Meanwhile, what was a certain straw-hat idiot up to?
"Damn it! That smelly cat runs so fast."
Luffy said through gritted teeth, glaring at the little black cat fleeing ahead, whose speed hadn't slowed down a bit.
The dimwitted captain was incredibly fast, but the little black cat that had snatched his precious straw hat was as agile as a phantom. The two of them chased and ran for quite a while, but far from catching up, Luffy found the distance between them growing wider and wider.
"In that case... Gum-Gum..."
Steel-nerving himself, Luffy suddenly stretched his arms forward exaggeratedly to grab a railing. He locked his eyes onto the "little thief" who had stolen his straw hat in the distance, and then...
"...Rocket!!!"
Whoosh!
His arms snapped back instantly. Powered by the incredible elasticity of the Gum-Gum Fruit, Luffy launched himself forward like a cannonball, hurtling straight toward the fleeing black cat!
"Meow, meow, meow?"
The little black cat obviously hadn't expected this human to use such a human-cannonball trick. In a panic, it scrambled to dodge. Though it managed to evade him, in its shock, the straw hat slipped from its mouth. The sharp-eyed and quick-handed dimwitted captain snatched it out of midair.
"Haha, got it!"
Luffy tightly clutched his precious straw hat and let out an excited cheer, but momentum carried him forward, slamming him straight into a boulder and embedding his head deep inside it.
After flailing around with his arms and legs for a good while, the rubber idiot finally pried his head out from the crevice in the rock.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch! Ahaha, I overshot again."
Despite crying out in pain, Luffy dusted off his straw hat as if nothing had happened, put it back on, and grinned widely. His idiotic smile was as carefree and thoughtless as ever.
Breathing a sigh of relief after successfully recovering his straw hat, Luffy looked around at his surroundings, only to realize to his dismay that he had gotten separated from Nami and the others once again.
"This is bad..." Luffy blinked, making a long face.
He had been so focused on chasing the little black cat that he hadn't paid any attention to where he was running. Of course, even if he had, it would have been completely pointless. After all, the dimwitted captain's sense of direction was only marginally better than a certain moss-head on his ship...
(What should I do? Go look for everyone right away? Uh, my stomach's growling. Maybe I should go eat first?)
Just as Luffy was hesitating, unsure of what to do next, a pungent odor suddenly wafted in from the distance.
"What's that smell?" The dimwitted captain frowned, fanning the air in front of his face. Although the odor was foul, it successfully piqued his curiosity.
The place where the little black cat had ultimately led Luffy was very remote; let alone Marines, even the distant searchlights rarely swept this area. Walking for a bit in the direction of the smell, Luffy actually arrived at the shore of the Navarone fortress's inner sea.
Under the bright moonlight, the calm sea looked as though it were coated in a layer of silver foil, shimmering with white light as a cool sea breeze blew past. From Luffy's angle, he could even see the intense battle taking place on the great bridge.
However, Luffy didn't pay much attention to the battle in the distance, because the dimwit's entire focus had been drawn to a pitch-black mass on the surface of the water.
This mass of black liquid was like a giant slug, squirming rapidly across the sea while leaving a long black trail behind it. The pungent odor was coming exactly from this thing.
As if sensing Luffy's gaze, the mysterious puddle of black liquid on the sea froze. Following a bout of twisting and writhing, it shaped itself into a tall, thin, blonde man.
"It turned into a person?!" the dimwitted captain exclaimed in shock. What surprised him even more was that this guy, whose hair covered both of his eyes, was actually walking on water as if it were solid ground!
This highly environment-polluting flex could be considered Rear Admiral Black Crow's signature move. Judging by the little stars twinkling in the dimwitted captain's eyes, the flex was working pretty well.
(Who on earth is this guy wearing the straw hat? Why does he look a bit familiar?)
Fred walked up close to Luffy, sizing him up from head to toe, while the latter stared back with wide, curious eyes, completely unbothered.
"Hey, who are you?" Rear Admiral Black Crow raised his chin, his tone quite arrogant.
"Me? I'm Luffy. The man who's gonna be the Pirate King!"
Luffy blurted out without a second thought. Picking his nose, he complained, "By the way, how were you just walking on the water? And your hair covers both of your eyes, can you even see what's in front of you?"
Sanji also had blonde hair covering his eyes, but he only covered his left eye. What kind of stunt was this guy pulling by covering both? The dimwitted captain thought to himself.
"Luffy..." Fred muttered thoughtfully, and then his entire body instantly froze!
Luffy?!
Straw Hat Luffy, the man who defeated Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and holds a bounty of 124,500,000 Berries? Is it really this idiot-faced guy?
(No, no, no...) Rear Admiral Black Crow shook his head vigorously, analyzing the situation in his mind.
(That pirate ship is indeed flying the Straw Hat Pirates' Jolly Roger, but the ones invading this time aren't the actual Straw Hat Pirates—they're CP5 agents disguised as them.)
(That long-nosed guy said he has several other comrades scattered across Navarone...)
Thinking of this, Fred turned his head thoughtfully and asked, "Hey, do you know a guy with a remarkably long nose?"
"Long nose? Usopp... Do you mean Usopp?"
Luffy eagerly pressed for answers. "He's my crewmate! Have you seen him? Where is he right now?"
(Whew~ Just as I thought. So this guy is a CP5 agent too...) Seeing Luffy's excited reaction, Fred breathed a long sigh of relief.
(These agents are really something else. Not only did they forge a pirate ship, but they even mimic the crew members to a tee. Especially that playing-dumb act—if I hadn't known the truth beforehand, I probably would have mistaken him for the real Straw Hat, too...)
Rear Admiral Black Crow was a highly presumptive person; once he made up his mind about something, it was very hard to change it. He had previously believed that these pirates were impostors and that Usopp was a CP5 agent. This time, he naturally took it for granted that Luffy was "one of his own."
"Don't worry, your long-nosed comrade should be heading to the dockyard right about now."
Since the other party was on his side, Rear Admiral Black Crow's attitude softened considerably. "I happen to be looking for him as well. Why don't you come with me?"
"Oh, oh! Thanks a lot!" Luffy grinned. "You're a really good guy."
"Hehehehe, I should be the one thanking you," Fred said with a chuckle, waving his hand as he began walking in one direction.
"After all, you guys are doing me a huge favor this time."
"Eh? We are?"
Following closely behind Fred, the dimwitted captain looked utterly bewildered. "Did we do something to help you?"
"Hehehe..." Fred was already well-accustomed to this playing-dumb act. He let out a soft chuckle and continued on his own:
"I heard from your superior before that a few of his subordinates had been undercover in one place for nearly five years, and amazingly, no one ever discovered their true identities because of how perfectly they played their roles."
"At first, I didn't quite believe it. But after seeing you and that long-nosed guy, I finally understand—someone's acting skills really can be so flawless that they can pass off the fake as the real deal!"
Smacking his lips with great emotion, Fred turned his head toward the Straw Hat boy and teased, "Is having superb acting skills the primary requirement in your line of work?"
"What on earth are you talking about?" Luffy blinked, completely puzzled. "And what does being a pirate have to do with acting anyway?"
"Hehehe... I get it, I get it!" Fred burst into laughter, his laugh as unique and unconventional as ever.
"A great man once said: 'To successfully deceive others, you must first successfully deceive yourself.'"
"You guys really are so dedicated!" Rear Admiral Black Crow praised from the bottom of his heart. As expected of the World Government's intelligence personnel, such a rigorous professional attitude truly puts others to shame.
"..." Luffy fell silent. He suddenly suspected that something might be wrong with this tall, thin man's head.
(If there's a chance later, I'll have Chopper check him out,) the dimwitted captain thought to himself.
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