Beside Gawain, Rayleigh laughed and opened his arms wide.
As seawater dripped from his hair and beard, the old man shouted.
"Haha, it's been so long since I've tasted this pure, deep-sea water!"
"Yes, it's been so long, this vast ocean..."
Shakky sat at the bow of the ship, looking around at the giant waves that suddenly appeared due to the Xuan Dark Bird Ship crashing down from the sky.
After a high tide, the sea level rises further in the direction the tide is moving, while the sea level falls further after a tsunami.
Therefore, when the Dark Bird Ship emerged from the tsunami, it truly felt like it was falling from the sky.
Standing on the turbulent deck, Gawain Rokumei Kotetsu sword, then blinked wearily.
"It feels really good!"
As he muttered this, Gawain looked up at the sky, and at the same time, a large number of items floating in the air slowly descended onto the deck.
The moment she landed, Uta pounced on Gawain, leaping up and clinging to Gawain like an octopus.
"That was terrifying! Waaah, I've never flown that high before!"
Shirahoshi is so unreliable, I will never trust her again!
Seeing this, Gawain quickly ruffled Uta's braids to comfort the little girl who was frightened by the tsunami and Shirahoshi.
Not far away, Shirahoshi, who had heard Uta's voice, turned around once again.
Without saying a word, she squatted down dejectedly and hugged her tail once more...
Seeing Shirahoshi's expression, Uta rolled her eyes helplessly.
"Are you sure you're Merfolk? You must be a soft-bodied fish, Shirahoshi!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the little girl jumped out of Gawain's arms and pounced on Shirahoshi's tail.
Soon, the two little girls were laughing and playing around.
Hearing their laughter, Gawain let out a long sigh, then he began his weary journey towards the rest area.
On the way, Gion asked Takabun in Gawain.
"It must have felt amazing, that kind of illusion of almost conquering the ocean!"
"Even you say it's an illusion, how could I not know?"
Gawain gave a casual reply.
Upon hearing this, Gion nodded. Of course, she hoped her adult would become more confident, but she didn't want that confidence to turn into arrogance in the slightest.
Shortly afterward, Gawain and his group met up with Yi Xiao and the others in the rest area.
Everyone sat down and then happily recounted everything that had just happened.
Except for Uta.
The little girl and Shirahoshi hadn't been playing for long when she collapsed onto her stage and burst into tears.
Because her new stage is full of the smell of salted salmon...
While Gawain and his friends were chatting, Kalifa came to Gawain's side and casually took the shirt Gawain had taken off.
Since it was torn, Gawain simply didn't put on a shirt, since he still had training to do later anyway.
After tidying up Gawain's clothes, Kalifa spoke to Gawain.
"Sir, you seem to enjoy admiring some interesting sights."
Therefore, there are several small tsunamis being created by Sea Monkey ahead of us.
Although those tsunamis were only a few hundred meters high, they didn't even touch the deck of the Dark Bird Ship.
But I think you might want to take a look."
"Oh?"
Gawain was taken aback.
"What did you just say, Water Monkey?"
"Yes, sir, those are unique sea creatures found near Long Ring Long Land and in the waters surrounding the Akula Ragnar tsunami."
They are generally between 80 and 800 meters long, each with a huge ape face, and they also possess the ability to create and propel small to medium-sized tsunamis using their tails and bodies!
"Amazing! Let me see!"
As he spoke, Gawain stood up with a smile and expectantly accepted the binoculars that Kalifa handed him.
Then, Gawain went to the side of the ship and looked in the direction Kalifa was pointing.
Sure enough, after the massive tsunami passed, several smaller tsunamis, no more than two hundred stories high, were already moving forward.
And sure enough, several enormous monkey faces were visible within those tsunamis!!!
Upon seeing this, Gawain's eyes widened slightly. The age-old mystery of the Water Monkey had finally been solved!
He held up his binoculars, looking through them, and asked Kalifa.
"Are these Sea Monkey? What do they look like? Do they only have monkey faces, or are their bodies also monkey-like?"
Before Gawain Kalifa reply, Jinbe waved to Gawain from afar.
"My lord, how can I understand things just by listening to others? Let me go to sea!"
As a professional fishing master, I'll catch a Sea Monkey for you to see right now!
After saying that, Jinbe excitedly took a Jinbe quick steps and leaped into the sea, quickly creating a white wave.
Moments later, Jinbe collided with the miniature tsunami!
Immediately afterwards, even though Gawain and Little Tsunami were far apart, Gawain could clearly hear the monkey's screams.
Not long after.
Whoosh!
Thump!
A giant fish, 300 meters long, was thrown directly from the sea by Jinbe.
The fish wasn't even unconscious yet; it was still struggling violently after falling onto the boat.
Therefore, many Black Ice Terrace agents looked at Jinbe with increasing helplessness.
The Black Ice Terrace agents all remembered that, among all the officers, it was the easygoing, portly man who was the most concerned.
They either grill fish or steal trees, and now they've got a Water Monkey, making their work infinitely more complicated...
As for Jinbe, he leaped out of the sea with a whoosh and landed between Gawain and the Water Monkey.
"How about it, sir? My fishing skills are pretty good, aren't they? Haha!"
"Uh, Jinbe, we seem to be fish too~."
Shirahoshi, looking pitiful, went to the Water Monkey's side and began to comfort the constantly weeping Water Monkey...
Upon hearing this, Jinbe rolled his eyes at Shirahoshi.
"Your Highness, you are Merfolk, but I am Fish-Man. We are ultimately different!"
Then, Jinbe turned to Gawain and explained.
"On Fish-Man Island, Fish-Man and Merfolk have completely different diets. Merfolk do not eat any fish or shrimp, so Merfolk more processed algae."
We Fish-Man don't have that rule. We eat everything and don't value sea fish too much!
After saying that, Water Monkey went up to the Water Monkey without Jinbe politeness and gave it another kick.
"Especially these Sea Monkey, logically speaking, we should kill them one by one when we see them!"
What these creatures love most is chasing ships at sea and creating tsunamis. After sinking the ships, they go and play with the creatures on board, and then eat them when they're done playing with them!
Princess Shirahoshi, just like that Water Monkey you're concerned about, can grow up to 300 meters long and may have eaten hundreds of people!
So even if we're going to show concern, can't we show concern for animals with gentle temperaments?
"Why?"
Shirahoshi was startled by Jinbe's words. She quickly moved away from the Water Monkey and then asked Jinbe a question.
"Jinbe, do they... do they simply enjoy eating people, or do they just not know how to distinguish between humans?"
At this point, Shirahoshi turned to the Water Monkey and asked him a question.
"Hey, Mr. Sea Monkey, have you ever eaten a person? Do you really like eating people?!"
Hearing Poseidon's question, the Sea Monkey, though reluctant to answer, unconsciously blurted out the answer.
"Squeak!"
Upon hearing the Water Monkey's cry, the Shirahoshi became completely listless.
Shirahoshi squatted down again and hugged her tail.
Looking at the Shirahoshi that was instantly covered by shadow, Gawain asked curiously.
"Shirahoshi, why are you like this again? What did the Water Monkey say? Did he say he ate people?"
"Waaaaah~~!"
Hearing Gawain's question, Shirahoshi started to sob.
While crying, Shirahoshi wiped away her tears.
"Waaaaah, let's just kill him..."
Gawain... the Water Monkey... he said...
He said it smells so good!!!
As soon as Shirahoshi finished speaking, everyone in the rest area looked at each other in disbelief. Even the Black Ice Terrace, who were constantly moving furnishings out of the cabin, couldn't help but freeze in shock.
Immediately afterwards, bursts of laughter erupted from almost everyone's mouth.
Hearing the laughter of the crowd, Shirahoshi's breath hitched slightly, and then she cried even harder.
Having spent so much time underwater and had little chance to chat with the ferocious Sea King on the surface, this was the first time Shirahoshi had ever seen such a ferocious Water Monkey...
After calming Shirahoshi's cries, Gawain had Shiryu drag the monkey-faced, fish-bodied Water Monkey to the stern and dispose of it.
Immediately afterwards, the furnishings on the deck were restored to their original state.
After Gawain resumed his training...
The people on the ship also began to hurry up and harvest the Sea God Salt to prevent the salt hanging on the ship from being contaminated by sudden rainstorms or other celestial phenomena on the Grand Line.
The journey continued at this light and cheerful pace.
Eight days later, Gawain finished his morning exercise and stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the vast grassland that was constantly approaching in the distance.
Upon seeing the grassland, Kalifa quietly reported to Gawain.
"My lord, we have arrived at Long Ring Long Land. That grassland is one-tenth of the Long Ring Long Land's land!"
"Slow down and stop the ship, prepare to land!"
"Yes, sir!"
Kalifa turned and left. Soon after, the Dark Bird Ship slowly came to a stop near the Long Ring Long Land, and Gawain and his group boarded the Little Dark Bird and rushed towards the distant grasslands.
The moment the boat finally came to rest on the shore, and everyone stepped onto the grassland.
Shirahoshi trembled Merfolk happiness.
She pounced onto the thick grassland and started rolling around happily!
"The grassland, I've finally seen a real grassland, it's so vast!"
Beside her, watching the happy Shirahoshi, Uta gently pursed her lips.
"This grassland is so much bigger than I imagined! Is this what travel is all about?!"
Every single island is so beautiful!
As he spoke, Uta looked out at the boundless grassland, which consisted of only grass and a few scattered trees, some reaching hundreds of meters in height.
At the same time, Gawain's companions also quickly began their own explorations. Yi Xiao lightly tapped the ground with his Cane Sword, and a piece of land instantly lifted him and the Kuma into the air, soaring straight into the sky.
Standing in the sky, Kuma gestured slightly with the pen in his hand, and then he said with absolute certainty.
"Approximately 170 kilometers in diameter!"
After he finished speaking, he smiled and nodded in admiration.
"I never expected that someone as a tyrant among the Shichibukai would possess such excellent navigation skills!"
"It's nothing!"
The bear answered expressionlessly.
"Before establishing the Revolutionary Army with Long, I had also been adrift at sea alone for a long time."
Navigation is merely a survival skill I should possess, and I can only be considered to have a basic understanding of it, not an expert!
As soon as they finished speaking, the two of them landed back on the ground, and Kuma came to Gawain's side and said.
"Sir, the island we landed on is approximately 170 kilometers in diameter."
"It's much bigger than I imagined!"
Gawain couldn't help but frown.
"Why is it that such a vast island has hardly any human habitation?"
At this point, Gawain Wenchao looked over at Franky, who was unloading materials.
"We can't leave too many people here. If there's no one on this island, then we can only build a very small hydrological and meteorological observation station."
After all, according to our plan, our main method of observation is to hire and train the island's native population.
Otherwise, we would have needed far too many excellent navigators and soldiers in our initial plans!
Upon hearing Gawain's words, Lucci stepped out from the crowd, nodded to Gawain Lucci, and then gently shrugged his right shoulder.
Suddenly, the fat pigeon on his shoulder squawked loudly, and at the same time, thousands of snow-white pigeons flew out of the Little Dark Bird!
Just as the pigeons scattered and flew away, Lucci spoke to Gawain.
"My lord, please allow my pigeons to scout for a moment. As far as I know, there should be a nomadic tribe living on Long Ring Long Land."
"Good."
Gawain nodded, and then everyone gathered around the shore and lit a bonfire for the banquet.
The chefs, feeling dejected, scattered across the island, hoping to find some local ingredients to make food.
As for why they were so unhappy...
As chefs, their culinary skills are constantly criticized as being devoid of emotion.
It would be strange if they were happy.
If the Black Ice Terrace members dislike Jinbe the most.
Without a doubt, the person the chefs on the Dark Bird Ship disliked the most was none other than the picky old man Rayleigh...
Meanwhile, Shirahoshi was showing Gawain her discovery.
"Oh my god, sir! I've found an animal with its head growing horizontally! It's purple, but I can't tell what it is!"
Gawain looked over, and then he saw a...
How to describe it? This animal's face looks remarkably like the Tmall logo, but the Tmall logo has been stretched horizontally into the shape of a noodle...
Gawain, Gawain, looked at Kalifa.
Faced with Gawain's gaze, Kalifa awkwardly looked at Lucci.
Faced with Kalifa's gaze, Lucci swallowed hard and looked at Rayleigh.
Rayleigh strode over to the animal, picked up its pelt, and examined it for a long time.
After a long while, Rayleigh turned around and said seriously.
"I have no idea what this thing is either!"
Well...
A group of people rolled their Byakugan in unison.
"Grandpa Rayleigh ~~, who cares what it is, it's so cute!"
Shirahoshi, however, didn't care at all. She happily stroked the animal, but before she could even stroke it twice, everyone's eyes, including hers, couldn't help but look into the distance.
About 800 meters away from the group, a white line that stretched straight to the sky was moving slowly, and Gawain couldn't even see the end of the white line!
The moment Rayleigh saw the white line, he smiled.
"Haha, I recognize this one, it's a dachshund!"
"What?! A dachshund?! How can there be dachshunds that are hundreds or even thousands of meters long?!"
Jinbe, standing to the side, stared wide-eyed at the white line in the distance, his eyes wide with disbelief.
At that very moment, the vertical white line paused for a moment, and then it fell towards Gawain.
The way it fell down looked just like a mushy, overcooked noodle falling over.
Then, after it lay completely on the ground, a white dachshund head appeared next to Gawain, looking exactly like a regular white dachshund.
The dachshund sniffed near the pile of meat by Gawain and then barked twice.
Gawain didn't even look at the dog's head in front of him; his eyes were completely drawn to the dog's over 800-meter-long body!
If it were just about size, that would be one thing, but Gawain has even seen Sea King that are 5,000 meters long.
But this dog is just too much of a dog!
A head the size of a normal dog, and a body the thickness of a normal dog.
But this dog's body extends for over 800 meters!
Even an 800-meter-long snake shouldn't have a diameter like an ordinary dog, only a few centimeters or tens of centimeters, right?
This dog is just too unreasonable!