While the seas were growing increasingly turbulent, Richard and his group had already passed through Fish-Man Island and arrived in the New World.
They could have crossed the Red Line to get here, but everyone wanted to see the beautiful mermaid ladies.
So they took a stroll around Fish-Man Island first.
At the time, they still were not particularly famous, the newspapers had not yet been published, and Fish-Man Island's isolated ecosystem kept information cut off.
As a result, the merfolk and fish-men of Fish-Man Island did not recognize them at all, allowing them to have a wonderful time.
They even visited Miss Shyarly at the café to have their fortunes told.
It was a rare stretch of relaxation they had not enjoyed in a long time.
After staying there for two days, they finally set off for the New World.
But not long after entering the New World, an unexpected incident forced Richard to cut short this pirate journey.
In the Coiling Dragon World, somewhere within the vast, boundless sea, an enormous black God Tree rose into the sky, extending several kilometers above the water's surface.
Beneath the water, its trunk stretched dozens of kilometers deep. The portion above the surface was merely the tip of the iceberg.
This was the God Tree Richard had brought back from the Hokage world. After several decades of cultivation, it had grown to this scale.
The God Tree had borne fruit once more, but this God Tree Fruit was not yet ripe. Its quality was far inferior to the one Richard had eaten before, so there was no rush to pick it.
Richard's Water Element Divine Clone was stationed here. While draining the seawater away from the God Tree, it also supplied it with Divine Power.
It could be said that