Nami and Karina had followed behind and disembarked from the ship as well.
As they looked at the streets lined with all sorts of shops and goods, smiles of joy naturally appeared on their faces.
Nami walked up to Will and gave his arm a pat, confirming once again,
"Will, are you sure we don't need to leave someone behind to watch over our ship?"
She wasn't really worried about the ship being stolen—after all, they were about to replace it with a new one soon.
Her real concern was the treasure stashed aboard.
Will chuckled to himself, fully aware of what she was thinking, and replied,
"Don't worry, I'll keep an 'eye' on it. No one's getting their hands on anything on our ship."
"Well, okay then." Nami nodded slightly.
Karina walked over, hooked her arm around Nami's, and said with a grin,
"Alright, let's leave matters like that to our dear captain."
"As for us, we should just follow the captain's orders and go find a ship that can comfortably accommodate ten people."
"And once we're done with that, we've got shopping to do! There's so much we need to take care of, so let's get moving~."
With that, she tugged Nami along, walking quickly down the street.
Hearing the word shopping, Nami's eyes instantly lit up.
Without resistance, she followed Karina enthusiastically, waving a hand back as she called out:
"Then we'll leave the supplies shopping to you, Captain~!"
Seeing this, Will could only shake his head helplessly. He quickly gave up on managing those two women and headed off down a different street on his own.
They definitely needed to replace their ship. The one they were using now was already heavily damaged in many places.
And none of the three of them had any skill in repairing ships.
So instead of bothering with repairs, it made more sense to just buy a smaller, easier-to-handle vessel.
He wasn't exactly strapped for cash, and buying a temporary ship was more than doable.
Strolling leisurely down the middle of the street, Will looked around with great interest.
His mood was still excellent.
Not just because they had finally arrived at their destination—Loguetown—and were about to enter the Grand Line.
More importantly, during the journey here, he had successfully drawn a brand-new talent.
Along with a slight boost in both his mental and physical strength.
[Muscle Control: Possess astonishing control over all muscles in the body, as if every individual muscle fiber could move independently. Relaxation and contraction are incredibly precise, enabling the user to unleash the full potential hidden within the muscles.]
After acquiring this talent, Will's overall strength had once again seen a significant leap.
Mainly because the Muscle Control talent allowed him to more effectively utilize the potential of his Innate Strength talent.
It brought about a qualitative change in his ability to control his own power.
He no longer had to waste energy deliberately holding himself back just to avoid accidentally crushing someone with a casual squeeze.
On top of that—
This talent didn't just give Will control over his skeletal muscles; he could even manipulate his cardiac muscles at will.
Which meant—
He could easily accelerate blood circulation, distributing stored energy from food to the rest of his body at a much faster rate.
This allowed his body to perform at even higher efficiency.
It also granted him a boost to his immune system.
However, because the strength of his blood vessels was still relatively weak, his body couldn't yet withstand higher levels of pressure.
As a result, some of the ideas he had for improving his strength would have to wait.
Only after acquiring a talent that enhanced his vascular strength would those plans become feasible.
As for further applications and deeper development of this new talent—
Since it had only been a day since he obtained it, he hadn't had the chance to explore it much yet.
How much it actually boosted his combat power would have to wait until the next real battle to be truly tested.
After that ten-pull draw—
The 12,000 Purity Points he'd earned from the Bridge Kingdom, combined with the remaining 4,500 he'd already had, had now been reduced to just 6,500.
If he wanted to draw more talents and skills, he'd need to fight even more powerful opponents.
As he mulled over these thoughts, Will continued browsing the nearby shops with curiosity.
Unfortunately, nothing he saw really caught his interest.
Shrugging off the thoughts clouding his mind, he stepped into a large marketplace ahead—planning to buy a fresh stock of ingredients for the ship.
Meanwhile—
At the entrance of the Marine Records Room, Smoker stood with a cigar in his mouth, his expression dark.
He pushed the door open with one hand.
The moment he walked in, he snatched the Den Den Mushi right out of the communications officer's hand, then waved everyone else in the room out.
Once the room was empty, he immediately spoke up:
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, it's Smoker."
"I'm alone in the records room now. What's this important intel you mentioned? Hurry up and tell me."
On the other end, Sengoku didn't seem particularly bothered by the urgency. After waiting for so long, he instead spoke calmly,
"Look at you, all impatient again."
"Have you really not changed a bit after all this time stationed in Loguetown, Smoker?"
Smoker paused for two seconds, then said in a deep voice,
"You should know this by now, Fleet Admiral Sengoku. My temperament is what it is—there's no changing it."
Sigh...
Sengoku sighed inwardly but didn't argue further. Instead, he got straight to the point:
"Alright then. I'll be blunt—just recently, there was a major incident in the Bridge Kingdom in the East Blue."
"The Bridge Kingdom?" Smoker's brow furrowed at the mention of that place.
He had heard of it long ago and had even looked into it privately.
Which was why his impression of that place had always been rather poor.
Unfortunately, even though it was part of the East Blue—
As a mere Marine Colonel, he didn't have the authority or power to do much about it. So he eventually gave up on it, unwilling to waste energy stressing himself out.
Now that the place had been brought up again, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of curiosity:
"What exactly happened there?"
Sengoku didn't bother playing riddles. He laid out the full details of the incident.
However, the truth about the Celestial Dragon being killed was deliberately concealed—altered to say the Celestial Dragon had only been attacked.
That was an order issued by the Five Elders.
The death of a Celestial Dragon was absolutely not to be disclosed to any other Marines—not even the Admirals.
So Sengoku had no choice but to follow orders.
As things stood, the only ones who truly knew what had happened in the Bridge Kingdom—
Were the madman who killed the Celestial Dragon, the freed slaves who'd escaped to who knows where...
The head of the Photography Division who captured the photos, the Vice Admiral who reported it to the World Government, the Five Elders, and Sengoku himself.
Even Garp, who was already en route to the East Blue to handle the situation, didn't know the full truth.
Of course, that was partly because Garp—
Hadn't had the patience to sit through the briefing. He'd started dozing off halfway through.
Thankfully, when he heard the incident had happened in the East Blue and that someone powerful was needed to handle it, he immediately snapped awake.
He'd then stood up on his own and volunteered to take the mission.
As Sengoku's longtime friend, he knew exactly why Garp had taken it so seriously.
So Sengoku didn't try to stop him.
And while Garp might be unreliable in many ways, when it came to the East Blue, he was always serious.
Which was why Sengoku felt somewhat at ease leaving this matter in his hands.
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