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Chapter 52
"Are you two done yet?! It's been almost two hours—if you keep washing, you'll scrub your skin right off!"
They had already reached the port from far away and even docked the ship, but the two girls still hadn't come out of the bathhouse.
A little while later, a crisp and clear voice came from inside the room.
"What are you rushing for? Don't you know girls always need some time to bathe?!"
"How would I know that!"
At that moment, two graceful figures slowly emerged from the shadows.
"If you don't want to wait, you could have gone ahead by yourself!"
Nami walked a little behind Guina and teased Jepack playfully.
"How could I possibly rush my darlings~! If—if, I'm just saying if—you two are ready, we can set off anytime. Absolutely no rushing here."
The two girls walked up to Jepack's sides, reached out with their fingers, and gently poked his forehead. Then they said:
"You know your place. We'll let you off this time!"
"Let's go—we're ready!"
"Understood, my ladies! Your humble servant will lead the way!"
The three of them disembarked and walked up the port slope toward the execution platform!
The execution platform area was packed with people. Jepack squeezed through the crowd with the two girls and reached the base of the platform.
"So this is the place where Pirate King Gol D. Roger was executed?"
Looking at the familiar execution platform in his mind, Jepack couldn't help but recall that line.
"Do you want my treasure? If you want it, you can have it all. Go find it—I left everything there."
"So this is the place where Roger's final words before death launched the Great Pirate Era?"
No one could fully judge whether that sentence was good or bad. It opened an era where dreamers chased their dreams—that was good. But it also led to more and more evil pirates roaming the seas—that was bad.
No one could judge him for it. After all, Gol D. Roger was already dead.
Even if he were alive and heard it, he probably wouldn't care much. If he saw evil pirates, he'd deal with them casually. But in places he couldn't see, he wouldn't interfere much. In Jepack's memory, Gol D. Roger seemed like exactly that kind of person!
At that moment, Nami beside him seemed to sense something and curiously asked Jepack:
"What kind of person do you think the legendary Pirate King Gol D. Roger was?"
Of course Jepack wouldn't say what he was thinking in his head. He just stroked Nami's head and pushed the question toward Garp.
"I'm not qualified to judge that. You'd have to ask your teacher Mr. Garp. After all, they were enemies for so long. As the saying goes, the person who knows you best is often your enemy. Besides, it was old man Garp who personally captured the Pirate King and earned the title of Navy Hero!"
After Jepack finished speaking, both Nami and Guina showed surprised expressions!
Nami even exclaimed:
"Ah! Teacher Garp was the Pirate King's enemy for years? Why didn't you tell us earlier! We could've asked Teacher Garp about what happened back then—I'm super curious!"
"Didn't I say it? Didn't I tell you Garp personally captured Gol D. Roger? Did I remember wrong?"
Jepack scratched his head, pretending to doubt his own memory!
"You never told us about their years of chasing each other. You only mentioned the capture part!"
Guina spoke calmly, cutting through Jepack's act of pretending to be a silly boy reminiscing—when in reality he had long remembered he never said it.
"Oh, right! That's what I thought—I was sure I had mentioned it!"
"Stop pretending. You're terrible at lying, Jepack!"
Nami stuck her tongue out at Jepack and teased him.
"Let's go. If you're curious about the Pirate King's story, you can ask old man Garp properly the next time you see him!"
Jepack turned to leave the execution platform. Suddenly a figure appeared behind him and swung toward his head.
"Damn Jepack—I've told you how many times? Show some respect to Teacher Garp—stop calling him old man!"
Jepack silently took the sandbag-sized fist, then walked ahead without another word!
After roughly touring the town, Nami dragged Guina off shopping.
Jepack didn't like shopping with girls, so he chose to wander alone.
They agreed to meet back at the Ten'en that evening!
While wandering aimlessly, Jepack eventually reached under a bridge and sat down to rest.
Not far away, a dirty little cat caught his attention. How could he refuse helping such a cute but filthy little kitten take a bath?
So Jepack pretended to pull a sausage from his pocket to lure the kitten. At first the kitten approached slowly and cautiously, then smelled the sausage. In one big leap it snatched the sausage from Jepack's hand.
Jepack's quick reflexes couldn't catch the kitten. He chased after it at a jog but still couldn't keep up.
"Looks like my dream of bathing the kitten isn't happening~"
Tired, Jepack just sat down nearby to rest. At that moment, a soft and sweet female voice came from beside him:
"Sir, were you just chasing this little kitten?"
Jepack turned and looked at the girl. His eyes were immediately drawn to the kitten in her arms. He reached out and took the kitten back into his own embrace.
While reaching to take the kitten, he accidentally brushed against an unusually soft spot. Jepack didn't think much of it and said:
"Thanks to you, Guina—my wish for today is about to come true."
After being touched, Tashigi's entire body froze. Only after hearing Jepack speak did she snap out of it!
"Huh? Who's Guina? Sir, did you mistake me for someone else? You…"
The rest of her words were clearly accompanied by heavier breathing. She stammered and couldn't finish her sentence—her face turned completely red from embarrassment!
Hearing Tashigi speak, Jepack finally came to his senses and carefully examined the person in front of him. He recalled that Loguetown indeed had a "twin sister" lookalike for Guina—though the two didn't know each other.
He saw the girl wearing red-framed square glasses, with deep brown eyes and deep blue hair that reached between chin and shoulders, wearing a floral shirt.
Only then did he realize he had mistaken her. So what he just touched was…?
"WTF—what kind of lucky scenario is this!" Jepack thought to himself.
Out loud he said:
"Sorry, I got the wrong person. I have a crewmate who looks almost exactly like you!"
Tashigi looked suspiciously at the man in front of her. She wanted to say something more, but a cat meow interrupted her thoughts.
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