'A small country located among Sky Islands that specializes in weather research?'
Hearing Jin's description, Shakky's expression immediately changed.
Her intelligence network extended to Sky Islands as well, although messages didn't travel as fast as they did on the Blue Sea.
But it had been a year and a half since the Summit War.
Shakky had also heard that a young girl with great learning aptitude had appeared in Weatheria, one of the Sky Islands.
Shakky guessed that person was most likely the Straw Hat Pirates' navigator, [Cat Burglar] Nami.
And at this time, hearing this boy, whose strength alone rivaled two Emperor-level pirate crews, said he wanted to go to Weatheria-
Shakky naturally linked it to Nami.
"You probably know, right?"
Seeing Shakky fall into brief silence, Jin felt confident.
They were all cunning foxes, so no need to play games.
Shakky remained silent for over half a minute.
Finally, she placed a plain-looking, palm-sized white piece of paper on the bar counter.
"A Vivre Card leading to Weatheria."
Shakky continued smoking with a calm surface expression.
But in reality, Rayleigh, who knew her best, had already noticed that the fingers holding her cigarette were trembling with an almost imperceptible frequency.
"Oh ho~ Thanks. So it's called Weatheria. I'd completely forgotten."
Jin picked up the Vivre Card and left directly.
He wasn't worried about Shakky tricking him with a fake.
Not to mention that Shakky's true identity was the former Empress of Amazon Lily, and with Hancock, her junior, in his hands, she wouldn't dare mess around-
Just seeing the current state of the Red Hair Pirates, she should understand that he wasn't someone she could fool.
…
After Jin left, the middle and lower-ranking crew members of the Red Hair Pirates, who hadn't dared to breathe heavily, finally slumped to the ground.
They were scared to death.
They thought they were really going to die this time.
"Shakky-san, is there a problem with Weatheria? Your expression changed when that Jin mentioned the name."
Shanks asked, suppressing his anger and confusion.
He had been to Weatheria before, but found it uninteresting… just a place where a bunch of old men studied weather forecasts.
'Why would that extremely dangerous kid want to go there? Shouldn't he go to the City of Gold instead?'
Shakky remained silent for several minutes.
Only after finishing her cigarette did she slowly speak:
"That's where Monkey Boy's navigator, the [Cat Burglar], is training."
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the entire Red Hair Pirates' crew turned strange.
Shanks showed an expression as if he'd been screwed by Sakazuki:
"First the ship, now the navigator. Is this kid specifically targeting Luffy?"
The other Red Hair Pirates' members also felt their captain made sense.
'Damn, first stealing the ship, now setting his sights on their navigator.'
In fact, that's not even counting Hancock, whose relationship with Luffy was unclear now.
'What's he going to steal next time? Why not just steal his mother too?'
If Jin heard this, he would have said, "No, no, not necessary."
"Your Monkey D. Luffy isn't named Kudo or Mouri, so why would I steal your mother?"
"Shanks-"
As the Red Hair Pirates' vice-captain and strategist, the man with the wisest mind on these seas, Beckman said with half-closed eyes:
"Let's not get involved with that kid's affairs for now. At least... not before he fights Luffy."
Whether it was Jin's abilities or his goals, there were far too many mysteries.
An unknown enemy was the most terrifying.
Beckman felt it was better not to act recklessly until things were clearer.
"Ah... I understand."
Shanks nodded and sighed:
"But even if we can hold our ground, if Luffy finds out about this, it's impossible for him to stand by and do nothing about his comrades."
…
Jin used Flight Technique to head in the direction indicated by the Vivre Card.
Meanwhile, at the New Marineford, the Marine Headquarters located in the New World, a scene similar to the one in Shakky's bar was unfolding.
"...That's not a funny joke."
After remaining silent for several minutes, Sakazuki barely managed to squeeze out those words.
Opposite him, Garp, who had resigned his vice admiral position and taken over Zephyr's role as an instructor for new recruits, had just relayed the events of yesterday at Sabaody Archipelago to the new Fleet Admiral.
However, after hearing Garp's account, Sakazuki's first reaction was 'bullshit'.
After all, how can a kid under fifteen nearly wiped out Garp's unit and the Red Hair Pirates' entire crews?
Do you think he's the reincarnation of Rocks?
"Sakazuki, do you think I'm someone who likes to joke? Don't you know Koby died in this battle!"
Garp's face was extremely dark.
'Aren't you?' Sakazuki almost retorted like that, but he gave the Marine's Hero some respect.
After all, he had always disliked Garp's low-level jokes.
'Every time the Straw Hat brat caused trouble, you old bastard would heartlessly say 'As expected of my grandson'.'
'But this time...' Sakazuki glanced at the recently received document regarding Koby's death in the line of duty.
Coupled with reports from his subordinates about Sabaody Archipelago having half its total area shaved off, Sakazuki felt this old joker probably wasn't fooling around this time.
Especially seeing Garp's sinister expression and the word [DECEASED] written on Koby's report in his hand, Sakazuki couldn't help but show gleeful expression.
'Hold it in, can't laugh yet!'
Even though he knew he shouldn't, Sakazuki couldn't help but cheer for this kid named Jin in his heart.
After all, he had long wanted to grind that kid who stopped him from pursuing the Whitebeard Pirates' remnants during the Summit War to dust.
It's just that the kid latched onto Garp's coattails.
So not only did he avoid a court-martial, but he also got promoted seven levels in a year and a half after the Summit War.
It dumbfounded Sakazuki.
Damn, you can't be too blatant about using connections, okay?
Sakazuki took another look at Jin's photo.
A feeling of sadness inexplicably appeared in his heart, as if 'the one who understands me best is actually the enemy'.
Even Gin has Vodka.
So where is his Vodka?
"Issue a bounty poster immediately and notify Marines at all branches to keep an eye on him."
Suppressing his inner schadenfreude, after brief contemplation, Sakazuki made a decision.
'If that kid's strength was really as exaggerated as Garp said, then he wasn't just the next Red-Hair.'
'He is the next Rocks!'
But if Jin knew Sakazuki's thoughts, he would definitely complain, 'You're underestimating me too much.'
In less than an hour.
Morgans, upon receiving the news, couldn't help but wonder if he was dreaming.
'Damn, it's only been a few days? That kid caused such a big stir again.'
After glancing at the number below the new bounty poster just faxed from Marine Headquarters, Morgan nearly fainted.
'This... is simply unprecedented and probably will remain so.'
"This kid is practically made for big news. I thought the Straw Hat kid was invincible, but I didn't expect someone even more daring. What kind of monster is he?"
"I need to give him a sufficiently domineering epithet! Red Eye? Black Fist? Octopus Boy? No, no, that sounds terrible. What if he comes to settle accounts with me later..."
"Everyone! Overtime! No one sleeps tonight!"
…
"So this Vivre Card is yours, old man? Do you know Shakky?"
In Weatheria, Jin threw the Vivre Card Shakky gave him to the short old man in front of him, who looked like he walked out of an Andersen's fairy tale.
"When Shakky was a pirate, she came here once, and then..."
Haredas took the Vivre Card and explained.
He was also a leading meteorological research expert in Weatheria and the teacher who had been instructing Nami for the past year and a half.
"Thanks. Nami is in this room, right?"
Jin didn't plan to chat much with him. He walked to a small house built from green clouds, pushed the door open, and entered.
"Haredas-san! I told you to knock before entering!"
As soon as he entered, he saw a stunning orange-haired beauty with waist-length hair, whose figure would put even world-famous models from Jin's previous life to shame, scolding him with shark-like teeth.
However, after finishing her scolding, Nami was momentarily stunned upon seeing an unfamiliar boy.
"Umm... who are you?"
Having been here for a year and a half, this was the first time she'd seen a peer close to her age.
After all, Weatheria was mostly full of old men.
"Pleased to meet you, Nami-san. I'm your new captain, Jin. You can call me by my name or 'Captain'."
As he spoke, Jin reached out towards Nami, who had evolved into a long, straight orange-haired beauty with a more mature and alluring aura compared to two years ago, making an inviting gesture.
"Alright, time to set off. Our comrades are waiting for us."
These two sentences left Nami stunned for a while.
About half a minute later, Nami let out a charming light laugh.
"Little brother, I'm sorry, but big sister is already someone else's navigator. You should go find another navigator. If you're playing pirate make-believe, big sister can play with you for a while after finishing her book."
Nami completely treated Jin as an ordinary child.
But that wasn't strange.
Although Jin's height was almost the same as Nami's, his face was still a bit too youthful.
Even Tsunade felt quite guilty when sitting on top before.
'Aren't you the ones playing pirate make-believe?'
Jin found it amusing internally.
'The entire sea is full of your captain's relatives.'
'Others form teams to go to sea and work.'
'But you're just rich second generations experiencing commoners' lives.'
'And you say it's not pirate make-believe?'
"I'm afraid that's not up to you."
Jin grinned mischievously, stepped forward, and as if replicating what he did to Hancock earlier, lifted Nami over his shoulder.
Before Nami could react, he strode out of the room.
Under Haredas's bewildered gaze, he leaped down from Weatheria and flew into the night sky.
Haredas on the sky island stared wide-eyed at Jin's retreating figure.
"Wh-what's going on?"
…
"Aaaaahhh!"
Feeling the whistling storm winds, Nami couldn't help but scream.
"Oh ho~ Sorry, I got a bit excited and flew too fast."
Jin reduced his speed and also changed Nami's position from the bandit-style carry over the shoulder to the more romantic princess carry.
But then again, he was basically kidnapping a woman.
"Y-you... you're not really planning to kidnap me to be your navigator, are you?"
Nami's beautiful eyes widened in disbelief.
"After coming this far, you still haven't figured it out?"
Jin laughed.
'After experiencing so much with the Straw Hat Pirates, she was still this naive.'
'Oh wait, the Straw Hat Pirates always seemed quite naive.'
"I, I'm already the Straw Hat Pirates' navigator!"
"Even married people can divorce. Can't crew members change jobs? The 2nd Division's Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates even switched to the Roger Pirates~"
"You, you... Don't you know that a forced thing is not a good think?"
"I don't care if it's good or not… as long as it satisfies me."
"Ah, this... I, in this life, am a Straw Hat Pirate in life, and their ghost in death! Even if you get my body, my heart will always be with them!"
"I don't care if the car has been used by others, as long as it's cleaned properly. Besides, it seems you haven't been used yet. Should I open it up and check?"
"Stop it right now!!!"
Nami's scream echoed through the night sky.