One Piece Gunslinger

"You bastard, don't tell anyone about what happened last night, and never mention it again, or else..."

The first thing the two did when they woke up the next day was to threaten Li Ang, telling him to keep what happened the day before to himself.

"What are you all talking about?" Li Ang said with a serious face. "I fell into a deep sleep as soon as I lay down. I don't care how you guys lay down afterward."

Seeing Li Ang's confident assertion, which didn't seem like he was lying, and considering that Li Ang had indeed remained motionless like a nail last night, the two were beginning to believe him.

"Could he have really just fallen asleep and had no recollection of what happened afterward?" Now, when the two of them recalled how they had squeezed onto Li Ang last night to avoid falling off the boat, they felt less embarrassed.

However, this made the two of them question their existence again: "Do I really have no charm? Otherwise, how come this person has no feelings at all?"

Li Ang was unaware of their troubles, but even if he had, he probably wouldn't have bothered to explain it to them.

"Hopefully the boat hasn't moved overnight and hasn't been swept off course by some strange current." Li Ang gripped the oars again, full of energy.

"Probably not. The sea was calm last night, and the boat barely moved," Nami said, lying on the bow of the boat without getting angry.

"Great, then I'll speed up a bit today and get to our destination sooner."

"Go ahead and add more, just don't throw us off. We're too exhausted to hold on to the edge anymore." Karina, like Nami, lay sprawled at the stern. Neither of them had slept or eaten well. They were both listless and exhausted.

Li Ang couldn't bear to see the two of them like this, so he quietly took out some cookies and handed them to them: "This is the last bit of my stock, I'm giving it all to you two."

Oh well, it's because our Li Ang is soft-hearted. Anyway, it's understandable that he had some food on him. At least Li Ang didn't take out all his bags.

"Oh, so you've been hiding cookies all this time. We thought you weren't carrying anything." Nami didn't stand on ceremony and snatched the bag of cookies in front of her, happily starting to eat them.

“Then I won’t bring anything. Even if I row fast, I’m afraid I’ll go hungry,” Li Ang replied matter-of-factly.

"Hmm, it's a bit dry. It would be nice to have some juice, especially orange juice."

Karina laughed at these words: "Hehe, you want orange juice? You're lucky if you can even get water. On this ocean, being able to eat and drink your fill is a blessing."

However, to be fair, in the original story, ever since Sanji boarded the ship, Nami has been pampered with good food and drink, and it's hard to tell that the sea voyage was difficult at all. Her life was comparable to traveling on a luxury cruise ship in the future.

And so, without a word, Li Ang paddled toward Xiluobu Village.

Just as Li Ang mechanically rowed his small, shabby boat closer and closer to Xiluobu Village, a small shadow fell in front of Nami.

"Huh? What's this?" Nami quickly sat up and looked up at the sky.

"As expected, it's a newsbird." The process of sailing can be very boring; the unchanging scenery can easily drive a person crazy. The newsbird provides these sailors, far removed from the world, with a way to understand the world and brings a bit of spice to their monotonous lives.

When Nami saw the news bird, she immediately perked up and waved for it to come down from the sky.

Although Karina was only a short distance from Nami, just like Leon, she had to give up reading the newspaper and instead have Nami read its contents aloud so as not to squeeze together with Leon in the middle or cause the ship to become top-heavy when the two of them stood on the same side.

"Don't rush, let me pay first."

With that, Nami handed a few coins to the news bird, and only after the news bird flew away did she unfold the newspaper and start reading.

"Let me check today's headlines first." Nami naturally looked at the large characters printed on the front page: "Logia-type Devil Fruit, the Flame-Flame Fruit, reappears in the sea! Fire Fist Ace sinks five ships with a single punch!"

Then Nami read the more detailed news report to Karina. Of course, Leon wasn't deaf, so he naturally heard the contents of the news.

"Wow, the Grand Line is really terrifying. There are such scary people there. I'm so glad I didn't go into the Grand Line back then," Nami said with lingering fear after reading the news.

"Yeah, that's terrifying. I'll probably avoid him if I see him in the future. You need to be alive to claim a 100 million bounty," Karina chimed in.

“Many people are like you, seeing a powerful character in the Grand Line and being afraid to go in. But actually, there are very few people like that, and there are definitely not many like Ace. And Ace is not like what the news says, a complete villain.” Li Ang couldn’t help but say.

"Do you know Ace?" Karina couldn't help but ask upon hearing this.

"Know him? Well, I'd say so, if you will." Li Ang hesitated for a moment before saying, "News reports are written by people, and since they are written by people, there is a possibility that the reports may be biased for various reasons. But it's right to stay away from him. No matter whether he's good or bad, this kind of person is bound to be the center of riots and violence. Even if he doesn't cause trouble, others will get into trouble with him. So if you see him, it's best to stay away, otherwise you'll easily get caught up in it."

Hearing Li Ang's different opinion, the two immediately became interested: "Then tell me, what kind of person is this Ace?"

"What kind of person is he?" Li Ang hesitated for a long time before finally managing to utter four words: "Hot-blooded idiot."

Then he gave the two of them a general overview of what he knew about Ace, satisfying their curiosity.

"So Ace wasn't as bad as this article portrays him," Karina said thoughtfully. "Since today's newspaper is problematic, did all the other newspapers we read before also have issues?"

“Most of the time there are no problems,” Li Ang replied without hesitation. “But if there are problems, they will definitely be related to political stances. For example, if a pirate does a good deed, the news will definitely not report it truthfully, but will distort and smear it, and fabricate another story.”

“How could pirates do good deeds?” Nami laughed. “You’re joking. There isn’t a single good pirate.”

"Look, this is the image of pirates that these newspapers have shaped in your minds over the years." Li Ang said noncommittally. "Although all the pirates you meet are bad guys, that's because 99.9% of pirates are indeed bad guys."

We're just stating the facts here, and we don't rule out the possibility that there might be a group of "good" pirates out there, unseen by most people. It's just that most people, based on news reports and their own experiences, tend to conclude that "no pirate is good," while those who have rarely encountered "good" pirates find it difficult to speak out and cannot share this information with the world.

"Wow, why are you so vehemently defending pirates? You're not a pirate, are you? Have I discovered something incredible?" Karina asked in surprise after processing what Leon had said.

Faced with this question, Li Ang first glanced at the silent Nami before turning to answer, "If I told you I was a pirate, then you might know that there are good people among pirates. But unfortunately, I am not a pirate, so my existence does not prove anything to you."

Li Ang knew that although everything he said made sense, Nami and the entire Cocoyasi Village had been oppressed by the Arlong Pirates since childhood, and they preferred to believe that all pirates in the world were bad guys.

However, Li Ang didn't force it. Helping Nami overcome her inner conflict had to be done step by step. Taking too big a step could easily lead to trouble.

"But what you're implying is that you're a good person? I don't see that coming from you," Karina asked with a smile.

Li Ang refused to answer the question. What the hell? She just gave me the "friend card" yesterday and forgot about it today. Women are really fickle creatures. Now I have to give myself the "friend card"? No way.

Nami chuckled and changed the subject, turning to the next page of the newspaper and continuing to read: "A brutal killer has appeared in the East Blue. Yesterday morning, he attacked Captain Morgan's warship, and Captain Morgan and more than a dozen sailors on board were killed."

The killer wore a mask, and the surviving naval soldiers had only seen the killer wearing a mask. They did not know his name, appearance, or even age, but judging from his physique, he should be an adult human male.

The killer has the following three characteristics. Anyone with information or clues about him should inform the Navy so that he can be apprehended as soon as possible.

First, he wore a strange white mask with many round holes on it.

Second, the murder weapon was a large cleaver, and the perpetrator possessed superb swordsmanship, cutting all the naval casualties in two with a single stroke.

Third, the serial killer was alone, traveling in... a... small wooden boat with oars?!

Chapter 152 A Lucky Accident

"Hey, hey. Why are you looking at me with such terrified eyes? You don't think I'm some kind of serial killer from the news, do you?"

Li Ang was also annoyed; this news came too fast.

What could Li Ang say? He could only admire the efficiency of this newspaper, printed by the World Government. Yesterday's events were reported in detail today, and they even commissioned a portrait of Jason wielding a machete and wearing a terrifying mask as a wanted poster. A bounty of ten million Berries was even included.

Some people might think that it's perfectly normal for yesterday's events to make the newspapers today.

However, this is not the information age, with its explosive spread of information online. News events happen and can be seen online within minutes. Newspapers, on the other hand, only gradually developed and flourished on Earth in the late 19th century.

The World Government was able to send reporters to this remote location to interview the surviving soldiers on the ship, have someone draw a portrait of Jason based on the soldiers' vague descriptions, write a press release, and then print and distribute it all in just one day. This incredibly complex workflow was completed by the World Government's news agency in a single day.

If my revolutionary army's news organization can achieve even half the speed of Hong Kong reporters—not necessarily their speed of action, but at least half their speed of response, output, and distribution—I'd be incredibly grateful.

Li Ang was well aware of the power of propaganda warfare, so even during the most difficult period for the revolutionary army, he did not give up on establishing its own news agency. Moreover, the newspaper he started publishing was named the Revolutionary Weekly.

Unfortunately, due to extremely poor conditions, while the World Government was distributing newspapers all over the world every day, the Revolutionary Army was still stuck in the weekly reporting stage, only able to publish one newspaper per week.

Furthermore, the revolutionary army lacked the methods to train newsbirds, thus missing this powerful weapon, and it took a considerable amount of time just to get the newspapers out.

Therefore, the Revolutionary Army's People's Weekly could only be published within the Revolutionary Army's territory. The whole world? Impossible.

This results in many news stories being newsworthy at the time, but by the time the public gets their hands on the newspapers, they've already become old news. Even the world government's newspapers have been reporting on them for days.

It is evident that the difficulties the revolutionary army is currently facing in publishing and running newspapers under harsh conditions are a true reflection of the challenges of developing journalism in this world.

Even amidst such devastation, Li Ang gritted his teeth and persevered. No matter how faint the voice, he would do everything in his power to make it heard, lest the world be left with only one voice.

Even if most people in the world can only see the World Government's newspapers, and the Revolutionary Army's newspapers are difficult to disseminate within the World Government's control, it's still good that at least some people can see some of the truths the World Government is hiding.

Now, let's get back to the present. The matter of the news and newspapers will give our Li Ang a headache from now on.

"Although, although I knew I was on a pirate ship, I never expected..." Karina crouched in the corner of the small boat, trembling as she spoke. But this small boat was only so long; how much could she shrink herself into? Li Ang could touch her with just a stretch of his hand.

"You're right, I never expected things to turn out this way." Although Li Ang wanted to say something, the words that came out were: "What do you mean you didn't expect it? How could you expect something that didn't happen?"

Nami and Karina huddled symmetrically on the other side, with Leon as the axis of symmetry, their movements identical: "The ten million Berry killer..."

"Hey, hey, what killer? Look, I don't even have a mask, okay? And I can't hide a big cleaver on my body either." Li Ang quickly defended himself, "Only the small wooden boat fits out of the three characteristics, okay?"

However, the two still shook their heads in horror.

"Masks can be thrown into the sea."

"You can throw a large machete into the sea."

This was indeed a bit of a oversight on Li Ang's part. Everything else could be disguised, but his epic little wrecked ship was difficult to disguise. He couldn't very well transform the little wrecked ship into a cruise ship or something after pulling off a heist.

Moreover, on this vast ocean, only a very small number of people would use such a dilapidated boat to go out to sea, or rather, this kind of boat was never intended for global travel when it was first invented. At most, people would just stay in the coastal waters. It was Li Ang who forcibly dragged it out to see the world.

Therefore, this small wooden boat, which could be seen everywhere but was unique in the vast ocean, became the source of Li Ang's exposure.

“My little shabby boat is something you can see everywhere in the world. Fishermen use similar boats to catch fish. I only use this boat because I’m poor. If I had money, I certainly wouldn’t use this little shabby boat. So why are you doubting me?” Li Ang finally struggled to say.

Little Broken Boat: "Hey, you've finally told the truth! All that talk about custom-made, lightweight and agile, epic experience, it's all lies. It's just because you're broke, you bastard."

Seeing that the two remained silent and still in that position, Li Ang asked helplessly, "Do I look like a bad guy to you?"

"Mmm-hmm-hmm." The two nodded vigorously.

So what's with the "friend zone" treatment? We were just chatting and laughing a moment ago, and now, all because of a newspaper, it's suddenly turned into this.

"Um... So do you guys think I look like a cruel serial killer?"

The two nodded vigorously for a while.

"The incident occurred in the sea near the town of Shelsh." This is what Nami is saying.

"Perfect timing. It's located between Frostmoon Village and Orange Town, and your map shows Orange Town as the destination you're heading from Frostmoon Village." This was Karina's statement.

"It usually takes a day to sail from the scene of the incident to Orange Town." Then they began to take turns speaking.

"But if we row at the fastest speed possible, we can reach Orange Town and run into us around that time." This led to a series of coordinated actions.

"The clothes were covered in grime, and the stains were even a bit black. I hadn't noticed it before, but now that I think about it, it was probably just a quick wash and the bloodstains didn't wash off."

"You have calluses on your palms. I used to think they were from paddling, but now I think they're from extensive practice and use of a certain weapon. But we haven't seen your weapon yet."

"He's quite strong. Although he didn't use a machete, he still managed to defeat Captain Bucky."

"It's precisely because they have the strength that they 'bet' with us; they're not actually afraid of Bucky the Clown at all."

……

"Wow, their IQs are pretty high. Are you two Detective Conan or Detective Charlotte? You actually connected all these clues. What happened to the world's people having low IQs? Turns out these two girls are smart." Li Ang listened to the two of them working together and gradually pieced together his crime, realizing that there was no way to salvage the situation.

They're smart, that's what attracted Li Ang. If they were two silly girls, they'd only be pretty faces, and Li Ang wouldn't have bothered recruiting them.

There was no other way; given their intelligence, they couldn't be fooled. At this point, Li Ang had no choice but to lay his cards on the table, revealing some of his secrets.