Hina held a cigarette between her fingers, a faint smile curving her cool, composed face. She nodded toward Nami teasingly and said,
"Nami, how many times has it been this month already? If you keep breaking the walls every time, your sister's going to have a hard time, you know."
Nami immediately threw herself into Nojiko's arms, whining playfully.
"No way! My sister loves me... her adorable little sister!"
Nojiko patted Nami's head affectionately and smiled.
"Sorry about this again, Captain Hina. We're troubling you once more."
"It's fine. Maintaining public order is part of my job, after all."
Before coming here, Gion had already told Hina about these two sisters, saying they had close ties with Kaito and that she should look after them.
At first, Hina thought it would be a hassle, but after arriving, she found both sisters—gentle Nojiko and lively Nami—easy to get along with. Gradually, she became good friends with them.
In her free time, Hina would give them some light training, and before long, she even planned to personally escort them to Marine Headquarters. With Kaito's connection, it wasn't really a big deal.
After chatting with Nami for a bit, Hina turned her gaze to Luffy, who was surrounded by soldiers.
Compared to the people she'd captured before, Luffy's attitude was quite different—calm, even grinning, as if he had no sense of being caught.
Hina frowned slightly and thought,
"Is this guy an idiot? He's about to be arrested and he's still smiling like that."
She waved her hand casually, signaling the soldiers to move in.
The marines immediately charged forward to capture him. Luffy pressed down his straw hat with one hand, then suddenly stretched his other arm out and swung it hard around him.
Before the soldiers could get close, they were sent flying by his extended arm. Seeing this, Hina's brows knitted tighter.
"A Devil Fruit user? Looks like a Paramecia type."
Luffy chuckled, then bolted off. He wasn't interested in fighting with marines—but Hina clearly wasn't planning to let him go.
With a sharp snort, she tightened her gloves and stretched both arms toward the retreating Luffy.
"Iron Binding Cage!"
Her arms transformed into long, black iron bars that extended forward, quickly catching up and wrapping around Luffy, trapping him.
Luffy looked at the iron bars coiled around him in surprise and shouted,
"You're a Devil Fruit user too?"
Nami came up beside Hina, watching her transforming arms with curiosity.
Hina rarely used her Devil Fruit powers, but every time she did, Nami couldn't help but stare in fascination.
Devil Fruits were rare in the East Blue, and judging from the shocked expressions around them, everyone else thought so too.
Hina relaxed, confident she'd already secured the capture, and teased Nami,
"You've seen this before, haven't you? You still look like such a curious little kid every time."
"But it's always so cool! And your ability looks way more stylish than that lunatic's!"
"You mean during the Marineford War livestream? You've seen plenty of crazy powers back then. Compared to those, mine's nothing."
"Well, that was just through a screen! It's way cooler seeing it up close!"
"If you want to see something impressive up close, why not ask your brother Kaito to show you? He's got more than one ability—and each one's terrifyingly strong."
At the mention of Kaito, a flicker of admiration crossed Hina's face. Nami, however, puffed her cheeks and muttered,
"Hmph, who knows where he's been all these years. Doesn't even come visit me. Once I get to headquarters, I'm going to stick to him every day!"
The two chatted away as if they'd forgotten about the still-bound Luffy.
Suddenly, Luffy shouted loudly, and his body inflated like a balloon, bursting through the iron bars that restrained him.
Hina's eyes widened. She quickly retracted her arms and muttered under her breath,
"What kind of ability is that? That's... bizarre."
Seeing that, Nami immediately backed away to stand beside Nojiko, giving Hina space to focus on Luffy.
Luffy stretched his body a bit, grinning at her.
"Your ability's pretty interesting. Let's see how strong you really are!"
With that, he pulled his arm back and launched a powerful punch toward Hina.
As Luffy attacked, the soldiers behind Hina opened fire—but the bullets bounced right off his rubbery body, hitting several marines instead.
A few fell to the ground, but since bullets in this world weren't all that deadly, most of them just got bruised or scratched. Some even got up right after taking a hit.
The marines stationed here were all from Headquarters. Even when faced with such a strange ability, they didn't panic. Instead, they calmly drew their swords and charged to engage Luffy in close combat.
But Luffy's hand-to-hand combat skills were formidable. Within moments, he had taken down the group of marines.
Hina was genuinely stunned. Judging by his looks, the boy couldn't be older than sixteen or seventeen, yet he easily overpowered a squad of trained Headquarters soldiers. That kind of talent would be exceptional even among the elite.
After dealing with the marines, Luffy charged straight for Hina, his fists swinging wildly in a barrage of attacks.
"Gomu Gomu no Gatling!"
Hina activated her Observation Haki, her body weaving between the flurry of punches.
Seeing his attacks miss, Luffy backed off and said,
"That's Observation Haki, right? My dad showed it to me once."
At that, Hina's curiosity piqued. In the East Blue, Haki was just as rare as Devil Fruits. That meant Luffy's father must be someone remarkable.
"Oh? And who's your dad?"
"He's called... uh... what was his name again?"
Luffy scratched his head, honestly forgetting his father's name. Another shining example of filial piety—right after Yamato.
Hina's face darkened. She felt like he was messing with her. She ground out each word slowly,
"Hina is very angry."
She flicked her wrist, and an iron staff appeared in her hand. The technique looked somewhat similar to Kaito's Yin-Yang Release—but of course, nowhere near his level.
Hina gripped the staff tightly, stomped her foot, and disappeared with Soru, reappearing right in front of Luffy. She swung the staff down toward his face.
But Luffy seemed to have anticipated it, shifting his body aside just in time.
Hina raised an eyebrow and followed up with several more swings—all of which Luffy dodged easily. Spinning the staff once, she asked,
"You can use Observation Haki too?"
Luffy grinned.
"Told you, my dad showed me. And I don't just know Observation Haki..."
As Hina watched in surprise, Luffy's arms turned pitch black—he had activated Armament Haki.