The tense atmosphere made the surrounding air feel as though it had frozen. The gunpowder in the air between the two opposing sides was so thick that a single spark could detonate an earth-shattering battle!
(Why hasn't Captain Bairies come over yet?)
Gazing at the countless flintlock pistols floating in midair and the four men of the Straw Hat Pirates emanating terrifying auras, the pirates of the Trump Pirates couldn't help but swallow hard.
Even though their numbers were tens of times that of the Straw Hats, without their captain, Bear King, standing by to back them up, they didn't dare make a reckless move at this moment.
Maya shrank beside Nami, her face looking exceedingly pale as she watched the group of pirates who had once auctioned her off as a slave. She then took a deep breath, reached out her hand, and activated her Devil Fruit ability.
With a flash of white light, a broadsword instantly appeared in the blue-haired girl's hand. The moment her hands tightly gripped the hilt, the tension and anxiety on her face vanished without a trace, replaced by composure and calm.
This dramatic shift, turning into a completely different person upon grasping her sword, left the Cowardly Trio beside Maya thoroughly astounded.
(Huh?)
Sherlock suddenly sensed something. His eyes narrowed slightly as he turned his head to look at Maya.
The instant Maya retrieved her sword from her pouch space, a certain bespectacled youth once again felt that indescribable, bizarre sensation. Although it vanished in a flash, it was far stronger than what he had felt yesterday at the auction house!
Sherlock's expression turned grave. He was now utterly certain that his previous perception was no illusion!
(So why is it that this feeling only occurs now and back at the auction house?)
Sherlock looked around, gazing at the ferocious pirates surrounding them, and a sudden realization dawned in his mind.
He discovered two commonalities between the current situation and the auction house yesterday.
First: There were a lot of people present.
Second: These people's emotions were in a state of extreme excitement!
(But what is the reason behind this?)
Sherlock fell into deep confusion; all of this was simply far too baffling.
While a certain bespectacled youth was lost in thought, the pirates opposite them suddenly grew thrilled.
"Captain!"
"Captain Bairies!"
The crowd parted to open a wide path. Under the gaze of countless fervent eyes, a burly, towering man slowly walked out.
He wore a large black fur cloak, his exposed muscles possessing a steel-like texture. His facial features were carved in an extremely rugged style, with long whiskers on both sides of his sideburns. Coupled with his thick body hair, he resembled a massive bear.
Bear King Bairies—judging purely from his appearance, he truly lived up to his name.
"Is this guy their captain?" Zoro gripped his swords tightly, his expression eager for a fight.
"Hey! Are you the one who beat up my subordinate? Straw Hat kid."
Bear King spoke unhurriedly, the expression on his face dead serious. His burly, heavy build invisibly cast an immense pressure on those around him.
"Ah, yeah, I sent him flying!" Luffy admitted with extreme directness.
"Very well. You've got quite the nerve..."
Bairies' face instantly darkened as he surveyed the Straw Hat Pirates one by one. However, when Bear King's eyes landed on Nami, his expression suddenly froze, and he strode forward.
This giant's weight was astounding; every step he took seemed to carry immense force, causing even the ground to tremble slightly.
"Aah! That huge guy is walking over!" The little reindeer let out a cry of alarm.
Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji stood as if facing a formidable enemy. Although Sherlock sensed no hostility from this fellow, with a thought, he still aimed all the gun muzzles floating in midair straight at the approaching Bear King.
"Um... well..." Bairies walked up to the Straw Hat Pirates, a shy expression unexpectedly appearing on his dark face.
Like a magic trick, he pulled a massive bouquet of sunflowers from behind his back. Under the bewildered gazes of countless pirates, he presented them to Nami, who was hiding behind Luffy and the others. Gathering his courage, he shouted loudly:
"You're so cute! I really like you! Will you be my bride?"
Listening to Bairies' public proposal, the surrounding spectators nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Never in their wildest dreams had they expected this grand pirate with a bounty of 150 million Berries to do something so completely absurd in such a tense, serious situation!
"What the hell?!"
"What in the world is this?!"
The development was so absurdly dramatic that it nearly caused many pirates' brains to short-circuit.
"Huh? A proposal? To me?"
As the party involved, Miss Navigator was utterly bewildered. She truly hadn't expected that in a situation like this, someone would actually propose to her face-to-face.
However, that didn't stop her from making the right decision.
"No way. Your body hair is way too thick; you're totally not my type." Nami rejected him without hesitation.
Having his proposal rejected, Bear King felt as if he had been struck by lightning. Deeply crushed, his face turned ash-gray as he collapsed onto all fours in a posture of utter defeat (Orz). With a loud thud, his knees hit the ground so hard that several cracks fractured across the solid floor.
"Sigh... As expected, Captain's proposal failed again. Wait, this is completely not the time to be proposing, right?!"
"Hey, how many times has this been?"
"Looks like it's the 3,984th time."
Every single member of the Trump Pirates palmed their foreheads in unison. Toward this goofy captain obsessed with proposing, they felt a heartfelt sense of helplessness.
"Hey, does this guy have water in his brain?" Zoro's lips twitched slightly. "Does he not realize the current situation? We're enemies right now."
"To think that intel was actually true."
Sherlock pushed up his glasses with a strange look, explaining to his companions: "Bear King Bairies has a weird habit: whenever he sees a pretty girl, he proposes to her. Unfortunately, no one has ever said yes..."
Maya nodded in deep agreement. "That's true. After they rescued me, he proposed to me too. It was precisely because I rejected him that I was sold to the auction house as a slave..."
"By the way, the one I rejected was his 3,921st proposal."
"Ehh? 3,921st?" The little reindeer gasped in surprise.
A drop of cold sweat rolled down Usopp's forehead. "That means in this past week or so, he's failed another 63 proposals! If nothing else, this guy sure has incredible perseverance."
"Hmph, if he actually succeeded, that would be a true miracle."
Sanji blew a smoke ring, looking at the ash-gray Bear King with the eyes of someone pitying an idiot, then at the sunflowers scattered on the ground, before complaining:
"Besides, shouldn't red roses be used for proposals as a rule? Why use sunflowers? Is it because all the roses were used up in his previous proposals?"
"Actually, the language of sunflowers is 'silent love,'" Robin, who had regained her composure, said softly.
She loved viewing flowers, so she naturally possessed a wealth of knowledge regarding them.
"So while gifting sunflowers during a proposal is a bit unconventional, it's not entirely inappropriate."
"What's with him? Turns out this guy's just an idiot~"
Luffy blinked, resting his hands behind his head as he looked at Bairies with a face full of disdain, as if the latter had done something immensely stupid.
Hearing this, Zoro and the others all turned their heads to look at their captain with extremely strange expressions.
(To think the day would come when this idiot captain calls someone else an idiot,) everyone thought secretly to themselves.
Right after, this rubber dunderhead added another line.
"...To actually dare marry Nami, he's stupid to the extreme."
Σ(Δ°ΙΙΙ)
The expressions on Sanji's and the others' faces instantly became priceless. Even as calm as Robin was, several dark lines appeared on her forehead.
"Luffy~~~" came a voice suppressing boundless fury.
"Ah? What is it, Nami?" Luffy turned his head, only to see an iron fist rapidly filling his entire field of vision!
BOOM!!! A ferocious punch that was even more brutal than the one Luffy had dealt Ratledge earlier!
"To actually? What do you mean 'to actually'?!"
In her enraged state, Nami was like an Asura reincarnated. Pointing at their now-knocked-out dunderhead captain, she roared with razor-sharp teeth: "I'm so cute and have a great figure! Isn't proposing to me the most normal thing ever?! How is that 'stupid to the extreme'?!"
(She actually knocked out her own captain with one punch?!)
(Could she be the hidden trump card of the Straw Hats?!)
(Just what kind of terrifying person is this orange-haired woman?!)
Seeing this scene, the surrounding clueless spectators wore expressions of utter horror. They had only heard an ear-grating thud, and then the pirates discovered in terror that the Straw Hat with a bounty of 124.5 million Berries had been KO'd in a single hit by a delicate, pretty girl!
(This is truly stupid beyond belief...) Sherlock let out a sigh, closed his eyes, and gently pushed up his glasses.
At this point, both captains with bounties over 100 million were out cold—and both had fallen at the hands of the exact same woman...
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