Inside the cabin of the Going Merry, the atmosphere was exceptionally bizarre.
The reason was none other than the arrival of these two strangers.
Of the two, one was a young man wearing a black fedora with curly brown hair. Standing behind a chair, he warily sized up the Straw Hat Pirates, who looked vastly different from the rumors. His gaze grew particularly complex when it landed on a certain pair of glasses.
The other was a beautiful woman dressed in a white skirt suit. She sat gracefully in a chair, her face completely devoid of the panic one would expect after boarding a pirate ship.
Sherlock studied the smiling woman. She was a few years older than Robin, possessing less of Robin's intellectual, icy elegance, but carrying a warmer, more approachable air.
The lines of her cheeks were incredibly soft, her ocean-blue eyes narrowed slightly, and a casual smile played on her rosy lips. Her deep blue hair cascaded smoothly down her shoulders, and a pale yellow laurel trim ran along her collar down to her chest, accentuating the perfect curve of her ample bust.
All in all, if not for the sickly, pale complexion of her face, her appearance would be indistinguishable from the noble ladies Sherlock had encountered in the past.
"Please enjoy, beautiful madame," Sanji said smoothly, placing a cup of rich, aromatic black tea in front of her with his usual chivalrous flair.
"Thank you very much," the woman replied with a smile. She lifted the teacup and took a gentle sip.
"Mmm... This sweetness that slowly blossoms across the tongue... This black tea comes from the East Blue, doesn't it? Are you all from the East Blue as well?" Although worded as a question, her tone was entirely certain.
"Ah? Yeah, you're right." Hearing this, the curly-browed cook instantly snapped out of his lovesick daze. He raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself that this beautiful lady had an incredibly sharp sense of taste.
"By the way, is it really a good idea to let your guard down like this on an enemy ship?" Zoro asked coolly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Aren't you afraid we poisoned your tea?"
"No, you wouldn't do that." The woman shook her head gently. Her slightly upturned eyes shifted toward a certain straw-hat-wearing captain, who was currently staring at her with pure curiosity.
"Surely the Straw Hat Pirates, with a total bounty breaking three hundred million, wouldn't resort to such underhanded methods to deal with a weak woman like me."
"True enough," the green-haired swordsman replied, flashing his signature smirk.
Luffy picked his nose. "So, who are you anyway? And your ship is so pretty! It's awesome!"
"I almost forgot to introduce myself."
The woman let her smile fade and bowed slightly. Combined with her pale complexion, she gave off a fragile, delicate impression, as if she might break at any moment.
"My name is Emily, the current president of the Canary Trading Company. This is my guard, Shuraiya. I am deeply sorry for what happened earlier, and I will certainly compensate you."
"I'm Luffy, the man who's gonna be the Pirate King!" A certain goofy captain's self-introduction was as short and direct as always.
"Oh, you mean what just happened? Don't worry about it! The Merry didn't get—"
"How could it possibly be 'don't worry about it'?! That cannonball just scared me half to death!" Nami clamped her hand over her captain's mouth, turning a beaming smile toward Madame Emily.
"Ignore this idiot. Let's discuss the compensation in detail. Also, why did you attack us first?"
Madame Emily gave the Straw Hat Pirates a detailed explanation of how everything had unfolded.
"A son?! So you're already married, Madame Emily?"
Sanji stared blankly at the incredibly glamorous and beautiful woman, before muttering to himself in sheer jealousy, "Hmph, I wonder what kind of lucky bastard managed to land such a gorgeous woman as his wife."
Robin looked at Madame Emily, who was a few years her senior, an unusual glint flashing across her eyes.
Her son is already eight years old, while I...
(An old maid who's twenty-eight and still unmarried.)
Inexplicably, the words the Sorcerer had used to describe her during a drunken bout popped into the sadistic woman's mind. She couldn't help but glance toward a certain pair of glasses, her eyes filled with deep resentment.
Sensing Robin's gaze, Sherlock asked in confusion, "Is something wrong, Robin?"
"It's nothing..." Robin instantly turned her head away. This seemingly sulky little display left the Sorcerer thoroughly bewildered.
"Wait, are you saying that the cannon shot which nearly hit the Merry from maximum range was actually fired by your eight-year-old son?"
Usopp blinked in awe. "That's incredible! Your son definitely has a gift for sniping."
As the sniper of the Straw Hat Pirates, and a naturally gifted sniper himself, the long-nosed man knew exactly how difficult it was to execute such a precise, ultra-long-range artillery strike.
"Could it be that his father was an elite sniper?" Drawing a parallel to himself and his own father, Yasopp, Usopp deduced.
"No, Napo's father was also a merchant. He was the previous president of the Canary Trading Company," Madame Emily said softly.
"The previous president? Then where is he now..." Before he could finish his sentence, Chopper suddenly realized something and clamped his small hooves over his mouth in shock.
"Yes. Right before Napo was born, his father was taken from us forever in a shipwreck." Staring into the black tea in her cup, Madame Emily's pale cheeks took on an expression of deep sorrow.
"Napo grew up without a father, so I've always spoiled him. He loves shooting, so I had many cannons installed on the ship. Looking back now, I suppose I've coddled him a bit too much..."
(Ah, so that's why. No wonder that ship is called the Napo...) Shuraiya thought to himself, silently deadpanning from behind Madame Emily.
Listening to Madame Emily's story, the highly emotional bunch—Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Sanji—gradually got swept up in her feelings. Melancholy washed over their faces, and tears began to well up in their eyes.
(What a great mother!) they all thought in unison.
(Using people's sympathy to gain the upper hand in the upcoming negotiations... This Madame Emily is quite calculating.) Sherlock thought, gently pushing up his glasses.
As a successful merchant, what was required was an absolutely cold, calculated greed; thus, Sherlock's will and emotions were rarely swayed by others. However, he could tell that Madame Emily wasn't lying, so he chose to keep quiet.
"I'm so sorry. Whenever my husband comes up, I just can't control my emotions." Madame Emily wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes, composing herself.
"As you've probably noticed, the Canary Trading Company is a registered trading company with a Penguin Membership. Even though you aren't registered Penguin pirates, you still need to follow the rules laid down by the Oswald Family in these waters, otherwise things will get very troublesome."
"So for this compensation, let's settle it according to the rules established by Penguin. What do you think?"
"A Penguin Membership?" Sanji's curly eyebrow twitched slightly.
"Hold on a second. I can understand a registered trading company, but what on earth is a 'registered pirate'?" Nami asked, completely baffled.
"Yeah! Since when do pirates need to register?!" Luffy's brow furrowed deeply. In his mind, pirates were supposed to be the freest people in the world.
Though Luffy didn't understand what a registered pirate actually was, the dimwitted captain could acutely sense that it definitely had nothing to do with freedom.
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