Sami stared at the strange man in front of him—dressed in a formal suit paired with flamboyant floral shorts—and widened his eyes in disbelief.
"Who… is this guy?"
"Captain! This is the doctor I brought back!" the supply squad leader stepped forward excitedly, his face practically saying 'Hurry up and praise me!'. "And he's even a doctor from the Tower of Physicians!"
"A doctor?"
Sami and the officers all turned their gazes toward Hiriluk at the same time.
The outfit. The vibe.
This man looked nothing like the doctors they had seen in the Tower of Physicians.
Under their scrutiny, Hiriluk grew visibly uncomfortable. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, accidentally messing up the three cylindrical tufts of hair.
At the same time, he was secretly observing Sami.
The young captain with a bounty approaching 70 million Berries, who had just kidnapped a king, seemed even more… imposing than he had imagined.
Suppressing his doubts for the moment, Sami took the Log Pose from Hiriluk's hand. Without even checking it, he handed it to Hans beside him, though his eyes remained fixed on Hiriluk's face.
He frowned slightly.
"You… look a little familiar. Have we met somewhere before?"
Hiriluk immediately waved both hands.
"How could that be! Captain, you must be mistaken! I've lived on Drum Island my whole life. This is the first time I've ever seen an outside pirate ship!"
"With someone as impressive as you, Captain, if I had met you before, I'd definitely remember!"
Sami stared at him for two seconds.
Aside from a bit of nervousness and excitement, there didn't seem to be any obvious malice in his eyes.
"Is that so?" Sami replied noncommittally.
Then he waved to the officers.
"Isaac, Aldo—take a few men and move those crates of books to the medical room. Be careful. Those are treasures."
Then he turned to Hiriluk and jerked his chin toward the cabin.
"If you're a doctor, go with them to the medical room. You can familiarize yourself with the place—and meet your future colleagues."
"O-Okay! Yes, Captain!"
Hiriluk nodded repeatedly as if he had been granted a pardon. He hurried after the officers carrying the crates of books toward the ship's interior.
Inside, he sighed in relief.
That was close…
At the same time, he began thinking about how to continue maintaining his disguise aboard the ship.
Truthfully, it wasn't surprising that Sami hadn't recognized him.
The current Hiriluk looked very different from the ragged old man seen decades later.
He was only thirty years old.
Although his clothing was bizarre, his hair was still brown, and his face had none of the deep wrinkles he would later develop.
Right now he looked more like an overaged dreamer with unrealistic ambitions than the eccentric old doctor from the future.
It was perfectly normal that Sami didn't recognize him.
Meanwhile, Hans had already finished examining the Log Pose carefully.
He hurried over to Sami, a delighted look on his face.
"Boss! Confirmed! This Log Pose is completely charged!"
"Good!"
Sami's spirits lifted instantly, all other thoughts thrown aside.
He strode to the bow of the ship, facing the sea wind, his loud voice echoing across the entire vessel.
"Brothers! Raise the sails! Adjust the heading—!"
He swung his arm forward, pointing toward the direction indicated by the Log Pose.
"Destination—Alabasta! Set sail!"
"OOOOOH—!!!"
Cheers erupted across the ship.
Over the next few days, sailing went extremely smoothly under Hans's guidance.
They didn't encounter any of the extreme weather typical of the Grand Line—clear skies suddenly turning into blizzards or hailstorms.
It was obvious that after a year of harsh training and experience on Little Garden, Hans had begun to gradually understand the unpredictable temperament of the Grand Line.
"Captain! Bad news! Captain!"
"Behind us—two large ships!"
"What are you shouting for?" Aldo was leading routine training on the deck at that moment. He casually lifted a massive dumbbell while shouting without even looking up.
"We're pirates. So what if there are two ships? What's there to be scared of? Maybe it's a pair of fat sheep delivering themselves to our door."
At that moment, the lookout shouted again from the crow's nest.
"They… they spotted us! They're changing course and heading straight for us! They're fast!"
"I can see clearly now—it's pirate ships!"
Bang!
Aldo slammed open the captain's cabin door.
"Boss, something's off. Two pirate ships are approaching us quickly. They look hostile."
Sami immediately became interested.
He put down the medical book he had "borrowed" from Drum Island and walked out onto the deck.
Taking the telescope Feiqi handed him, he looked toward the sea behind them.
Sure enough, two fairly large pirate ships were following not far behind the Swordfish.
Their figureheads appeared to be some kind of dog.
Even more peculiar was their pirate flag—a simplified white dog skull with two crossed bones clamped in its mouth.
The moment Sami saw that flag, he blinked in shock.
For a moment, he even thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
"Holy hell… that flag… Don't tell me that's Garp? Pirate Garp? Is this some kind of fanfiction world? Or a sting operation?" he muttered subconsciously.
Then he handed the telescope to Cahero beside him.
"Which pirate crew are they? Anyone know?"
The officers and sailors on the deck looked at each other.
No one answered.
After all, the Grand Line was vast, and pirate crews were as numerous as hairs on a cow.
They had just left Little Garden and hadn't even stopped anywhere long enough to gather new information.
Cahero examined the pirate flag carefully through the telescope.
Then he lowered his head, thinking for a moment before pulling out a collection folder of bounty posters from his coat and flipping through it quickly.
"Boss, found it."
He pulled out a bounty poster and read aloud:
"The Doggy Pirates."
"Captain: Short-Legged Wena."
"A Zoan-type user of the Dog-Dog Fruit, Dachshund Model."
"Bounty: 73 million Berries."
Sami took the bounty poster.
The image showed a man with drooping mustaches, trying to make a fierce expression.
But due to his extremely disproportionate body—his legs being absurdly short compared to his torso—the overall impression was oddly comical.
"A dachshund… Devil Fruit user? Bounty of 73 million?" Sami chuckled softly.
A playful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Hah. His bounty's a little higher than mine. Interesting."
"So what now, Boss?" Aldo had already hoisted his spiked club onto his shoulder, excitement shining in his eyes.
"Should we show them what we're made of?"
"Not yet."
Sami handed the bounty poster back to Cahero and once again looked toward the two pirate ships drawing closer.
"Send a signal flag."
"I want to see what this short-legged Mr. Wena is chasing us for."
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