Pirate: I have a Hollow living inside me!

There must be quite a few people who were forced to become pirates by the Navy...

Suddenly remembering something, Lockes asked, "By the way, you just said that colonel is about to leave Loguetown? Is another navy officer coming to take his place?"

The shop owner instinctively replied, "I don't know why, but a new naval captain has indeed taken over the position of base commander."

"Is the newly appointed naval base commander named Smoker?"

"I won't..."

The shop owner continued answering, but halfway through, he came to his senses...

Why should I answer the other person's question?

"You little brat, you're messing with me again? You better behave yourself!"

The shop owner felt cheated and was furious.

He raised his large, fan-like hand and lashed out at Rocks, intending to teach him a lesson...

'Snap!'

Then his hand was forcibly broken off...

After a moment of stunned silence, a sharp pain surged through him like a tidal wave, followed by the shop owner's scream: "Ahhh, my hand? My hand!"

"It's noisy."

Rocks smirked, flicked his finger to release a fake bullet, and the screams ceased immediately...

"Alright, there's no point in teasing you anymore, so I'll just send you on your way..."

Just as he was about to send the others on their way, Lox seemed to sense something and instinctively shifted his body to the side...

'boom! '

Just as Rocks turned to the side, a flame swept past him, striking the wooden dining table in front of him and leaving a charred crater in the surface...

"An ability user? Do they have accomplices?"

Lox looked in the direction from which the attack was coming.

A shirtless young man wearing a cowboy hat was seen storming towards them...

"..."

Upon seeing the young man's appearance, Lockes was also taken aback, a look of surprise appearing in his eyes.

I thought to myself, what a coincidence...

I ran into that old bastard Garp not long ago, and now I've run into his grandson here...

"Who are you? Why are you killing people here?"

At this moment, the young man walked out of a private room with an angry look in his eyes, staring at Locke.

It's as if Rocks did something to anger him...

In the young man's eyes, Rocks had indeed done something that angered him.

He actually killed the restaurant owner who had politely welcomed him and his companions into the private room, actively recommended the restaurant's signature dishes, and was very friendly to them!

Although the shop owner didn't look like a good person, he treated them so politely.

This has already left an impression on the young people—the shop owner could never be a bad person!

But now the shop owner has been killed, and the person who killed the shop owner wants to kill others.

Portgas D. Ace may be a pirate, but not all pirates are ruthless; they also need to have a sense of justice!

At least when faced with something like this... he won't stand idly by!

"Why did you kill them? Of course, it's because they offended me."

Looking at that familiar yet unfamiliar face, Lockes simply smiled: "When someone offends me, am I supposed to keep them around for the holidays if I don't kill them?"

"You're probably just a customer here to eat, not one of their accomplices, right? I'd rather ask you, why did you stop me from killing them?"

"Since you know I'm here to eat, you should know one thing: if you kill the restaurant owner and staff, what will I eat?"

Ace lowered the brim of his hat and said clearly, "I don't care what grudges you have against them, I'm eating here now, you can't kill them!"

"That reason makes sense. Eating is indeed a very important thing, and I might also step in if I were in that situation."

Rocks nodded slightly, acknowledging Ace's reasoning.

A full stomach is more important than anything else!

After a pause, Locke continued, "Unfortunately, they're not a normal restaurant, but a shady establishment that extorts money from its customers. You want to take action for them?"

Chapter 38 Yet another scumbag in the Navy!

"Don't slander us!"

Before Ace could speak, a trembling shop assistant spoke up first: "We are a legitimate business, how could we be a shady shop?"

His tone was filled with anger and indignation, and he acted very convincingly: "We don't know you at all, and we've never offended you!"

He had already given up hope and was waiting to die.

Unexpectedly, a hothead jumped out to "protect" them, and he seemed to be quite strong, a person with special abilities.

Then we need to seize this lifeline...

The young man's eyes revealed both clarity and naivety; he was clearly the kind of hotheaded righteous young man who had just set sail.

This kind of person is the easiest to fool!

"..."

Ace didn't speak, but instead frowned.

He was indeed a newcomer to the sea, but he wasn't stupid.

They have their own judgment and won't blindly believe what others say...

"Ace, don't be impulsive. This place is probably a rip-off."

At that moment, another person walked up to Ace and whispered, "Don't be used as a pawn. Things might not be what you think..."

He was Ace's companion Mascud Deus and Ace's first crew member.

Deus is calm and collected, unlike Ace who is impulsive.

He vaguely sensed something was wrong, so he reminded Ace...

"I know."

Ace nodded.

Upon closer inspection, he also noticed something amiss.

Especially the food on the table over there: rotten vegetable leaves, bread, burnt pieces of meat... Is this the kind of food that can be served?

In any normal restaurant, this kind of food would never be served...

In other words...

Could this really be a shady business?

Was the shop owner's previous polite greeting merely a pretext to extort money from them?

"Although he's a bit impulsive, he's not brainless."

Rocks was somewhat surprised to see that Ace had calmed down.

He still has some sense; he didn't act rashly and attack him.

If it were Nika the Rubber Man, he probably would have thrown a rubber fist the moment he heard what the clerk said...

"..."

Although the other party's words sounded somewhat provocative, Ace didn't take them seriously.

Instead, he said apologetically, "I'm sorry, sir. I may have been misled by them and acted rashly against you. I apologize for that..."

Since he misunderstood the other party, he needs to apologize.

He's not an unreasonable person...

"Okay, I accept your apology."

Rocks accepted Ace's apology.

He admitted his mistake and apologized sincerely. Although he was a bit impulsive, he is still a polite person.

Locke glanced at the trembling shop assistants and said calmly, "You can go and meet up with your boss now."

"Stop it!"

Just then, a furious shout came from the shop entrance.

"..."

Rocks heard it, but didn't stop. He gathered a phantom bullet at his fingertips and flicked it casually.

With a hissing sound, bloody holes appeared in the foreheads, hearts, and other vital areas of the shop assistants.

The men's faces were filled with terror, but their bodies went limp to the ground, as if they had lost their lives...

'If you beat the young one, the old one will come; the novel is right...'

Lox looked at the person who came in through the door and couldn't help but mutter a complaint to himself.

The newcomer was a burly man with short black hair and a menacing scar on his face. Most striking of all was the navy cloak he was wearing...

Didn't you hear what I just said?

The burly naval man walked in with a grim expression, his gaze sweeping across the scene, finally settling on the dead shop owner and employees.

It also swept over Ace and Deus.

Finally, the blame fell on Lox, who sternly shouted, "How dare you kill someone in front of me, Colonel! You're incredibly audacious! You can die now!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the burly naval man moved.

He stomped his right leg on the ground in an instant, and his figure shot out as if by teleportation, his right hand reaching for Rocks' neck...