Leaving Grape Island

Bullet snapped out of his reverie and looked at Teach, Teach appeared somewhat mysterious in his eyes, knowing so much. It had to be said that he owed Teach a favor this time.

"Your name is Teach, right? What's the matter that you've asked me so much about?" Bullet asked, cracking his neck.

"Bullet, I hope you can join my pirate crew." Teach's eyes gleamed as he smiled at Bullet and extended his hand.

Upon hearing Teach's words, Bullet was stunned. He never expected that the guy he had defeated would be so bold as to invite him to join his pirate crew.

Although the two had been fighting, he could sense the strength of Teach's companions, who were incredibly weak. In his eyes, they were so weak that if he wanted to invite them to join, they would have to be at least on par with the Whitebeard Pirates or the Flying Pirates.

"Are you joking?" Bullet said in a deep voice. Although he acknowledged Teach's potential, why would he join a pirate crew whose captain was weaker than him?

"Hahaha, so that means you're refusing, although I never thought you'd agree." Teach laughed heartily upon hearing Bullet's reply, shaking his head with a hint of regret. Bullet's brow furrowed slightly; it seemed Teach genuinely intended to invite him and had already taken action, not joking.

"Let's duel. We'll fight again when we meet next time. By then, I'll be even stronger. Don't end up like Redfield, captured and imprisoned in Impel Down." Teach stood up, dusted himself off, and looked at Bullet with confidence. "I will build an unprecedentedly powerful pirate crew, surpassing Roger's crew, and even Whitebeard's. Just you wait and see!"

Teach made his confident declaration, opened his arms, and laughed loudly. An invisible aura emanated from him, Bullet could clearly feel that Teach's aura intensified and his Conqueror's Haki increased as he spoke these words.

Teach was serious, without a trace of pretense, and had already taken action. Looking at Teach, he seemed to believe that Teach could do it, but then he thought of the Roger Pirates, a small but elite pirate crew, and felt a sense of anticipation.

"Then I'll wait. Just don't get killed before then, Teach," Bullet said with a smile, calling out Teach's name.

"Hahaha! How could that be? I will never die before that." Teach had already turned and left, but upon hearing Bullet's words, he raised his head and laughed loudly, continuing to walk forward.

"What a grand ambition, I hope he doesn't die." Bullet chuckled softly as he watched Teach's figure gradually disappear into the jungle.

To build a super pirate crew that surpasses Roger Pirates's, one must possess strength surpassing Roger's; otherwise, how can one subdue the powerful figures under their protection?

Besides surpassing Roger, Bullet realized for the first time how interesting the ocean was, and how there could be many more people like Teach.

But his goal remained unchanged: to surpass Roger. He believed in his own strength and continued to achieve victory. Even if he failed, he would strive to become stronger and then surpass him.

On the shore, Teach had already returned. On the boat, sensing his teammates training, Teach couldn't help but smile. Upon seeing Teach's return, they stopped what they were doing.

"Hahaha! Set sail! Head towards the next target!" All eyes fell on Teach stood at the bow and gave the order.

"Oh! Let's go!" they cheered upon hearing Teach's words.

Teach, on the other hand, went inside the training room. Although his injury hadn't healed yet, training couldn't stop.

Watching Teach begin training, Gari was temporarily acting as the helmsman, started the ship, leaving the island and heading towards the open sea, while the others continued training with Teach.

On the other side of the island, on the shore where Bullet was, Bullet looked back in the direction Teach had left, smiled, and saw a submarine moored on the shore. With a leap, Bullet jumped directly towards the submarine. Just before he touched it, the area above the submarine where Bullet landed melted like water, creating a large enough hole for Bullet to enter. Bullet jumped directly into the hole.

The submarine shuddered as it fell, and the large hole above it rapidly healed.

A short while later, the submarine started up, headed forward, and gradually sank into the sea.

Grape Island, the last island before Reverse Mountain, is one of the seven routes in the first half of the Grand Line. In the original story, the first island the Straw Hat Pirates traveled on was Whiskey Peak, an island frequented by bounty hunters.

Because pirates keep coming from all over the world to the Grand Line, a large group of bounty hunters have gathered on the islands near Reverse Mountain to hunt down these pirates.

Bounty hunters are a group of people who have existed on the high seas for a very long time. They can't really be called a group because they are scattered. Since the time when kingdoms existed, there have been people like bounty hunters roaming the seas.

On the high seas now, there are many forces formed by bounty hunters, which can be called bounty hunter guilds, but they are not unified. The powerful bounty hunters among them are even capable of hunting down strongmen with bounties of over one billion, but they rarely take action.

Because at that level, money is no longer enough to satisfy them, and pirates with such high bounties either possess great strength or powerful influence, and many of them are not people they can afford to offend.

Grape Island belongs to the Grape Kingdom. The entire Grape Island enjoys abundant sunshine all year round, making it a major grape-producing region. As a result, it produces many kinds of wine. All kinds of delicious wines attract many wine-loving bounty hunters, as well as many pirates.

In addition, being extremely close to Reverse Mountain, weak and inexperienced pirates constantly come from all over the seas, and many of the weaker pirates are defeated by these bounty hunters, their heads replaced with bounties.

Although there are many pirates in the kingdom, it is also relatively safe because of the many bounty hunters. In addition, the Grape Kingdom produces a huge amount of wine, which is sold all over the world, the Grand Line, and even the New World. Every year, a batch of specially supplied top-quality wine is sent to the Holy Land Mary Geoise from the Heavenly Gold.

This specialty alone is enough to feed the kingdom. The vast majority of the kingdom's commoners grow grapes, which are then purchased by the royal family when ripe. The royal family gathers professional winemaking experts to produce large quantities of wine, while also developing new types of wine.

Of course, with so many pirates, there are also many troublesome pirates. Although the battles of bounty hunters are somewhat troublesome, most of them take place in the outskirts of the island. Moreover, the Grape Kingdom has a stable supply of Heavenly Gold every year. Because of this, there is a small island not far from the edge of the Grape Kingdom island, on which a Marine Branch has been established.

They always arrive promptly when something serious happens.

Although the Grape Kingdom's military strength is not strong, its wine is very famous, and it has many Celestial Dragons backing it. If something happens to this kingdom, the Navy will definitely be responsible. Therefore, whenever there is a battle between strong pirates, the royal family will directly notify the Marine Branch.

Because they have Den Den Mushi) that connect directly to the Marine Branch, they are always ready to respond to any requests for help from the Grape Kingdom. Besides, capturing pirates is the Navy's mission, and this is also a great place to earn merits.

Teach and his companions walked down the street. Along the way, the air was filled with a strong aroma of wine, a fragrance that seemed to intoxicate them. The sun shone directly on the earth, and the temperature on the island was very high. Many pirates and bounty hunters were bare-armed and bare-chested, wearing sleeveless or short-sleeved clothes everywhere.

It's rather rare to see someone like Teach still wearing a coat.

Hearing a gunshot, Teach turned his head to look in the other direction; the sound was coming from the next street.

Looking around at the civilians, they seemed to have gotten used to it. Hearing the gunshots didn't change anything; they went about their business as usual. Some were even curious and walked towards the direction from which the gunshots came, as if they wanted to watch the show.

The island's inhabitants are used to the presence of pirates. With Marine Branch nearby to keep them in check, these pirates rarely cause trouble and keep a low profile. However, with bounty hunters around, gladiatorial combat often occurs.

Having their eyes on pirate bounties, bounty hunters are usually the ones who strike first.

"You guys wander around, we'll meet up later." Teach smiled as he looked at Gari and the others, then continued walking forward. Pito followed behind Teach, Gari headed in one direction, Wallace wandered around to other places, Kos, holding a gun, seemed interested in the direction from which the gunshots came, and walked in that direction.

They all have enough Beli, several Beli each, enough for them to live on.

Apart from Gari, the others are all wealthy and not short of money at all. Kos, a gunman who has also worked as a bounty hunter, said that the Colt he had and the Thousand Guns he prepared for his brother were bought at a huge cost.

Wallace goes without saying; Teach didn't take the nearly 200 million Beli he had, keeping them all for himself. Baccarat isn't short of money either; as Devil Fruit User, how could she be short of money? Besides, Teach has now entrusted the ship's finances to Baccarat.

Baccarat smiled as she spotted a casino. Although it was small and not as grand as the Queen's Casino, she hadn't gambled in a long time.

Having finally encountered a casino again, he walked towards it with some interest. At the same time, he also wanted to test his abilities. His strength had greatly improved through training these past few days, but he had no clue how to develop his abilities. Teach couldn't help him either. The only way was to keep using his abilities and improve them.

Teach wasn't worried about Baccarat at all. Teach had seen the entire island and there weren't many strong individuals there. Trying to deal with Baccarat would be a huge loss for him.

While on the ship, in order to hone her abilities, Baccarat often attacked the other crew members, causing them considerable suffering. Teach was among them. Luck is something that cannot be touched or resisted. Now, Baccarat needs to touch luck with her hands to absorb it, and even Armament Haki cannot stop her.

Later on, when Baccarat can absorb luck remotely, that's when it will be truly terrifying.

Teach had experienced it firsthand. To make Teach fall into the sea, Baccarat somehow summoned a Sea King, more than twenty in total. In the end, they were all stunned by Teach's Conqueror's Haki, but she also sensed the power of this ability.

The Lucky-Lucky Fruit could also be called the "Disaster Fruit." Just think of the chosen one, the "Great Mage" Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, who summoned a meteorite to fall from the sky, causing the collapse of an army of 400,000 in one fell swoop. What an incredibly powerful ability that was.

Now that we've come to this island, we should naturally take a good look at all the different kinds of wine in this kingdom. While we drink some ourselves, we'll also keep a bottle as a special gift for "the world's number one winemaker," Kakarot.

During those two years, Teach also visited Fruit Island twice, each time bringing Kakarot a lot of fresh wine. Teach also gave Kakarot some books about winemaking. Of course, they weren't complicated; they were illustrated books. Although the text was difficult to understand, he could use the illustrations and his knowledge of winemaking to make them easy to read.

Once Kakarot has tasted a particular type of sake, Kakarot can use his ability to recreate it. Previously, Kakarot needed ingredients, but now, all he needs is water. He can make any sake he wants. The more sake he knows, the more types he can make, and the stronger Kakarot's ability becomes.

It must be admitted that Kakarot, who ate Devil Fruit, is incredibly gifted. In just two years, Kakarot's height increased by more than a meter, and he is now a giant ape approaching seven meters tall. His physical strength has also increased significantly.

Teach left him the Marine Six Styles. Although he hadn't practiced them seriously, with his strong physique and Teach's guidance, he easily mastered several of the Marine Six Styles: Shigan, Geppo, and Geppo was the one he learned the slowest, and the one that Kakarot put the most effort into.

Kakarot can use his abilities to go into the air, but that's not flying. Geppo allows him to walk and fly. Humans always yearn to fly, and animals are no exception. Therefore, Kakarot is very serious about learning Geppo. Geppo requires extremely high skills, but through hard training, Kakarot's huge body can finally stay in the air for a short time.

However, because Kakarot's body was too large, it was difficult for him to sustain the attack.