Shirakawa left the very next day. But almost the moment he was gone, Kuzan and Momonga arrived at the town where Shirakawa and Jora had caused trouble. They promoted a decent Marine officer to become the new commander of that naval base.
Then, following the clues provided by those Marines, they made their way to the village where Jora was staying.
"Excuse me, has this person ever come to your village?"
A Marine held up Shirakawa's wanted poster and asked the villagers.
"Nope, never seen him."
The villagers lied through their teeth. Just yesterday, Shirakawa had asked them to make a pirate flag for him.
"Alright then, thank you. We'll go search somewhere else."
Watching the Marines leave, the villagers quietly let out a sigh of relief.
"Whew, that scared me to death. That's the first time I've ever lied, and it was to the Marines too."
One villager complained to the person beside him, still feeling a little shaken.
"Oh, give it a rest. As if I don't know your level of lying. Who knows how many lies you've told in your life already?"
His companion looked at him with utter disdain.
"Vice Admiral Kuzan, they were obviously all lying. Why did we leave? If we pressured them a little, they'd definitely tell the truth."
A Marine captain beside Kuzan complained to him.
Hearing that, Kuzan shot him a glare.
"I don't want to hear the word 'pressure' used on civilians ever again. Remember this, we're Marines, not pirates."
"Y Yes, Vice Admiral Kuzan."
The Marine captain shuddered. For that one instant, he felt as if he'd been frozen solid.
Vice Admiral Kuzan was terrifying. That thought rose in the captain's mind, along with a trace of fear toward him.
"Then what do we do now, Vice Admiral Kuzan?"
"We head up the mountain. We've already checked the village, and there are no suspicious people there. This island is only so big. If they're not in the village, then they can only be in the mountains."
"Yes, sir."
Soon after, the Marines split into several squads and began searching their way up the mountain.
"Oh no, the Marines are heading up the mountain!"
At that moment, a villager who had been watching the Marines suddenly ran back into the village and shouted to the others.
"What do we do? Mr. Orr and Jora are both up there, and Jora is a wanted criminal. Are the Marines going to arrest him?"
A middle aged woman asked worriedly.
"How about I go warn them? I run fast. I can definitely get there before the Marines find them."
"Alright, we'll leave it to you, Pete."
The village chief stepped out, patted Pete on the shoulder, and looked as though he were entrusting him with an important mission.
"Don't worry, Chief. I guarantee I'll complete the mission."
Pete stood ramrod straight and gave a salute.
"Alright, stop fooling around and get moving."
Someone gave him a shove on the rear.
"Yes, sir."
Pete immediately headed toward the mountain. To be fair, he really was much faster than an ordinary person. Maybe that was just talent.
What he did not know, however, was that he had already been marked the moment he went up the mountain.
"Follow him."
Looking at Pete's back, Kuzan gave the order to the Marines behind him.
"Yes, Vice Admiral."
"Your method really is a good one, Kuzan."
At that moment, Momonga walked over to Kuzan's side and said.
In truth, only a small number of Marines had actually gone up the mountain to search. Their main purpose was to mislead the villagers. If they found someone, all the better. If they did not, then they could only rely on the villagers to lead the way.
"Mr. Orr, Jora, this is bad!"
Before he even reached the front gate, Pete was already panting as he shouted.
"What is it, Pete?"
Jora, who had been training in the yard, naturally heard Pete's voice and quickly opened the courtyard gate.
"You need to run, now. The Marines are here to arrest you!"
Pete spoke in broken gasps, clearly exhausted.
"The Marines?"
"That's right. A whole group of Marines came. Their target seems to be that young man who came with you."
"Too late."
At that moment, Orr, standing behind him, turned his gaze toward the woods outside the gate. One after another, Marine figures began emerging from the forest.
"I'm sorry, this is all my fault."
The moment Pete saw the Marines, he realized they had followed him here.
"If I'd been more careful, they wouldn't have found this place."
His voice was full of self blame, guilt, and apology toward Orr and Jora.
"It would've been useless. No matter how careful you were, you couldn't have escaped their eyes. This time, they brought along someone dangerous."
Orr stared gravely at the man in front of him, the one wearing a headscarf, sunglasses, and a black coat.
Kuzan was also looking at him with equal seriousness, because he could sense danger from Orr. Fortunately, his target was not this old man, otherwise there was a real chance things could go badly here.
"I wonder what brings the Marines all this way to my little place?"
As the master of the house, Orr naturally spoke first.
"We're here looking for someone. Have you seen him?"
A Marine held Shirakawa's wanted poster in front of Orr.
"I have."
"Where is he?"
The Marine immediately asked in a tense voice.
"Such a pity. If you'd come yesterday, you might've found him. But now he's already left."
Orr spoke with clear regret, as though he truly felt sorry for not being able to help the Marines.
"He left? Then where did he go?"
"No idea. He said he was going to look for a ship that suited him, then he flew away."
"Old man, don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. Tell us where he is, now, or we'll make you regret it."
"Oh my, now that's just unfair. I really don't know where he is."
It had to be said that Orr's acting was flawless. He made it sound completely real. But the key point was that he genuinely did not know where Shirakawa had gone. Strange how no one believed him even when he was telling the truth.
"Enough."
The Marine was about to continue, but Kuzan cut him off.
"Sorry for disturbing you, elder. We'll be leaving now."
Kuzan said to Orr.
"Mm. Hurry up and go. Having so many Marines blocking my doorway is pretty unsettling."
"But Vice Admiral Kuzan, we still haven't found Shirakawa."
"He's telling the truth. Shirakawa isn't here."
With that, Kuzan turned and left first.
"But what about Shirakawa's companion? Jora is still right there. If we capture him, I refuse to believe Shirakawa won't show up."
"Our target isn't him. And that old man is an expert. Even I can't say for sure that I'd beat him."
Kuzan's tone was stern. He had not expected such a small village to hide someone like that.
"What? That old man is really that strong?"
The surrounding Marines were all shocked. Even Momonga was the same. He could tell the old man was powerful, but he had never expected that even Kuzan might not be his match.
After all, Kuzan was a Logia Devil Fruit user, and one with an especially terrifying power at that.
"They're finally gone."
Seeing the Marines leave, Orr let out a sigh of relief. At his age, he had no desire to fight that many people. Besides, he still had to look after his disciple.
If Kuzan had come alone, this little old man might have already made his move. He was not exactly the quiet, peace loving type either.
/-\
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