The Strongest Lunarian in One Piece

Bang… bang…

"The Navy is here!"

"Gulp! That warship… no way!"

"Damn it, it's Iron Fist Garp! Run!"

"Captain, our ship has been sunk!"

"Damn, a big shot has arrived?"

"Take the back roads! Retreat!"

Meanwhile, in the first half of the Grand Line, on a smoke-filled, chaotic island:

A pirate ship was struck directly by a series of incoming cannonballs, blasted into pieces, engulfed in flames, and gradually sank into the sea.

On the island, the pirates who had been looting the village froze for a moment before realizing what was happening. Seeing the Navy's dog-headed warship approaching, they panicked and fled in disarray.

"The pirates are running!"

"Rescue the injured civilians first!"

"Pursue them! Don't let these pirates escape!"

As the Navy ship docked, armed marines rushed ashore. One group attended to the injured villagers, while others combed the area in search of the fleeing pirates.

"Thank you, Navy officers…"

The injured village chief, wrapped in bandages, led the terrified but surviving villagers to the harbor. They bowed deeply to Iron Fist Garp, who had just stepped off the warship.

"We're so grateful! You arrived just in time!"

"No need to thank us. This is what the Navy is supposed to do," Garp replied. Then he asked, "Are you all okay? Those lawless pirates were acting far too brazenly!"

"No, we're fine, aside from a few injuries sustained while trying to negotiate with those ruthless pirates," the village chief said hastily, his face bruised and swollen. "Thanks to your timely arrival, the pirates ran away!"

"Bwahahaha, that's good to hear!" Garp laughed heartily.

"Stay still!"

"Pirates, don't even think about escaping…"

"Quit dragging your feet! Move faster!"

In less than half an hour, several marines returned with some captured pirates—those who had been intentionally left behind as decoys or who hadn't managed to escape in time.

"Vice Admiral Garp…" A Navy major hurried over, saluting Garp.

"We only captured a few small fry. The leader, Hammer Krieg, with a bounty of 30 million berries, and his officers fled as soon as they saw us."

"They escaped? Clever little rats," Garp muttered, raising an eyebrow. Then he waved it off. "Prepare to pull out!"

"Yes, sir!"

"What?"

"Vice Admiral Garp?"

"The Navy Vice Admiral with a bounty of 2 billion berries?"

"2 billion berries…"

Hearing this, the village chief and the other villagers froze, their eyes widening as they turned to stare at Iron Fist Garp. Their eyes gleamed with greed, and they swallowed hard. That bounty… how many lifetimes could it sustain them?

"Bwahahaha! Seems like I'm pretty famous!"

Noticing the odd looks, Garp furrowed his brow slightly but still laughed with his usual carefree attitude.

Bang!

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out. A bullet whistled through the air, aimed straight at Garp. However, he dodged it effortlessly.

"Damn it…"

"There's a gunman!"

"Is it a pirate?"

In an instant, the well-trained marines sprang into action, rushing toward the source of the gunfire. Soon, they apprehended the shooter, who had been hiding in the shadows and was attempting to flee. Dragging him forward, they restrained him in front of everyone.

"Wait, this must be a misunderstanding!" the village chief exclaimed, panicking as he hurried forward to explain. "Vice Admiral Garp, he's not a pirate… he's one of our village hunters!"

"But he was definitely the one who just attempted to ambush Vice Admiral Garp. We searched the entire area thoroughly—there's no one else it could've been!" the lead marine officer retorted, frowning.

"Yes, yes, I drank too much yesterday and passed out in the woods," stammered the hunter, a scruffy man in his thirties with a face full of stubble. "The sound of cannon fire woke me up, and because I was still hungover and groggy, I thought pirates were causing trouble. I must've mistaken you for them and fired by instinct…"

"I swear, it's all just a big misunderstanding!"

"What kind of joke is this?"

"Still groggy? Mistook us for pirates?"

"You look perfectly alert to me!"

A dark-faced marine glared at the hunter, his eyes blazing with anger. With recent events—where many naval officers had been assassinated by civilians and opportunists, driven by the massive bounties posted by Totto Land—it was obvious to the marines that greed had driven this man to attempt an assassination on Vice Admiral Garp for the 20 billion berry bounty.

"Papa!"

At that moment, a frail, malnourished girl wearing tattered, patched-up clothes stumbled forward. Clinging to her father's leg, she began sobbing, "You bad people, let go of my papa!"

"Get out of the way!" a marine barked, forcefully pulling the pale, sickly girl aside.

"Let me go! I'm not a pirate!"

The restrained hunter twisted and struggled, shouting desperately, "Aren't you marines supposed to protect us? How can you just arrest an innocent man? I'm a law-abiding citizen!"

"Did we get the wrong guy?"

Garp frowned, his expression serious as he stared intently at the hunter. The man broke out in a cold sweat but forced himself to appear calm and argued stiffly, "Yes, it's a misunderstanding!"

Stealing a glance at his daughter, who had been roughly shoved to the ground and was now sobbing uncontrollably, and then at the poorly dressed villagers—clearly impoverished—Garp's stern face suddenly softened.

"Bwahahaha!" Garp burst into laughter, tears welling in his eyes. "If it's a misunderstanding, then let him go!"

"Vice Admiral Garp—"

The marines were stunned, utterly baffled by Garp's words. It was painfully obvious that the man had tried to assassinate him.

"Let him go…" Garp's laughter faded as he turned and walked toward the warship, his broad shoulders slumping slightly as if weighed down by fatigue. "We're leaving. Withdraw the troops."

"Y-Yes, sir…"

Despite their reluctance, the marines obeyed the order. They released the hunter who had attempted to assassinate their vice admiral and began boarding the ship, which soon departed from the harbor…

"Koos, you idiot! What were you thinking?"

Watching the warship disappear into the distance, the village chief turned on the hunter, his voice filled with both anger and exasperation. Pointing at the man, who was now trembling and slumped on the ground, the chief scolded him harshly:

"Do you have any idea who that was? You thought you could kill someone like him? 2 billion berries! Sure, everyone's tempted by such an enormous bounty, but if it were that easy to claim, don't you think one of those powerful pirates would've done it already? Why would they run?"

"Chief, I… I didn't have a choice…"

The hunter, Koos, hugged his frail daughter tightly, tears streaming down his face as he muttered helplessly, "Lisa's mother ran off with some scumbag years ago. My daughter has been sickly since birth, and the medical bills every month are killing me…

"Half of the little money I make from hunting goes straight to paying that damn 'Heavenly Tribute' to keep the Celestial Dragons living in luxury. I can't make ends meet anymore. If it weren't for Lisa, I would've gone out to sea as a pirate myself!

"This damned world!"

His voice choked as he looked at his daughter's pale, malnourished face and wept bitterly.

~~~

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