The King of the Near Sea aggrievedly moved over, rubbing its giant head against the skateboard under Tina's feet, and then swayed towards Luffy, looking like it was complaining.
"Alright, I know you've been wronged."
Tina patted the King of the Near Sea's head, then turned to Luffy with a stern expression and said:
"Looking at your clueless face, you probably truly don't realize it. Plus, since Tina intercepted you in time and didn't let you succeed, let's be lenient. You choose, either pay a fine of five hundred thousand Belly or spend half a month in the detention center?"
Luffy touched his empty pocket, "Fine? I have no money..."
Tina sighed, seemingly not surprised by the situation:
"Then there's only one choice, stay obediently in the detention center for a month. During this time, there might be some educational reform activities. If you participate actively, you might be out in just ten days."
She first handcuffed Luffy, then took out a Radio Snail, tapping a few times on the light screen that appeared above it.
Soon, a white escort car with the "Maritime Order Maintenance Force" emblem drove up.
Tina sent Luffy into the car, briefly instructing the driver, "Please escort him to the third detention center in East Sea, detain him for a whole month. Thank you, uncle."
"No problem."
The white-haired, one-armed driver lazily glanced at Luffy and nodded.
"I won't go!"
Luffy couldn't help but shout, "If it were just a few days, maybe, but a month? It's too much of a waste of time. I'm supposed to join the Galactic Pioneer Force and become the King of the Stars!"
King of the Stars?
Where does this foolish kid come from?
Tina frowned, "Stop saying silly things. Just cooperate honestly, and don't have any other ideas, got it?"
"Tina warns you, this uncle escorting you was once a very powerful person. For a grave mistake, he works this hard grassroots job for thirty years to atone. If you dare to think about escaping, it'll be easy to catch you. But then, you won't just be detained for a month. It might become two months."
"Understood."
Luffy got on the escort car with a pained expression.
After the escort car started, and he could no longer see Tina through the fence gaps, Luffy snorted, clenched his fist fiercely.
With that pink-haired beauty officer present, he had a bit of trepidation.
But with only an old man left, what's there to be afraid of?
As for those warnings from Tina...
Humph, he doesn't care about those. Right now, his mind is full of the fact that one month is just too long. He just wanted to eat meat; what's wrong with that?
As the vehicle passed an island, Luffy suddenly took a deep breath, and his rubber arm extended suddenly, grabbing a streetlamp on the island's shore, and he catapulted out of the car window like a slingshot!
"Rubber Rubber... Rocket!"
Luffy drew an arc in the air and landed on a deserted island a few hundred meters away. He glanced back at the escort car disappearing in the distance and grinned:
"Hehe, success!"
He turned to dive towards the center of the island.
Planning to use the dense forests here to hide for a while.
Then find another chance to continue towards Cocoyashi Town.
But in the next second, a golden light flashed by.
"Is it necessary? Young people just aren't honest."
A sighing voice sounded in his ear. Before Luffy could react, he felt a tightness around his neck and was lifted by an invisible force.
He turned his head to see the uncle driver standing behind him at some point, still wearing that ordinary uniform, but exuding a faint golden glow.
"Damn it..."
Luffy struggled desperately but found his neck and limbs firmly bound by gold light ropes like cords, unable to move.
Even using Haki couldn't break free!
Luffy's expression changed drastically.
This guy, so strong!
The oppressive feeling he gives is almost comparable to his grandpa!
"You... Who are you?!"
"Me? Just an ordinary driver uncle~"
The driver said leisurely, picking his ear with a finger, "Don't make it difficult for me. Miss Tina should have warned you, right? Don't think about escaping, now your detention period has doubled to two months."
"Now, behave, come back with me obediently."
The driver snapped his fingers, and the gold binds around Luffy's limbs snapped instantly, dropping Luffy to the ground with a thud.
He immediately sprung up, biting his thumb, eyes blazing with fighting spirit.
"You're strong, but I'm not that easy! Second Gear!"
Originally, he thought there was no one in the East Sea worth using this move on.
Now he had to use it!
Steam hissed, and his whole body started becoming scorching hot.
"Rubber Jet Machine Gun!"
Countless fist shadows hurled like a storm at Kizaru, each punch carrying a terrifying power capable of shaking steel!
However.
The one-armed driver in front of him just slightly turned his body, and all those punches missed, leaving a row of deep pits on the trees behind him.
"Too slow~"
The driver said lazily, his figure flashed, and he appeared behind Luffy.
Alarm bells rang in Luffy's mind, just as he wanted to turn around, a sharp pain erupted at the back of his neck.
The driver's hand chopped down lightly, seemingly casually, but Luffy saw black before collapsing softly on the ground.
Before his consciousness completely faded away, he only heard the driver's dragging, distressed voice:
"Really troublesome... I'll just have to put on the Seastone handcuffs, besides, now I've got to work overtime to write a report, sigh~"
......
When Luffy woke up again, the first thing he felt was the hard, cold touch.
He opened his eyes and found himself lying in a small single cell.
The walls were grayish-white, and the light on the ceiling was somewhat blinding.
The cell was small but clean enough, with a ground-fixed bed, a simple sink, and a toilet in the corner.
"Damn it..."
Luffy rubbed his back neck, which still ached faintly.
Just who was that driver uncle, able to instantly knock him out, that's too terrifying.
The sense of oppression given to him, even when compared to his grandpa, was about the same!
He tried moving his body, not bad, thanks to the foundation from when Ace made him practice with Seastone cuffs back then, he could still move freely, not to the point of lacking strength to walk.
"Hey! Is anyone there!"
Luffy grabbed the bars and shouted, "Let me out! I know I was wrong! But staying for two months is way too long, I still have to sign up for the interstellar pioneer forces!"
He shouted several times, but there was no response.
Instead, a lazy voice came from the neighboring cell, "Save your energy, rookie, the guards here won't entertain such requests, you'd be better off chatting with me, tell me why you got in here."
"Because I was hungry and wanted to eat meat."
Luffy looked down at his shriveled stomach, feeling aggrieved, "So I fought a Great Sea Beast, and got dragged in here."
"What a coincidence? Haha, I was also hungry and wanted to eat meat."
"But I didn't have money, so I had a grand feast at this restaurant called Baratie, and then got beaten up by the restaurant old man and thrown in here."
The person in the neighboring cell laughed loudly, "That old man, truly can't judge a book by its cover, his mastery of Haki is profound and incredibly formidable, heard he used to sail on the same ship with brother Shano, plus a bothersome golden-haired Curly Eyebrow kid assisting, I wasn't even their match!"
Indeed, you can't judge a book by its cover.
Recalling his own experience of being beaten up by an old man and sent in, Luffy was deeply touched and nodded in agreement.
But then, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he realized with surprise, "Eh? Wait, do you also know brother Shano?"
"Hm?"
The inmate next door was obviously taken aback, "You call him that too? What a coincidence? By the way, come to think of it, your voice felt familiar, like I've heard it somewhere before."
"Eh?"
Luffy was also stunned, "Now that you mention it, I think your voice sounds pretty familiar too, hey! Why don't you come forward too, stick your head out and let me see?"
Luffy clung to the bars, trying hard to stick his face through the gaps between the iron bars.
And the inmate next door, following the advice, got up from the corner, limped over, and squeezed his head out with difficulty.
Under the dim light coming in from the corridor, the two faces finally met outside the iron bars.
Luffy's first sight was attracted by the opponent's freckles, while the opponent subconsciously shifted his gaze upward, looking at the straw hat on his head.
Their expressions instantly became somewhat strange.
After a brief silence.
"Luffy???"
"Ace???"
The two almost simultaneously widened their eyes, gripping the iron bars, exclaiming:
"How come it's you!!!!"