In the end, Nami and the others still didn't agree to the plan that both Sherlock and Robin highly recommended.
Sanji was particularly direct in his refusal, his reason being: there were still plenty of charming young ladies on the Foxy Pirates' ship.
(This hopeless simp...)
Zoro and Usopp had dark lines running down their faces.
"Alright, since you don't approve, we'll drop it," Sherlock said, completely unbothered. He pushed up his glasses and continued:
"What we need to talk about next is the Fish-Man Alliance."
At the mention of "Fish-Men," Nami's expression instantly tightened, while Robin and Sanji also immediately recalled the group of ferocious-looking Fish-Men they had encountered the previous afternoon.
"The Fish-Man Alliance, as the name suggests, is a pirate alliance formed by three Fish-Man pirate crews."
"The bounties of those three Fish-Man captains are all close to a hundred million; not one of them is a pushover. Furthermore, because all their members are Fish-Men, they are extremely troublesome enemies to face on the open sea."
Sherlock reached out and pointed in a certain direction. "Also, pay attention to the sun-shaped tattoo on their bodies."
This massive underground cavern was divided into several levels. Following the direction the bespectacled youth pointed, everyone looked over and found a large group of multi-colored Fish-Man pirates gathered diagonally below them. They were separated from the surrounding human pirates as if isolated, looking exceedingly eye-catching.
"That tattoo..." Zoro recalled for a moment before dawning on him. "Why do the tattoos on their bodies look just like the ones on Arlong's crew in the East Blue?"
"Arlong's crew? Who's that?" Chopper asked Usopp, while Robin also wore a puzzled look.
The two of them had joined the crew relatively late, so they weren't familiar with what had happened in the East Blue.
Usopp briefly explained. After listening, Chopper and Robin looked at Nami with eyes full of sympathy.
"Back when we were at Fortress G-8, I retrieved a lot of valuable information from their archives."
Gazing at those arrogant Fish-Man pirates, Sherlock said softly, "From those records, I learned that the red sun-shaped tattoo represents a Fish-Man crew known as the Sun Pirates."
When the Straw Hats had accidentally stumbled into Fortress Navarone earlier, although the process was exceptionally thrilling, their harvest had been bountiful. In particular, the intelligence collected by the Marines over the years had given a certain bespectacled youth a much more intuitive understanding of the Grand Line.
"So, that means..." Cold sweat beaded across Nami's fair forehead. When it came to Fish-Men, Miss Navigator's heart was filled with lingering trauma.
"That's right. Arlong and those three Fish-Man captains all came from the Sun Pirates."
Sherlock nodded, adding, "And based on the Fish-Man Alliance's actions since its formation, it's not hard to see that these three Fish-Man captains, just like Arlong, are extreme racists."
"Oh, looks like all three of them used to be Arlong's crewmates, huh?" Luffy swallowed the food in his mouth and let out a carefree, heartless smile.
"Hahaha, what a coincidence!"
"Coincidence my ass! How can you still laugh right now?!" Usopp smacked Luffy on the head in a fit of rage, shouting loudly:
"Don't forget you beat Arlong back in the East Blue! As Arlong's former crewmates, and being so hostile toward humans, they're definitely going to seek revenge against us!"
"Phew~~~ Looks like we've angered another formidable enemy."
Sanji blew out a smoke ring. Having experienced it firsthand back in Cocoyasi Village, the curly-eyebrow cook was well aware of the Fish-Men's physical capabilities—far surpassing ordinary humans—and their matchless underwater combat strength.
"Even so, the Fish-Man Alliance isn't the strongest force in Hannabal."
Sherlock calmly pushed up his glasses, his eyes behind the lenses glancing at the blue-haired girl who was sitting quietly to the side, listening.
"The one favored most to win this Dead End Race is the Trump Pirates."
Maya's face paled instantly. The blue-haired girl still had vivid memories of the pirate crew that had sold her to the Carlo Auction House.
"For the Trump Pirates, besides those few officers with bounties over ten million, the one most worthy of attention is their captain: 'Bear King' Bairies, with a bounty of 150 million Berries."
"He's a Paramecia-type Steel-Steel Fruit user. His entire body is as hard as iron; ordinary attacks can't hurt a single hair on him."
"Oh? Steel, is it?" Zoro's eyes lit up upon hearing this. As a swordsman who had entered the realm of cutting steel, he possessed a keen interest in slicing through hard objects.
Sherlock smiled slightly, pulling out a stack of wanted posters from his Mirror Space, intending to introduce the officers of the Trump Pirates to his crewmates.
However, right at that moment, an oddly sarcastic voice suddenly sounded from afar.
"My, my, look who we have here. Isn't this the second-in-command of Baroque Works, the right-hand woman of Sir Crocodile?"
Hearing the sound, Sherlock and the others looked over and saw a group of ferocious pirates walking toward them.
The speaker was a giant fat man carrying a spiked club, his face thoroughly wretched. The upper half of his torso wore a piece of half-armor, exposing his round, bulging belly, and tattooed right on his belly was a strange pig-headed design.
"Wait, Crocodile has collapsed now, all because you betrayed your organization yet again."
The fat man walked up and stared at Robin, his triangular eyes brimming with venomous malice.
"Isn't that right, Nico Robin?"
Seeing that the newcomer came with ill intent, Zoro and the others immediately went on high alert, while a certain food-obsessed captain remained seated, burying his head in his food and completely treating the intruder as air.
The surrounding pirates also focused their attention over here, adopting a posture of watching a good show.
"The Roadblock Pig—Ratledge, bounty 47 million Berries. Former captain of the Wild Boar Pirates, currently one of the officers of the Trump Pirates."
Sherlock calmly stated the fat man's details before asking a certain dark-humored woman in a low voice, "Did you have a grudge with him in the past?"
"Mm." Robin nodded, her slender eyebrows knotting slightly.
"Before joining Baroque Works, I stayed on his ship for a short while."
"I see." Robin clearly didn't want to elaborate on the subject, but Sherlock understood what she meant.
A certain bespectacled youth was intimately familiar with Robin's past. Before boarding Luffy's pirate ship, she had joined numerous organizations, but without exception, every single one of those organizations had been destroyed. And the reasons for their destruction were all tied to this Demon Child.
Ratledge surveyed the members of the Straw Hat Pirates briefly, and then his eyes landed on Miss Maya, whose face was paper-white.
"Ha! So that Devil Fruit user female slave we picked up was bought by you guys! Looks like you Straw Hat Pirates have plenty of money."
The fat man sighed, spreading his hands and shaking his head in mock pity: "What a shame that you actually let this 'jinx' join you. I'm afraid you won't have many good days left."
Robin's face turned white in an instant, and Luffy, who had been gorging himself, suddenly stopped his hands, raising his head to stare quietly at the fat man opposite him.
"You damn fat pig! Who are you calling a jinx?!" Sanji slammed his hand on the table and stood up in a rage. Possessing a chivalrous spirit, he couldn't stand seeing women insulted above all else.
"Who am I talking about? Naturally, I'm talking about this woman who brings nothing but misfortune."
Pointing a finger at Robin, Ratledge slung his spiked club over his shoulder and said through gritted teeth, "This woman joined my pirate crew in the past, but she betrayed me in less than a week! My crewmates were all captured by the Marines, and I was the only one who survived!"
"Later on, she joined Baroque Works, but even someone as powerful as 'Desert King' Crocodile collapsed under this woman's curse!"
With every sentence the fat man uttered, Robin's complexion grew paler. Sitting beside her, Sherlock could clearly feel the dark-humored woman's body trembling slightly.
"Now, this 'jinx' who brings nothing but bad luck has joined your crew instead. Tsk tsk, I bet her betraying you guys is only a matter of time!"
"Considering you spent a fortune buying that female Devil Fruit user, I'm giving you a piece of advice out of goodwill: turn this jinx over to the Marines as soon as possible! Otherwise, Crocodile's fate will be your example—"
In a flash of lightning, a fierce punch brimming with boundless rage cut off all the Roadblock Pig's remaining words.
Accompanied by flying blood and shattered teeth, Ratledge's massive, bloated body flew backward like a cannonball, smashing every table in a straight line behind him to splinters before crashing heavily onto the solid stone wall.
Looking at how this dead fat pig's eyes rolled back, breathing more out than in, it was clear he was completely out cold.
One-shot KO!
Perfect!
The previously noisy gathering space suddenly fell so silent that a pin drop could be heard. Everyone turned to look at the straw-hat-wearing boy who still maintained his punching posture, the expressions on their faces ranging from shock to anger to bewilderment.
"Don't you dare insult my friend!"
Retracting his fist, Luffy adjusted his straw hat. His normally cheerful face was now filled with a cold, stern expression completely unlike his usual self.
"Robin is definitely NOT a jinx!!!"
--
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