A burly man, around twenty years old, but with a rugged appearance that made him look over thirty at first glance. Beside him stood a slightly pregnant woman, her eyes filled with curiosity as she examined them.
The one who had spoken just now was a young man around sixteen or seventeen. But unlike most youths his age, there was a steadiness and maturity in his eyes that Zeff found hard to comprehend.
With a single glance, Zeff even had the illusion that this kid might be older than himself.
What unnerved him more was that the faces of these three people seemed oddly familiar, yet he was certain he had never met any of them before.
"I've heard of him," Rojen said with a calm smile.
In his heart, the initial thought of robbing them vanished. Unlike those pillaging, ruthless pirates, this group felt more like adventurers than criminals.
Nodding politely at them, Rojen didn't bother looking for Sanji, he knew at this point in the timeline, those "little protagonists" hadn't even been conceived yet… literally.
He signaled for Jason to steer the ship. Jason looked puzzled for a moment.
He knew his Captain never showed mercy when encountering pirates. But this time, he hadn't made a move. After examining the other ship a bit more closely, Jason understood.
"These guys don't look like bad people… I see now. Captain only strikes at the truly wicked."
Turning the helm, The Logan slowly sailed past Zeff's ship, under Jason's expert hands. The two ships brushed shoulders before drifting farther apart, eventually becoming little more than silhouettes on the horizon.
Only after the ships had completely parted did the crew on Zeff's ship begin to chatter.
"Hey, how could that kid have heard of the Captain? We've only just arrived at the Grand Line, haven't we?"
"Yeah, and the Captain's current bounty isn't even that high. Compared to the great pirates of the Grand Line, we're way behind. Honestly, we've just been super lucky to get this far."
"It's weird, seriously weird!"
"What's weirder than that is… that kid looked kinda familiar. And that big guy too, I feel like I've seen him before."
"You too? I thought it was just me. Their faces feel familiar, like I've seen them somewhere before…"
Hearing his crew's chatter, Zeff narrowed his eyes slightly.
He had the same strange feeling. He was certain he'd never met them. But still, their faces triggered a weird sense of recognition.
He tried to think carefully. Three seconds later, Zeff's expression suddenly changed.
"You guys just said… you saw him before, right?" He turned sharply to his crew, his voice urgent.
Instantly, everyone froze a little, their expressions stiffening. Their captain was always stern and rarely smiled, and when he got serious or raised his voice, someone usually ended up in big trouble.
"Captain, it's true we had that feeling, but we can't remember from where…"
They tried hard to think it through, but memory is a tricky thing; when you don't need it, it pops up randomly, but the moment you try to chase it, it scatters like leaves in the wind, impossible to pin down.
"No. We have seen him before. I'm certain of it."
"But… it may not have been during any of our past voyages. It might've been, "
Zeff's gaze turned slowly toward the cabin.
"Someone go to my room. On the nightstand, bring me that stack of Wanted Posters!"
Seeing the seriousness in their Captain's expression, no one dared to argue. One of the younger crewmates immediately bolted toward Zeff's cabin.
A moment later, the young man returned, carrying a thick stack of Wanted Posters, handing them carefully to Zeff.
Zeff took the stack, frowning slightly at the sheer number of them, but he said nothing.
He quickly flipped through them, scanning one after the other.
"Not this one…"
"Not this one either…"
Zeff's eyes were beginning to show signs of urgency. He knew, the answer he was searching for was definitely hidden among these Wanted Posters.
But for now, buried in the bulk, he just couldn't find it.
The stack Zeff had just gone through contained some of the most notorious great pirates in this sea region, each with a bounty over ten million, the kind of posters he made sure to review regularly.
One by one, he flipped through them rapidly, tossing half of the Wanted Posters to the floor in no time.
Some sharp-eyed crewmates quickly stepped in to gather the discarded posters, carefully picking them up.
Then suddenly, on the thirteenth poster after that, Zeff's hand stopped mid-turn.
"This is- !"
He stared at the poster in his hand, instantly recognizing the face on it.
"It's that pregnant woman!" With just one glance, Zeff's pupils contracted sharply.
"Fifty million!"
"That woman… she's worth fifty million!!"
Shock surged through him, but he quickly steadied his nerves and flipped to the next poster.
And then, this next one sent a shiver down his entire spine.
"Armor-Splitter Jason… bounty, 110 million!"
"This guy… over a hundred million!"
Zeff took a deep breath. If he wasn't mistaken, that man had just been steering their ship. Just the helmsman?
He turned to the next poster.
This time, his entire body jolted as if struck by lightning.
"Rojen… 150 million!"
"That boy?! That boy is Rojen?!"
The three Wanted Posters were right next to each other. Based on how Zeff typically sorted them, these must have been issued around the same time. And because of their sky-high bounties, he had usually just skimmed them without paying close attention.
After all, in the first half of the Grand Line, meeting pirates of this level was nearly impossible.
But now, he stared at the three posters carefully.
"These three… they're not pirates."
After a closer look, he realized that the Marine classification for these individuals wasn't "Pirate", but rather:
World Criminals.
And based on what he'd just seen earlier, that made sense, they really didn't act like pirates.
"Unbelievable… I can't believe I actually got to see such legendary figures with my own eyes."
Zeff sighed, a mix of awe and relief in his voice.
To him, anyone with a bounty over 30 million was already in legendary territory. His survival until now had been thanks to a deep knowledge of navigation and a keen sense of danger, which had helped him dodge many calamities.
But in front of people like those three, even he felt overwhelmed. They were on a whole different level, far beyond what he could currently reach.
"Captain… do you know who those three really are?" One of the crew cautiously asked, seeing their Captain's shaken expression.
"I do now. See for yourself." Zeff tossed the three posters on the deck and walked toward the bow of the ship.
He needed a moment to calm down.
It was the first time in his life that he had met people who, in his eyes, stood so high above him. And to think, one of them even said they knew who he was.
"The Grand Line… it really does stir the blood."
"If I can run into people like them, then what about even stronger ones?"
"Whitebeard… Golden Lion… and the second half of this legendary sea?"
"Will I ever reach that place?"
He had to admit, just meeting Rojen and his crew had reignited the fire inside Zeff, a fire that now burned higher than ever.
(End Of This Chapter)
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