The world of the Pirate King had never known a day of true peace and harmony.
Unexpected tragedies played out across this world at every moment. Whether Marines, pirates, or ordinary civilians, all could be inexplicably swept into strange and bizarre events.
An individual's will was so insignificant before the surging tides of the world.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi had settled aboard Shanks's ship. His life was regular and monotonous; aside from practicing swordsmanship, he spent most of his time watching the sea from the deck at the bow.
Yoriichi had very little contact with the Red-Haired Pirates' crew. He rarely took the initiative to chat with others, and the crew of the Red-Haired Pirates was wary of Tsugikuni Yoriichi as well, so they naturally would not take the initiative to speak with him.
On the entire ship, the person who chatted with Tsugikuni Yoriichi the most was probably the young Uta.
Uta was at an age when she was curious about everything in the world. Whenever the Red-Haired Pirates' crew went into the towns of the Kingdom of Goa to have fun, she had very few people left to talk to.
The crew member left behind to look after Uta was usually chosen by "drawing lots." Clearly, while Shanks's crew all liked Uta, that did not mean they knew how to look after children.
Uta was not particularly interested in those familiar crew members either. What she liked most was going up to the deck to chat with Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
Yoriichi treated children somewhat differently from others.
Even though Uta was not even as tall as Yoriichi's knee, Yoriichi treated her as he would an adult. He did not regard her as a child when speaking with her.
Some things Yoriichi said might be beyond Uta's understanding now, but when she