Sorbet Kingdom

"This road was built by me, this tree was planted by me..."

Jin An picked out a moderately sized ship, intending to persuade the people aboard with words and make them willingly hand over control of the pirate ship.

He had been shouting here for quite a while, yet no one on the ship responded.

"Since you're not saying anything, I'll take that as agreement!"

Holding the child, Jin An was delighted like a three-hundred-pound kid. He had finally found a good ship.

Once inside the pirate ship, Jin An found himself at a loss. How was he supposed to sail this thing again?

From childhood to adulthood, he had only ever ridden bicycles...

Jin An smacked his forehead, suddenly recalling the movies he had watched. "Right, set sail..."

He acted immediately and walked straight beneath the mast.

Looking at the sail before him, uh... he did not know how to use this thing either.

"..."

Outside the pirate ship.

Three people stood before the vessel.

"Are you sure it's here?"

Ginny spread open her palm. The Vivre Card was still inching forward bit by bit.

It looked like this was the place.

The three fell into thought.

They exchanged glances. "Looks like he was captured by pirates..."

Emporio Ivankov asked, "What do we do?"

Bartholomew Kuma could not wait another second. "How about we charge in directly? If we're fast enough, the people inside won't have time to react..."

Ginny shook her head, withdrawing the look she had been giving him as though he were an idiot. "I think we should be more cautious."

Jin An had given up on sailing the ship himself and was leaning against the railing, considering whether to politely invite a pirate friend to help. Then he spotted the three of them putting their heads together.

"Yo! Long time no see, you three."

The sudden voice startled the three outside the ship, and they glared angrily at its source.

"You weren't captured? Or did you join the pirates?"

They were delighted at first, but then a trace of doubt rose in their hearts.

Jin An was confused. When had he joined the pirates? How did he not know about it...

Remembering that he was currently aboard a pirate ship, he suddenly understood and patted the railing.

"I borrowed this thing."

You could borrow something like this? Without it, pirates would lose their livelihood. How could they possibly lend it to someone else?

Jin An looked completely justified. "I asked to 'borrow' it three times. They didn't answer, so I took that as agreement. Besides, it would just be sitting here otherwise."

"Why does that kind of make sense..." Bartholomew Kuma murmured in confusion.

Ginny and Emporio Ivankov exchanged a glance, a bead of sweat simultaneously running down their foreheads. How had they not noticed before that this guy was so good at telling bad jokes?

"Haha, jokes aside, have you finished everything you needed to do?"

He had been suppressing himself the whole time before. Now that he had relaxed, just chatting with friends made him feel content.

"We saved everyone we could, but unfortunately..."

Jin An carried the child down from the ship. "There's nothing unfortunate about it. We already did our best. Even if the result was not entirely satisfying, it was still the best we could do right now."

He saw the three before him pointing at him, staring wide-eyed in disbelief, and could not help feeling puzzled.

He touched his face. It was still covered in dust, but that was how he had looked when he met them back then.

To survive in this unfamiliar place, the first step was naturally to hide his excessively eye-catching face.

"You already have a child?!"

Judging by their expressions, all three of them were thinking the same thing.

Jin An stroked the baby's cheek with his finger. The feeling was amazing. He could not stop.

"This little guy crawled out of a treasure chest."

Then he told them everything that had happened after he encountered Charlotte Linlin.

There were so many people on the island. Who knew whether someone lucky had witnessed what happened? Besides, the island was under Den Den Mushi surveillance.

"This little guy is so cute!" Ginny reached out a finger to tease the baby, so charmed that she almost wanted to snatch him over and hold him herself.

"..."

"Let's not talk about that. Are you planning to leave this place?" Jin An asked.

Emporio Ivankov nodded. "Now that we've found you, we can leave. We've done everything we could do."

"Where are you going?" Emporio Ivankov looked at Jin An. The three of them had already decided to travel together; now, it mainly depended on Jin An's opinion.

"I'll go with you."

Jin An had nothing to hesitate over. He had been alone in this world from the start, so it did not matter where he went.

"In that case, let's stand together and hold hands first," Ginny suggested.

Bartholomew Kuma's Devil Fruit ability could repel anything, and he could also use it for long-distance transportation. Holding hands would allow them to teleport away together.

"Get ready. Our journey is about to begin."

Bartholomew Kuma took Ginny's hand with his left hand, then looked at the paw pad on his palm and slapped it against himself. The four vanished from where they stood in an instant.

As Jin An flew through the sky, he suddenly heard a sound.

[Ding!]

[Mission complete]

[Reward has been distributed. Please continue working hard, Host.]

[...]

West Blue.

Sorbet Kingdom.

Sorbet was originally the name of a type of ice cream.

The rooftops of this kingdom's buildings were designed in the shape of ice cream.

The people here loved ice cream. That was Jin An's first impression upon arriving, though after seeing too much of it, he felt it was nothing special.

Sorbet Kingdom was a member nation of the World Government, which meant it was rarely harassed by pirates and its people lived fairly decent lives.

By now, they had been living on the island for nearly a week.

"The wind is as noisy as ever today."

Looking at the newspaper in his hand, Jin An wore an expression that said he had expected as much.

Emporio Ivankov glanced at it. "Looks like those people have no intention of revealing anything besides 'Marine Hero Karp.'"

"Standard practice. The world is exactly how those people want it to be." Ginny wore the expression of someone who had known this all along.

"But it's still a shame. I really wanted to know what happened there after we left."

Bartholomew Kuma was still praying with a solemn expression.

"What are you thinking about, Kuma?" Emporio Ivankov asked, puzzled.

Bartholomew Kuma interlaced his fingers. "I was thinking... are there still many people waiting to be saved?"

"Don't say silly things. You saved who knows how many people in that chaos," Emporio Ivankov said with a smile.

"That's right," Ginny agreed. "Kuma, you're amazing. Everyone was crying as they thanked you. Including me."

"Your home used to be a church. With your determination to save others, you'll definitely save even more people," Emporio Ivankov encouraged.

Jin An patted Bartholomew Kuma on the shoulder. "We all believe in you, because you're gentler than all of us."

Then his tone shifted. "I hope you remember this: kindness is for friends. If you treat everyone the same way, it will lead to bad results."

"Being kind to enemies is being cruel to your own people. What you give to others may become a sharp blade that harms your companions."

Emporio Ivankov looked excited and decisively pulled out a small notebook, writing those words down.

The notebook was densely covered in writing, and it would soon be full.

Jin An was speechless. This guy was doing it again. Weren't these words perfectly normal? Why was that huge face so excited?

"Today's the day you set sail, right?" Jin An sighed. He did not like scenes of parting, but there were many things one had no choice but to go through.

Although he could not really appreciate Emporio Ivankov's fashion sense, having a friend like him still made him very happy.

"That's right. Be happy for me, partner. Take care of yourselves. I won't forget you."

Emporio Ivankov slung his pack over his back, ready to depart.

"We'll see you off..."