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CHAPTER 35

Kreegan and Lex had been following Gin's ship for a week. Gin traveled from island to island collecting tribute. At that moment, something occurred to Kreegan that if they were collecting about 3 million bellies from each island, and until now, they had visited about 30 islands. There must be around 90 million bellies on that ship. Lex was at the helm while Kreegan was in deep thought.

"How the hell are you able to follow them like that? What kind of devil fruit ability do you have? You can control elements, but you are not logia; you can create acid, but you are not paramecia, and you can boost your speed higher than my half-beast form, but you are not a zoan."

For a moment, Kreegan was torn between making up something logical or not. He could say he has a paramecia fruit with the power of magic or imagination.

"I do not have a devil fruit."

"Are you messing with me?"

"No, I am telling the truth."

"Then where do these powers come from? How can you do these things?"

"I can control something called mana, and it gives me the ability to morph reality in certain ways. To make a long story short, I am a wizard, a magus."

"Like the ones in fairy tales, the ones with the pointy hats?"

A small smile escaped Kreegan's lips.

"You could say that."

"Does that mean you don't sink in seawater?"

"Yes, I do not have any of the devil fruit user weaknesses."

...

At the end of a two-week of travel from one island to another, they were sailing in the open sea again. Those guys were really paranoid and cautious. So, it's normal that they haven't been caught so far. Several times during these two weeks, they were chased by Marines lurking on the tribute route, but each time they managed to dodge them.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

They had an almost sure-fire way of running away. When the marines start chasing them, they approach the nearest island and begin to circumnavigate the island, throwing barrels of flammable material into the water if the marine ship comes behind them.

As a result, the ship from behind hits these barrels, its hull gets covered with flammable material, and when Gin's ship opens fire, the hull of the ship catches on fire. If they try to escape from these barrels, they have to slow down, and Gin's ship manages to get far enough to escape.

"They have stopped."

"Do you think they are taking tribute again?"

"Let's get just close enough to the island so we can see if there is any settlement on the island."

Tora One was slowly circling the island, and this island was one of the uninhabited islands on the map, which they confirmed when they circled the island. Huge cliffs surrounded this island; naturally, there was no way out onto the island.

The only difference in the island's exterior was the huge fissure on the south side, but it was impossible to enter through this fissure because the mouth of this fissure was filled with sharp rocks, and if they got close to there with Tora One. The most likely thing would be them sinking.

If the Kreegan still couldn't feel his sword, it was impossible not to think they were in the wrong place. He did not know how the ship had gotten into the island. If this isn't an outpost and it's their hideout, that means there are 50 ships and 5000 pirates inside. The island looked like how their hideout was described. Lex turned to Kreegan and said,

"Should we call Smoker?"

"Let's wait for the night and do some reconnaissance. We only have one chance with him, and I don't want to waste it. But what are we going to do about the ship? Even if we call for Smoker right now, it will take him at the very least two weeks to get here."

Hearing this, Lex had a sly grin on his face.

"Why are you grinning?"

"Did you forget I am a genius? Do you think Tora One is an ordinary ship? Come with me."

They were both inside the ship and when Lex pulled one of the gas lamps on the wall as they entered the meeting room, the wall opposite them opened. Inside was a console with a helm and various buttons. Lex pressed another button, and the window in front of them opened. What he saw shocked Kreegan.

He'd been on this ship for over a year but didn't know this room existed. Lex continued to push buttons and pull levers, ignoring Kreegan's surprise. The masts on the deck were moved on the opening rails and were swung sideways as on Crown Island, but this time they weren't that big. This time they looked more like fins than wings.

Lex pressed another button, and a roar came from the underside of the ship. Then all the openings around the ship began to close. This sound was not foreign to Kreegan, but it was a sound he had never heard on this planet. This was the sound of a roaring engine. Lex turned and looked at him smugly and said,

"What do you think? You are not the only one with secrets. I told you I am a genius. What I want to build is not something like Oro Jackson, and what I want is something more legendary. Something that can go toe to toe with Pluto."

Kreegan was even more surprised to hear that name. How did he know that? If it was in the Grand Line, many people would know of the legendary weapons but in East Blue...

At this moment, Kreegan realized he was friends with a bigger troublemaker than he had thought. This crazy man was trying to build a super weapon. There were many mechanical vehicles in One Piece, like the train and Tra-guys ship, but he never saw a ship with an engine. Maybe Tra-guys submarine was working with an engine, but he wasn’t sure.

"This ship has a steam engine for emergencies like this, but we can't use it all the time. 80% of this planet is covered with water. Steam engines are not practical for long journeys, and the amount of coal we would need would leave us with no cargo space. That is why ships still use wind as energy, even though we have engines."

He pressed one more button, and the ship started to sink.