After falling from Skypiea…
Actually, it wasn't that far from Jaya Island.
Of course, if you landed the way Luffy did in the original story, then it'd all be up to luck—could be a few dozen or even hundreds of nautical miles away.
After dropping Luo Lan off, the Ark Maxim rose again, heading toward Rhodes Island.
Back in Mock Town.
A few people were busy clearing up the corpses—those same unlucky guys Luo Lan had captured earlier.
They had no choice, really. Even their Den Den Mushi had been decapitated by Luo Lan.
If they wanted to report back, they'd have to wait until HQ noticed something was wrong at this station and sent someone over.
Who knew how long that would take?
And since they were stuck here for a while, they figured it wasn't ideal to be surrounded by hundreds of rotting pirate corpses.
Now that their surveillance target was gone, they didn't have much to do...
So why not clean up a bit?
They dug a few pits and started burying the bodies.
"Yo, you three are still here?"
"Y-You... It's you!!"
The three men freaked out when they saw Luo Lan.
Didn't he already leave? Why was he back!?
"You're not here to tie up loose ends, are you?"
"Huh?"
Luo Lan twitched at the corners of his mouth.
"Why would I come all the way back just to silence you three? Do I look that bored? I'm worth billions every second, you know."
Hearing that, the trio breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Thank goodness—he wasn't here to kill them!
"Oh right, I'm meeting Gion here in three days. When you cook, mind preparing a portion for me too?"
"S-Sure! No problem at all!"
Of course they wouldn't say no.
What's one more person at the table?
But...
Wait, what did he just say?
Meeting Gion here in three days?
Could he mean that Gion? As in Vice Admiral Gion?!
"Um, excuse me…"
"Yeah?"
"I just wanted to clarify... the Gion you mentioned—is she the Vice Admiral Gion from the Navy?"
"Yeah, that's the one. Why?"
Luo Lan answered casually.
Since he had to wait three days anyway, chatting with them was surprisingly fun.
Luo Lan discovered he quite liked watching them freak out every few sentences.
Three days…
How many shocked faces can I get out of them in that time?
With nothing else to do, he figured this was as good a pastime as any.
Meanwhile, the three intelligence officers looked like their souls had left their bodies.
"Uh… aren't you afraid Vice Admiral Gion will try to arrest you?"
"Why would I be? I'm a Navy officer too."
…
…
The leader of the Jun Lin Faction is a Navy officer?!
The three men exchanged looks, trying to confirm with each other whether they'd just misheard.
But the shock kept piling up.
"You're in the Navy?"
"Yep. Actually, I was the one who proposed and helped set up the monitoring station here in Mock Town!"
"WHAT?!"
They were absolutely stunned.
"Ah—right! I probably wasn't supposed to say that. Just pretend you didn't hear it, okay?"
Luo Lan slapped his thigh dramatically, looking suddenly regretful.
The intelligence officers were frozen.
Are we… supposed to know this? Are we going to die now?
But he's Navy, right? Surely he wouldn't kill us?
"You guys look like you're about to cry."
You don't know why we're crying?!
Why'd you have to come over and spill state secrets to us?
We didn't ask! We didn't want to hear them!!
"You know," Luo Lan continued, "you really do know too much now."
"Actually, you probably won't believe this, but the three of us are deaf!"
They shook their heads in unison, their expressions deadly serious.
Seriously?
You've been chatting with me just fine all this time!
Luo Lan twitched again, amused.
But honestly, he found these three guys pretty interesting.
He suddenly had an idea: why not take them back and make them my messengers?
Maybe then the base wouldn't be so boring after all.
Once the thought popped up, there was no getting rid of it.
He didn't even bother acknowledging the three agents, who were now huddled together, shaking like leaves.
---
Three days later.
Time flew by.
Luo Lan enjoyed a rare stretch of downtime—fishing, drinking at the bar, teasing the three intel guys.
Life was pretty good.
And then, she arrived.
A Navy ship docked nearby, but only one person got off.
Vice Admiral Gion.
She didn't let anyone else disembark and headed straight for Mock Town.
"Still wearing a mask, huh, you brat?"
She strolled into the bar and sat down next to Luo Lan at the counter.
Luo Lan removed his mask and smiled bitterly.
"You're right on time, Sister Gion."
"Of course. If I showed up late, you'd probably use it as an excuse to run off again, wouldn't you?"
She smirked and gave him a playful scolding.
This whole exchange was being watched from the other end of the bar… by those same three agents.
Yep. Now they were dressed like bartenders, working behind the counter.
They saw Vice Admiral Gion herself… and Luo Lan, who took off his mask and called her "Sister Gion."
Hiiiisss...
They'd already seen way too much.
Was there still hope for them?
"Hm? Aren't those three yours?" Gion asked, frowning at the trio who were trembling again.
"Nope. They're from HQ's Intelligence Division—assigned here to monitor the town."
"Oh, they're under Tsuru's command! But you took off your mask in front of them… isn't that a problem?"
"Uh… Hey, you three—how about you just pretend you never saw my face, sound good?"
Luo Lan grinned at them.
The three guys trembled harder but nodded furiously.
"See? They agreed!" Luo Lan said, spreading his hands.
Gion looked at him, completely speechless.
"Seriously? That's it?"
"What, were you going to suggest I kill them to tie up loose ends, Sister Gion?"
Kill… to tie up loose ends?!
Wasn't this woman a Vice Admiral!?
The three agents, who had just started calming down, began trembling again—even more violently than before.
"Alright, Sister Gion. Shall we head out now?"
"Do I need to wear a blindfold?"
"No need. You won't see anything along the way anyway."
"Alright. I'll go speak to my adjutant, then we can leave."
"Got it!"
Gion left the bar.
Luo Lan then turned to the trembling trio.
With a big smile.
"So… shouldn't you three start packing?"
"Packing? For what?"
They blinked, confused.
You're leaving—what's that got to do with us?
"Wait, don't tell me you actually think you can walk away scot-free after hearing everything just now?"
"There's only one way to solve this little issue…"
"Transfer to my command, and then you won't have to worry at all!"
Huh...
That… actually kinda made sense.
But why did it feel so wrong?
The three of them tilted their heads, a bunch of question marks floating above.
---
https:// ko-fi.com/sami27