The Day Before

While the surface of the world was calm and quiet, dark currents were already surging beneath it.

In the early hours of the day before Roger's public execution, the Marines stationed around Loguetown and responsible for patrol spotted a pirate ship appearing on the sea from afar.

That was not unusual. Over the past few days, far too many pirates had appeared in the waters near Loguetown, sneaking into town in hopes of witnessing Roger's public execution.

Aside from pirates, there were also all kinds of adventurers, pirate hunters, merchant convoys, ships from kingdom governments, and the like, so many that Loguetown's harbor had even been clogged for a time.

But this ship was different. As a rear admiral from Marine Headquarters, Huo Shanshao recognized the pirate flag on its sail at a glance.

"Those pirates really are bold... Someone, report to Admiral Sengoku. Tell him the Sky Pirates have appeared and ask whether we should take action..."

"Yes, sir..."

And while Huo Shanshao waited for a reply, the dazzling Twin Goddesses had already sailed into Loguetown's harbor along with countless ships on the sea.

On the deck.

Tiger looked somewhat nervously at the various human ships and humans on the waterways to either side, carefully controlling the helm as he asked Ye Mu in confusion, "Captain Ye Mu, is it really all right for us to enter Loguetown so openly?"

When Ye Mu heard that, his expression was quite relaxed as he said, "Don't worry, Tiger. At least before Roger is executed, we won't be in any danger. After Roger's execution, though, that might be another story... When the time comes, whether we can escape the Marines' pursuit and successfully enter the Grand Line will depend on you. You should have gotten a good grasp of our pirate ship over the past few days, right?"

That did ease Tiger's mind a little, and he nodded.

"Mm. I've already mastered the Twin Goddesses' systems. Piloting her won't be a problem now..."

At this point, Tiger could not help praising her.

"Even though I've traveled the world for so many years and seen many ships, our Twin Goddesses is absolutely one of the finest vessels out there. With her performance, Marine warships won't be able to catch up to us. If there's really no other way, we can still return to the Calm Belt..."

"Exactly. So there's no need to worry too much. Besides, I believe tomorrow the entire world will become lively, and Loguetown will be the same. Whether the Marines will even have the spare attention for us by then is hard to say..."

Hearing Ye Mu say that, Tiger finally relaxed completely.

At that moment, Enel also walked out of the cabin, chewing on an apple as he complained, "The apples are all gone, and there isn't much of the other fruit left either..."

When Ye Mu heard that, he said with a smile, "Isn't there still plenty in the Gravity Room...?"

"Tch..." Enel gave an unhappy snort.

"All that stuff was buried in a pile of dead people. It's all picked up a stink..."

"What a shame. Still, so many days have passed and those fruits haven't changed, so it looks like my plan fell through. When we have time later, throw those fruits away. While you're at it, throw out those four guys' bodies too. Then we'll go ashore and buy plenty of supplies. We'll also need to prepare some things for the Grand Line, like a Log Pose and nautical charts. Tiger, we'll have to rely on you for that. You know much more about this than we do..."

To be honest, Ye Mu was a little disappointed. After all, when he had been on Earth, some of the information he had read about pirates had said that after a Devil Fruit user died, the Devil Fruit would randomly attach itself to a nearby fruit and be reborn. That was why Ye Mu had made Enel keep those two Devil Fruit user CP9 members alive, intending to give it a try. In the end, however, it had only been a waste of food.

"I understand, but my identity..."

After hearing Ye Mu's words, Tiger nodded, but he hesitated. More than a year of slavery had still left him somewhat afraid of humans, and on top of that, as a fish-man, moving around in Loguetown, which was full of humans, would probably be inconvenient.

"I'll have Enel go with you... Loguetown is a big town, and it's quite lively here... You can look around as you please and walk around more. If there's anything you like, you can buy it... You can also use the gold on the ship to exchange for some of this world's currency while you're at it..."

Ye Mu was deliberately letting Enel and Tiger go wander around Loguetown by themselves.

For one thing, with Enel's protection, Tiger's safety would not be a problem. If something did happen, they could also notify Ye Mu immediately.

For another, he also hoped Enel would discover some fun and a life of his own. Over the past ten years, the two of them had lived together, inseparable. Their lives had been extremely monotonous—aside from training, there was only training. Though such a life was disciplined, it was far too dull.

Enel was clearly somewhat tempted as well. No matter how mature and proud he looked on the surface, deep down, he was still a sixteen-year-old youth. How could he not be interested in the bustling world?

Although Sky Island also had little towns and villages like this, for one, Sky Island was much smaller than Loguetown, with far fewer people, and its liveliness simply could not compare. For another, because of the abuse Enel had suffered since childhood, he hated Sky Island in his heart. That was also why, when they had lived on Sky Island, Ye Mu had been the one responsible for interacting with Sky Island's natives and purchasing supplies.

But Loguetown was different. To him, the human world here was a completely new world.

"Then our ship..."

"We'll leave it at the harbor... However, Enel..."

"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on it at all times..."

"Mm. Then the capable should do more work. Who told you to have such useful Observation Haki..."

"Tch..."

Enel was somewhat unhappy about that. Although, in terms of Observation Haki, he was indeed far better than Ye Mu, he was much worse in terms of Armament Haki. On top of that, over these five years, no matter what he did, he had been unable to awaken Conqueror's Haki...

He could not quite say he was jealous of Ye Mu, but the competitive streak in his heart was unavoidable.

Ye Mu understood that as well.

That was also why he felt Enel needed to discover some fun and a life of his own.

The current Enel had too few things in his heart that he cared about aside from Ye Mu, his older brother.

After all, a person had to have some desire in his heart for a powerful craving to obtain it to erupt, and that craving was the true force that made a person grow strong.

Ye Mu had that desire. In his heart, he had the ambition to dominate and overthrow this world.

Tiger had it too. He wanted to rescue his people and let them live on land.

Only Enel did not have it. Or rather, he did, but it was not nearly as strong as Ye Mu's or Tiger's.

The hatred he had once held for Sky Island had already been let go over these past ten years under Ye Mu's care.

His idea of ruling this world had also existed only because it was attached to Ye Mu.

Perhaps that was why Enel still had no way to awaken Conqueror's Haki even now.

"Then once we dock, we'll split up and move separately. As long as you don't make too much of a scene, you can do as you please. We'll meet again tonight..."