"See? You don't know, do you?"
Usopp put on the air of an all-knowing expert and grinned as he explained to Zoro.
"Commodores are a special case. They're meant for Marines whose achievements aren't quite enough yet, but whose personal strength is already exceptional."
"The World Government sends them to places like the East Blue so they can build up their service record. Once they've spent enough time serving in one of the Four Seas, they can return and be promoted to Headquarters Vice Admiral without any controversy."
"So they're monsters sent here to pad their resumes," Now Zoro finally understood.
Since the other side was that kind of powerhouse, they, as pirates, had better stay on guard.
Judging by how peaceful the harbor looked, the Marines here probably couldn't be bothered with small fry like them, but he still asked directly, "Then what's the name of the Commodore stationed in Loguetown?"
"How would I know? It's been ages since I was last in Loguetown."
Usopp immediately deflated. He spread his hands helplessly with a bitter smile.
"My family's been through a lot lately. I haven't exactly been paying attention to Marine personnel changes."
He really didn't know.
The Commodore in Loguetown changed frequently. Who knew who it was now?
Just as everyone was wondering about it, a gentle voice suddenly spoke from behind them, "The Commodore stationed here is Drake, from the North Blue."
Hearing the unfamiliar voice, the Straw Hats all turned around.
The moment they saw who had spoken, most of them froze on the spot.
Clink!
The cigarette hanging from Sanji's lips dropped straight to the ground. Sparks landed on the toe of his shoe, but he didn't notice at all.
His entire body had gone rigid.
He had never dreamed that his father would suddenly appear in a remote East Blue town like this without any warning.
The audience had stepped onto the stage.
Usopp sucked in a sharp breath, and his legs immediately began trembling uncontrollably.
He had only seen Rosse from afar a few times by chance.
Although Rosse had seemed exceptionally gentle on those occasions, Usopp knew perfectly well that the smiling man before him was a god who stood above the entire world.
This was the first time in his life he had faced the Lord of the World from such close range.
Even with Sanji beside him, he still felt an irresistible pressure clamping around his throat.
As for Zoro and Nami, who had never seen Rosse before, their reactions came purely from instinct.
They stared at him in shock, only to discover that they couldn't clearly make out the face right in front of them.
It was a blur that completely defied common sense, as though some indescribable law was interfering with their perception.
Even if their eyes swept across his face, they instantly forgot what he looked like.
That bizarre phenomenon alone was enough to tell them that this man was anything but ordinary.
Not to mention the stunning silver-haired beauty leaning against him.
Olvia's proud figure, over two meters tall, combined with her breathtaking curves, radiated an overwhelming charm beneath the sunlight.
Zoro's hand had already tightened around the hilt of his sword. Every muscle in his body tensed as he remained on full alert.
Both he and Nami knew very well that, in the law-of-the-jungle East Blue, beauty of that level had never been something to flaunt.
Without terrifying strength to protect it, such beauty would only become prey.
And if this man could casually stroll through a pirate-filled harbor with a woman like that at his side, then his strength had to be beyond imagination.
"Father!"
After only a second of eye contact, Sanji understood what Rosse meant.
This man had no intention of hiding his identity.
Without the slightest hesitation, Sanji stepped forward. His dress shoe struck the ground heavily as he lowered his usually proud head, his voice carrying a tension even he hadn't noticed.
"Father?"
That one word struck like thunder.
Nami and the others, who had no idea what was going on, all stared with their eyes wide open.
Zoro's hand, which had been resting on his sword, suddenly went limp.
He rubbed his eyes hard, his normally razor-sharp gaze now filled entirely with disbelief as he stared at the tall man before him.
Who could have imagined it?
Who would have dared?
The man standing before them was actually the ruler who looked down upon the entire world from above the clouds, Jaygarcia Rosse.
Nami was frozen in place, as if she had fallen into an ice pit.
Cold sweat slid down her fair forehead, and even her breathing became cautious.
Others only knew how terrifying Rosse was.
But she knew she had another identity.
A God-Chosen Princess.
Thanks to Rosse's generosity, she had been allowed to postpone her trip to Mary Geoise and continue this voyage, while Bell-mere and Carina had already gone ahead.
She had originally planned to fulfill her duty after the journey ended.
On countless late nights, she had imagined meeting Rosse hundreds upon hundreds of times. Would it be solemn? Oppressive?
But never, not once, had she imagined meeting him so suddenly beneath the bright sun... as Sanji's father.
"You're all Sanji's friends, aren't you? Relax. I just stopped by to see my son. There's no need to be so nervous."
A gentle smile curved Rosse's lips as his boots clicked steadily against the ground.
He walked straight into the middle of the pirates as casually as if he were taking a stroll. Stopping in front of Sanji, he slowly raised a broad hand and lightly patted his thin shoulder twice.
The warmth from his fingertips quietly confirmed the blood relationship between them.
After all, Sanji was his own flesh and blood. Rosse naturally felt some affection for him.
It was just that compared to the affection he had for himself, that feeling was no more than a firefly beside the moon.
How could they not be nervous?
Usopp's legs were shaking so hard they were about to give out, while Nami, Zoro, and the others screamed beneath in despair.
Even Zoro, who usually remained calm in the face of death itself, had every muscle in his body locked tight from excessive vigilance. He barely dared to breathe, afraid that the slightest movement would bring catastrophe upon them.
Yet amid this suffocating silence, there was still one person who simply couldn't be measured by common sense.
"Huh? So you're really Sanji's lousy old man?"
Luffy clenched his fists and marched right up to Rosse without the slightest hesitation.
He pressed down the brim of his straw hat, looked up, and glared at the Lord of the World with obvious displeasure.
Seeing their captain looking like he was about to throw a punch, the rest of the Straw Hats nearly lost their souls.
Zoro and Usopp instinctively reached out, wanting to clamp a hand over Luffy's mouth.
But their bodies had frozen from instinctive fear, and neither of them could move.
"Oh? Just how has this brat been talking about me in front of all of you?", Instead of getting angry, Rosse merely raised an eyebrow, amusement flashing through his eyes.
He casually wrapped an arm around Sanji's stiff body, pulling him into his embrace. The wide sleeve of his robe happened to block Sanji's paper-white face, and the desperate hand signals he was frantically making at Luffy, begging him not to speak.
'No! Shut up, Luffy!'
Sanji's heart was bleeding.
Back then, he'd only made all that stuff up to fit in after joining the crew.
If all of it came out now, he was dead.
Even worse, he was absolutely certain that his hopeless father-loving little sister Shirahoshi was definitely watching this somehow.
Even if she knew it was all lies, he'd still be in deep trouble once he got back.
Unfortunately, Luffy couldn't receive distress signals like that.
"Sanji told us you're a super heartless jerk! He hates guys who aren't loyal, so he left you without any hesitation! He even swore that one day he'd beat you himself!"
Luffy shouted indignantly with his hands on his hips.
He didn't actually throw a punch, though. The moment he finished speaking, the anger on his face seamlessly transformed into innocent confusion. Tilting his head, he scratched his cheek.
"Come to think of it... what's a heartless jerk anyway? Is it something you can eat?"
When it came to romance, Luffy's brain was completely uncharted territory.
But just because he didn't understand didn't mean no one else did.
The moment those words left his mouth, everyone in the Straw Hat crew, Sanji included, sucked in a sharp breath. Their hearts nearly exploded inside their chests.
They stared at Luffy with despair written all over their faces, terrified that the Lord of the World would snap his fingers and reduce their captain to dust the very next second.
Pointing at Rosse's face and calling him a heartless jerk.
Only today did they truly realize just how fearless Luffy really was.
"Hahahahahaha!"
To everyone's surprise, Rosse didn't deliver divine punishment. Instead, he threw back his head and burst into hearty laughter.
"Luffy. A heartless jerk refers to a man who betrays someone's love, abandons his wife and children. It isn't really the right word for me. If you insist, I'm just a womanizer."
Rosse leaned forward slightly, his tone even carrying a trace of teasing.
"Huh? What's the difference?"
Luffy's eyes widened, pure curiosity shining in them.
One dared to answer so casually.
The other dared to ask without any fear.
Everyone except Luffy had gone completely numb.
Zoro silently rolled his eyes, while Nami covered her face in despair.
'Is this really a conversation we should be having here?'
"There's a huge difference. A womanizer doesn't betray any relationship. He simply has such a big heart... that it just so happens to hold the hearts of countless women."
Rosse explained patiently with a smile, sounding as though he were telling a fairy tale to a neighborhood child. He didn't put on the slightest air of being the Lord of the World.
The truth, however, was brutally simple.
He couldn't produce even the slightest emotional reaction toward people like Luffy.
His smile right now existed only because he happened to be in a good mood today.
In Rosse's eyes, everything Luffy and the others did was no more than clowns energetically performing somersaults in a circus.
How could someone sitting in the VIP seats become emotionally invested over a performer's amusing lines?
No, even comparing them to audience and performers gave them too much credit.
A more accurate image would be this: Rosse was crouching on the ground out of boredom, watching with mild interest a colony of ants desperately carrying food through a rainstorm.
Humans never get angry at ants.
"Huh? I don't get it at all."
Luffy scratched his head, knocking his straw hat crooked.
He gave up trying to understand.
The other guy's explanation was just too complicated.
He didn't want to hear it, and he didn't need to understand it.
In Luffy's world, there was no difference between men and women.
There were only two kinds of people.
Enemies or friends.
If they were enemies, he'd punch them away.
If they were friends, he would never betray them, even if it cost him his life.
"Haha! It doesn't matter if you don't understand. Just go and do what you're meant to do. Charge ahead bravely. I have great confidence that you'll become the Pirate King."
Rosse smiled at him, completely unconcerned by Luffy's simple-mindedness.
"Of course! I'm the man who's going to become the Pirate King!"
Luffy froze for a moment after hearing those words.
Then his eyes suddenly lit up with light. He raised both arms and shouted toward the sky at the top of his lungs.
That shout carried too much within it.
After setting sail, this was the first time, the very first time someone had openly and directly acknowledged his dream.
Along the way, even his own friends usually treated it as a joke or an impossible fantasy.
Luffy was innocent.
But he wasn't stupid.
He could clearly tell the difference between someone humoring him and someone who truly believed in him.
The look in Rosse's eyes and the way he had spoken just now had been genuine acknowledgment.
Even if Luffy couldn't sense any particular reverence for the title of Pirate King in that acknowledgment, at least Rosse believed he could do it.
Anyone who believed he could become Pirate King was a good person.
Of course, Rosse had been telling the truth.
In his script, Luffy was supposed to overcome countless hardships, become the Pirate King, and then challenge him, the final demon king, with all the passion in his heart.
Without that much drama, how much fun would such a long life lose?
"Hey, hey. Don't you think it's a bit much for the Lord of the World to stand here filling the head of a rookie with nonsense, Rosse?"
At that moment, a deep voice suddenly came from the side.
With the sea breeze howling around them, Rosse turned with a smile.
Another group of today's actors had arrived.