Nami couldn't help but facepalm next to him, her mind screaming internally: What kind of prisoner is as relaxed and carefree as you? This looks more like you willingly jumped ship!
But now wasn't the time to dwell on that. Nami was more worried about Luffy, this reckless idiot, directly confronting a Warlord of the Sea.
She quickly grabbed Luffy's arm, lowering her voice. "Luffy, you idiot, think before you speak! He's not some nobody! He's a Warlord of the Sea, a major pirate acknowledged by the World Government!"
Usopp, at the mere thought of facing a Warlord, had already turned pale, his legs trembling like reeds.
This was the power of reputation.
No wonder pirates were all chasing after it.
Luffy felt nothing about Warlords of the Sea. In his eyes, they were no different from any other pirate. He said directly, "So you're the mastermind behind the chaos in Vivi's country, huh? Just wait. I'll be there soon."
Crocodile on the other end of the Den Den Mushi seemed to have quickly grasped the situation. He snorted coldly. "Hmph. It seems Mr. 3 and his men have been wiped out. However, Miss All Sunday is a very useful woman to me. I won't just let this slide."
Luffy grinned. "Neither will I."
"This isn't some child's game of pirates, Straw Hat brat. Do you know who you're talking to?"
Crocodile's temper was also being provoked.
Didn't he have any dignity?
He was a Warlord of the Sea, after all.
While Luffy had changed in some ways, in others, he remained the same.
He never bothered with verbal sparring, getting straight to the point. "I don't care who you are. If you've got what it takes, don't run. Just wait right there for me."
Me? Run?
Listen to what you're saying.
Crocodile almost laughed in anger.
Luffy's words were tantamount to a direct declaration of war against a Warlord of the Sea.
The Den Den Mushi perfectly replicated Crocodile's expression at that moment: first stunned disbelief, then turning into furious rage at being provoked by an ant, the cigar seeming to smoke. "Insolent brat!"
"I—"
"Let's get back to the feast!"
Luffy had already turned his head, grabbed Vivi's hand, and started walking back. Then he remembered he hadn't hung up the Den Den Mushi. Mimicking what he'd seen before, he pressed a button. Click. He hung up directly.
The world instantly fell silent.
One could only imagine how furious Crocodile must have been on the other end.
"He... hung up."
Usopp was dumbfounded. Nami clutched her chest, feeling like she was about to have a heart attack.
She was even starting to think about what would happen if they encountered an enemy even stronger than a Warlord and Luffy pulled this again.
Just get used to it?
"Hahaha! Well done, Luffy!"
Zoro, however, laughed heartily, clutching his swords. "So what if he's a Warlord? Perfect for testing my blades!"
"What a bold captain," Robin said softly, covering her mouth with a hand.
"If it's the captain's decision," Sanji exhaled a puff of smoke, "then let's do it."
"WAHAHAHAHA!"
Brogy's booming laughter rang out like thunder. "Straw Hat kid! You actually dared to challenge a Warlord of the Sea directly! I admire your guts!"
Dorry also raised his giant cup. "That's right! Warlord, Eight-Warlord, who cares? They're all the same in front of a true warrior. It's not like we aren't pirates ourselves! Gulp gulp gulp... WAH! A toast to the Straw Hat kid's courage!"
Luffy clinked his cup with theirs.
Enjoy the feast first. The deluge can wait, even if the waves are rising behind them.
Even though the warning sounds were a continuous thread in his ears, Luffy stood firm this time.
The two giants didn't seem particularly impressed by the title 'Warlord of the Sea.'
After all, they had been dueling on Little Garden for nearly a century, while the Warlord system was something that had appeared only in recent decades.
Over the years, it wasn't as if no other pirates had landed on Little Garden. Some, like Luffy and his crew, received the giants' enthusiastic hospitality. Of course, most were scared off. Some, like Mr. 3 and his gang, harbored ill intentions, wanting to hunt giants to make a name for themselves, ultimately becoming new skeletons on the island.
And some couldn't endure the long time needed for the Log Pose to charge, setting out rashly only to be lost in the Grand Line's treacherous climate.
Luffy casually tossed the Den Den Mushi back to Sanji, as if he'd just hung up on a telemarketer.
His attention quickly returned to the feast and the food. His stomach growled appropriately. "Sanji! Got any more meat? I got hungry again after that little exercise!"
"Here you are, Captain."
Sanji sighed helplessly but skillfully handed over a large piece of freshly grilled dinosaur meat.
As a cook, satisfying the captain's stomach was his primary duty.
Luffy shoved the huge chunk of dinosaur meat into his mouth. It vanished in the blink of an eye. Dorry and Brogy stared, dumbfounded.
Who was the giant here?
In terms of appetite alone, Luffy even outdid the giants.
"That really is an incredible fruit," both Dorry and Brogy couldn't help but stop and watch. It wasn't just about how much Luffy could eat, but how quickly he could metabolize it and then eat again.
It was simply a bottomless pit.
Seeing Luffy's carefree attitude, Nami felt like hitting him, but deep down, a strange sense of reassurance emerged. Yes, this was their captain. If he promised something, he would do it, whether the other party was a king or a Warlord.
Even if the process was always nerve-wracking, in the end, he always seemed to pull off a miracle.
So she started enjoying the pleasure of feeding Luffy again.
Luffy took the meat and bit into it heartily, his cheeks stuffed full like a hamster's.
While chewing, he spoke indistinctly to Dorry and Brogy. "By the way, giant uncles, you just said... you used to be pirates too?"
Nami was puzzled. "Did they say that?"
"'It's not like we aren't pirates ourselves!'... Doesn't that mean they were pirates before?"
Nami: "..."
He can be smart sometimes.
"WAHAHAHA! That's right!"
Brogy slapped his sturdy chest with a loud thump thump. "A hundred years ago, we were the world-renowned captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates!"
Dorry set down his cup, a nostalgic look appearing on his huge face. "That was a very long time ago. We led the Giant Warrior Pirates across the seas, seeking worthy opponents and thrilling adventures. Those were truly memorable days."
They missed it.
People from that era might not necessarily miss it.
Legends said they terrorized the world, ravaged the seas, and rampaged through towns.
Of course, legends were legends.
Some things, once they came out of the World Government's mouth, were so fake they almost seemed real.
At least in Luffy's eyes, Dorry and Brogy's personalities and way of doing things were quite similar to his own.
***
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