anticipating her panic.
But that only made Hina explode even more.
"An intern?! Are you insane? Don't you know the scariest one from that ship is the intern?"
"You mean Shanks?" Luo Lan raised a brow. "No, no. Not him."
Hina froze. "Wait, what did you just say?"
"I said, Roger's crew had more than one intern. The one I'm talking about is named Buggy. As for strength… well, he's honestly not that impressive."
Luo Lan gave a helpless chuckle and continued, "No lie, Hina. His Devil Fruit is decent, but he's never learned to develop it. He's obsessed with treasure hunting and barely trains. His combat ability is seriously lacking."
While many people in Luo Lan's past life speculated that Buggy was secretly hiding his true power, Luo Lan never bought into it. There were too many inconsistencies.
Whatever Buggy may become later, two years ago… he was genuinely weak.
Still, his Chop-Chop Fruit was an absurdly versatile one—it could apply not just to himself, but even to others or objects. That alone made it an overpowered fruit with endless creative potential.
So—
Better to grab him now while he's still weak, toss him into the Underwater Prison, and when the time is right, take him out and steal the fruit.
---
"Does someone like that really exist?" Hina remained skeptical.
Luo Lan didn't bother explaining further. Once they found Buggy, she'd see for herself.
---
With Hina at the helm, their ship reached the targeted area in less than a day.
On the bridge, Hina was commanding the crew to search for their target.
Luo Lan walked in just then.
"How's it going, Hina?"
"It's not that simple," she muttered. "Do you have any idea how many ships are in this region?"
"How many?"
"Over 5,000 within a 100-nautical-mile radius—and that's not even counting the ones hidden from radar due to the island lords' influence!"
While radar was a powerful tool after surfacing, it wasn't omnipotent. It couldn't tell which ship belonged to the Buggy Pirates.
The only way was to send drones to approach each one individually and confirm.
Not to mention those blocked by islands and terrain that radar couldn't scan.
This was the East Blue's Prosperity Zone—an area packed with islands and ships.
This wasn't going to be easy.
---
"No need to limit ourselves to the Buggy Pirates," Luo Lan said. "If you find any pirate group, just act under the banner of the Jun Lin Organization and eliminate them."
"If they're all gathered here anyway, we might as well spend a few days cleaning the whole area out."
Luo Lan didn't particularly care if they found Buggy this time.
He just didn't want to waste the waiting period.
Even if they missed Buggy, they could purge this region of pirate activity in the meantime.
---
And so...
The pirates of this sea zone found themselves in serious trouble.
The members of the Jun Lin Organization were all at least above 100 in power level—not something your average East Blue pirate could handle.
Even those with bounties in the tens of millions were no match for Hina.
Even Nami was kept busy.
After all—
Someone had to count and log all the treasure and Berries looted from each pirate crew, right?
Nami happily took on the job.
Even if it meant barely sleeping, she didn't complain in the slightest.
At least not until one night, when Luo Lan went to the cargo bay to tell her to take a break.
She threw him out like he was a thief trying to steal from her vault.
---
Meanwhile, on the second day of Luo Lan and Hina's pirate-clearing operation—
A hundred-meter-long sailing ship docked slowly at the Navy's 153rd Branch port.
Vice Admiral Garp casually walked down the gangplank, picking his nose.
"Vice Admiral!"
Nearly a hundred marines immediately stood at attention, saluting in unison.
This was Garp, the Hero of the Navy, the man who captured Pirate King Roger himself—a living legend from East Blue.
The soldiers of the 153rd Branch trembled with excitement.
"Hmph. Where is he?" Garp muttered.
Damn that Sengoku. I finally get a few days off to visit my grandson, and he immediately dumps this mission on me.
"Just stop by on the way," he said.
Yeah right. This detour cost me at least three days of vacation!
No way. I'm demanding an extension. I'll stay three extra days before heading back to HQ.
As Garp grumbled internally, he looked around and asked again.
Soon, several marines arrived escorting a bound and gagged Morgan, his limbs in shackles.
"Is this really necessary?" Garp asked.
"Vice Admiral, sir, Morgan is extremely dangerous. We couldn't risk it."
"Ugh, enough. Take that crap off him—just keep the handcuffs."
"Er, yes sir!"
The soldiers hesitated at first, but come on—it was Garp.
He'd taken down the Pirate King.
What could a small fry like Morgan possibly do in front of him?
And so…
---
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