One Piece: My code name is Green Bull

The main force quickly arrived at the location Spandine mentioned, but they were already too late—their surveillance targets had scattered and fled.

"Which direction did they escape?" Spandine roared furiously at his subordinates.

"They dispersed and fled. After we moved in, we only managed to capture a few."

"Useless, you're all useless! Where are the ones you caught? Did they reveal anything?"

"We captured eight people in total. Five resisted and were killed. We've interrogated the remaining three."

"Cut the nonsense and tell me what I want to know."

"There are five archaeological teams in total. They discovered our surveillance and scattered, planning to escape the island by boat."

"Good thing I prepared in advance and stationed guards at all the ports."

After venting his anger, Spandine turned to Norville. "Vice Admiral Norville, we don't have enough manpower. We'll need your help."

Norville nodded and said, "I can send men after them, but the problem is, we don't know who they are."

Spandine replied solemnly, "My people can accompany your teams. At this point, the targets will undoubtedly head for the ports to escape by sea. If we cover these routes and reinforce the port guards, we'll be able to catch them."

"Alright, I'll divide the soldiers into several squads and have your people accompany them," Norville decided.

The naval forces, numbering several hundred, were quickly divided into five groups. Jon was put in charge of one of them, though among the leaders, he held the lowest rank—all the other leaders were field officers.

Norville, perhaps deliberately, assigned Jon a group of fifty men, with Pemberton being the highest-ranking among them. The rest were low-ranking soldiers, likely to ensure that no one outranked Jon and undermined his command.

Jon didn't hesitate—he led his fifty men in pursuit along one of the designated routes. Two CP9 agents in suits followed closely behind him.

Jon glanced at the two agents beside him and shook his head.

He didn't know if Spandine was incompetent or what, but these agents seemed far less skilled than the CP9 agents from decades later. They had been investigating for so long and still hadn't figured out the details of their targets—how exactly were they conducting their investigation?

"Finding people… that's something I'm quite good at."

Jon didn't expect much help from the CP9 agents. Although he didn't know exactly who he was looking for, Spandine had mentioned that the targets had fled not long ago, so they shouldn't be far.

With that in mind, Jon activated his Observation Haki. Instantly, a torrent of noises filled his mind.

Mastering Observation Haki wasn't easy. The stronger it was, the more sensitive the user's perception became. Once activated, countless sounds would flood into the user's mind.

It was like how Coby, during the Marineford War, was nearly driven mad by the overwhelming noise when he first awakened his Observation Haki.

Jon's Haki was far more powerful than Coby's initial awakening, so the number of sounds he heard was much greater.

But after more than a decade of training, Jon had grown accustomed to these sounds. He could suppress his enhanced senses when unnecessary, so he wasn't constantly overwhelmed by the noise around him.

Otherwise, anyone would go insane if they heard so many voices all the time.

Jon ignored the irrelevant sounds and focused on finding his target.

After a moment, he opened his eyes and sighed—it still wasn't working.

He had hoped to identify his targets by the sound of their breathing. Since they were fleeing, their breaths would be rapid and irregular, and groups of people fleeing together should give off a distinct aura of panic.

But he had underestimated how difficult it would be. Observation Haki wasn't omnipotent. There were simply too many sounds—human, animal, and otherwise.

Discerning the right ones wasn't easy—it was a mentally exhausting task that required time, and it was difficult to pinpoint his target in such a short period.

After pursuing the trail for about 20 minutes, one of the CP9 agents beside Jon suddenly pointed ahead and shouted, "That's him! I was watching him earlier!"

At that moment, they had reached a busy marketplace. The agent was pointing at a man about 100 meters away.

When the man noticed Jon and his naval team, he abruptly sped up and darted into an alleyway, disappearing from sight.

"Pemberton, have the men spread out and search the surrounding area. I'll pursue him."

With that, Jon dashed forward, accelerating rapidly.

The CP9 agent called out to the soldiers, "Check if there are any others!"

Jon moved at lightning speed. The fleeing man had hoped to lose him in the alleyways, but after making a few turns, he looked up and saw someone blocking his path.

Jon stood there in his navy uniform, his "Justice" coat billowing in the wind.

"You can't escape."

The man's expression changed. "You're a navy officer. Why are you blocking my way? I'm not a wanted criminal."

"I know you're not a wanted criminal, but my mission is to apprehend archaeologists like you."

"I don't know what you're talking about! I'm not an archaeologist—you've got the wrong person!"

Jon remained expressionless. Suddenly, he used Soru (Shave), instantly closing the distance and grabbing the man's wrist.

"You won't have time to draw your gun."

The man winced in pain—Jon had grabbed the wrist where he was concealing a pistol.

"I wasn't reaching for a gun—you're mistaken! Let me go!"

The man struggled, but with his limited strength, he had no chance of breaking free from Jon's grasp.

"You're a navy officer—why are you treating an innocent citizen like this? This is robbery!"

Jon spoke calmly, "You can say whatever you like. My orders are to capture archaeologists. If you're innocent, you should cooperate with the navy's investigation. You'll receive a fair trial rather than resisting."

The man shouted angrily, "You're nothing but executioners! Fair trials? That's just a lie for the gullible!"

"Tsk. See? You've practically confessed."

Green light shimmered in Jon's hand as vines emerged, wrapping tightly around the man.

"If you have grievances or complaints, you'll have a chance to voice them—assuming you live long enough."

Jon shook his head slightly. He didn't believe the man would survive after falling into CP9's hands. Even if he wasn't an archaeologist, those people would likely "make a mistake" on purpose.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

The man continued to struggle, but the vines were incredibly tough—there was no way he could break free.

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