Chapter Sixty: Unexpected Incident

When he left the Baratie restaurant, Roland ultimately did not invite Sanji to join him. Roland knew that, in the end, he and Sanji were not meant to walk the same path. Because of his childhood experiences, Sanji could never turn a blind eye to someone starving, no matter the circumstances. In this, he was just like Zeff.

Kindness, Roland did not consider to be a fault, but excessive kindness could become a problem. As the story in the animation had shown, Sanji gave food to Krieg, who then immediately attempted to seize the Baratie. If Luffy hadn’t been there at the time, Krieg might very well have succeeded.

Such a simple truth, yet because Sanji had experienced hunger himself, he simply could not act otherwise. Before leaving, Roland had emphasized this problem to Sanji, hoping he would take it to heart. Although he disliked Sanji’s lecherous nature, on the whole, Roland did not hate this character. He did not want to find himself on opposing sides with Sanji one day because of pirate affairs.

He still held to the belief that not all pirates deserved to die, but if a dying pirate crew regained their strength thanks to Sanji’s help, only to go elsewhere and pillage and kill, how was he supposed to deal with Sanji and the people of the Baratie?

Sitting quietly at the bow of the boat, Roland sighed and cast aside these chaotic thoughts. Instead of worrying about what had not yet come to pass, it was better to plan for what was about to happen—for instance, how to negotiate with Smoker about joining the navy once they reached Loguetown.

According to Nami, if they followed this route for five more days, they would arrive at Loguetown, the city known as both the beginning and the end. Roland liked this description: the beginning and the end. For him, it would mark his own beginning, and also the end of this great age of pirates.

“Hey, Roland, why didn’t you invite that perverted cook just now? You seemed pretty interested in him,” Zoro suddenly asked, seeing Roland lost in thought at the bow. Because they had captured Jango and the Cat Brothers, Zoro and Koby had been freed from rowing duty, and were now a bit bored on the way back to the ship. Perhaps because he had eaten too much, Zoro was listless and kept yawning.

“We’re going to join the navy, not become pirates. We can’t just invite anyone we’re interested in to join us,” Roland replied.

“Navy, pirates—what’s the difference?” Zoro didn’t care much about titles; he had always pursued strength. Besides, his position wouldn’t change because of a mere label. Would he become a criminal just because someone called him a pirate? Of course not.

“I’ll explain the difference to you someday,” Roland said with a gentle laugh, offering no further explanation. For people of this era, there really wasn’t much difference between pirates and navy. Especially those who chafed at rules and longed for freedom—they loved the name pirate above all.

“This is—” When their boat came alongside Krieg’s flagship, Jango and the Cat Brothers were stunned with fear.

Though word of Krieg’s defeat had spread throughout the East Blue, no one really knew how he had been taken down. Even those self-proclaimed righteous marines, without seeing Krieg’s corpse, didn’t dare claim the credit. Now, at last, they knew who had destroyed the Krieg Pirates.

It was almost laughable that, after hearing Roland had killed the pirates aboard the Black Cat, they had once fantasized about avenging them. In hindsight, that idea was a joke. How could three little cats like them hope to challenge someone who had wiped out Krieg’s entire fleet?

“Mr. Roland has brought back more pirates!” “And they’re three officers of the Black Cat Pirates!” “I heard that ever since their captain Kuro was captured years ago, they vanished without a trace—who would have thought Mr. Roland would catch them all in one net today?”

The pirates on board took no special notice of Jango and his companions, joking among themselves as they escorted the three toward the storage hold.

“This is—” Once they were thrown into the hold, Jango and the Cat Brothers felt as if fate was playing a cruel game with them. Just look at the company: Don Krieg, the East Blue’s warlord, and his officer, Flame Pearl; Ruto, captain of the Steel Blade Pirates; and, from a few years back, the navy officer Morgan—who now seemed to have had his jaw broken again. Beside Morgan was a navy man in an officer’s uniform, whose shifty eyes made him look anything but honest. Beyond these, there was even a squad of navy soldiers imprisoned here. What was going on? Hadn’t that curly-browed cook at Baratie said Roland was a navy man? Then why were marines also locked up here?

“It’s you—” Enemies meeting face-to-face, anger was inevitable. As Jango and his men were led in, Morgan’s eyes flashed red with rage as he glared at them. He hadn’t forgotten that he had once been a justice-minded young sailor, until Jango’s hypnotism had warped his nature and turned him into a ruthless tyrant.

“Well, look who it is—old acquaintances. You can sit together,” a pirate said, finding the scene amusing as they shoved Jango’s group next to Morgan before leaving.

“Hey, you—are we about to reach Loguetown?” For the first time, Krieg looked up and addressed the pirates.

“That’s right. Why do you ask?” They had seen Roland’s might and no longer felt any pressure from Krieg, so they answered easily.

“Then your doom is near!” Krieg gave a chilling laugh, his sinister gaze making the pirates’ skin crawl as they hurried out of the hold.

“Still not willing to give up, Warlord Krieg?” Suddenly, Nezumi opened his eyes and laughed mockingly.

“And you—a navy captain—are you content to end things like this?” Krieg shot back.

Nezumi didn’t answer, but in his heart, he was far from resigned. Just a brat, daring to capture him—he would definitely find a way to take revenge...

Five days later, at dawn, Koby was so excited that he got up early from bed. Standing on the misty deck, he eagerly looked ahead, though he could see nothing. According to Miss Nami, today they would reach Loguetown, the town known as both the beginning and the end. But that wasn’t what had him so excited. What thrilled him was that today, he would officially join the navy under Mr. Roland—the dream he had always cherished.

“Strange, why is it so quiet?” Looking around the foggy deck, Koby suddenly felt something was off. Usually, when he got up this early, there were always a few pirates already up cleaning, and the wheelhouse lights would be on. But today, he saw no one, and the wheelhouse was dark.

“I’d better go wake up Mr. Roland.” Swallowing nervously, Koby mustered his courage and crept toward the infirmary. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but on the short walk there, he felt as if someone was watching him.

With the thick mist, his vision was limited, but the silence was so deep he could hear every drop of water hitting the deck. Water droplets? Koby froze. The kitchen was far from here, and the public restroom wasn’t nearby either—where was the dripping coming from? Swallowing again, his instincts told him to wake Roland immediately. But curiosity got the better of him—he wanted to find out what was making that sound.

As he hesitated, a voice suddenly rang out: “Well, look at that—someone’s actually awake?”

Behind him, a pirate with a scarred face appeared, holding a bloodstained broadsword and glaring at Koby with a vicious grin.

“You, you—!” Koby bolted, pressing his back against the wall, trembling with fear. Wasn’t this man a cook from the kitchen? What was he doing here? And why was his blade dripping with blood?

“What? Did that brat Roland really think I was going to follow him to Loguetown and march to my death?” The pirate licked the blood from his lips, grinning savagely.

“Don’t kid yourself—I’m a pirate, a killer through and through. Just because some upstart has a bit of strength, did you really think we’d obediently go turn ourselves in and die at the navy’s hands?”

“But—but Mr. Roland said that if you surrendered, you wouldn’t necessarily die. Only big-time pirates like Krieg would be executed!” Koby’s face turned pale as he stammered, cold sweat streaming down his cheeks.