Farewell

Junkyard Island.

The morning sun spilled across the sea's surface, while the gentle sea breeze stirred ripples among the waves.

A large red sailing ship was moored by the shore.

At the front of the vessel, two enormous Yuda serpents supported the entire ship from below.

These two Yuda serpents were powerful Sea Kings tamed and raised by the Kuja Pirates. With them pulling the ship, it could travel through the Calm Belt.

Even in ordinary waters, with two Sea Kings towing it, the Perfume Yuda could travel faster than ordinary ships.

Beneath the large red sailing ship, members of the Kuja Pirates carried crates of supplies up the gangplank and placed them in the hold.

On the shore not far away, a young man and a young woman stood facing each other.

"At last... it was time to say goodbye..."

Boa Hancock had a white cape draped over her shoulders and wore a red short top and skirt. She brushed aside several strands of hair hanging by her temple and forced a smile onto her face, but when she looked at the silver-haired youth, her eyes were full of reluctance.

Sephiroth, dressed in a blue suit, smiled helplessly.

"Yeah! It was time to say goodbye..."

"Hey~! Sephiroth, if you became a Marine someday and we ended up as enemies, what would you do?"

"I'd turn around and run, or raise my hands and surrender! In any case... no matter our positions, I would never fight you."

"And what if I ran into danger and was captured by the Marines?" the black-haired girl pressed.

"I'd cast aside every position and do everything I could to rescue you."

The silver-haired youth did not speak loudly, and his tone was calm, but his words were filled with unwavering resolve.

"Then you're not allowed to lie to me, okay~! Let's pinky swear and make a promise!"

Having received the answer she wanted, Boa Hancock finally revealed a brilliant smile from the bottom of her heart. She raised her fair right hand and extended her little finger.

"Alright! Pinky swear."

The silver-haired youth smiled and raised his own right little finger, making the most sincere promise with the black-haired girl.

Seeing that the Kuja Pirates' crew had begun assembling and counting heads, Boa Hancock could only wave to the youth, turn around, and run quickly toward the Perfume Yuda.

"Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!" Sephiroth nodded lightly in response.

"You really know how to make girls happy, kid!"

Shakky, a cigarette dangling from her lips, walked over from afar. As she passed the silver-haired youth, she casually teased him.

As the current captain of the Kuja Pirates and the strongest person on Nine Serpent Island, her Observation Haki was no joke. She had heard every word the two of them had said.

"Everything I said was true. I wasn't just sweet-talking her."

The silver-haired youth looked calmly at Shakky. After studying him carefully, she smiled.

"Not bad. Your heartbeat didn't speed up, and your muscles showed no signs of tensing or trembling... Looks like you weren't lying..."

"My efforts back then weren't wasted, getting the three Boa sisters to sleep with you... By the way, I heard they slept with you the very night they returned, and all three of them were together every night for the past three days... I never expected you to still look so energetic, aside from those dark circles under your eyes!... Being young really is nice!"

"(≖`‸´≖;)"

At her words, Sephiroth's eye twitched several times. He forcibly suppressed the urge to unleash a torrent of complaints.

So it was you, you bastard! You were the one teaching them all that weird stuff!

Do you have any idea how I survived these past three nights?

Lying awake in bed during the first half of the night, then getting up to wash my pants during the second half!

"Captain Shakky, everyone's here!"

A member of the Kuja Pirates leaned over the ship's rail and waved at the two of them.

"Kid, what's your name?"

"Karl D. Sephiroth."

"D, huh?... I'm Shakky, captain of the Kuja Pirates. Thanks for taking care of my three crew members during this time... See you around!"

Shakky waved, swayed her hips, and boarded the Perfume Yuda.

As the sails rose, the large red sailing ship slowly moved away from the shore.

At the stern, Boa Hancock leaned over the rail, gazing longingly at the silver-haired youth standing on the beach.

At some point, Shakky had walked over to the girl's side. She exhaled a ring of smoke, flicked the ash from her cigarette with her right hand, and spoke in a careless tone.

"Actually... if you didn't want to leave him, you didn't have to come back aboard..."

Boa Hancock did not turn to look at her captain. Her gaze remained fixed on the silver-haired youth in the distance as she murmured softly.

"That wouldn't do!

"Because... in the future, I'm going to become the queen of the Amazon Lily Kingdom and take the captain's position from you!"

For him...

"You want to become queen? How interesting..."

A faintly bitter smile appeared at the corner of Shakky's mouth around her cigarette.

"Don't worry! Once you become stronger than me... you won't even need to ask. I'll definitely throw the captain's position at you right away..."

The waters between Water Seven and the Sabaody Archipelago fell under the jurisdiction of the Marine G-3 Branch.

The commander of that force was Vice Admiral Garp, known as the "Marine Hero."

Whenever the Kuja Pirates emerged from the Calm Belt to raid, they often encountered Garp's warship...

Shakky, the current captain of the Kuja Pirates, felt utterly exhausted:

(ﾟཀﾟ;) She couldn't beat him, so all she could do was get chased all over the world by that bastard Garp.

Whoever wanted the Kuja Pirates captain's position could have it. She didn't care for it anyway!

She wanted to retire and disappear from the scene!

Of course, Shakky had considered switching directions and raiding on the other side of the Calm Belt.

However...

On the other side of the Calm Belt was the East Blue... Garp's hometown!

A few years ago, after Pirate King Roger was escorted back to his hometown and executed in Loguetown in the East Blue, the Marines' crackdown on pirates in the East Blue had reached a fever pitch.

Among them, Vice Admiral Garp, who often went home for visits, had contributed the most...

Shakky would bet anything that if she dared lead the Kuja Pirates to raid the East Blue, that bastard Garp would dare swim barehanded through the Calm Belt and go to Nine Serpent Island to beat people up!