News of a traveler's arrival in Windmill Village spread throughout the entire village quickly. In no time, Makino's Tavern was packed with people.
Villagers who arrived later, unable to fit in the tavern, either squatted at the front door or peered through the windows.
Makino obviously didn't expect the villagers to be so eager to see Xia Yu. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this was the first time since her tavern opened that the villagers had been so crazy.
Of course, this was to be expected.
There had been times in the past when the tavern was packed, such as when a pirate named Shanks suddenly visited Windmill Village, leading a group of pirates to stay in Windmill Village for a period of time.
During that time, the tavern was practically packed every day, but it was only Shanks's comrades and subordinates, and the villagers were too afraid to approach.
Now, the visitor was a traveler who had been traveling for years. In the villagers' eyes, he posed no threat, so naturally, they wanted to join in the fun and hear this traveler's travel stories.
"Mr. Xia Yu!"
In the tavern hall, a middle-aged man who had been drawn to Xia Yu's presence since he entered Windmill Village squeezed his way to the bar counter, looking at Xia Yu with anticipation. "Um... can you tell us about the places you've been to?"
Before Xia Yu could speak, another villager stood up. "Mr. Xia Yu, have you been to places outside the East Blue? Also, you've been traveling for years, how do you deal with pirates?"
As soon as these words were uttered, the villagers in the hall fell silent, their eyes all focused on Xia Yu.
Clearly, they were most concerned about Xia Yu's safety while traveling abroad.
Because, in their understanding, since they were very young, their elders had warned them not to sail alone easily, because there were not only ruthless pirates on the high seas, but also all sorts of sea monsters in the sea.
Seeing the sudden silence in the hall, Xia Yu picked up his wine glass and took a sip, then said slowly, "I've been to many places, including the seas outside the East Blue back then, such as the West Blue, the South Blue, and of course, the New World!"
"As for how to deal with pirates? That's simple, if you can beat them, beat them, if you can't beat them, run!"
"Have you fought against pirates, Mr. Xia Yu?" A villager asked curiously.
"So far, no!" Xia Yu thought for a moment, then continued, "However, I did encounter a Navy warship. I don't know what happened, the captain of this warship must have been crazy. There was no pirate flag on my ship, and I'm not a bad person. He actually fired on me without any hesitation!"
"Ah? The Navy fired at you? Are they crazy?"
"Not all the Navy are good people. I heard some Navy officers even colluded with pirates, they are even more evil than pirates!"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't say that! Don't forget that Garp is also a Navy officer!"
"There are certainly bad people in the Navy, but most of them must be good, because without the Navy, pirates would have run rampant! And, we're not here to argue about this, we're here to listen to Mr. Xia Yu's travel stories!"
"Mr. Xia Yu, can you tell us about one of your travel stories from other seas? For example, the West Blue?"
"Of course!" Xia Yu pondered for a moment, then continued, "I've been to many places in the West Blue, but the one that I remember most vividly is a country that has been plagued by war for years!"
"This country is now controlled by three forces. The strongest of the three forces is led by a man named Nicolas Cao Cao, followed by a man named Augustus Liu Bei, and the leader of the last force is named Jerry..."
"What's interesting is that these three leaders all have a very unique hobby!"
"For example, Nicolas Cao Cao, this man loves married women. Augustus Liu Bei, on the other hand, takes man's romanticism to the extreme. As for Jerry, he loves lolis! By lolis, I mean girls who are petite, delicate and cute..."
"These three forces are constantly attacking each other, all wanting to defeat the other two."
"However, they never expected that after fighting for decades, they ended up becoming pawns in someone else's game. After the deaths of Nicolas Cao Cao and Augustus Liu Bei, a minister who had served Nicolas Cao Cao took advantage of the situation and rose to power, ultimately unifying the three forces under his rule."
As he spoke, Xia Yu picked up his wine glass and took another sip, using this opportunity to scan the surroundings.
Seeing that all the villagers were listening intently, he almost couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Sure enough, no matter what world it is, the story of the Three Kingdoms is always popular!
Just then, several men suddenly stood up, vying with each other to say:
"Mr. Xia Yu, can you tell us more about the leader who loves married women?"
"I prefer man's romanticism!"
"I want to know about Jerry and his lolis!"
…………
While Xia Yu was spinning the story of the Three Kingdoms in the tavern and getting along well with the villagers, on the warship that was racing towards Windmill Village, Garp looked up at the sky, his expression gradually becoming anxious.
During this time, he had contacted the village head of Windmill Village, Up, several times, but there had been no response!
At first, he thought Up was busy and couldn't hear the sound of the Den Den Mushi, but after several consecutive calls without any response, he became restless.
If the owner of that ship transferred his anger to the villagers of Windmill Village because of those three cannonballs, with his ability to instantly transfer from the waters of Loguetown to Windmill Village, even if he reached Windmill Village, it would probably be too late!
Time flew by, and the warship, traveling at its maximum speed, rode the waves and finally entered the waters of Windmill Village at dusk.
As the warship sped towards the coast of Windmill Village, Garp, standing on the deck, could already see the outline of Windmill Village through his binoculars.
Unlike the nights he used to return to Windmill Village, when he entered Windmill Village at this time in the past, the villagers would be sitting on the pier in groups of three or five, or gathered in front of someone's house after a day of work.
But Windmill Village was unusually quiet this time. Not only was there no one on the pier, but there was no one walking on the streets of the village.
Seeing this, Garp's heart sank.
Because he had heard Up say that the young man had gone to Makino's tavern, he dared not delay. After scanning the village with his binoculars, he immediately looked towards the tavern!
？？？？？
As he looked towards Makino's Tavern, Garp was immediately filled with question marks.
Through the lens of his binoculars, he saw that almost all the villagers were gathered outside the tavern's door and windows, layer upon layer, like a giant honeycomb.