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Vivi wrapped her arm around Nami's, playfully coaxing her.
"Will you come with me? I also really want to see the gift White Night, Bai Ye gave you."
Nami hesitated for a moment. Ever since she'd received the Elemental Weather Staff, she hadn't had many chances to try it out.
"You're right—no way I'm wasting a good opportunity like this."
Usopp suddenly had an idea too. He pulled out the twin pistols White Night gave him and struck a cool pose.
"Alright then! Let the great Captain Usopp venture onto the island too!"
Just then, Zoro, having finished his training, noticed they were already docked and said, "Guess I'll go stretch my legs a bit."
Sanji blew out a puff of smoke. "Well, in that case, I'll come too. Maybe I'll find some special ingredients."
At this point, the decision was obvious.
"Alright," White Night summed up, "Let's all explore the island together. We are pirates, after all. Isn't exploring unknown islands exactly what we're meant to do?"
The whole crew exchanged knowing smiles. Even Vivi's lips curved up slightly.
These kinds of pirates… weren't so bad.
"Alright then!"
Once Sanji finished packing the lunchboxes, Luffy stood at the head of the ship and shouted loudly:
"Everyone, let's go!!!"
"Yeah!!!" Everyone—including Vivi—yelled in excitement.
The Straw Hat crew's very first adventure in the Grand Line had officially begun!
Nami and Vivi chose to go together. Sanji wanted to tag along too but got knocked back by Nami's fist.
Zoro saw it and threw out a jab, which led to another argument between the two. Somehow, they ended up challenging each other to another hunting contest.
At first, Usopp wanted to stick with White Night.
He had his twin pistols now and had improved a lot, but he was still pretty timid deep down—old habits die hard.
Unfortunately for him, Nami and Vivi had already invited White Night along.
So in the end, Usopp was stuck tagging along with his reckless captain, Luffy.
With everyone grouped up, they all headed deeper into the island.
Because everyone had gone ashore, Nami never stayed behind to read, so she didn't learn this place was called the Island of Ancient Times.
The so-called "Island of Ancient Times" is named that way because the Grand Line's bizarre weather had preserved the island in a prehistoric state—like the age of dinosaurs.
Everything on the island was huge, like a garden for giants. That's why people also called it Little Garden.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, a massive dinosaur was prowling around, looking for food.
Soon, it stumbled upon a strange white building in the forest—something it had never seen before.
Following the age-old dinosaur logic of "If you don't know what it is, bite it," the dinosaur opened its jaws wide…
Chomp! …CRACK!
And broke its tooth.
Just as it was about to let out a painful roar—
BOOM!!!
An explosion went off under its feet, sending the dinosaur flying.
Two people stepped out in front of the white building: Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.
Ignoring the dinosaur entirely, the two walked straight into the little white hut.
The interior was simple—a table and four chairs.
Two people were already inside.
One was a man whose hair was styled into the shape of a number 3. He was calmly sipping freshly brewed tea.
He was Mr. 3, one of Baroque Works' top agents.
The other looked like a young girl, dressed like a painter, with an innocent expression. She was silently staring at Mr. 3.
She was Mr. 3's partner: Miss Golden Week.
"Next time you want tea, get your own!" Mr. 3 muttered, clearly unnerved by her stare. Still, he reluctantly passed the cup over.
Golden Week said nothing, just took it and started sipping slowly.
"Classic Mr. 3," said Mr. 5 with a stiff voice. "Building a place like this in the middle of nowhere… But let's get one thing straight: this mission is ours. Stay out of it."
"Huh? A mission?" Mr. 3's hair turned into an exclamation point as he mocked them.
"If I remember correctly… didn't you two already fail your mission?"
He stared at Mr. 5.
"Right now, Princess Vivi is our target."
The room fell silent for a moment.
Golden Week looked confused and reached for her paint, ready to use it—but before she could, Mr. 3 surprised everyone by backing off.
"Hahaha, no need to be so serious."
He waved for them to sit down and even poured them some tea before getting to the point.
"Let's team up, Mr. 5."
Mr. 3 pulled out a stack of bounty posters.
"When I saw the pirate ship that Princess Vivi was riding… I was totally shocked."
"Captain: 60 million. First mate: 100 million. Total bounty: 245 million berries. The Straw Hat Pirates."
He let out a long sigh.
"Looks like the princess found herself some powerful allies after she escaped."
He turned to Mr. 5.
"If she'd been with them when you tried to capture her... you'd be dead already, hahaha!"
Strangely, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine didn't react at all. No anger, no irritation.
Mr. 3 found it weird but assumed they were just putting on a brave face and continued.
"And that's not all. There's another huge surprise on this island."
He pulled out two more bounty posters.
"When I saw those two, I could hardly believe my eyes."
"The two captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates who vanished over a hundred years ago—Blue Ogre Dorry and Red Ogre Brogy—have been living in this Little Garden all this time!"
Mr. 3 held up the posters excitedly.
"Each of them still has a bounty of 100 million berries! And they're still active!"
He burst out laughing, like he'd just thought of something amazing.
"Taking down Princess Vivi is no big deal. But if we take down the Straw Hats and those two giants…"
Mr. 3 leaned forward like a devil tempting someone into sin.
"The boss won't just forgive your failure—he might even promote us!"
"HAHAHAHA!!!"
Even after all that, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine still showed no reaction. Mr. 3 and Golden Week exchanged puzzled glances.
Finally, Mr. 5 spoke up:
"But can we actually beat them? Just those two giants alone… even your wax giant wouldn't stand a chance."
"Relax~" Mr. 3 grinned confidently.
"Fighting head-on would be stupid."
"....."