Loguetown''s harbor.
After Smoker gave the former local garrison of Loguetown' a thorough overhaul, the operation to take down Arlong's territory was finally set in motion.
Although many of the former garrison troops had been corrupt individuals who colluded with Commander Hammer, Smoker managed to reorganize the remaining usable personnel under his command after a clean-up, allowing him—an official Navy Headquarters captain—to finally put together a unit of one hundred men.
Upon taking over the Loguetown' base, Smoker also upgraded from his tiny, civilian-armed patrol boat to a standard navy warship equipped with dozens of cannons.
He finally looked the part of a high-ranking officer.
Naturally, high-ranking officers wouldn't bother with trivial affairs.
So, while Smoker smoked leisurely at the bow of the ship, his adjutant Tashigi was busy directing the navy soldiers in loading supplies, inspecting equipment, and doing a headcount in preparation for departure.
Just then, the bustling activity among the sailors came to a sudden halt, quickly followed by a chorus of hushed admiration.
Tashigi followed their gaze and saw a tall, imposing man with an air of confidence and dignity, dressed sharply in a white suit, walking toward them at a calm pace.
"Garen-sama!"
Tashigi waved at him from a distance and greeted him respectfully, her voice carrying a hint of excitement.
Garen gave her a slight nod in return.
However, the sailors' attention wasn't on Garen. Their eyes were firmly fixed on the orange-haired girl walking beside him, wearing a pure white off-shoulder dress.
After shopping with Garen yesterday, Nami had ditched her usual forever-short sleeves and skirt combo, instead donning the short, off-shoulder princess-style dress Garen had initially praised as "stunning."
"How do I look?"
Basking in the admiring stares around her, Nami looked pleased and turned to Garen with a little pride.
"Do I look good like this?"
"It's alright."
Hearing that all-too-familiar question, Garen instinctively tensed up, his tone becoming a little stiff.
"Hmph!"
Nami pouted in dissatisfaction. "That's not what you said when you bought it for me yesterday."
Garen paused for a moment and then gave his honest opinion:
"It is beautiful... but you're baring your shoulders and your legs…"
"Who dresses like this to go fight pirates?!"
"Huh?"
Nami looked down at her bare shoulders and the long legs exposed by the skirt, clearly confused.
"What's wrong with it?"
"Don't lots of girls dress like this at sea?"
"Uh…"
Facing Nami's confident and righteous expression, Garen found himself at a loss for words.
Compared to the "future" Nami he remembered, this version—wearing a modest short off-shoulder dress—was practically conservative. And out on the sea, female adventurers often dressed in even more revealing outfits.
It was hard to imagine how these free-spirited women managed to never have a wardrobe malfunction during battle.
"If you want to wear it, go ahead..."
Unable to keep up with the open-minded fashion of this world, Garen gave up trying to comment on Nami's outfit.
Besides, she did look much more attractive this way.
"This time when I return to Cocoyasi Village…"
Nami's expression suddenly turned serious, her voice resolute:
"I want them to see a different me."
Standing beside Garen, in front of a warship, Nami seemed completely transformed.
It wasn't just the elegant new outfit—it was the hope for a new life burning in her heart.
She had finally found the courage to stand up to Arlong.
"Miss Nami?!"
Just then, another surprised voice rang out nearby.
Garen and Nami turned their heads and saw that Wallace had somehow arrived at the harbor without them noticing.
Two days ago, Wallace had already decided to follow Garen—the walking news machine—to Cocoyasi Village, where he would cover the heroic exploits of the "Knight of Justice Garen."
"Miss Nami, what a transformation!"
Wallace exclaimed in amazement.
"May I take a photo?"
"Of course!"
Nami accepted the request cheerfully.
But instead of pulling out a camera like he usually did, Wallace took out a strange-looking snail from his bag, placed it on his hand, and struck a photographer's pose.
Both Nami and Garen blinked in confusion.
Garen eyed the clearly living creature in Wallace's hand and asked in surprise:
"That's… a Den Den Mushi?"
"Exactly!"
Wallace proudly introduced his new piece of equipment.
"This is an image-recording Den Den Mushi."
"It doesn't need film and can take tons of photos and even record video. If linked to a special communication device, it can also instantly transmit pictures and footage back to headquarters."
"An image-recording Den Den Mushi?"
Nami was taken aback, then asked curiously,
"That must be really expensive, huh?"
Indeed, even regular Den Den Mushi were rare in the East Blue.
An advanced model like this—essentially a video camera, photo storage, and fax machine rolled into one—was a legendary item to someone like Nami, who came from a humble background.
Even though she was a professional thief, Nami had no idea how much an image Den Den Mushi cost. She only had a vague impression: really expensive.
The gap in class was simply too wide.
"Yep!"
Wallace nodded and continued,
"Our newspaper doesn't have many of these. Only senior reporters get access to them."
"Low-level reporters usually don't capture news valuable enough to justify using such costly real-time tech."
"Oh?"
Garen raised an eyebrow at the implication.
"You got promoted?"
"Thanks to you, Lord Garen! I got a world-class scoop!"
Wallace bowed gratefully to Garen and then said excitedly:
"Thanks to my report, I've been promoted to Vice President of the East Blue Daily! "
"Vice President of the East Blue Daily?"
Nami cried out in surprise. "That's…!"
That title was a lot more significant than it sounded.
Thanks to the existence of the special creature known as the News Coo, nearly every island in the ocean—aside from the Calm Belt—was within the distribution network of newspapers.
Major events, like the public execution of the Pirate King, could spread across the world and become common knowledge in just three days.
In such a system, the newspapers that controlled public opinion had real power over the direction of global affairs.
And East Blue Daily was the highest-circulating newspaper in all of East Blue.
While its influence couldn't compare to the great press agencies of the Grand Line, it was still enough to shape the entire region's public discourse.
Combine that with the World Government's weak control and poor media oversight, and local news outlets had even more power.
Nami looked at Wallace's overly youthful face, unable to believe someone so young could hold such a position:
"The news we stirred up these past couple of days was that big?"
"You got promoted straight to Vice President?!"
"Well…"
Wallace scratched his head and replied sheepishly,
"There were… a few other reasons too."
"The financial backer behind East Blue Daily is actually my father."
"Ugh…"
Nami's expression turned a bit strange. She suddenly remembered the enormous "interview fee" Wallace had casually handed over before.
"No wonder you were so generous for a small-time reporter."
"Ha ha…"
Wallace chuckled, a bit embarrassed.
"But honestly, both Miss Nami and Lord Garen helped me out a lot."
"My father was always against me being a reporter, but it was you two who helped me prove myself and finally changed his mind."
He then lifted the image Den Den Mushi and said,
"Alright, enough talk. Let's take a photo!"
"You both look great right now—I want to send this image to the headquarters to go with the feature article."
"Oh?"
Garen raised an eyebrow.
"You haven't published the article yet?"
"Not yet."
"This is a world-class story involving a Navy hero and a former crewmember of the Pirate King. We have to be very careful with it."
Wallace explained seriously,
"And since the report involves Miss Nami, I had to consider the secrecy of your upcoming anti-Arlong operation."
"I've timed the release perfectly—this article will be published right as our team arrives at Cocoyasi Village."
"I see."
Nami nodded in gratitude toward Wallace.
"By the way,"
Garen suddenly asked curiously,
"Since it's an article about me, can I take a look at the draft ahead of time?"
"Of course!"
Wallace cheerfully pulled a stack of manuscripts from his briefcase and handed them over.
"This is the draft I've written. It covers your heroic exploits from the Steel Blade pirates to Buggy the Clown, and the corrupt garrison at Loguetown'!"
"Nice."
Garen nodded in satisfaction and eagerly took the script to read.
After all, this was the first time he'd ever been featured in the news. He was genuinely looking forward to it.
A few moments later—
"…Hey."
Garen's face darkened as he spoke in a low, dangerous voice:
"What the hell are 'Fought a Draw against the Marine Hero Garp' and 'The Master Swordsman of East Blue' supposed to mean?!"
(End of Chapter)