บท 12: Encountering CP agents
After Garp fell asleep, his right-hand man, Bogard approached the trio of Raven, Viktor and Professor Jones and said, " Sorry about him, he just kind of does that. "
Viktor took this opportunity to ask the burning question he's always had regarding Garp, " So you're telling me Garp often falls asleep while standing up. What if someone attacks him while he's napping?"
Bogard seemed to physically age when reminded of this, "To be honest, Garp's instincts are impeccable. If a lethal threat approaches, Garp will wake up long before he's attacked. Otherwise, with how much he does this, he'd probably be dead. If it's someone weak that's not a real threat, he'll just sleep through it."
" In fact, one time, when he was sleeping, he got attacked and had an axe stuck to his chest. Once that happened, he woke up and punched the guy who did it. He then went back to sleep with the axe still stuck to his chest. It almost gave me a heart attack when I saw that, but like usual, he wasn't in any mortal danger."
Viktor said, " Damn, that's gotta be a real pain to deal with. "
Bogard sighed exasperated, " Oh, you have no idea. Honestly, I think he does it on purpose to mess with me. He always laughs when I mention it. "
Viktor then channeled his inner Zuko and pit his hand on Bogard's shoulder, " That's rough buddy."
" You don't know the half of it. At first, I joined Garp's command out of admiration for his strength, but then I realized how much of an idiot he is. He is the one who trained me, so I found a hard time leaving. Eventually I got used to Garp's shenanigans and now just ignore him. " Bogard ranted.
Bogard realized he got off topic," Sorry about that, got a bit carried away. I'm guessing you guys are from O'Hara, right?"
Professor Jones responded, " Yep, me and these brats are from O'Hara. To think pirates would attack even O'Hara, the center of academia. Truly a traumatic experience. Just think of how it affects the kids. "
Bogard said sarcastically, " Yeah, you guys look very traumatized. It's a wonder you can even keep on living. By the way, you remind me of that scholar years back that Roger supposedly kidnapped. To be honest, it's one of the only times I can remember Roger kidnapping people. "
Professor Jones then laughed nervously, " Ha ha ha ha. What a crazy coincidence. "
Bogard then sighed exasperated, " Yeah, whatever. I don't have the energy to deal with this. We'll just drop you off on the beach here and I'll have you nuisances of the ship."
After Viktor, Raven, and Professor Jones were sent back to O'Hara, they then proceeded to head back to Professor Jones's home. When they got there, Viktor made sure the door was closed and activated his observation haki to see if anybody was listening in on them.
Professor Jones noticed how cautious Viktor was being and asked in a hushed voice, " Hey Viktor, what are you doing?"
Viktor whispered, " I'm trying to detect if anyone is spying on us. "
Professor Jones then said, " Why would anyone want to spy on us? "
Raven then interjected, " Hey Viktor, we never told Professor Jones about the matron of the orphanage. "
Viktor then replied, " Oh right, I never did tell him that. Kind of hard to keep track of what I did and didn't tell him. "
Raven said in a nagging tone, " And who's fault is that?"
" Mine." Viktor grumbled.
Professor Jones interjected, " Uh, hey, did you forget about me. Trying to be kept in the loop here."
" Right. So, I think that the matron of the orphanage is part of cipher pol. " Viktor said nonchalantly.
Professor Jones was shocked and yelled, " Wait, what?! She's part of cipher pol!"
Raven and Viktor hushed Professor Jones, and he apologized embarrassed, " Sorry, so what makes you think that?"
" Well, ever since I meet her, I've had a bad feeling about her. When she looked at me, I felt a cold, calculative intent under her kind appearance. It felt like she viewed me as a piece of merchandise. And your well aware of my ability to sense hostile intentions. "
" Hmm, that's true. Do you have any other evidence? "
" Nothing physical. However, she is actually pretty strong physically, at about 100 doriki value. Also, I've noticed her being pretty sus. She's constantly trying to get close to you and the other archeologists. It seems she's trying to find some evidence of you guys breaking the law."
" Well, it's true that she does take an unusual interest in our work. And I can guess what evidence she would be searching for. However, we need proper evidence before we can justify taking action. "
" Alright, I'll keep a close eye on her. I kept my distance before because I was afraid she'd notice me spying and attack me as a result, but she may do so anyway."
"While I'm waiting for evidence, can you prepare me some weapons. Preferably some good guns. With my ability, I'd be able to make quick work of her. "
" Alright, I'll see what I can do. Don't expect anything heavy duty. I don't exactly have a lot of contacts in the underworld."
It was then that Viktor and Raven left Professor Jones's house and went back to the orphanage. Raven then asked, " So, how exactly do you plan to spy on her? "
Viktor replied, " You remember how I used my animal detection ability to spy on that tiger?"
Raven replied skeptically, " Yeah, I remember it pretty well. It happened pretty recently after all. "
" So, I'm gonna do that." Viktor said with a surprisingly straight face.
Raven looked at him like he was an idiot, " So, let me get this straight. You're going to try to spy on someone you think is a professional spy, undetected, with a technique that was noticed by a tiger and fought you as a result. Do I need to spell out how stupid that sounds? "
Viktor tried to convince Raven it wasn't a stupid idea," Hey, cool your jets. It'll be different this time. This time, I'll only be listening in on her as opposed to straight up peeping like last time. It'll be like placing a bug in someone's room and listening in on their conversations.
However, there was a risk in this scenario," Of course, if the matron is able to use observation haki, then she'll notice me, but I've tried using observation haki before and she didn't notice, so I don't think she can use observation haki."
Raven still wasn't convinced, " But the tiger noticed your probe, right? Are you saying that if you used your ability this way, it wouldn't have noticed you?"
Viktor responded," Exactly! The tiger only sensed me when I actually peeped on it. It didn't notice my observation haki. Also, animals' instincts are usually much sharper than humans. It's only through observation haki we surpass them. Since all signs indicate she hasn't unlocked observation haki, I should be fine."
Raven decided to trust on Viktor's judgement, " Well, I guess that makes sense. Just be careful. "
Viktor assured her he would and proceeded to listen in on the matron's conversations. This continued for a week with no results. Viktor was starting to suspect that he was wrong when she suddenly enclosed herself in her room and answered her transponder snail. The person on the other end asked the matron for a report.
She replied, " I don't have anything major to report. I'm still trying to gain the trust of the scholars here. Although, since I run an orphanage, I do have some kids for sale. These two kids in particular are promising. Their only 10 years old and have a doriki value of at least 10. "
The matron's boss was confused as to why she was telling her this," Okay? Does this have anything to do with your mission? Do you think they could be indoctrinated into our organization despite already being 10? "
Sensing her boss's annoyance, she replied truthfully," Not really, I was thinking more along the lines of selling them as slaves."
Her boss was pissed at her getting off mission," Goddammit, you stupid bitch! Your mission isn't to be a slave trader anymore. If you want to do that, do it on your own time. Now back to the matter at hand, I have a new mission for you."
" I'm listening. "
" We just got word that the Roger pirates fought with the navy just off the coast of O'Hara. They used hostages in their exchange. They were Professor Jones and two kids. However, the top brass are worried that the Roger pirates went to O'Hara specifically to contact the archeologists there. I want you to investigate Professor Jones and see what you can dig up by any means necessary."
The matron accepted the mission without complaint as she knew she was already on her boss's bad side after her earlier slip-up. She then terminated the call and proceeded to carry out her mission.
Once Viktor heard the matron's new mission orders, he immediately left to get Raven. The two of them then headed to Professor Jones's house to discuss Viktor's latest findings.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง