One Piece : Captain, We’ve Arrived at Laugh Tale

Tashigi smiled awkwardly; she still couldn't handle a love-struck knight like Sanji.

"Tashigi, are you here to see us off?" Luffy exclaimed with his characteristic grin. "That's great! You weren't at the banquet in the palace earlier, and we missed you. We thought it would be difficult to see you again. I'm so glad you're here!"

When Tashigi heard this, the words she had carefully prepared completely vanished from her mind. How could she possibly tell them she wanted to be an undercover agent on their ship now?

Carl glanced at Smoker, who remained silent, and said to Tashigi, "As your former instructor, I have an obligation to give you some advice. Since you've returned to the Marines, you shouldn't continue working under Smoker.

The man is reckless and doesn't know how to lead people properly. He's largely responsible for why your skills haven't developed as they should. I suggest transferring to Captain Tina's command—you'd develop better and grow stronger much faster under her guidance."

These words nearly sent Smoker into a rage. This guy was being incredibly rude, daring to say such things to his face! Claiming he didn't know how to lead people when his subordinates were braver than most, never backing down from pirates. Smoker knew he was significantly stronger than Tina!

"Mr. Carl knows Tina-san?" Tashigi asked, surprised.

"Of course," Carl replied with a smile. "Tina is one of the rare beauties in the Marines!"

"A beauty?!" Sanji immediately perked up. "Mr. Carl, what kind of beauty is she?!"

Carl answered Sanji with a serious expression, "She's quite stunning—long flowing pink hair, tall and graceful figure, crimson lips with a thin cigarette between them. Very alluring, but it's a pity..."

"What? What's the pity?" Sanji pressed eagerly.

"It's a pity she's not my type!" Carl finished with a laugh.

Everyone listening nearly fell over in disbelief, staring at Carl speechlessly.

Sanji was practically drooling on the deck, desperately wanting to meet this Marine beauty that even Carl had praised!

Carl looked back at Smoker and teased, "But Smoker, since we're all acquaintances here, make sure to let us know when you and Captain Tina finally get married."

"WHAT?! The beautiful Tina and Smoker are getting married?!" Sanji suddenly exploded with jealousy and outrage.

"Eh? Smoker-san and Tina-san have that kind of relationship? I had no idea!" Tashigi was equally shocked.

"Well, Tashigi, you're still young," Carl continued. "Have you ever seen Smoker show interest in any other woman? Or Tina tolerating any other man? Those two often go shopping for clothes together, don't they? If they claim there's nothing between them, they wouldn't even believe it themselves!"

"Now that you mention it, Smoker-san and Tina-san do have a remarkably good relationship!"

Seeing Carl and Tashigi discussing this topic so casually, Smoker finally snapped.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" he roared angrily. "Tina and I were just in the same class at the academy! Tashigi, don't listen to these baseless rumors. If Tina heard this, she'd be furious!"

Tashigi looked confused. "Is that so? I thought Tina-san would be pleased."

Smoker nearly choked on his own breath.

How had his subordinates raised such a naive girl? And Carl was completely controlling the conversation!

"Ahem," Smoker cleared his throat hastily. "Let's not discuss my relationship with Tina. We have important business here today."

Tashigi immediately snapped to attention, gripping the handle of her sword and bowing deeply to Luffy. "Captain Luffy, please allow me to join the Straw Hat Pirates!"

Her words made everyone tilt their heads in confusion.

"Tashigi," Luffy asked, puzzled, "don't you want to be a righteous Marine? Why do you want to become a pirate?"

Although Luffy had chosen the path of piracy, he never belittled or hindered others' dreams. In his view, there was nothing wrong with being a Marine. Having spent time with Tashigi, he naturally knew what her dream was.

"Well..." Tashigi lowered her eyes, unsure how to explain.

"Marine Headquarters has put a bounty on her head!" Smoker snarled in anger. "Those bureaucrats at headquarters don't understand what really happened.

Someone apparently witnessed Tashigi talking and laughing aboard the Straw Hat ship, claiming she seemed friendly with all of you.

Based on that, headquarters decided Tashigi had turned pirate and issued a bounty for her capture. I tried my hardest to overturn it, but those bastards wouldn't listen to reason!"

What?! A Marine with a bounty?!

Everyone was shocked. They couldn't believe Tashigi would end up with a bounty for something so trivial. It was unbelievable.

Zoro frowned. "This smells fishy. Isn't this just a Marine conspiracy? The Straw Hats have become too much of a threat, so they sent you to be an undercover agent on our ship?"

Robin smiled knowingly. "Ah, Zoro and I had the same thought. It's very likely she's an undercover agent..."

Tashigi involuntarily shuddered but stared at Zoro without saying a word.

Sanji immediately rushed to Tashigi's defense. "Moss-head, don't talk nonsense! Even if the Marines wanted to send an undercover agent, they wouldn't send someone like Tashigi! The Marines claim to stand for justice—how could they do something so underhanded? I believe in Tashigi, so let her join us as our nakama!"

Zoro replied with exasperation, "Ero-cook, it's exactly because of your blind spot for women that the Marines would send this fake. Being undercover has nothing to do with strength—it's about deception and information. I'm not letting this woman stab us in the back at a critical moment!"

Sanji fell silent, unable to counter this argument.

He couldn't speak confidently about trust between crewmates in this situation.

Seeing her mission about to fail, Tashigi panicked but didn't know what to do.

"Straw Hat Pirates!" Smoker yelled furiously. "You bastards! Tashigi has a bounty because of you. Aren't you going to take responsibility? If not, I'll fight you with everything I've got!"

"Okay!" 

Luffy suddenly declared, "Tashigi, you can board our ship!"

When the captain spoke, there was no room for negotiation. Despite the earlier concerns about Tashigi being an undercover agent, Luffy wasn't deterred. Seeing this, the rest of the crew immediately chose to remain silent.

Smoker was caught off guard by Luffy's sudden decision.

Damn it! If Luffy was going to agree, he could have done so right away instead of making Smoker put on this embarrassing act!

Luffy grinned widely. "Shishishi! Wouldn't it be interesting to have a Marine undercover on our pirate ship? We have all kinds of crewmates already, but we've never had an undercover agent before. From now on, Tashigi will be the Marines' undercover agent in the Straw Hat Pirates!"

Smoker: ...

Tashigi: ...

Was this considered a successful infiltration? Or had she been exposed from the start?

The bizarre logic of the Straw Hat Pirates left them speechless. What kind of pirate crew openly accepts an undercover agent?

But then again, these were the Straw Hats—they preferred to bring everything into the open. Their approach was truly mind-boggling.

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