Pirate: I'm about to do something big!

Windmill Village Coast, Headquarters Navy Temporary Camp.

The bandits who had been entrenched in the Windmill Village looked ashen-faced. One by one, their hands were bound behind their backs with hemp ropes, and they stood obediently in front of the tents to be interrogated by the marines, who escorted them.

"Name."

"Aesop".

"You know what you've done, right?"

"Become a mountain bandit."

"How many years have you been working here?"

"One year."

"Speak up, tell me what you've done this year, and confess it yourself. That way, according to the laws of the Kingdom of Goa, you can save yourself a few more years of slavery."

"I……"

"Don't even think about lying. We don't have time to waste here with you. Anyone who doesn't confess will be punished with a serious crime!"

"Sir! This isn't fair! We're mountain bandits, you're the navy, there to catch pirates. We're under the kingdom's military control, and besides, isn't there a gang of pirates in the village?"

"Honestly confess your own problems, and don't try to pull any other excuses!"

There were more than one bandit who complained like this, and they never imagined that one day their stronghold would be wiped out by a group of marines.

Of course, the trainee marines who were in charge of the operation had never experienced such a situation before, and they all looked to the veteran who led them in this operation to wipe out the bandits.

The veterans looked at Alyosha and his officers, who were inspecting the camp, with half-smiles.

"That's right. Mountain bandits are generally captured by the national armies of the various member states under the World Government. But young marines, you must remember that you are the navy under the World Government, you are the World Navy, and this is a world of the sea. As long as it is a member state under the World Government, our World Navy naturally has the legal right to take over all duties of the national army."

In short, what the Kingdom's military can manage, our world's navies must manage; what the Kingdom's military cannot manage, our world's navies must manage even more. Do you understand?

"Yes, Brigadier General Alyosha!"

Listening to Alyosha's definition of the relationship between the world's navies and the armies of various kingdoms, these trainee marines on their first voyage felt inspired and responded with loud, resounding voices.

"Very good, very spirited. Order: all squad leaders and officers of the trainee marines who just carried out the bandit suppression operation, come to my tent for a meeting. Everyone else, disperse."

"yes!"

A simple operation to wipe out bandits allowed these trainee marines, who were on their first voyage, to begin integrating into Alyosha's force.

As the only two Devil Fruit users among the trainee Marines, Binz, who ate the Lush Fruit, and Ain, who ate the Rewind Fruit, gradually found their place in this ability.

Compared to direct combat, their two abilities are more geared towards support.

Binz, in particular, has made the most significant progress, having begun to control plants to construct temporary tents.

Ein needs to further improve her abilities to better manage the condition of the wounded marines in the camp and ensure they receive better treatment.

On the other side of the coast, the Red-Haired Pirates' flagship, the Red Fortress.

Yasopp, serving as both sniper and lookout, stood on high ground, using a monocular telescope to get a clear view of the temporary camp where Alyosha and his men were located.

His face was still filled with horror, and he kept muttering to himself.

"This is incredible..." Yasopp had only spoken halfway through his exclamation when he saw through the binoculars that Alyosha seemed to have noticed him spying on her. Alyosha turned around and met Yasopp's gaze, pointed, and smiled.

Startled by Alyosha's pointing finger, Yasopp quickly put away his binoculars and looked down at Shanks and First Mate Ben Beckman, who were standing at the bow of the ship looking out.

"Captain, did you see that?!"

"You can see it perfectly clearly, Yasopp."

Shanks stood at the bow of the ship, responding softly to Yasopp's words.

"This guy named Ran, the navy he brought is completely different from anything we've seen before. Captain, what do you think? Are they coming for us? If so, we're in big trouble."

As the second core member of the Red-Haired Pirates, Ben Beckman is undoubtedly worthy of the title in terms of both strength and intellect.

He never boasts, but once declared that to deal with their pirate crew, at least one warship would have to be sent.

The fact that Ben Beckman could utter such serious words at this moment demonstrates the importance he places on Alyosha's unit.

"This is indeed a big problem, Beckman. There are four Devil Fruit users alone, plus these marines. If they coordinate well, our crew might suffer. The most troublesome one is their commander, the Marine Headquarters Commodore, the two-faced Alyosa Ran."

Shanks, who is highly skilled in all three types of Haki, even directly stated the personnel composition of Alyosha's army.

Admittedly, each of his core crew members is a master fighter capable of taking on a hundred opponents.

But they are still human, and none of them are Devil Fruit users.

It's all about numbers, there's no real mechanics.

The polarization is obvious. If the numerical value is high enough, it is not afraid of any mechanism. But once the role of numerical value is shared, it becomes the mechanism's domain.

Shanks understood that if Alyosha's marines had enough coordination and tactics, the numerical advantage of his crew would be weakened. Like Shanks at this moment, their overall strength was in a developmental stage.

"Is this guy Alyosha Ran? He doesn't look like it."

Beckman was very puzzled by Shanks's judgment.

"A commodore, about my age, and whose strength makes me feel threatened. Among the commodores in the Marine Headquarters, only he fits the bill. It seems we've been here for a while, and we don't even know what's going on."

"So what do you plan to do if they're not targeting us...?"

Beckman glanced at Shanks' left arm, which was covered by his long sleeve, and hesitated before speaking.

Shanks remained calm in response, patted his straw hat, and laughed heartily.

"Since they're not coming for us, why don't we go ask them? This Alyosha Ran seems like an easy person to talk to."

With that, Shanks turned and went to the kitchen. Soon after, under the stern reprimand of the cook, Raki Lu, he grabbed a large jug and jumped off the ship, heading towards Alyosha's camp.

"Shanks, you bastard..."

The first mate, helpless at Captain Shanks' actions, smiled indulgently before calling the crew.

"Let's go, let's accompany our captain."

After temporarily imprisoning the captured bandits at the temporary camp, some marines took funds to Windmill Village to purchase food for the night.

This is also a big business opportunity for the windmill village.

The mayor and the tavern owner, Makino, came over with a group to express their gratitude.

For no other reason than that Alyosha saved Luffy and brought such a large amount of business to Windmill Village, and most importantly, they paid him!

Paying for things is a simple principle, but even the world's navies, backed by the world government, cannot do it.

Especially the navy of the Four Seas Branch, they are basically local tyrants in the area. Especially when they collude with the nobles of the stationed kingdom, they can force people to buy and sell, which is considered good. What's really scary are those who dine and dash and smash up the store at the slightest disagreement. There's really no way to seek justice for them.

Even in a remote fishing village like Windmill Village, we've encountered plenty of sailors who dine and dash.

"Mayor, Miss Makino, and you little guy named Luffy, thank you for coming with my soldiers."

"Mr. Alyosha, we are extremely grateful to you for helping us wipe out these bandits and for saving Luffy. You've brought such a large business to our village; we haven't had such a big deal in a long time. Luffy, come here quickly!"

The mayor's face crinkled with laughter as he pulled along Luffy, who had reluctantly followed, and made him thank Alyosha and the other marines.

But seeing Luffy's awkward expression, as if he were being tortured by something, the mayor's forehead also started to sweat.

"Shanks! Are you here to see me?!" When Luffy saw Shanks coming with his crew and carrying a sake bottle, his expression instantly turned into a happy one, and he ran towards Shanks with shouts.

The mayor's forehead was covered in even more sweat.

The navy and the pirates have run into each other. This is it!

"Mayor, Miss Makino, I'm so sorry to have caused you trouble."

At the temporary camp, Officers Smoker, Tina, and Dol had led a group of Marines to block Shanks and his group's only path, looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

"Red-haired Shanks, what are you doing here?!"

"Of course, I've come to thank Mr. Ran for saving our little Luffy. Hey, Mr. Ran, I brought some good wine."

"Let them come over, Smoker. There's no need to clash with the infamous Red-Haired Pirates here. Think of the others."

"snort!"

Smoker knew this too, but he still seemed annoyed, snorting before stepping aside.

Arlong, the fishman who had temporarily regained his freedom in the camp, had expected to witness an internal conflict among humans, but he was disappointed by Alyosha's gentle attitude.

Then he saw Shanks pointing at him at Luffy beside him, and his heart skipped a beat.

Looking at Alyosha beside him, he also gave him a harmless smile.

Finally, he saw Luffy running wildly towards him.

"Hey, fishman uncle, thank you for saving me~"

"Hey kid, what are you saying? Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer!!!"

Arlong's expression changed drastically, but he was still entangled by Luffy, that rubber brat.

Alyosha and Shanks sat by the campfire, raised their glasses, and drank the wine in their cups in one gulp.

He also noticed that when Shanks put down his wine bowl, his right hand unconsciously touched his left arm, which was covered by a long sleeve.

Is there something wrong with Shanks' left arm?

Alyosha already had some doubts about Shanks losing his arm, and this time he had Arlong take action, which disrupted the initial plot and also wanted to see how things would develop next.

"Mr. Ran isn't here to arrest us, is he?"

"Ha, even if we were to make an arrest, this wouldn't be the time. Didn't I tell you, I was asked to tutor an old man's children?"

"Mr. Garp, he really cares about his grandson, asking Mr. Ran to make a special trip to the East Blue."

"That's not quite it. The East Blue is also my hometown. Besides, I don't think there's anything wrong with what Mr. Garp did. Any grandfather with a sound mind wouldn't want to see his grandson become a pirate feared by others, right, Mr. Shanks?"

Shanks was speechless. Regardless of your original intention to become a pirate, in a world like the ocean, you've already become a pirate. If I don't discriminate against you, wouldn't I be doing a disservice to your pirate identity?

"But has Mr. Garp considered that Luffy doesn't actually want to be a Marine?"

"Yes, so I didn't intend to teach Luffy to be an excellent Marine as Mr. Garp requested. I just did my duty as a teacher to teach Luffy what is right and what is wrong."

After all, Mr. Garp told me that Luffy isn't his only grandson, right, Mr. Shanks? Your coming here to meet Luffy was just an accident; you also wanted to see how your former captain, the only bloodline of the former Pirate King Roger, Porcas D. Ace, was doing.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Shanks paused in his cup.

His approachable demeanor suddenly changed, and a silent aura emanated from Shanks, sweeping across the entire camp!