Chapter 51 The pirate ship changed its flag!
The West Sea is the sea area with the most complex forces among the four seas.
If you were to ask which sea area among the four seas has the most pirates, which sea area has the strongest pirates, and which sea area has the most rampant pirates, it would undoubtedly be the West Sea.
In addition to the rampant pirates, the West Sea also has a specialty that the other three seas don't have - the mafia.
Simply put, it's the underground criminal forces on land. While there are also underground criminal forces on land in the other three seas, the mafia in the West Sea can even compete with the state for the right to speak. In other words, this is a complex version of Mexico.
In the West Sea, chaos and disorder have always been the norm.
Yet, in this chaotic and disorderly West Sea, there lies a paradise untouched by the muddy waters. That is the Mia Kingdom—Anger Town—under the jurisdiction of the 133rd Marine Branch.
The Kingdom of Mia is the most common archipelago kingdom in the world of One Piece.
The entire Mia Kingdom consists of sixteen islands.
These islands are large and small, and their total area is only 600 square kilometers. If compared with the current area, it is about the size of Seoul.
However, the economic development of the Mia Kingdom is far inferior to that of the first city in the Great Universe Kingdom, and the population of the entire country is only 150,000.
Among the thousands of countries in the One Piece world, the Kingdom of Mia is in the lower middle range in terms of both land area and population. It is also considered a lower middle-class country in the entire West Sea.
The town of Anger, where the Navy's 133rd branch base is located, is the easternmost island of the Mia Kingdom. It has an area of only 45 square kilometers and a permanent population of less than 10,000, making it a small town.
After more than ten days of sailing, the warship of the 133rd branch finally docked at the military port of Ang Town on a sunny afternoon.
A long wooden ladder was lowered from the ship, and Captain Kane led the marines aboard, slowly disembarking the warship. Kane, walking at the front of the group, stood straight, his upper body erect, his gaze fixed before him with a solemn expression.
The Marines passing by seemed to have great admiration and respect for Colonel Kane. When Kane led his team past, they all stopped and saluted.
This time when he went to the Naval Headquarters to report on his work, Kane only brought more than a hundred Marines, while the entire 133rd Branch had a total of nearly two thousand Marines.
Therefore, when Kane led the team off the ship, there were quite a few marines coming and going in the harbor. When these marines saw Kane and saluted him together, it was really quite impressive. At the same time, it was also obvious that Kane was really prestigious in the branch.
At the end of the team, Ji Guoyuan was surprised by the scene in front of him.
In fact, Yuichi Tsugakuin's first impression of Kane was not very good. It was hard to say why, but he simply felt that Kane was a bit profound, unlike Garp and Zephyr who could be seen through at a glance. Yuichi instinctively disliked this feeling and did not like this kind of person.
This feeling of dislike became even stronger when he boarded Kane's warship and was assigned to be a "boilerman".
The task that should have been handled by a footman was being handled by a private. So, what about the footmen on board? Was the vacant position truly eliminated, or just eliminated on paper? This is a question worth further investigation.
Although the role of a servant in the navy seems to be insignificant, you should know that a navy branch of 2,000 people often requires a hundred servants. The annual salary, food and accommodation rations provided to these people add up to no small amount.
The funding provided by the Navy Headquarters to the branch is based on the establishment. Excluding rewards for meritorious service, the branch funding is a fixed quota every year.
If handled properly, the empty salaries of these hundreds of people could easily fill Kane's pockets.
It was precisely based on this suspicion that Yoriichi was not open with the Marines of the branch when he came into contact with them, and naturally he was on guard.
In Yuanyi's eyes, Kane is just a naval officer who might be drawing a salary without doing any work.
It is no wonder that Yuan Yi, who was getting off the ship at this time, felt surprised when he saw the admiration and respect the marines at the port showed towards Kane.
"Am I overthinking it?" Yuichiro thought to himself, his expression softening a lot.
After arriving at the branch, Tsugikuni Yoriichi and Cyrus were assigned to work under a sergeant in the branch.
"Tsugikoku Yoriichi, Cyrus, welcome to our 133rd branch."
"You have been assigned to my team."
"My name is Santos, and I'm your captain. Including you, there are 21 of us in this team."
"Come on, I'll take you to the dormitory. From now on, you will live and operate together with the other Marines in the squadron."
Sergeant Santos was a young man in his early twenties, about 180cm tall, with a strong build and honest looks. He warmly welcomed the new members of the team, Yuichiro Tsugikuni and Cyrus.
Yunyi greeted Santos politely, acting neither distant nor familiar, just like an ordinary colleague. Cyrus, on the other hand, was a bit more enthusiastic, smiling and greeting him.
"Haha, it's okay, you'll get used to it later." Santos thought that it was because Yunyi had just arrived, so he didn't care and enthusiastically led Yunyi and Cyrus to the dormitory.
Yuichiro and Cyrus were assigned to an 8-person dormitory. When they arrived at the dormitory, the Marines who shared the dormitory with Yuichiro and his friends were training, and the dormitory was empty.
Near the toilet, there was an empty double bed with bunk beds.
After Santos brought Yunyi and Cyrus to the dormitory, he pointed to the empty bed and said to Yunyi and Cyrus, "That's where you will sleep from now on."
"Upper bunk or lower bunk, you choose."
"Don't mind being so close to the restroom. The other Marines have already picked their bunks, so this is the only one left."
"We are in the navy, and we have to overcome this difficulty."
As Santos spoke, he helped Yunyi and Kyrus dust the bed.
Ever since entering the room, Yunyi has been looking around the dormitory. Neither he nor Cyrus said much about Santos's arrangements. After a quick look around the dormitory, Yunyi and Cyrus didn't let Santos work alone. After cleaning his bed, he threw his bag on the bed.
After cleaning, the two followed Santos to get bed sheets, quilts and other daily necessities, and quickly settled down.
After helping the two settle down, Santos did not leave immediately, but talked to Yunyi and Cyrus about what their team had to do every day.
The 133rd branch is stationed in Ang Town, but the sea area under the branch's jurisdiction is not limited to the sea area around Ang Town. The sea area radiating one hundred kilometers outward with the Mia Kingdom as the center is all under the responsibility of the 133rd branch.
Santos's team, besides training, usually patrolled the sea with other teams. If they encountered pirates, they would quickly retreat and notify the branch. They were an information unit, not a combat unit.
After understanding what the team was to do, Yunichi and Cyrus nodded in agreement. Santos then took Yunichi and Cyrus on a brief tour of the branch, giving them a general familiarity with the environment.
In the evening, Santos took Yuichiro and Cyrus to the cafeteria to have dinner with other team members. After a brief acquaintance with the team members, Yuichiro and Cyrus officially joined the team.
The next day, Tsugikuni Yoshiichi and Cyrus received their first sea patrol mission in the branch.
At sunrise, the patrol boat of the 133rd Branch was sailing on the sea.
Ji Guoyuan stood on the deck with a telescope in his hand, looking out at the sea through the telescope and observing the situation on the sea.
The sky is high and the sea is vast, nothing is unusual.
Just as Yoriichi was about to change direction, a black dot suddenly appeared on the sea level and appeared in Yoriichi Tsugikuni's sight.
"Um?"
Ji Guoyuan let out a light exclamation, perked up a little, and aimed the telescope at the black spot in the distance.
It was a ship without any flag or identification, and it was heading rapidly towards the patrol ship.
"It's heading straight for the patrol ship. What is this ship for?"
Yunyi was puzzled and called the captain Santos. Santos took the telescope and looked for a while before saying with a smile: "Don't worry, Yunyi."
"That's the merchant ship of the Luoluo Chamber of Commerce. It's probably heading back to the Mia Kingdom."
Santos handed the telescope to Yunyi and was about to leave when Yunyi suddenly asked:
"Captain Santos, is this really a merchant ship?"
Yunyi, who took the telescope, was looking at the ship in the distance. In his perspective, the "merchant ship" that was sailing quickly towards the patrol ship had already hoisted a flag with a pink skull pattern. No matter how Yunyi looked at it, he could not see what the merchant ship looked like.
“ju~~~~”
Not long after Yuan Yi finished speaking, a sharp whistle exploded from the air.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com