Chapter 77: A New Foe

“A noble title?”
Vivi’s brow furrowed slightly as she muttered under her breath, “Why does this knight immediately…”
Her impression of Garen plummeted; the flawless, radiant knight was suddenly reduced to a mere bounty hunter driven by profit.
After a moment’s thought, Vivi, still frowning, spoke up, “If you truly wish to become a noble, I can discuss it with my father. As long as you help me resolve this crisis, such a feat would certainly be worthy of a title.”
“She’s really playing her part…”
But Garen had already sidled up to Nami, whispering quietly,
“Exactly.” Nami turned her head, murmuring into Garen’s ear, “To hear such words from someone caught red-handed as an arms dealer is simply too suspicious.”
Vivi, oblivious to the strange atmosphere, pressed on, eager to recount her experiences.
“That’s enough!” Garen interrupted her rudely. “If you want to clear your name, at least come up with a better excuse, will you?”
Vivi’s expression froze, her words stuck in her throat. She finally realized that the knight before her had never believed her story.
Without the slightest pity, Garen continued exposing the holes in her tale.
“An arms dealer caught with a fortune of dirty money, who now claims to be an undercover agent infiltrating a criminal syndicate? And you say you’re a princess as well?”
“This plot…”
Garen paused mid-sentence, then muttered to himself, “This plot sounds familiar…”
He scrutinized Vivi’s appearance: her face was painted with heavy, deliberate makeup, her clothing far from the pure image of the princess he remembered, yet her silky blue hair was unmistakable.
He promptly changed his question, “Which kingdom are you the princess of?”
Frightened by Garen’s scolding, Vivi shrank back, replying timidly, “Alabasta.”
She quickly added nervously, “You might not know, being from the East Blue, but Alabasta is a great and civilized nation on the Grand Line…”
“Vivi?”
Garen called out her name directly.
“Eh?” Vivi was stunned, then asked in surprise, “How do you know my name?”
“So it really is you…” Garen asked curiously, “Why are you here in the East Blue?”
“Because there was an arms deal between Baroque Works and the Krieg Pirates. I was sent here on a mission.” Vivi answered honestly, then asked with interest, “You don’t doubt my identity anymore? Have you seen me before?”
Nami looked at Garen in confusion, “Garen?”
“You only asked for her kingdom and determined she’s a princess? You know her?”
“In a manner of speaking…”
Garen, with no resume to speak of, could only bluff, “I’ve seen her before.”
Nami was not so easily convinced and pressed on, “Then why didn’t you recognize her at first?”
“Ahem…” Garen improvised, “It was from a distance, long ago, and Vivi has changed a lot since then.”
The more he spoke, the more holes appeared in his story. Vivi herself found it odd: Alabasta protected royal privacy with the utmost care—since childhood, she’d rarely appeared in public as a princess except at world conferences, and she hardly ever attended meaningless noble gatherings.
Very few people knew the true face of Princess Vivi.
This was precisely how she’d managed to infiltrate Baroque Works as an undercover agent.
“Let’s not get hung up on these irrelevant details!”
Garen, clumsily changing the subject, pressed, “Vivi, what trouble have you run into? Tell us clearly!”
This question struck at the heart of Vivi’s worries, so she set aside her doubts and, with a grave expression, began to explain: “It’s like this, and like that…”
“A massive rebellion at home? A powerful, well-organized criminal syndicate? A mysterious leader whose identity remains unknown?”
Nami summarized the key points of Vivi’s account, visibly shaken. Such a crisis was well beyond her previous understanding of ‘trouble.’
She hesitated, glancing at Garen, but Garen agreed at once, without hesitation, “I’ll help you.”
“What?”
Nami stared, astonished. “Think carefully before you speak! You’re about to take on a major criminal syndicate from the Grand Line! Even Arlong or Krieg would just be a low-ranking officer in such a group!”
“I know.”
Garen’s expression didn’t change; his voice brimmed with resolve:
“When duty calls, I will not bend to power or be swayed by profit. No matter the odds, I will go.”
His concise, powerful words brought tears to Vivi’s eyes. The knight of justice she’d dreamed of seemed to have stepped into reality.
“Sigh… He’s at it again with his fine words!” Nami muttered helplessly, but her eyes gradually grew as resolute as Garen’s.
.....................................................................
A few days later, in the Goa Kingdom.
Inside a certain noble’s mansion, a muscular, bald man sat in quiet meditation.
“Mr. 1!”
A woman’s voice rudely interrupted his contemplation of swordsmanship.
“What is it?”
Mr. 1’s face was expressionless, his tone as cold as ice. “Is there a change to our mission?”
“It doesn’t concern us.”
Miss Doublefinger raised her brows with a hint of mockery in her voice,
“It’s the trainee’s mission that’s gone awry.”
“A weakling is always a weakling—never does anything right.”
Sneering at the weak was Miss Doublefinger’s trademark.
Mr. 1 disliked this, but the taciturn man, sharp as a blade, never wasted words. He simply asked in terse fashion, “What happened?”
“She’s lost contact with the organization.”
Miss Doublefinger continued, “And Baroque Works has already sent the latest intelligence from the East Blue: the Krieg Pirates have been wiped out.”
“And the one responsible is that so-called righteous knight.”
“Him?”
Mr. 1’s brows furrowed slightly. “What do you plan to do?”
Miss Doublefinger flicked her voluminous dark-blue hair back, answering with complete indifference,
“Obviously, I’m going to settle the score and make that man cough up the money he took from Baroque Works!”
“Baroque Works’ business isn’t something just anyone can meddle with.”
She added, dissatisfied, “That useless little girl—who knows if she’s even alive. She ruined our reputation in the East Blue, and now I have to clean up her mess!”
Mr. 1, however, was not as unconcerned as his partner. He asked gravely, “You’re going alone?”
“Of course. I’m more than enough.”
“He’s just a glory-seeking upstart!”
Miss Doublefinger spat disdainfully, then declared with confidence,
“The intelligence from the organization was clear, wasn’t it? That so-called righteous knight couldn’t even defeat a third-rate Marine Major in Loguetown. As for his record against the fish-men… that was just riding on the coattails of the Marine headquarters.”
Garen’s abilities had been displayed before many. In Loguetown, he’d been thoroughly suppressed by Major Hammer, only winning after a long struggle with Smoker’s assistance. Many had witnessed this, and the details had been meticulously reported through various underground channels.
And this battle with Major Hammer had only happened half a month ago.
For a normal person, such a short time would hardly be enough to master a new sword technique, let alone improve one’s strength significantly.
Thus, Miss Doublefinger was brimming with confidence, not regarding the so-called righteous knight—renowned though he might be among the common folk—as a threat at all.
“Fine.”
Mr. 1 nodded slightly, then reminded her, “Be careful.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Miss Doublefinger cast a playful glance at her partner, whose muscular physique made him seem more warrior than assassin,
“It’s you I’m worried about, staying here alone. The client demands a perfectly covert assassination—can you actually manage that, with your style?”
Mr. 1 raised his gleaming bald head, his cold eyes boring into his partner as he replied,
“Don’t worry. Kill everyone present—that’s an assassination done right.”