How much time had passed was unknown. With a 'plop' sound, Garp's figure surged out from the sea. But he was alone by his side; no members of the Red-Haired Pirates could be seen.
"Damn it! Those guys all ran off who knows where. I couldn't find any trace of them in the nearby waters!"
Garp cursed as he spoke.
"Made this old man get my clothes all wet!"
"Let's go, kid, back to the warship!"
Saying this, Garp used Moon Walk to fly towards the warship. He needed to go back and change into dry clothes.
Kyle remained standing in mid-air, his gaze sweeping over the area below. After a long while, he suddenly laughed.
"It seems we can't capture the future Yonko and send them to Impel Down today!"
Kyle had no trouble accepting this outcome.
His thinking was similar to Garp's: capture them if possible, if not, then let it be.
There would be plenty of opportunities in the future anyway; this one instance didn't matter.
Moreover...
This experience would probably leave a deep impression on Shanks and his crew.
Being without a ship in this vast ocean was no small matter. Although it wasn't fatal for them, it was enough to give them a hard time.
Taking one last look, Kyle transformed into a flash of lightning and vanished from the spot.
A while later, when Kyle returned to the warship, what greeted his eyes were figures lying all over the deck.
Seeing this scene, an awkward expression couldn't help but appear on Kyle's face.
He seemed to have contributed to this masterpiece!
But ultimately, the reason had to be blamed on these guys being too weak.
That's right, it actually had nothing to do with him at all. It was their own problem!!
Life was already hard enough. If you could make things difficult for others, don't make things difficult for yourself!
Kyle walked over to where Luffy and his two brothers lay sprawled on the deck in a star shape. As if thinking of something, a 'scheming' smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Not long after, Kyle found a long wooden pole and a rope on the ship.
He divided the rope into three sections of varying lengths and tied them to the wooden pole, the longest in front, the shorter ones behind.
Then he tied the other ends of these ropes to Luffy and the other two, picked them up, and went to sit on the warship's figurehead.
With a wave of his hand, a table and a chair appeared before him.
Kyle plopped down on the chair and extended the pole with the three tied to it over the water.
He wanted to see which of these three types of 'bait' was more effective!
The wooden pole was lowered slightly. Luffy, tied at the outermost end, was the first to be submerged in the sea.
After securing the pole with something, Kyle leisurely began to brew tea.
The aroma of tea rose with the steaming heat. A look of enjoyment appeared on Kyle's face.
Crossing his legs, he sipped his tea while quietly waiting for the fish to bite.
He considered himself fairly decent at fishing. Plus, with the high-quality bait he had now, it would seem unreasonable not to catch any fish.
At this moment, the brows of our high-quality bait, Mr. Monkey D. Luffy, slowly began to furrow, and they furrowed deeper and deeper.
His eyelids kept twitching, as if he might wake up any second.
A few more seconds later, Luffy's eyes snapped open. His first sensation was complete bodily weakness; even his eyelids felt incredibly heavy, almost causing him to faint again.
However, when he realized his situation, his eyes suddenly widened. He instinctively tried to struggle, but his body had very little strength, making even his struggles appear feeble.
"Oh! The high-quality bait is awake!"
"Perfect. Live bait is more attractive!"
"You can move a bit more vigorously. Make the ripples bigger. Keep it up!!"
At that moment, a familiar voice came from above. Luffy instinctively looked up to see Kyle sitting on a chair, legs crossed, leisurely drinking tea.
(⊙o⊙)…
Luffy was stunned for a moment, then burst out cursing the next second.
"Kyle, you bastard, what are you doing?! Get me up there now!!"
Luffy bared his teeth at Kyle.
But Kyle just showed a faint smile.
"Speak louder, Luffy. The more you struggle, the happier I am!"
"Bastard Kyle, don't let me get up there, or I'll definitely beat you until your teeth are all over the place!"
Luffy's two hands above the water flailed and thrashed about, completely unaware that a dark shadow had appeared beneath him at some point.
!!
Kyle's eyes lit up. He immediately put his teacup aside, grabbed the wooden pole with both hands, his eyes filled with excitement.
Ignoring Luffy's shouts, he focused all his attention on the shadow beneath Luffy.
The shadow grew larger and more distinct.
Now!!
Kyle gave a sharp pull. Luffy was instantly yanked out, and right behind Luffy was a large fish over two meters long, its mouth wide open as it lunged to bite Luffy.
Luffy's face changed drastically. With legs that had regained some strength, he kicked out fiercely, hitting the fish squarely in the face and sending it flying back down.
Kyle: (⊙o⊙)…
Luffy: "Whew, that was close!! I almost got eaten by a fish!"
Luffy wiped the sweat from his forehead, speaking with a hint of lingering fear.
However, the next second, a feeling of weightlessness hit him. He was thrown back into the sea by Kyle, and the familiar weakness surged through his body once more.
Kyle had already sat back down in his chair and picked up his teacup again, his expression unchanged.
He gave Luffy a smile.
"Luffy, originally you could have come up. But now? I'm afraid that's not quite possible!"
"You ruined that opportunity yourself just now. I'll pull you up whenever you help me catch a fish!"
"If we don't catch anything, then prepare to soak in the sea all day!"
Luffy was dumbfounded. The fearful expression on his face froze instantly. The next second, he snapped back to reality and began hurling profanities at Kyle again, even more intensely than before.
But this had no effect on Kyle whatsoever. He paid no mind, leisurely drinking his tea.
It was fine. He'd stop when he got tired of cursing.
However, Kyle was wrong this time.
Even though he ignored Luffy and enjoyed his tea at ease, Luffy did not stop his output.
He even cursed with increasing vigor, as if the sea's weakening effect on him had diminished.
His continuous and loud shouting finally caused his two older brothers, tied in front of him, to gradually wake up.
Both initially wore expressions of utter confusion.
After some time, once they figured out their own predicament, they too joined the camp denouncing Kyle.
The three of them continuously berated Kyle while struggling desperately, but it was all useless.
Today, they were destined to be the high-quality bait.
But just as Kyle was leisurely reading his book, a system notification sound suddenly rang in his mind.
[Ding!]
...
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