Setting out to sea for adventure sounded like a very interesting thing, but in reality, sailing the ocean was generally dull and tedious.
The endless blue sea might feel awe-inspiring and novel at first glance, but if you stared at it for several days in a row, you would soon grow sick of it.
Especially since the waters of East Blue were relatively stable, merchant vessels traveled along highly established routes, and there was hardly ever any trouble. On top of that, Smoker had taken charge of East Blue during this period, strengthening the Marines' discipline and combat power. With that old geezer Garp fishing with explosives in East Blue as well, the lives of East Blue pirates had become even harder. As a result, Bane had not encountered anything interesting along the way.
At that moment, on the deck of the merchant ship, Zoro leaned against the mast with a flask in hand, taking a sip now and then.
Not far away, Bane's actions looked rather risky. He was not on the deck at all. Instead, he had lowered the anchor to sea level and crouched atop it, gripping the chain with one hand while submerging the other in the seawater. Looking closely, one would see Darkness Element radiating from the center of his submerged palm, as though it intended to suck everything in.
Feeling a little bored, Zoro got to his feet and walked to the railing. Looking down at Bane, he said, "Why are you being so childish? Playing in the water again?"
"Playing in the water?" Bane shot Zoro an disdainful glance. "You bumpkin, what the hell do you know? This is the killer move I've been preparing."
So far, Bane had not developed any particularly powerful, battle-deciding technique with the Dark-Dark Fruit's Darkness Element power. He always felt that Darkness Power did not seem especially offensive.
Of course, the bigger reason was that he was weak. He could not blame the fruit.
Many of the attack methods he had imagined could not yet be developed due to limitations such as time.
Moreover, Bane felt that he might very well run into an ambush from Ace and Teach along the way. He could not go unprepared, so he had focused more of his energy on developing the Dark-Dark Fruit's devouring properties.
Ever since obtaining this fruit, its ability had been simple and easy to use. He could create a dark abyss capable of swallowing all things, devour everything tainted by darkness, then release it all at once when needed. It was a basic application.
Previously, Bane had used this ability to store his belongings. Just like now, he and Zoro did not need to carry any luggage while traveling, since everything was stored in his Darkness Dimension.
But two days earlier, while boredly watching the sea from the bow, a very creative thought had suddenly occurred to him. Why don't I put the ocean into my Darkness Dimension?
He acted as soon as he thought of it. Thus, whenever Bane had free time these past few days, he came here to "play in the water."
By opening up the immense suction force of his Darkness Dimension, he continuously drew seawater into it. Then, whenever he needed it, he could release all that seawater stored within the Darkness Dimension in one go, creating a massive tsunami or something and drowning his opponents!
Considering that Ace was a Flame-Flame Fruit user, and Teach might be a Devil Fruit user by now as well, this sudden move might really catch both of them off guard and screw them over badly.
I'd originally been wondering how to deal with that Sand Crocodile if I went to Alabasta. Now that I think about it, this move would work just as well on that guy, Bane thought to himself.
Seeing that Bane seemed distracted, Zoro hurriedly reminded him, "Hey, hey, focus up. Don't fall into the sea. You're a Devil Fruit user, after all. Aren't all Devil Fruit users supposed to be helpless in water? Don't expect me to save you!"
"Don't worry, I'm different from the others," Bane quickly came back to himself and replied.
He truly was different from the Devil Fruit users of this world. Perhaps because he had eaten the Devil Fruit back in The Empire, he received the fruit's power but not the curse of the sea from the Pirate world. After all, no matter how formidable this sea was, it could not possibly curse Bane across worlds, could it?
He had tested this over there. He had originally wondered whether the curse would catch up to him after he came to the Pirate world, but the facts proved otherwise. He had been here for so long, yet the sea still had not cursed him, as if he had never eaten a Devil Fruit at all.
Therefore, Bane was not afraid of falling into the water at all. Back in Loguetown, he had even found an opportunity to touch Smoker's Seastone Jitte, and nothing happened.
That was why he believed that using the sea as a killer move would not backfire on him. It might even become an exceptional aid for dealing with Devil Fruit users!
"By doing this, I guess I'm a man who's signed a Summoning Contract with the sea," Bane muttered with another laugh.
Seeing Bane so confident, Zoro no longer mentioned him falling into the sea. Instead, he changed the subject and asked again, "Come to think of it, you still haven't told me what Master said to you when we boarded the ship that day."
At the mention of that, Bane gritted his teeth in irritation. What a waste of all those genuine emotions he had shown at the time!
Thus, Bane said through clenched teeth, "Master said he has people backing him. If we get into trouble in the future and can't handle it, we should just say we're his disciples and pin everything on him!"
Zoro was stunned as well. "I never expected Master, who usually seems so gentle, to be such a tough guy when it matters! Since he said that, then I'm relieved!"
"Yeah, go cause trouble under his banner without worry," Bane said without hesitation.
After chatting about those matters for a while, Zoro asked again, "When are we going to the Grand Line? I still want to meet the World's Greatest Swordsman."
"That's why I say you're full of unrealistic fantasies. Are you planning to take a merchant ship to the Grand Line? If so, we can only go through Mary Geoise. It's troublesome and comes with too many complications," Bane patiently explained.
"Of course not. That would be way too inconvenient, and all those stops along the way would waste too much time. We definitely need to get our own ship and travel however we want!" Zoro replied immediately.
"Then here's the question: can you sail a ship? Do you know the routes? And where's the ship?" Bane asked in return.
Zoro blanked out for a moment, then shook his head. "I can't. What about you? Didn't you fight your way out of the New World alone? You should know how, right?"
"Ahem, that was luck. We can't rely on luck every time. So our top priority now is to get a ship and find an excellent navigator. Only then can we sail the seas however we please!" Bane said with a longing expression.
"So what do we do now?" Zoro asked again.
"As far as I know, there's a famous village along this ship's route called Cocoyasi Village. The village's oranges are delicious and sell well throughout East Blue. Also, a pirate force is entrenched there. They're currently the pirate crew with the highest bounty in East Blue, called the Arlong Pirates." Bane withdrew his hand from the sea and climbed onto the deck along the chain.
Zoro lent him a hand, pulling Bane back onto the deck as he asked, "So?"
"As the highest-bounty pirates in East Blue, I believe their pirate ship should have excellent performance. I heard that this group came from the Grand Line, so their ship should have been tested by the Grand Line as well. I'm going to requisition that ship!" Bane said matter-of-factly.
As Bane recalled, Fish-Men had always been quite skilled at shipbuilding, and Arlong's ship was indeed large and cool. It would be perfectly suitable for use!
"So you're robbing pirates?" Zoro rolled his eyes at Bane.
"Listen to yourself. I'm eliminating evil for the people and safeguarding East Blue's peace and stability. It's a righteous cause. How can you call it robbery?" Bane first "corrected" Zoro's wording before explaining, "Besides, as far as I know, there's also an extremely capable navigator in that village. I'm going to recruit her!"
"How do you know so much?" Zoro asked curiously.
"Your senior brother has his own channels. Don't ask so many questions about the world," Bane said, patting Zoro on the shoulder with a mysterious look.
Before you continue