"Boss, check please!"
Ginny was taking out Rowan's wallet in the flower shop when she looked up and saw him walk in. She blinked.
"What happened?"
Rowan thought for a moment before shaking his head slightly. "Nothing. I just came to see if you were done choosing."
With the Revolutionary Army being so busy, even though the date had already been set, Ginny hadn't had any time to pick out the things for the wedding.
It had already been several years since that reverse proposal he had overheard back then.
Their long-distance romance had finally come to an end, so he might as well not ruin her mood right now.
He had already discovered the danger, and with him here, there was no major problem. But on the other side.
Without making it obvious, Rowan moved to a spot where the flower arrangements blocked half the view and formed a hand seal.
A Shadow Clone appeared, transformed its appearance, and walked out of the shop.
He also needed to make a trip to the port. The other two had just returned carrying large bags and small packages. With the five people plus one Shadow Clone, they could ensure everyone's safety.
"I'm done buying. Let's go."
Ginny shoved a huge bouquet of flowers into Rowan's arms, then pushed him out of the flower shop and continued toward the next battlefield.
After all, it was rare to have someone else pay for her shopping today. Naturally, she was going to buy, buy, buy.
Meanwhile, Buggy the Clown, who was always more concerned about his head than his rear, suddenly felt a hand land on his shoulder.
"Who?!"
Buggy abruptly turned around, only to see a masked CP0 agent. His hand was already coated in Armament Haki as he firmly gripped Buggy's shoulder.
"Buggy the Clown, bounty of thirteen million Beli."
"Heh. As someone who was once a member of the Pirate King's crew, you're actually only this strong? You haven't even awakened Haki. Compared to that other guy, you're far behind."
Those words instantly sent Buggy into a rage. However, sometimes knowing when to yield was the mark of a wise man.
The moment he saw the mask of the man in front of him, more than half of Buggy's anger disappeared.
"Huh? Hahaha... I've got something to do, so I'll be leaving first."
Buggy waved his hand. "Boys, retreat!"
However, his group of subordinates were still completely dumbfounded.
What had they just heard?
Their unreliable captain had actually once been a member of the Pirate King's crew? How was that possible?!
But if that was true, then by stretching the logic a little, didn't that mean they were also members of the Roger Pirates?
The disciples and descendants were all part of the same lineage, right?
Buggy's face turned green. He was just about to roar at them and make a run for it when he discovered that the Armament Haki gripping his shoulder was far too heavy.
"You're a Chop-Chop Fruit user, right? So, you don't want this shoulder anymore? If I crush it directly into powder, it should hurt quite a bit, don't you think?"
The CP0 agent's threat caused cold sweat to form on Buggy's forehead. Although he was trembling with fear, he still had to maintain a calm and confident appearance in front of his subordinates.
"How could an agent of the World Government appear in a place like the East Blue? What do you want?"
The CP0 agent shook his head slightly. "For a small fry like you, even if you were once a member of the Roger Pirates, we don't really care. But if your existence interferes with our operation, then we'll have no choice but to kill you."
At those words, Buggy's eyes widened and his face went pale.
How could this happen?
He had only wanted to search for the treasure marked on the treasure map in the East Blue. How unlucky could he be to run into a World Government CP agent?
And not just any CP agent, but one wearing a mask. He had absolutely no chance of winning!
So, was his dream of treasure hunting going to end here?
Wait!
If interfering with their operation meant he would be killed, then as long as he didn't interfere, everything would be fine, right?
"We... we'll leave... leave this place."
Buggy thought for a moment before seemingly figuring something out. "So you're worried that killing us will interfere with your mission? With the way you guys operate, you should've attacked the moment you spotted me."
"So it's because you can't kill me in one hit? Slashing attacks are useless against me, while blunt force could interfere with your mission..."
As soon as he said that, Buggy's expression changed. "I figured it out, didn't I? Let go of me right now, or even if I'm reduced to nothing but a head, I'll shout out that you guys are here!"
The CP0 agent's eyes burned with anger because the pirate wasn't wrong.
The reason they hadn't killed this guy outright was precisely because they were worried about disrupting their original plan.
"Hehehe! Let me go, and we can leave quietly right away. Otherwise, I'll make sure your mission fails."
Buggy put on a fierce expression. "The World Government's intelligence agency, CP0, has extremely strict rules. If an extremely important mission fails, do you think you'll be eliminated directly? Gya-gya-gya-gya..."
"Shut your filthy mouth!"
The CP0 agent suddenly tightened his grip, and the sound of Buggy's shoulder blade cracking rang out.
"Crack!"
The crisp sound was followed by excruciating pain. Buggy immediately wanted to let out a howl toward the sky.
But then.
"Smack!"
His chin was forcibly pushed upward, clamping his mouth shut. Buggy's eyes widened, blood vessels bulging across them, but he couldn't make a sound.
In an instant, his body split apart and scattered, leaving only his shoulder trembling in the CP0 agent's hand.
"Ugh... uuuugh..."
Although Buggy had managed to escape the agent's grasp, he still didn't dare make a sound under the fierce gaze behind that mask. He could only hold it in until his entire face turned red.
"We'll leave. There won't be any interference."
"Ugh... Think carefully about this! CP0!"
Buggy's eyes were filled with tears of pain, yet he continued staring longingly at his own shoulder.
Even though it was broken, it was still a part of his precious body!
After thinking for a moment, the masked CP0 agent released his grip. The crushed shoulder floated back toward the rest of Buggy's scattered body.
At this moment, the members of the Buggy Pirates were all moved to tears.
Their captain, a former member of the Pirate King's crew, had actually refused to run away for their sake and was standing face-to-face with a top-level World Government agent.
CP0? Right, that was what their captain had just called them. Just hearing the name made them sound incredibly powerful.
And yet, even against such an existence, their Captain Buggy hadn't backed down in the slightest. He had confronted them head-on and negotiated with them.
Under the overwhelming might of Captain Buggy, the other side had actually released his shoulder without hesitation.
Couldn't they see it?
The other guy had exerted so much force that his hand had turned black, yet Captain Buggy hadn't made a single sound.
The great Captain Buggy had actually stood up to the World Government for their sake.
It was simply too touching!
However, before the crew could start praising Buggy to the heavens, their captain stopped them with a sharp and murderous glare.
"Ugh... Because of you guys, I gave up the treasure and even reached a deal with the World Government. Now shut up. Everyone stay quiet and head to the port. We're leaving."
So it really was because of them, his useless subordinates?
Captain Buggy was truly magnificent!
For a moment, all the crew members were moved to tears and tightly sealed their mouths shut.
The entire group surrounded their great captain and fled down the alley at full speed. Two of them even turned around before leaving and spat viciously at the CP0 agent.
"Phew..."
Although he had no idea why these underlings had such vivid imaginations, the masked CP0 agent was nevertheless relieved.
He took out the transponder snail that had remained connected the entire time. "The Buggy Pirates have left. Is the port ready?"
A voice came through the transponder snail. "The two rabbits have returned to their cage. The extermination operation can begin at any time."
"Standing by."
Time passed quickly, but to Rowan, it felt incredibly slow, so slow that he felt as though two whole days had passed.
The bags and packages were piled up outside the bridal shop. Rowan followed Ginny inside, sweeping his gaze over the surroundings as they entered.
There were quite a few of them.
His identity should be fine for the time being, and he had deliberately switched identities before coming out this time.
With that, the enemy's objective was obvious.
It seemed that there were still many factors behind the God Valley Incident that he knew nothing about.
After Uncle Kuma ate the Paw-Paw Fruit and encountered Saint Saturn, why had that man, who had always regarded human life as worthless as ants, let Kuma go?
And why had Ginny been abducted by the Celestial Dragons in his memories? Had the Blue Jade Scales experiment only begun the second time around, or had she already been selected before God Valley?
Rowan frowned.
Ginny, who was standing in front of him, frowned as well.
"Does this one not look good?"
Rowan came back to his senses. Since he had kept his Observation Haki spread out the entire time, he hadn't really been paying attention to the wedding dress itself.
"Hmm... I think you'd look good in anything, but honestly, the previous one was prettier."
Ginny looked puzzled.
"Really?"
She then went back into the changing room to put on the previous dress again.
At that moment, another woman entered the bridal shop, and the owner hurried over to greet her warmly.
"Miss, are you here to buy a wedding dress? We have..."
The woman nodded and pretended to browse through the wedding dresses, gradually moving closer to Rowan.
At the same time, she casually asked, "Boss, do you only have one changing room? I just saw someone go inside."
The moment she finished speaking, before the shop owner could answer, a flash of cold steel suddenly stabbed toward Rowan.
"Hmm!"
The short blade, coated in Armament Haki, cleaved the sofa in two with a single strike. The tremendous noise left the shop owner completely stunned.
"Th-this..."
The woman ignored her, her expression now extremely grim.
"Ah!!"
Ginny's scream rang out.
"Boom!"
Before she could react, the changing room suddenly exploded.
With a palm print on his face, Rowan walked out, dragging a horned man in his hand.
"Long time no see, CP0."
As he spoke, Rowan looked at the man in his hand.
"A Door-Door Fruit user. I really didn't expect you to prepare something like this. Without such preparations, you might actually have succeeded."
As he spoke, Rowan took out a Seastone nail. With a casual slap, he drove it straight into Bruno's mouth.
The next moment, his body vanished.
"Ah!"
The shallow blade at his waist was drawn and came crashing down.
"Bang!"
The short blade collided with it. Under the force of the Armament Haki covering the weapon, the woman was smashed directly into the ground.
"Boom!!"
The shop was torn apart, the entire floor shattered into pieces, and the woman's blade was cut in half. Blood covered half of her body.
"Cough!"
She spat out a mouthful of blood and stared wide-eyed at Rowan. "How... How can this be? Your strength...?"
Rowan had no intention of wasting words. The fury in his eyes was unmistakable.
"Hmm."
A flash of cold steel swept past, and the woman's head was cleanly severed, rolling across the ground.
Rowan grabbed Bruno with one hand and hauled him up. At the same time, Ginny emerged from the changing room in her new dress.
Ginny looked at the palm print on Rowan's cheek, feeling somewhat embarrassed. "I... I was originally aiming for that bull-headed guy, but you suddenly appeared... I'm sorry."
Rowan gave an arrogant little snort before turning serious. "It looks like your side has been exposed. I'll send you back to headquarters first. The entire Eastern Army needs to enter radio silence and wait for headquarters to issue the order to resume operations."
Ginny knew the situation was urgent. She nodded and placed a hand on Rowan's shoulder.
Rowan hooked his foot around the unconscious Bruno, and the three of them disappeared instantly.
Revolutionary Army Headquarters, Baltigo.
Inside Dragon's office, Rowan appeared and immediately gave his instructions. "This guy is a Door-Door Fruit user. His ability is extremely useful. Have the research institute isolate the Life Card's signal from him. Quickly!"
After saying that, Rowan disappeared again.
Loguetown.
When Rowan reappeared, he walked over to the trembling shop owner and deliberately softened his tone.
"A World Government agent died in your shop. They might kill you as well once they deal with everything else. You can use the chaos to leave first. As for all the damage to this shop, if you trust me, come to the port one week from today. We'll compensate you."
After saying that, Rowan bowed slightly. "I'm truly sorry."
The shop owner was almost scared out of her wits. The terrifying burst of power just now had made her feel as though she had witnessed a monster.
Even though that oppressive feeling had disappeared, she still hadn't recovered.
After hearing Rowan's words, she suddenly remembered that the shop she had operated for years was gone, and immediately burst into tears.
But when she thought about her life and the compensation, she managed to regain some composure. She struggled to get up and prepared to take the cash and leave.
The port in a week... Could that powerful man really not be a pirate? Should I take a chance?
By this time, Rowan had already left the bridal shop. He threw out a Flying Thunder God kunai and instantly appeared behind one of the agents.
"Hmm."
His long blade swung down. The tremendous force and Haki tore straight through the so-called Iron Body, sending the agent's head tumbling to the ground.
"It's the Cloaked Man!"
"The operation has failed! Retreat!"
"Get out of here!"
Amid the commotion caused by their exposure, the CP agents began retreating one after another, and an overwhelming hunt immediately began.
In the shadows, the three CP0 agents who had been waiting to provide support were stunned.
"The Cloaked Man? How?"
"It's that person!"
"The person who appeared after the target's ship arrived at Loguetown."
"He can change his appearance, and he can even create clones. He really could have done this."
"So... we failed?"
"The woman's purpose is already clear. It's perfectly reasonable for the Cloaked Man, acting as her adopted son, to accompany her while she chooses her wedding dress."
"So we failed?"
"Yes."
"And the CP9 Door-Door Fruit user was captured as well..."
The speaker murmured almost to himself, his eyes vacant.
All this time, the World Government had known nothing about the Revolutionary Army's Cloaked Man's whereabouts. There were only records whenever he actually appeared.
But as the Revolutionary Army's strongest combatant, there was no way he should have been staying in the East Blue.
What they never expected was that the woman who had been flying all over the East Blue dealing with pirate uprisings would immediately go to Loguetown to pick out a wedding dress and prepare for her marriage the moment she finally had some free time.
If they had known from the beginning that the woman's purpose in coming to Loguetown was to choose a wedding dress, they would never have made their move at this time, just to be safe.
"We were careless."
"We should have considered that the moment that mysterious person suddenly appeared, he might be the Cloaked Man."
At that moment, a voice suddenly came from the dark alley.
"So, have you figured out how you want to die?"
Before the words had even finished, a slash came straight toward them.
One of them suddenly enlarged his arm, coating it in Armament Haki as he confronted Rowan's slash head-on.
"Boom!"
The shockwave exploded outward, leaving the knuckles of his fist covered in blood.
Rowan held his shallow blade in one hand. "A specialist in physical combat? But how many slashes can you take?"
A black mark moved across the ground, but the moment it approached, they detected it and the three scattered in different directions.
After exchanging glances, the three reached the same conclusion.
Run!
----------
Advance Chapters: patreon .com/OneFic