"System, Enhancement Points are so hard to come by. You can't rip me off like this."
"Don't worry. Enhancement Points will be even harder to come by later, and enhancing your attributes will also cost more of them." System Loli sat on Rono's head, looking perfectly calm. "Besides, you can still use Armament Haki. It'll only cost 5 Enhancement Points to use it for 5 minutes~ Just 5 points! Oh, and anything under five minutes counts as five minutes."
Nima. One Enhancement Point per minute, and it was only... Rono slumped back into his lazy state.
Sitting in a chair, Rono gazed up at the ceiling while Little Shota floated around beside him. Rono really wanted to smack him dead, but after considering the consequences, decided against it. How could I hurt such a young, innocent creature?
The food was ready soon. Sairona sat across from Rono and said calmly, "I think we need to get to know each other again." The four of them had all kept things to themselves before, but after what had happened, Sairona and Rono could trust each other now.
"Hmm~ Sure! But I'm going to be captain!" Rono instantly snapped out of his lazy state and declared with renewed vigor.
"If I may be frank, there are only two people on this ship." Sairona remained perfectly calm.
"Yoshi! Then the Rono Pirates are officially founded!" Rono clenched his right hand into a fist and slapped it into his palm.
"...I don't think I agreed to that. Also, aren't you a member of CP9? What's this about a pirate crew?" Sairona remarked in an even tone.
"Ah! Right, but there's no rule saying CP9 members can't be pirates!" Rono's mood dipped for a second, then he perked right back up.
"Let's eat first." Sairona didn't want to talk to Rono anymore, so he started eating.
Rono was instantly distracted and began competing with Sairona for the food.
After dinner, Sairona looked at Rono, who was lounging in his chair with a satisfied expression. "My name is Sairona, but everyone calls me Sairona. I'm 14 years old, and I'm from the Grand Line. I'm good with firearms, especially sniper rifles. I used to be a Marine soldier, and now the Gongdongtalio Family has recruited me as a CP0 candidate."
After finishing, Sairona looked at Rono, indicating it was his turn to introduce himself. "So, am I the captain?" Rono leaned forward to ask. Sairona's mouth twitched. Suppressing the urge to beat the obnoxious redhead to a pulp, he calmly replied, "Yes." Satisfied, Rono leaned back and began his introduction.
"My name is Wolf Rono, but everyone calls me Rono. You have to call me Captain. I'm 15, almost 16. I'm from the Grand Line, and I'm good at hand-to-hand combat. I've never backed down from a fight! I used to be a Marine soldier, and a CP0 agent named Mo recruited me into CP9."
Sairona nodded at Rono. "Mo is Number 3 in CP0 and is also part of the Gongdongtalio Family. You should be a CP0 candidate too; you were just stationed somewhere different from me. Looks like we'll be working together for a long time."
"Is that so?" Rono looked like he understood. "All right, starting today, I'm taking the helm!" Rono clearly hadn't understood what Sairona meant, but he was the captain, right? How could he not understand? So he quickly changed the subject.
"You know how to navigate?" Sairona was skeptical. Navigators, especially good ones, were rare. Rono didn't look like a navigator at all.
"Of course! I'm your captain, after all! Rono, full speed ahead!" Rono strutted outside with his nose in the air.
Is it really okay to pick a name that carelessly? Sairona thought as he followed. He wouldn't feel at ease until he saw Rono navigate.
"System, I'm counting on you." Rono dared to claim he knew how to navigate because he had the system. An Artificial Intelligence that had read every book on navigation—what couldn't it do?
"Call me Daddy." System Loli turned his head away.
"Big brother, how can you say that? You'll always be my big brother!" Rono started throwing away his dignity.
"Hmph~" System Loli put on a haughty air. "Since you called me big brother, I suppose I can help you out."
"Thanks, big brother. You're the best." Rono buttered him up.
At the helm, Rono grabbed the Ship Wheel and steered according to the system's instructions. He looked like he knew what he was doing. Sairona finally felt reassured and went back to his room to maintain his sniper rifle.
As the days passed, Rono's excitement at being a navigator wore off, replaced by a sense of tedium and despair. He had to pay attention to ocean currents and changes in the weather all day long. He didn't have Nami's kind of talent, so he could only check everything every hour. In the end, he started training right there on the deck. But he'd already boasted, so he'd just have to keep it up, even if it meant doing it on his knees. At least they were finally nearing Enies Lobby.
After waking up, Rono used the private Den Den Mushi Spandam had given him to call and explain what had happened. Spandam was shocked by Deng and Haddaway's actions and worried for Rono. When he heard that Rono and Sairona had killed Crocodile, the Den Den Mushi vividly mimicked Spandam's expression, with his eyes practically bulging out of his head.
So when Rono and Sairona arrived at Enies Lobby, Spandam was already waiting for them at the entrance.
"Hi, Spandam~ How's my tree?" Rono waved to Spandam.
Spandam shouted back, "Don't worry, your tree's doing great!" Sairona kept a calm expression on the outside, but inwardly he was completely baffled. Have I fallen behind the times? That's a pretty bizarre way to greet someone... kind of trendy, though. But he was too embarrassed to ask Rono about it. What if Rono made fun of him?
Once the ship docked, Rono spread his arms and gave Spandam a hug. They hadn't seen each other in over three months.
Then Rono let go of Spandam and ran to his own courtyard. Of course his tree mattered more! Spandam stood awkwardly in place. Sairona came over and patted him on the shoulder. "You'll get used to it." Spandam smiled at Sairona. "Yeah, Rono's got a terrible personality. You're Sairona, right? Lord Fannigong of the Gongdongtalio Family told me you'd be joining CP9 and teaming up with Rono from now on, so you don't need to go back. Of course, if you don't want to, Lord Fannigong will respect your choice."
"Team up with Rono? Sure. He still wants me to be his captain, anyway." Sairona quickly figured it out: they wanted him to build rapport with Rono, just like on their previous mission. He'd heard that Number 4 was Mo's partner, and a sniper too.
Before you continue