"Report to Colonel Nezumi! We've found traces of the stolen property!"
Nami's treasure wasn't buried very deep. The Marines, who had come prepared, only needed a few thrusts of their shovels to unearth wooden crates with slightly rotted surfaces. They pried them open, and the glint of gold and colorful jewelry instantly illuminated the faces of the soldiers.
"Haul it all out!"
Colonel Nezumi's eyes sparkled with greed, his expression twitching with excitement.
"Put it down! Put it all down! Don't touch it! That treasure is mine! It belongs to Cocoyasi Village!"
Nami shrieked and lunged forward, kicking away the Marines who were unearthing the treasure and shielding the wooden crates with her body.
Even though Grandpa Rowan had completely dealt with the Arlong Pirates, Cocoyasi Village was in ruins after years of brutal oppression. This money was the seed fund meant to rebuild her home. How could she let these loathsome people take it for nothing?
Colonel Nezumi snorted, his voice turning dark. "Men, pin this yellow-haired brat down!"
"Yes, Colonel Nezumi!"
Several Marines dropped their shovels and swarmed her. Nami, who had only just assembled her staff, was subdued in seconds.
"Nami!"
Nojiko couldn't bear to see this. She let out a cry and tried to rush forward to help, but before she could take a step, she was firmly pinned in place by Nezumi himself. Though he had been corrupted by Arlong and money, Nezumi was still the supreme commander of a Marine branch base; his strength was not something an ordinary civilian could match.
"Keep searching!" Nezumi ordered after securing the sisters.
Looking at the crates full of gold and silver, his mouth stretched into a wide, jagged grin. He had received intel on yesterday's events immediately. When he first heard the news, Nezumi had nearly fallen off his chair in terror.
The Godfather of the Marines, former Vice Admiral Rowan, had entered his jurisdiction and discovered the atrocities of the Arlong Pirates. The crime of condoning a pirate crew's reign of terror alone was enough to ruin him. Not to mention his illicit dealings with Arlong; if a man with Rowan's god-tier connections found out, Nezumi wouldn't have enough lives to pay the price.
But just as he was trembling in fear, his subordinates reported that the old man had simply left after dealing with Arlong, without coming to find him!
Nezumi had been overjoyed. This was why, the moment Rowan was gone, he had rushed to Cocoyasi Village. Even if Arlong was gone and their deal was dead, it didn't stop him from seizing the treasure Nami had painstakingly hoarded. In fact, without Arlong, he didn't even have to split the take. Treasure, after all, only brings peace of mind when it's in one's own pocket.
"Report! Found another crate!" "Report! Another one..." "Colonel Nezumi!"
As the reports of success kept coming, Nezumi's heart bloomed with joy. Money! This was all cold, hard cash! And it was all his! Based on Arlong's previous info, even if it wasn't a full 100 million Berris, it was at least several tens of millions.
100 million! That was enough to buy a Devil Fruit! If he just relied on his salary, how many lifetimes would it take to save that much?
Watching her life's work being dug up and piled around Nezumi, Nami's eyes turned bloodshot. She screamed inwardly with rage, but seven or eight burly Marines held her pinned to the dirt, making her unable to move. Tears overflowed from the corners of her eyes.
Nami couldn't understand it. They were both Marines, yet Grandpa Rowan's presence felt like a warm spring breeze, while this Nezumi was more loathsome than the Arlong Pirates.
"Chichichichi... So much treasure. This brat's skills are truly impressive..."
Nezumi was exultant. Although he had lost a powerful "partner" in Arlong, he knew the saying: "One mountain cannot hold two tigers." On the surface, he and Arlong were allies, but in reality, he was just Arlong's tool. He didn't have the power to control the Fish-man; if Arlong had grown any stronger, Nezumi would eventually have become a skeleton beneath his feet.
Therefore, hearing that Rowan had killed Arlong without coming for him made Nezumi happy rather than sad. With the Arlong Pirates gone, he was now the Emperor of these twenty islands! That "legendary Marine" with the fancy title was nothing more than his free laborer.
"Chichichichi!"
"Tsk, tsk. Colonel Nezumi certainly has a grand display of authority, doesn't he?"
Suddenly, a flat, calm voice rang out from behind him. To Nezumi's ears, it was like a sudden thunderclap in a clear sky.
Nezumi froze, his breath hitching. After a moment of paralyzed shock, he mechanically turned his stiff body around.
There, he saw the white-haired old man he hoped never to see again. Rowan was holding a tobacco pipe, puffing away with an easy air, and offering him a slight, pleasant smile.
Nezumi jumped like a startled rabbit, his body recoiling uncontrollably. He hadn't backed up more than a few meters before his legs turned to jelly, and he collapsed into the dirt.
"You... you... you... you..."
Pointing a trembling finger at the relaxed, kindly old man, Nezumi looked exactly like a rat that had just come face-to-face with a cat. In all the East Blue, only Rowan could terrify a Colonel into this state with a single sentence.
"You... you... you... what about 'you'?"
Rowan lowered his pipe and mimicked Nezumi's stutter with a light chuckle.
"Old... I mean, Vice Admiral Rowan! You... didn't you just leave?"
With the help of two Marines, the guilt-ridden Nezumi struggled to his feet. He didn't even bother brushing the mud off his uniform, instead using his sleeve to frantically wipe the cold sweat from his forehead as he offered a fawning, sickly smile.
Just a while ago, Nezumi had watched with his own eyes as Rowan and the straw-hat kid sailed away. To be safe, he had waited until their boat disappeared over the horizon before ordering his men into the orchard.
So why was this old man suddenly standing behind him?
Rowan nodded. "That's right, I did leave. But halfway through, I remembered I forgot to take something. So, I came back for it."
Then, before Nezumi could respond, Rowan's gaze narrowed slightly, and his tone shifted. "The real question is... how did you know I had left? And, as a Branch Colonel, why aren't you out on the sea catching pirates? What are you doing here with all these men?"
.......ONE MORE BONUS CHAPTER IS COMING........
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