After Rayleigh left the tavern, Lin Mo also stepped out.
Seeing that it was still early, he wandered along the coast and found a relatively quiet little beach. Behind a rock by the shore, he retrieved a lounge chair from his system's inventory, laid down comfortably, and prepared for a nap.
But just a few minutes after he dozed off...
Soft footsteps approached from the distance.
"Huh? Such a nice spot, and you got here first?"
A lazy voice drifted into Lin Mo's ears.
Lin Mo frowned slightly.
That voice... was Aokiji, wasn't it?
Uninterested in responding, Lin Mo didn't even open his eyes. He turned his head the other way and went back to sleep.
Aokiji smirked but didn't say more. He simply stood beside Lin Mo, put on a sleep mask, and dozed off standing straight.
Time passed, minute by minute.
Behind the rock, the two of them—one big, one small—slept soundly.
Meanwhile, a pirate ship slowly approached the seemingly deserted beach.
After docking at the shore, several dozen people dressed in low-key plain clothes silently disembarked from the ship and cautiously made their way toward the town.
As they passed by the rock and spotted the two figures behind it, they froze.
"What's with these two?" a young man in a tricorn hat asked nervously. "Boss, they might have seen us. Should we... take them out?"
The pirate captain—a burly man with a scraggly beard and an unfortunately rough appearance—smacked the youth on the head.
"Idiot. They're clearly asleep. If they didn't see us, don't wake them. Keep your voice down."
"But boss, what if they're just pretending? Let me go check."
"Yeah, let Little Jia take a look. If they're faking, they'll report us to the Navy the moment we leave. We could be arrested right away."
"Boss, just stay here. I'll go check it out."
"Idiot, don't go over there!" the bearded captain tried to stop him.
But Little Jia was already creeping toward Lin Mo and Aokiji, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"I'm going in," he whispered nervously back at the captain.
The bearded man facepalmed in frustration.
Meanwhile, the other crew members were visibly excited.
"Go, Little Jia! Show those guys what you've got!"
"Don't chicken out. Be a man. Don't let us down!"
"Haha, even if they don't die, they'll at least get hurt."
"Hmm... Wait, don't you guys think that man sleeping standing up looks kinda familiar?"
"Old Bu, your eyes are going bad. Everyone looks familiar to you."
On Lin Mo's side—
He and Aokiji had already sensed the pirates before they even came ashore.
Since the pirates had tried to stay quiet and hadn't made a move to disturb them, Lin Mo decided to let it slide.
But now…
Despite saying "keep it quiet," the group wouldn't stop whispering and making a fuss. Lin Mo was getting annoyed.
Little Jia finally arrived in front of Lin Mo and Aokiji. After hesitating for a moment between the two, he carefully reached his sword toward Lin Mo.
Just as the tip of his blade was less than five centimeters from Lin Mo's face—
Lin Mo suddenly opened his eyes.
Startled, Little Jia's hand trembled, and his sword slipped from his grip.
"Huh? Why haven't you guys left yet?" Aokiji pulled up his sleep mask, lazily staring at Little Jia.
Terrified, Little Jia's knees gave out, and he collapsed on the ground. "T-they were faking it, boss! What do we do now? Should we kill them?"
He looked toward the bearded captain with a pleading expression.
The captain's face turned pale. "Come back here now!"
Little Jia immediately scrambled back to the captain on hands and knees, right in front of Lin Mo and Aokiji.
Visibly nervous, the captain said, "You two better not try anything funny. I'm a pirate with thirty men under my command. There's only two of you. You don't stand a chance. As long as you don't report us to the Navy, we'll let you go."
"The Navy, huh?" Lin Mo let out a cold chuckle and pointed to Aokiji. "He is."
"What?!" the pirates gasped in shock.
Aokiji scratched his head and replied lazily, "I did promise Smoker I'd help him catch some pirates... but that's on the day of Roger's memorial. I'm not interested right now, so get lost. I'm not in the mood to arrest you."
"He's really with the Navy?!"
"Oh no, this is so unlucky! We just got here, and we already ran into a Navy guy. We're screwed. He's definitely gonna report us."
"Wait—I remember now! He is with the Navy! I saw him in the newspaper recently! That's Admiral Aokiji!"
"What?! An admiral?! Old Bu, you're joking, right?!"
"I swear it's true! That's Admiral Aokiji from Marine Headquarters!"
"We're dead. A Marine Admiral could wipe us out with a single finger. Boss, what do we do?!"
The pirates were now in complete chaos...
A bead of cold sweat formed on Aokiji's forehead as he said helplessly,
"I told you I'm not here to arrest anyone. Can't you people just listen to me?"
But no one was paying him any attention.
The pirates, including their captain, all wore expressions of pure despair.
"To hell with it. Either way, we're dead. Might as well go down fighting. No matter how slim the chance, maybe a miracle will happen. Brothers—charge!"
"Yeah! Better to take our chances than wait around to die. Let's go! Take them down!"
"Charge!"
As the group rushed toward him, Aokiji felt nothing but frustration.
He glanced over at Lin Mo.
Lin Mo had already gotten off the lounge chair, expressionless. He straightened his clothes, looking like a complete outsider to the situation.
Speechless 😶, Aokiji muttered,
"Seriously... I already said I'm not here to arrest you. Can't any of you just listen for once? You could've just walked away. This is ridiculous..."
The pirates were upon them.
Aokiji had intended to avoid a fight. He casually dodged a few clumsy, poorly executed attacks.
But finally, he had no choice. With a single move—Ice Age—a wave of chilling air surged out toward the pirates.
Amid a chorus of screams, every last one of them was frozen solid into ice statues.
Scratching his head, Aokiji sighed,
"What a bunch of stubborn fools. They really could've just walked away…"
Lin Mo gave a small laugh without saying anything. He picked up his lounge chair and started heading back.
Watching Lin Mo's retreating figure, Aokiji rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"That kid really is calm under pressure…"
Just as he was about to reflect further, the Den Den Mushi in his pocket suddenly rang.
He answered.
Garp's voice immediately came through the line:
"Hey, Aokiji. You went to Loguetown, right? Did you run into a kid named Lin Mo?"
"Lin Mo?" Aokiji scratched his head and replied,
"Yeah… He was just here a moment ago."