A day later.
A medium-sized sailing ship with a large hole in its hull and patches on its mast sailed across the sea.
The vast azure ocean shimmered with rolling waves, like a brilliant star fallen from the heavens and transformed into a magnificent expanse of sparkling crystal.
However, Garen had no mind to appreciate nature's splendor.
"Move it! The wind is about to change!"
"Adjust the position of the foresail!"
Nami sat off to the side with one leg crossed over the other like a foreman. She pointed at Garen and scolded him irritably:
"You don't even know how to use the sail control lines. How are you supposed to sail the seas?"
"Got it!"
Garen wore a gloomy expression as he stared at the tangled mass of ropes in frustration.
This was no small ship. Normally, it would take more than ten professional sailors to operate it.
But there were only three people aboard now. Even Wallace had been forced into serving as helmsman, while Garen alone had to take on the workload of ten men.
Then Nami, the navigation expert, berated him again:
"Too slow!"
"Didn't I teach you all the knot-tying methods?!"
"Why don't you come over and do it yourself?"
Garen snapped irritably:
"There are nine different ways to tie a knot. Who can remember all that?"
"If you can't remember, practice more!"
"Tying different knots for different situations can save life-or-death time at critical moments!"
Nami lounged comfortably in a deck chair some distance away, casually lecturing Garen before breaking into a smug smile:
"Besides, I'm a navigator, not a sailor. It's not my job to do manual labor."
"If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being uneducated!"
Garen had no response. He knew astronomy and geography, and he could even spout impressive-sounding theories about the birth of the universe and the formation of black holes, but he had never learned how to sail a wooden ship.
"How much longer until we arrive?"
Garen asked resentfully. He had already felt how dull and tedious life at sea could be.
"If you adjust the sails in time,"
Nami replied casually, "then about one more full day."
"One day?"
Garen's face darkened.
"Quit dawdling! Get back to work!"
Nami mercilessly urged her laborer, Garen:
"We're near the circular ocean currents around the Calm Belt!"
"If you don't adjust the sails properly, we'll be blown into the Calm Belt and fed to the Sea Kings!"
"Yes..."
With a dark expression, Garen lowered his head and began hauling the heavy sail lines. He could not help muttering under his breath:
"Where's that sailing trip where we were supposed to drink, eat meat, sightsee, and travel? Why am I stuck here doing nothing but hard labor?"
"Sorry,"
Nami said as she focused on the chart in her hands, ruthlessly crushing Garen's hopes.
"Sailing is just this boring!"
"Want to be some idiot captain who only drinks and eats meat? Keep dreaming!"
"Ugh..."
Garen muttered to himself:
"Rather than doing hard labor here, I'd rather fight pirates for three hundred rounds."
"Knight?!"
Wallace's slightly terrified voice suddenly rang out from the bow.
Besides steering, Wallace was also reluctantly serving as lookout. "A pirate ship has appeared!"
The moment he finished speaking—
A black spherical cannonball came whistling down from the sky, plunging straight toward the section of hull where Garen stood.
"A cannonball?"
Garen's heart sank, but he quickly calmed down.
This kind of old-fashioned solid cannonball relied on kinetic force. Its blast radius was extremely limited, and it was not especially fast either. With his current physical abilities, he had nothing to fear.
So, relying on his superhuman dynamic vision, Garen accurately judged where the cannonball would land. He calmly stepped two paces aside, precise and elegant.
Then the cannonball fell.
The "solid cannonball" Garen had looked down on suddenly flared with an abnormal, dazzling radiance.
A massive shockwave erupted with the light and heat released in an instant, blooming into a splendid mushroom cloud.
"What kind of black technology is this?!"
Garen was utterly stunned.
Before he could finish the sentence, he personally experienced the art of explosion.
Not long before—
Not far from Garen's ship, another pirate vessel was racing into the wind along the same route.
This pirate ship was no ordinary vessel!
A former subordinate of Pirate King Roger, close friend of one of the Four Emperors, Red Hair, a man who had once clashed at sea with legendary pirates such as Whitebeard and Golden Lion, and escaped unscathed from the pursuit of Marine hero Garp...
Such a terrifyingly accomplished and powerful man was currently stationed aboard this rather inconspicuous pirate ship.
He was Buggy, the terrifying figure whose name, when read backward, could transcend dimensions and strike down the Great River Crab God.
And now, the clown Buggy was leading a band of fierce subordinates as they ran rampant through the East Blue Sea.
"Have you found them?"
"Have you found them?!"
Buggy, a mighty pirate worth fifteen million Beli, repeatedly questioned the navigator beside him in fury:
"Where are those bastards from the Steel Cutlass Pirates?"
"N-No."
The navigator answered timidly:
"We've lost them for several days already."
"We probably can't recover those stolen treasures!"
Great Captain Buggy's face immediately flushed red. He slapped the armrest of his chair in embarrassment and anger.
"What do you mean, 'stolen' treasures?!"
"How could I, Buggy the Clown, possibly have my treasures stolen by small fry like Steel Cutlass?!"
"Y-Yes..."
The trembling navigator immediately switched to a slightly more flattering phrase:
"They were treasures stolen away by those treacherous villains."
"Hm?"
Buggy still seemed somewhat dissatisfied.
Another thick-skinned lackey immediately leaned over and said:
"They were treasures that our great Lord Buggy bestowed upon junior pirates!"
Buggy finally nodded in satisfaction.
But in truth—
The Buggy Pirates, with the close friend of an Emperor, Lord Buggy, at their helm, had indeed suffered a setback against the Steel Cutlass Pirates, whose bounty was only around ten million, a few days ago.
Although the other side had ultimately been defeated and fled, the treasures worth more than two million Beli that both sides had fought over had fallen into the hands of the Steel Cutlass Pirates.
Unwilling to accept this, Buggy the Clown had led his men across the sea for a long time in hopes of evening the score, but they had failed to find any trace of the Steel Cutlass Pirates.
"How about..."
Mohji, vice-captain of the Buggy Pirates and known as the Beast Tamer, could not help suggesting:
"Captain Buggy, should we give up this time?"
"Continuing to search aimlessly like this is just a waste of effort."
"Hmm..."
Buggy remained silent in thought. His large red nose swelled even more prominently with anger, making him look utterly ridiculous.
If he did not reclaim his pride, this fifteen-million-Beli pirate might become a stepping stone for some junior upstart.
But taking his crew around the sea like headless flies was indeed a thankless, losing business.
"Captain Buggy!"
Just as Buggy was wavering, the lookout standing atop the mast suddenly shouted excitedly, "Found them!"
"Oh?"
Buggy's eyes lit up. In an instant, he used the supernatural power of the Chop-Chop Fruit, detaching his head from his body and sending it flying seven or eight meters upward until it barely came to a stop at the elevated Lookout Cabin.
The lookout pointed in one direction and thoughtfully set up a Spyglass for Buggy's floating head.
"The Steel Cutlass Pirates are over there!"
"Although they've lowered their pirate flag, I'd never mistake that ship. It still has the hole our cannon blasted into its hull!"
Buggy clearly spotted that familiar enemy ship through the Spyglass and could not help grinning viciously.
"Hahaha!"
"Are they so afraid of the might of Lord Buggy that they don't even dare fly their pirate flag?!"
"Today, I'll let you arrogant juniors know the consequences of offending Lord Buggy!"
"Captain?"
Cabaji, the Buggy Pirates' chief of staff and a third-rate swordsman known as Quyi, immediately asked:
"Boarding action, or long-range bombardment?"
"Hmm..."
Buggy pondered for a moment, thinking to himself:
Although the Steel Cutlass Pirates pose no threat to me, a Devil Fruit user, every one of their crew is a desperate fighter willing to clash blades and spill blood. They're much stronger than the circus lackeys under my command.
Last time, I underestimated their close-combat abilities and let that junior pirate crew gain a slight advantage over me.
Buggy then burst into vicious laughter:
"Hahaha!"
"There's no need to talk about honor with these treacherous scum who don't respect their elders!"
"Just blast the hell out of them with cannons!"
Buggy waved his hand grandly and ordered Mohji, his vice-captain:
"Second Captain!"
"Bring out my Big Buggy Bomb!"
Before you continue