Author's Note:
I've included a bit of an explanation, or maybe more of an excuse, in the afterword. If you have the time, I'd appreciate it if you gave it a read.
---
When I arrived at the Port Town as a result of getting lost (emphasis on that part), the citizens were, as expected, in a state of chaos.
The people in charge were doing their best to calm everyone down and get them evacuated, but it was clearly an uphill battle. The evacuation itself was happening, sure, but it was a mess, everyone scrambling to go first. Some people were struggling to pack their belongings, others were slowed down because they had family members too frail to evacuate on their own and had to carry them.
There were even people saying things like, "I'd rather die than leave the house I was born and raised in!" with others desperately trying to persuade them to evacuate, or just trying to physically carry them out.
Had they never done evacuation drills around here? Well, even with drills, people tend to panic when the real thing happens, so maybe it couldn't be helped.
If Pirates had attacked in this situation, it would've been a disaster no matter how hard the Self-Defense Corps tried. No question about it.
Thinking about it that way, the fact that I got "lost" like this, and that Smoker-san got pulled along and ended up coming to this Town too, really was the right call... or rather, incredibly good luck.
As for the battle itself, there's nothing particularly noteworthy to report. We won. Straightforwardly.
I mean, all I did was swing my umbrella around and send the Pirate crew flying, same as always.
Same for Smoker-san. He dove right into the middle of the Pirates and went Unrivaled.
He didn't have that absurdly huge jutte yet at this point, and was fighting with a standard-issue saber, but even so, he was strong.
At one point, though, maybe he put too much power into it, and his saber snapped mid-fight.
Without a moment's hesitation, he started punching enemies down bare-fisted, grabbed a weapon off one of them, and kept right on fighting. Strong.
There's no way this is the combat ability of a mere Petty Officer. Was he already this much of a monster back in his rookie days?
Well, he did pick up a few minor scratches here and there, so it wasn't entirely effortless.
Not like he was struggling exactly. It just took effort and time, in the sense of labor and logistics.
In terms of the ratio of Pirates taken down, I'd say it was roughly me 7, Smoker-san 3?
Then, while we were still fighting, the reinforcements Hina-san had mentioned on the phone arrived: the Marine ship that had been out on patrol. They launched a direct assault on the Pirate Ship while simultaneously catching the Pirates in a pincer attack with us.
From there, things progressed smoothly, and the battle concluded with the total annihilation of the Pirates.
Afterwards, naturally, Smoker-san got called out for disobeying orders. But we had a proper "excuse" prepared for that.
Smoker-san's assignment for the day had originally been serving as my guard. Once that was finished, the plan was for him to head to the Port Town where the two ships were heading, in accordance with orders from above to intercept the Pirate Ship.
However, instead of returning to the town I was supposed to go back to, I accidentally ended up in a different town, namely, the Port Town where the remaining Pirate Ship was headed.
Then the Pirates attacked right then and there. I reflexively fought back and the battle began, so Smoker-san had no choice but to join the fighting to protect me.
Unable to make a clean retreat from there, they ended up fighting all the way to the end. That was the story.
Not that I actually thought this would fool anyone.
In fact, the superior officer was looking at me and Smoker-san with eyes that practically screamed, 'How transparent can you get...'
But as a cover story, it should be sufficient. All Smoker-san did was see his assignment through, since it "wasn't finished yet."
Besides, I overheard a snippet that things at the other port had settled without any casualties either. So this probably wouldn't turn into too big of a deal.
The superior officer glared at us with a sour expression for a while, but eventually let out a sigh and walked away with a parting, "You'd better be prepared to write an incident report, at least."
To which Smoker-san replied with a flat "Yessir," his voice completely devoid of emotion, not a shred of remorse detectable. And that was that.
So I was thinking, 'Great, that went well, we're done here,' but right after that superior officer left, someone else approached me and Smoker-san.
A young female Marine with distinctive pink hair and full lips.
"Smoker-kun, you've gone and done it again..."
"Hah? What are you talking about, Hina?"
"Don't play dumb with me. Honestly, you... Disobeying orders and on top of that, dragging a civilian into something like this... Um, Sue-san, was it? I'm terribly sorry for the trouble our man has caused you..."
"Huh? Oh, no no no, it's nothing like that... Actually, I'm grateful to him for protecting me when things got dangerous."
"...I'll gratefully accept your kindness and leave it at that. I'll have a thorough word with him, so..."
Hina-san bowed deeply. Wait, did she think Smoker-san was the one who dragged me around and used me as an excuse?
No, it was actually the other way around. I was the one who proposed using myself as an "excuse." But then again, Smoker-san had said things on the Den Den Mushi about not hesitating to disobey orders, so maybe it wasn't unreasonable for her to assume that.
Feeling a little guilty, I glanced over at Smoker-san, and... ah, he didn't care at all.
Well, this was a man who'd been prepared to disobey orders with no cover story to begin with.
From the conversation that followed, I gathered that Smoker-san was apparently always like this. He was constantly causing trouble for Hina-san and his direct superiors, making them bow their heads in apology over and over.
He prioritized his own stubbornness and sense of honor too much, frequently ignoring the orders he should've been following as a Marine, and it was negatively affecting his promotions.
Despite being in the same class as Hina-san and having a better track record, he was still stuck at Petty Officer because of it. Meanwhile, Hina-san had apparently risen higher. Oh, she was already a Chief Petty Officer?
He was like that in the Original Work too. When they tried to make him into a hero after the Arabasta incident, he didn't like it one bit and didn't hesitate for a second to bite back at the Marine and Government higher-ups with a great big "Screw you."
So he'd been this way since back then. Even though the Original Work was still about twenty years away.
At that point, you kind of have to respect it.
After that, I parted ways with Hina-san and Smoker-san and headed back to the Inn.
Good grief. I came to a resort island for a vacation, and I ended up fighting Pirates twice. Well, the second time I threw myself into it willingly, so I couldn't really complain.
Still, I gained a lot from it all. The Fireworks Workshop tour, obviously, but beyond that too: the battles with the Pirates, the interactions with Smoker-san.
My motivation was riding high. I had a story I wanted to write.
Not the Fireworks Artisan story, though. The other experiences had unexpectedly sparked an idea. Sorry, but I was going to write this one first. While the Heat was still alive inside me.
There were still a few days until the Fireworks Festival. My pen felt like it was ready to fly, so maybe I could finish it by then.
And then, a few days later.
After thoroughly enjoying the grand Fireworks Festival, I took the morning departure the next day and returned to the island I'd been staying on.
That same afternoon, I had a meeting with my editor, Eddie-chan. I'd already made the appointment by Den Den Mushi in advance, back when I was still on Fireworks.
There, I handed over the finished manuscript.
Eddie-chan seemed a little surprised that the content had nothing to do with fireworks, but after reading it through, said it was really interesting and would bring it up with the higher-ups.
Thank goodness. It was something I'd dashed off in just two or three days, riding pure momentum. But it seemed to have passed muster.
Would it become a Book? I hoped so!
***
[Third-person perspective]
Several months later.
A new work by the up-and-coming novelist Sue went on sale, and once again became a major topic of conversation.
The protagonist was a young Bounty Hunter living in a remote Town.
Taciturn and unfriendly, with few friends, he nevertheless carried within his heart a unique moral code and sense of chivalry, waging daily battles against the Pirates that plagued his island.
His strength, his dependability, his track record of defeating Pirates were well known even to the Marines, who repeatedly tried to recruit him. But he showed absolutely no interest in joining the Marines, content to simply remain in his Town and hunt Pirates.
He possessed the power and aptitude to aim for a Marine officer's rank, and a high one at that, if only he would enlist. So they told him, but he stubbornly refused to nod.
His childhood friend, a young female officer who had joined the Marines and was steadily rising through the ranks, would call out to him time and again, only to be dismissed without a second thought, leaving her exasperated and disappointed.
"With your power, you could surely become a hero who saves the world someday!"
"Not interested. While you're off saving the world, Pirates will destroy this Town, this island."
"Hey Smoker, did you read this new novel?"
"I heard you actually met the writer of this thing before! What were they like?"
"More importantly, is it true that the protagonist is modeled after you, Smoker-senpai?!"
"Hah? How would I know, idiot. Haven't read it and don't care."
"Hina-chan, Hina-chan! Is it true that the heroine in this is modeled after you?!"
"No way, really?! Then does that mean you and Smoker-san are... Eeeek!"
"Of course not! I haven't even heard anything about this model business to begin with... Ugh, Hina is troubled!"
While causing a small uproar at a certain Marine Base, the novel, which depicted a protagonist who, though clumsy, strove to save as many people as he could by staying true to his own Justice, delighted a great many readers.
It was no mere tale of heroism. Rather than toppling great Evil and achieving grand feats, it was a novel that expressed the importance, and the difficulty, of never taking for granted the small but irreplaceable happiness close at hand, and of fighting to protect it.
Title: Pirate Slayer
"I'm not going to save the world. I'm just going to slay Pirates."
To be continued...