"Land ahoy," Elly exclaimed from her spot at the top of the crow's nest, causing me to open my eyes and stop humming to myself in a relaxed manner as I stood up to take a look.
And sure enough, I could see the silhouette of a giant Swallow-shaped mountain, showing that we were close to Swallow island. "I didn't think I'd be back here so soon," Law said with a complicated expression as he looked at the iconic mountain.
"Well, think of it as a chance to stop being so edgy and properly say goodbye to your friends," Wilson said with a smirk as he patted the surgeon's shoulder.
"Begone, you meat-headed primate," Law replied with a scowl, slapping away Wilson's hand to go brood by himself in a dark corner somewhere.
"This guy needs to loosen up a little," Wilson said while shaking his head as he watched Law turn around and make himself scarce. "I can't disagree with that," I added with a shrug, chuckling slightly.
"But then again, we can't all be carefree brutes like your," I added, nudging my four-armed friend's side with my elbow. "The ship that old Jim spent so much effort to build would sink in a heartbeat if that were the case," Bob commented from the side with his usual neutral tone, but there was a very faint smile on his face.
"Shut your mouth, cook. I ran out of alcohol yesterday, and I'm not in the mood to deal with you," Wilson replied with a scowl, causally picking an empty barrel and throwing it at Bob, as the latter effortlessly dodged, which sent the poor barrel straight to the sea.
"You can always have some of my whisky or that cloud wine we got from Skygaurd," I said with a shrug, offering him my whisky bottle. "I'm sick of whisky, and that cloud wine tastes like shit," Wilson replied in a depressed tone, turning around and leaving to join Law in brooding.
-0-
It didn't take us long after that to reach the swallow island's port, and we disembarked immediately, with Wilson being the fastest one to do so. He headed straight to the closest bar while ignoring Wolf, rudd, and the rest of our Swallow island acquaintances that came to welcome us.
My crew and I casually greeted the people receiving us at the dock and quickly separated, each doing their own thing. Elly, Laffite, and I went with Wolf to his hideout to talk about our findings in Skygaurd, intending to ask him to upgrade the black pearl with the Dials we found.
Laffitte, of course, had to be present because he was the navigator, and he had to know the ship like he knew the back of his hands. Elly, however, merely chose to come out of curiosity since she's quite the tinkerer herself.
As for me, then it goes without saying that I had to be there since it's my ship that Wolf will modify, and I'll be paying for said upgrades, but I digress.
Wilson ran straight to the closest bar to get wasted, making for the time he spent sober while we were in the sea. Doc Q and Law came with us to Wolf's hideout, but they went somewhere when we arrived there, saying they wanted to compare notes. Bepo, Shachi, and penguin went with the two doctors, too.
Bob, like usual, stayed on the ship, and Kozue surprisingly chose to stay there too to train Charles, who quickly made his way to the black pearl.
Speaking of the little shit, he seemed to be doing well here, and Wolf had nothing but praise to say about his hard-working nature, but he was still the smug piece of turd I first met in Spider Miles, so there's that.
Byron followed after Wilson after greeting our friends, but he separated from him halfway through their drinking session, probably visiting the local brothels.
"A sea of clouds above the blue sea, you say?" Wolf asked with an incredulous expression on his face, causing me to shrug with a smile. "And there islands with people living on them?" he added and nodded at him.
"That's not all," I said, causing the inventor to raise an eyebrow. "There's more?" he asked as his expression turned even more incredulous and astonished.
"There are also many species that you can't find down here, not even in the grand line," I explained, gesturing with my hands. "Giant sky lamprey, cloud sharks, and all manner of creatures," I added, raising a finger with each creature I named.
"Butt most importantly, they had these things called Dials," I stated, opening the barrel I brought with me from the black pearl. "Seashells?" Wolf said in a confused tone as he picked up one of the Dials.
"Seashells!" I replied with a nod of my head. "But not any seashells. These babies can do many things," I said as I took a tone dial from the barrel, recording my voice and letting it play it in front of the inventor.
"There are many types of Dials, and each of them can do something different," I explained as I began showcasing different Dials in front of Wolf, who was strangely silent while observing the various effects displayed by the seashells.
"This is incredible," Wolf said, literal stars in his eyes as he watched the dials with an intense look. "You're eager. Good!" I said while patting on the shoulder.
"Because I want you to use these Dials to upgrade my ship," I added as I began explaining what I wanted the inventor to do with Dials. Wolf listened quietly, nodding or asking the occasional question while adding some ideas of his own.
'No wonder this guy is an inventor.' To say that Wolf's creativity merely impressed me would be an understatement. I had a lot of time to think about what kind of upgrades would be possible with the Dials, but my ideas were barely comparable to the ones Wolf came up with on the spot, but I wasn't complaining as that would only improve my ship.
"So, how much time do you think you need to get it done?" I asked after we had a rough idea of what the black pearl would look like in the end.
"Normally, it would take me at least three months," Wolf replied while scratching his head, causing me to sigh in exasperation. "But you do remember that I said I'll have a surprise waiting for you when you got back, don't you?" the inventor asked, causing me to be still for a second.
"Oh yeah, there was that," I said with a chuckle. "A lot happened, and I forgot about it," I said while shrugging my shoulders.
"No matter, come with me," Wolf said with a smile, turning around gesturing for us to follow him, and we did so, arriving at a private dock that Wolf had built.
"Welcome to Aqua Wolf dry dock," the inventor exclaimed while spreading his arms dramatically. "It's something that I've been working on for some time now to build a special ship that can travel undersea," he stated while pointing towards a large dry dock to the side of the port.
"I put more effort into it while you left Swallow island since I wanted to install some of my inventions into your ship as thanks for taking care of my ungrateful son," the inventor explained, leading us to the inside of the dry dock. The interior of the dry dock was full of complicated machinery that looked too advanced to have any right to being in a place like Swallow island.
"With the help of the Aqua wolf's dry dock, I can speed up the procedure by at least three times," the inventor explained with a proud smile on his face.
...
A month and a couple of days have passed since our arrival to Swallow island, and with the black pearl's final upgrades finished, it was also the time for us to set sail once again.
My crew and I spent this time between relaxation and training, and I think I might have found the best way to train Observation Haki. Observation is basically sensing the wills of those around you, not hearing them, not seeing them, but feeling them, which is why I had some difficulties learning it.
As a person with enhanced senses, I lean to unconsciously rely on them, which is counter productive in training Observation Haki. Luckily, the solution quickly came in the form of a room with absolutely no light or sound.
How can such an invention came to be, you ask? I have no idea, but it utilizes Tone and lamp Dials Wolf modified in his free time away from upgrading the black pearl.
It's a room where there is no sound or light, so you can't rely on your senses, forcing you to rely on your sixth sense or whatever it's called as you dodge projectiles that person outside the dark area would throw at you.
I quickly had Wolf build a dark room in the black pearl after trying it even though I didn't find much success learning Observation through it, but it's the first step, so there's that at least.
Wilson also seemed to find it interesting, especially since it allowed him to get some payback from Charles. The four-armed gorilla had taken Charles, who fell asleep after a training session with Bob, and dropped him in the dark room.
It was funny as hell watching Charles wake up and begin freaking out about having lost his sight and hearing, which might have been a little too cruel to the little shit, but it was still funny, so whatever.
Speaking of the little shit, he was slowly showing the makings of a tiny monster with all the training he's been receiving from Bob, Elly, and Kozue in the past month, but he still had a long way to go.
Still, this was the first step for him to become truly strong, and he seemed eager to keep going, so maybe he'll make something out of himself when he's older.
I haven't been slacking off on my training as well. I worked on my devil fruit abilities by sparring with Wilson along with training in the dark room.
I didn't achieve much when it came to Observation Haki, but I could feel that was getting closer, and now it's only a matter of time and grinding. That said, however, I did manage to master phasing my weapon and myself and changing my sword's weight while fighting, and I can now do it subconsciously.
My crew have also been doing their own training, and Wilson seemed to take his defeat in Skygaurd seriously as he dove into training his physical strength and endurance.
Laffite worked on his new devil fruit ability as well. What? I didn't mention that Laffite ate the cloud-cloud fruit? I didn't think it needed to be said since it seemed to be such an obvious choice.
Who better to make full use of a weather-related devil fruit than a navigator? The answer to that is no one, of course, so the fruit naturally went to Laffite.
Bob and Doc Q didn't do any training as usual, and they seemed to be getting along because of how much time they spent on the ship together, which was good.
Byron kept working on his devil fruit too, and he was slowly getting more powerful and better at controlling his flames, allowing him to unleash more and more destructive attacks.
Kozue gave me a pleasant surprise by awakening Armament Haki while she was sparring with me, making her the fourth person in my crew to do so.
Elly spent her time training Charles, helping Wolf, and training herself. She also spent some time tinkering with the Dials we brought back from the cloud sea, upgrading her gear and making her that much stronger.
I've also confirmed that Elly does indeed have an intuitive form of Observation Haki since she had no trouble dodging whatever we threw at her when it was her turn to try the darkroom.
Law had spent the past month single-mindedly trying to learn Geppo, and unsurprisingly he managed to get the hang of it in only three weeks as I trained him myself, but I digress.
It was finally time to leave as my crew and myself stood on the black pearl's railing, waving goodbye to the people who came to bid us farewell. Almost everyone was here, Wolf, Rudd, Shachi, and penguin. Still, Charles was missing, which wasn't surprising considering his edgy nature that wasn't much different from Law.
What surprised me was that Bepo wasn't present as well, but it suddenly made sense as I remembered something that happened earlier, so I took with a grain of salt, shrugging my shoulders with a smile.
"The grand line awaits," I said with a smirk as I turned to look at my crew. "So start up the jet belt, and let's get out of here," I instructed, and my crewmates cheered, rushing towards their stations in preparation for our voyage.
The jet belt was the name Wolf chose for the only ship upgrade visible from the outside of the black pearl. As the name implies, it was a belt made of jet, breath, and water dials which the inventor attached to the keel of the ship that would absorb the impact of the water hitting the black pearl's front, transferring it to the rear to make the black pearl move forward at a faster pace.
The jet and breath Dials usually absorb and release air, but after some tinkering on Wolf's part that I didn't even bother to ask about, he managed to modify them to their current state.
"Everything seems to be in order, captain," Laffite said with a smile as he fiddled a board full of Dials near the wheel. "Hold on to something because we'll be heading towards the reverse mountain at top speed," Laffite concluded as the black pearl sped out of the docks at an incredible speed that wasn't previously possible.
...
"If that's all you have, then you might as do yourself a favor and fall over a sword or something before I reach you," I said while looking the portal man in what I assumed was his eyes.
He didn't reply as his hands began moving quickly, conjuring more portals and throwing even more random things into them, causing me to activate my phasing ability as I started moving towards him.
Many portals appeared all around me as I charged towards the portal man with different projectiles shooting out of them, knives, bullets, spears, cannon balls, you name it was there, but I phased through everything without a scratch.
I quickly closed the distance between us, promptly swinging Triton at the man's head, trying to end with one swift stroke. But he reacted quickly by creating a portal beneath him, falling into it and emerging from a different portal some distance away.
"How long do you think you can keep this up?" I asked with a grin as I quickly flew towards him again, noticing the bounty hunters' fleet getting decimated by my crewmates.
"No matter how long you think you can last, your friends won't last as much," I added as I began dodging his attacks instead of merely phasing through them for the heck of it.
"And you'll run out of space to run to before you know it," I concluded as I began sending flying slashes towards the man, causing him to start creating portals in front of himself for protection.
The portals devoured my flaying slashes as new rifts appeared, shooting my projectiles back at me, and I merely grinned as I swatted them away with Triton or dodged them all together, causing them to hit the portal man's allies behind me.
...
As he continued to fight the portal man, fence, Johnny's crewmates weren't idle as they each jumped into an enemy ship, except for Bob and Doc Q for obvious reasons.
And Wilson was by far the most flashy out of the bunch as he flew into the air, transforming into his original, now downright gigantic gorilla form and landing in the middle of a bounty hunter ship.
To say that Wilson's landing was catastrophic would be an understatement, as the galleon class ship almost sank into the sea by the power of the impact alone.
Wilson then proceeded to beat the living crap out of all the bounty hunters on the ship while tearing the ship to shreds, using nothing but his brute strength.
And surprisingly, Laffite acted just as flashily, forgoing his usual stealthy style as he made full use of the cloud fruit, creating thunder clouds, iron cloud barriers, and even swamp cloud, which he used to drown the bounty hunters in their own ships.
Elly, on the other hand, merely flew around while sniping bounty hunters from the air with her trusty rifle as she kept a watchful eye on the battlefield, prepared to help any cremate in need.
Byron's actions were a mixture between Elly and Wilson as he too transformed into his gigantic crow form, flying overhead and raining flames on the unsuspecting bounty hunters, effortlessly sinking the first ship in his line of sight.
And Kozue strategically positioned herself on Byron's back, using her bow and rapidly shooting arrows, both mundane and explosive. While Law and Bepo kept teleporting from ship to ship, beating everything that moved.
...
The same situation continued to repeat itself, where I would close the distance between the portal man and myself only for him to create another portal, jump into it and emerge in a different location.
But that quickly ended when a man wearing too many guns on his clothes came running towards the portal man. "What the hell do you want, Memento?" asked the portal man in an annoyed tone.
"Don't you see I'm busy?" He scolded, all the while deflecting attacks and creating new portals to attack me without bothering to turn around. "We need to get out of here. Most of our allies are either dead or dying!" Memento said in an urgent tone, causing the portal to pause his actions for a second to look around.
He hesitated for a second or two, which was the time I needed to close the distance again. "O, no, you don't!" I remarked with a grin reached the portal man and his friend, swinging Triton to cleave them both in half.
I, however, didn't reach the portal man in time despite using my fastest speed as Laboon's towering form emerged from beneath the ship, breaking it in half and sinking it.
I had lost sight of the portal man because of the flying water vapor and wood shrapnel, but I did hear the unmistakable sound of a portal opening, meaning the bastard had at least survived.
I quickly began checking the surroundings, trying to locate where they would emerge, but found nothing and had to sigh and give up after looking around for a minute or so.
"Whatever, I'm sure he'll show up again sooner or later," I murmured with a shrug, smiling as my crewmates quickly began gathering at the portal man's ship.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, was our first victory in the grand line!" I exclaimed with a grin, spreading my arms to the side for dramatic effect, causing my companions to cheer.
"Now get to work. I want you to gather every coin and item of value that isn't nailed to these bounty hunters ships," I instructed, and everyone nodded with eager expressions on their faces.
"Then I want you to get hammers and get everything that's nailed as well, Rehahahahaha," I concluded with a loud laugh, causing some of my companions to murmur joking complaints as others merely chuckled as they got to work.
...
"Reporting, sir," the same marine soldier from earlier barged into the fleet admiral's office, saluting as he did. "Speak," Sengoku instructed as he raised his head from the paperwork he had buried in with a frown on his face.
"The battle between the silver hand pirates and bounty hunters at the twin capes has just ended, sir!" the soldier reported, still in the posture of a salute. "So quickly?" Sengoku replied with a question, his frown becoming more pronounced.
"What happened?" the fleet admiral asked again, giving the young soldier his undivided attention. "The pirates defeated, no they obliterated the bounty hunters, but their leader, Fence, seems to have escaped unharmed!" the soldier explained, hesitating as he spoke, trying to choose the best words to describe the conclusion.
"Anything else?" the fleet admiral asked. "The silver hand pirates seem to have new members, sir," the soldier replied, pausing and waiting for permission to elaborate, earning a nod from the fleet admiral.
"There are three new members. One of them is a renowned doctor and wanted criminal from north blue called Doc Q, and the other two are unknown, with one of them being a polar bear mink, sir!"
"I see. Dismissed soldier!" Sengoku instructed, holding back a sigh as he watched the young marine soldier turn around and leave his office.
"They're growing too strong too quickly," Sengoku murmured to no one in particular, heaving a deep sigh as he opened his drawer, intending to retrieve and indulge in a snack of rice crackers.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
He sighed again as he opened his drawer upon noticing it was empty.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAARP!!!" the fleet admiral exclaimed with a bulging vein on his forehead, and his voice reverberated all over the marine ford, causing many new recruits to trip and fall out of surprise.
...
As my companions went to work, I made my way back to the black pearl, and after greeting Doc Q and Bob with a light nod, and took a moment to finally get a good look at Laboon, who had already started bashing his head against the red line.
And let me tell you, no amount of preparations would make you ready to witness a giant whale bash its head against a similarly massive mountain range, causing the sea itself to tremble from the force of the impact.
"So this guy is still banging his head against the red-line...," Bob remarked as he made his way to stand beside me, gazing at Laboon's act of self-harm.
"I wonder why he's doing that?" Bob added as he turned to look at me with a meaningful look on his face which blatantly said; you seem to know everything, so explain.
I deadpanned, struggling to keep my eyes from twitching as I shrugged my shoulders while pointing towards the twin capes. "If anyone knows what's happening, then it should be the old twin capes keeper."
Bob raised an eyebrow in amusement at my answer while twirling his mustache. "Fair enough," he replied with a shrug of his own.
"Well, I'm going there to have a few words with the old keeper, so feel free to tag along if you're that curious," I remarked with a shrug as I turned around, launching myself into the air with Geppo.
"I'll pass," Bob replied in his usual carefree tone as he turned around and resumed lazing around the black pearl's deck.
...
I landed in front of the left lighthouse in the twin capes, smiling and waving my hand as I noticed Wilson and Laffite flying their way towards me.
"What are you up to, Johnny?" Wilson asked with a smirk as he landed in front of me, followed by Laffite, who nodded at me in greeting after landing with a curious expression on his face.
"Not much," I replied with a shrug. "I just want to have a few words with the old twin peaks keeper," I added while pointing towards an elderly man with a strange haircut who seemed to be ignoring our presence for the most part.
"Hmm? Is that geezer interesting?" Wilson asked as he turned to look at the elder, squinting his eyes as he did. "Well, that depends on whether you find an old crewmate of the pirate king interesting," I added with a shrug, causing both Wilson and Laffite to look at me with surprise.
"A companion of the pirate king?" Laffite remarked with a confused expression. "How is that even possible?" he questioned with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Didn't the marines catch the pirate king's crew along with the man himself?" Laffite concluded, alternating his gaze between Crocus and myself.
"The marines didn't cath the pirate king," I dramatically stated, spreading my arms apart and smirking at Wilson and Laffite's shocked expressions. "Gol D Roger, the pirate king, willingly surrendered to the marines."
"Why would he do such a thing?" Laffite asked with his eyes wide in shock. "Wait, pirates have a king?!" Wilson asked with an even more exaggerated shocked expression, causing me to burst out laughing.
"Maybe I'll tell you about some other time, Laffite," I remarked with a shrug, still chuckling slightly at Wilson's dumfounded expression at the revelation that pirates have a king.
I turned around and began walking towards Crocus with a smile on my face, feeling a mixture of expectations and excitement at meeting one of my favorite one-piece characters.
Crocus continued to read his newspaper while sitting on a garden chair, seemingly unaware of my presence until I was standing ten or so steps away from him.
The old doctor raised his head from the newspaper and looked at us with sharp eyes, his expression one of smoldering intensity, causing both Laffite and Wilson to go tense, frowning as they did.
'Here it comes.' I couldn't help grinning upon seeing Crocus' reaction as he slowly gave my companions a once over, inspecting us with his sharp pair of eyes.
I could basically hear the drums echoing in the surroundings as Crocus' eyes widened in focus, as if preparing to do something only for him to lower his head and resume reading the newspaper.
"Say something, you asshole!" Wilson exclaimed in frustration, and I could barely stop myself from laughing as Crocus raised his head, giving Wilson a bored look.
"Calm down, Wilson," Laffite said in a placating tone, putting his hand on Wilson's shoulder to calm the four-armed gorilla as he took a step forward.
"Greeting," Laffite remarked in his usual cheery, polite tone. "We've just arrived at the grand line, and we were hoping to get some information about the area," the navigator added while tipping his hat in Crocus' direction.
Crocus looked at Laffite, and his expression turned tense and dangerous again. "Don't you know it's impolite to ask someone for a favor without at least introducing yourself?" the old doctor remarked.
"Ah, but of course," Laffite replied with a chuckle. "I'm Laffite-" the navigator tried to introduce himself, only to be interrupted by Crocus.
"My name is Crocus, and I'm the keeper of the twin capes' lighthouses. I'm 69 years old. Gemini, Blood type B." Crocus began babbling, and I couldn't help it anymore as I started laughing while looking at Laffite, who had a constipated expression out of annoyance.
"Can I kill this man, captain?" Laffite asked with twitching eyes while clenching his cane and looking at the old doctor. "Calm down, will you? Don't you know how to appreciate a running gag?" I said while wiping tears from my face after laughing for a good half a minute.
"Oh, I see you're also a man of culture," Crocus exclaimed with an approving nod, grinning as he did. "At any rate, feel free to ask whatever you want," he added with a smile, putting away the newspaper.
"Sure, let me just call a buddy of mine first," I replied with a nod, taking out my transponder snail and calling Byron, instructing him to come over.
...
"Do you need something, captain?" Byron asked as he turned to his human form while landing in front of me. "No, but I think you need to hear this," I replied with a shrug as I turned to look at Crocus.
"What is the meaning of this, young man?" Crocus asked while giving Byron a once over, wondering what the blonde musician could want to hear from himself.
"You see, this guy's grandfather was a pirate from west blue, who disappeared several decades ago," I replied while pointing towards Byron. "And finding out what happened to his grandfather is one of the reasons he came out to the sea," I concluded with a shrug.
"So you're hoping that I would remember his grandfather and possibly know what happened to him?" Crocus reasoned with a nod as he turned to look at Byron.
"More or less," I replied with a smirk nodding my head. "I don't mind, but I don't know if I can be of any help since I have met many pirates during my time at the twin peaks," Crocus remarked with a nod.
"Why don't you tell me your grandfather's name and the name of his pirate crew first?" Crocus asked as he turned to look at Byron again.
"His name was Yorki, the captain of the Rumbar pirates!" Byron replied, his expression a mixture of nervousness and expectations. "They were a crew of pirate musicians, and only people who loved music were allowed to board the ship," Byron added with a smile.
Crocus heard what Byron said but didn't react, merely alternating his gaze between Byron and Laboon, who was still banging his head against the red line.
"So you didn't remember them, after all?" Byron asked while heaving a sigh in disappointment. "I never said that," Crocus replied, shaking his head while heaving a sigh of his own.
"Are you saying that Yorki and the Rumbar pirates didn't come back home after all this time?" Crocus asked, frowning with a complicated expression.
"No, they disappeared into the grand line," Byron replied while scratching his head, seemingly confused by Crocus's question. "Then, perhaps I might have misjudged them," the old doctor remarked while shaking his head.
"You see, I had met the Rumbar pirates almost 50 years ago, right here at the twin capes," Crocus explained with a reminiscing expression.
"Crossing the reverse mountain had damaged their ship, so they stayed here for three months to repair it," he added as he turned to look at Laboon, who was wailing sadly.
"I became good friends with them at the time, but they had to leave sooner or later," Crocus stated as he got up and began walking towards the shore. "But they didn't come alone from west blue as a baby whale had followed them from west blue all the way here," he added while pointing towards Laboon.
"They had met Laboon when he was a baby separated from his pod, lost and confused," the old doctor remarked. "So they tried to cheer him up the only way they knew how; music," he added with a fond smile.
"The baby whale quickly grew attached to them and considered them as his pod, following them all the way here from west blue," Crocus concluded with a sigh.
"So this gigantic whale was with my grandfather?" Byron asked with eyes wide in astonishment as he turned to look at Laboon. "But why is he here then?" he asked again with a confused expression.
"He was still a baby, half my size when they left," Crocus replied, chuckling lightly with a fond expression as he gazed at Laboon. "They didn't want to take him along because they feared he would get hurt," he added, still smiling.
"So the Rumbar pirates left the twin capes, leaving Laboon here in my care after promising they would return after three years for him," he stated as he turned to look at the horizon. "But they never came back," he concluded with a sigh.
"I went out to the sea in search of them, but I found no trace," Crocus stated while shaking his head. "And I had assumed that they merely fled the grand line somehow," he added while rubbing the back of his head.
"But it seems I was wrong, at least," he concluded with a smile. "So you don't know what happened to my grandfather and his crew?" Byron asked with a sigh, earning a negative headshake from the old doctor.
"Well, I know what happened to them, but I'm not sure you two would want to hear it," I remarked from the side after clearing my throat to get everyone's attention.
"Of course you do," Laffite murmured from the side, causing my eyes to twitch as I turned to look at him as he chuckled while shrugging his shoulders.
"Wait, you do?" Byron turned to look at me with wide eyes, causing me to nod with a shrug. "Then why didn't you tell me, captain?" he asked with a frown.
"I didn't know Yorki was your missing grandfather for sure, and I had my reasons not to ask," I replied with a shrug, causing the blonde musician to sigh.
"And how do you what happened to them, even though disappeared long before you were born?" Crocus asked with a raised eyebrow, giving me a side glance.
"I know a lot of things, like the fact you were a member of Gol D Roger's crew," I replied with a smirk as I turned to look at the old doctor.
"And the fact Roger willingly surrendered to the marines, to start the great age of pirates, but that's neither here nor there," I concluded with another shrug.
"Youngsters these days sure are scary," Crocus said with an amused chuckle while giving me another once over. "Let's hear it then," he added with a sigh, giving me his undivided attention.
"Yorki, and many of the Rumbar pirates contracted some sort of incurable illness sometime after leaving here," I explained, frowning while trying to remember the details.
"So Yorki appointed humming Brook as the new captain and procured a new ship," I added, causing Crocus to frown. "He took all the infected crewmates with him to save the others and tried to leave the grand line through the calm belt," I remarked, causing both Byron and Crocus to sigh.
"It goes to say that no one heard anything from him again," I concluded, pausing and waiting for Crocus and Byron to process my words. "I see. Then what happened to Brook and the others?" Crocus asked in a sad tone after several seconds' pause.
"Another pirate crew ambushed them in the Florian Triangle," I replied, swallowing a sigh as I began remembering the scene where Brook and Rumbar crew would play one last song.
"Though they managed to repel the attackers, they were already as good as dead because the attackers used poisoned weapons," I explained, shaking my head.
"They died doing what they loved to do the most, playing one last song," I concluded, causing byron to sigh while Crocus closed his eyes and looked away with a pained expression.
"But, there could be one survivor," I said after a minutes pause, causing both Byron to turn around, intensely looking at me. "Humming Brook should have eaten the Yumi-Yumi devil fruit," I added, pausing to think about how to describe the fruit.
"It's a paramecia devil fruit that resurrects the user after they die," I explained with a thoughtful expression. "So, for all I know, humming Brook might still be alive," I added with a smile.
...
"For all I know, humming Brook might still be alive," I remarked with a shrug of my shoulder, smiling. "He could be at the bottom of the ocean or stranded in the Florian Triangle, where the Rumbar pirates perished," I added as I alternated my gaze between Crocus and Byron.
"But he is most likely alive thanks to the Yumi-Yumi fruit," I concluded, pausing and waiting for Byron and Crocus to process my words.
"Doesn't mean that Brook would have been all alone for the past 40 something years?" Crocus asked, immediately understanding the implications of my words.
I looked at Crocus and nodded my head without saying a word, causing the old doctor's frown to become more pronounced as he went quiet, seemingly thinking about something.
"Captain!" Byron remarked in an urgent tone, turning to look at me. "If my grandfather's friend is still alive, and stranded somewhere out there, then I would like to help him," he added with a resolute expression, looking me in the eye.
"Please let me leave so I can help him as soon as possible!" Byron remarked in a firm tone, bowing his head in front of me.
I merely looked at Byron with a neutral expression as Laffite moved immediately after the musician finished speaking, kicking him in the abdomen and sending him crashing into the lighthouse.
"What do you think is a pirate crew is?" Laffite asked calmly in an icy tone that differed notably from his usual cheery, polite manner of speech.
"Do you think we're playing pretend or something?" the navigator asked after using soru to reach Byron as he turned to look down on the blonde musician who was still on the ground.
"Calm down, Laffite," I sighed as I too made my way towards byron with a quick soru step, looking at the musician with the same neutral expression, waiting for him to explain his words.
"You and the rest of our crewmates have already done much for me, captain," Byron said as he slowly got up, bowing his head in front of me again.
"I'm already in more debt to you than I can pay for the rest of my life!" he added, and I still said nothing, knowing that he still had more to say.
"But I..., I must save my grandfather's companion," Byron said with a complicated expression. "And I've heard about the Florian triangle and how dangerous it can be," he remarked, gathering his resolve again.
"I can't ask you or the rest of the crew to venture there for my sake, so please allow me to leave until I can rescue him, at least!" Byron concluded, bowing his head even deeper this time.
I looked at Byron with the same neutral expression I had on my face for the past couple of minutes and raised my hand, causing Byron to close his eyes and clench his fists, preparing for the pain.
I lowered my hand and placed it on Byron's shoulders, smirking, causing the musician to open his and raise his head to look at me with a confused expression.
"I appreciate your concern for the crew and me, Byron," I said with a smile while patting the musician's shoulder. "But you should learn to have some trust in your crewmates and captain," I added with a smile as I raised my hand again, clenching it into a fist and punching him in the face.
"The Florian triangle? A dangerous area that swallows pirate ships whole?" I remarked with a smirk as I picked Byron, helping him to his feet.
"What about it? You're following Johnny fucking silver hand, the man who will become the strongest!" I stated with a toothy grin, stretching my mouth from ear to ear.
"A mere Florian triangle is nothing but a vacation spot for me," I added while dismissively waving my hand to the side. "So, take a minute to think about your request again, and tell me, do you still want to leave, or maybe you want to ask something else from me?" I asked as I took a step back, waiting for the musician to process my words.
Byron looked at me for an entire minute, with his eyes opened wide in shock and expression full of awe. "Please help me save my grandfather's friend, captain!" Byron stated after sending me a grateful glance, bowing his head again.
"That's more like it," I remarked with a smirk, patting the musician's shoulder and helping him get rid of the dust and dirt on his shit, causing Byron to rub his neck awkwardly in embarrassment.
Laffite looked at this scene, and he too nodded in satisfaction as his expression reverted to his usual cheerful one.
"Shame. Beating some sense into this blonde idiot would have been a fun distraction," Wilson commented from the side, causing Laffite and me to chuckle while Byron began sweating.
"Hmm, so you're aiming to become the strongest, eh?" Crocus commented from beside me, causing me to look at him in astonishment as I had seen him still standing far away from the corner of my vision merely a second earlier.
My astonishment immediately disappeared as I remembered I was dealing with a former crew member of roger's crew, and I nodded my head with a smirk while looking at the old doctor.
"You've chosen a hard dream to make into a reality, young man," Crocus remarked with a smile, staring into the distance with a wistful expression on his face.
"Even roger, for all of his strength and fame, wasn't the strongest," he added as he turned to look at me in a provoking tone. "And even old Whitebear himself became the strongest after roger's death as the two of them we equal in strength," he added while giving me a once over, seemingly evaluating me.
"Do you think you can achieve what even the pirate king couldn't do?" he asked with a smirk, raising an eyebrow in amusement.
"I know I can," I shortly answered with a confident smirk, and Crocus didn't reply, merely looking at me with the same evaluating expression on his face.
"It sure is good to be young," Crocus chuckled with a nod of his head. "Then I will look forward to hearing about how you will accomplish your dream," he added with a smile, chasing me a shrug with a smile of my own.
"But in any case, Brook is also my friend, and I would like to help him too, but I'm old and already retired," he stated with a sigh, shaking his head. "So if you need anything of me, then don't hesitate to ask," he added as he turned to look me in the eye.
"I will do my best to help you as repayment for saving mine and Laboon's friend," he concluded while gesturing towards the giant while, who had finally calmed down and stopped attacking the red line.
"I was hoping you would say that," I replied with a chuckle. "I have two people who need some medical attention, and who better to do that than the pirate king's ship doctor himself?" I added with a smile.
"Flattery will get you nowhere, young man," Crocus replied with a snort, raising an eyebrow in amusement. "However, depending on how much medical attention your friends need, I might not be of much help," he added with a sigh.
"I had sold most of my medical equipment to commission and purchase specialized tools that would help me in maintaining Laboon's health," he concluded with a shake of his head.
"I know a place where we find advanced medical equipment," I replied with a nod of my head. "But it's in another island, the drum Kingdom to be more precise," I added, pausing and giving Crocus time to think.