Resting Up on Jaya Island

Twenty minutes later.

They were still at the harbor.

Roger was leaning over the railing of the Oro Jackson, staring boredly at the jungle not far from the island's shore.

Before long, Spencer emerged from within, a cigarette clenched between his teeth.

"Eh? Where's Vikengam?" Roger asked curiously.

As he approached the harbor, Spencer casually exhaled a puff of smoke. "We found a few locals, questioned them, and cross-checked their stories. The Knock Up Stream won't appear for at least another month. We can't exactly live on the ship the whole time, can we? So I came back to fill you in first. Vikengam is cleaning up the town."

"Cleaning up the town?" Roger froze for a moment, then seemed to understand. Smacking his lips, he said, "At least a month, huh? Looks like we'll have to rest up properly here."

Nearby, Jaba was sharpening his axe blade with an ironstone. Hearing that, he smiled. "So that means all the ships in the harbor are unclaimed now, right?"

"What are we standing around for, then?" Nozdon burst out laughing. "Go raid those unclaimed ships! Don't let all that stuff go to waste!"

At Nozdon's call, some of the Roger Pirates eagerly disembarked and began hauling all sorts of supplies off other people's ships.

Once they were done, they left Eye Dragon behind to watch the ship while everyone else swaggered toward Mock Town.

When Spencer and Vikengam had first come to town, they had heard the lively noise coming from within before they had even gotten close.

But now, the town was clearly much quieter.

Still, even from a great distance away, they could smell the blood in the air.

"This is what you call cleaning up the town? I can smell the blood from all the way over here..." Roger complained as he walked.

"I don't want to live in a pile of corpses either. And if we leave it alone, with this temperature, the place will stink badly enough to make us vomit by tomorrow..." Rayleigh waved a hand through the air, his expression disgusted.

"Spencer, I suggest you don't let Vikengam act alone next time. That guy looks refined on the surface, but he's really a chopping maniac. It was the same back in the South Blue..." Jaba said with a grin.

The Roger Pirates' last stop in the South Blue had been Dalanis Island.

Because of a few trivial matters, the Roger Pirates had clashed with the local nobility.

The result was that their group slaughtered all three hundred people in that noble estate...

They had clearly all done it together, yet from the way Jaba told it, it sounded as if Vikengam had done all the chopping by himself.

Joking around, the group entered the town.

There they found Vikengam sitting atop a mountain of at least sixty or seventy corpses. Thick blood was still dripping from his battle axe, while chunks of bloodied flesh lay scattered all over the streets.

Fortunately, a group of locals who had been scared out of their wits by Vikengam were using every kind of tool they could find to clear away the flesh and corpses.

"You guys are so slow. I've already killed all the useless trash in town. I only left these people who can work. Though they don't seem like good people either, they still look somewhat useful. At least they know how to clean up trash..." Vikengam said carelessly from atop the corpse pile.

Shakky looked at the scene and laughed. "You shouldn't be a pirate. You should be in the Marines."

"No, you've got it wrong. He's a Celestial Dragon. Doing this sort of thing is perfectly reasonable for him," Rayleigh added.

Vikengam jumped down from the corpse pile and waved at a trembling figure in the distance. Then he said to Jaba, "This guy is the town's shipwright. He specializes in repairing ships for pirates here. There were quite a few pirate crews who wanted to challenge the Knock Up Stream before, but according to him, they all died. Of course, that has nothing to do with us. But he says that if you want to ride the Knock Up Stream, the ship needs some modifications..."

Jaba immediately asked, "What modifications?"

Bulmarin, the Roger Pirates' shipwright, also asked, "Do you have blueprints? Are you saying lots of pirates have challenged this Knock Up Stream?"

The shipwright did not dare hide anything, afraid he would be killed if he proved useless, so he hurriedly explained.

Basically, the ship needed a pair of wind wings or something like that. Some also needed extra rows of oars and external propulsion wheels.

Over the following days, the Roger Pirates began modifying the Oro Jackson.

Mock Town—no, all of Jaya Island—returned to peace and became the Roger Pirates' temporary base.

The locals, who could be said to have committed every kind of evil, became incredibly docile before these murderous thugs of the Roger Pirates. Every day, they swept the streets spotless and prepared all kinds of fresh ingredients for them.

Every few days, pirates who had come to Mock Town by reputation would occasionally pay a visit.

Their fate was to hand over all their treasure, then cry as they scrambled out of these waters.

Any who refused to back down became practice targets for Vikengam's axe.

And so, time slowly arrived at January, Sea Circle Calendar 1487.

At the harbor shore of Jaya Island.

Vikengam was bare-chested, Armament Haki condensed around his hands as he repeatedly hammered the iron block before him.

The iron block seemed to have "shrunk" a little since last time. He was probably one step closer to becoming Iron Cap.

On the beach not far away.

Roger was lying beneath a sunshade, a straw hat covering his face. The morning sunlight slowly washed over him, bringing a touch of warmth that felt immensely comfortable.

Judging from the scattered bottles beside his hand, he had probably drunk himself senseless last night and fallen asleep right there.

Before long, two figures emerged from the waves. They were none other than Rayleigh, the best swimmer among the Roger Pirates, and his girlfriend, Shakky.

The two had come to the shore early in the morning to play in the water and flaunt their affection.

"I can swim straight from here to Amazon Lily!" Rayleigh rose from the sea, swept back his wet blond hair, and made a bold declaration.

"You're really amazing... Are you even better than a Fish-Man?" Shakky humored him from the side.

Before long, Jaba walked down from the Oro Jackson, which was still being modified, with a newspaper in hand.

"Hey, hey, there's an interesting piece of news today," Jaba called out casually.

Vikengam did not respond. He was still breathing heavily and constantly pushing his physical strength to the limit, every punch solid and brutal as it slammed into the iron block.

Roger did not hear him at all. He was still sleeping soundly.

So Rayleigh picked up Jaba's remark, showing off his fine physique as he asked, "What news?"

"Shiki found Red in the New World and wanted to invite him to join up. They couldn't reach an agreement, so they fought a battle in the Sbarana Sea," Jaba said with a chuckle.

"Red?" Shakky asked in confusion, apparently unfamiliar with the name.

"Redfield," Rayleigh explained. "The Lone Red."

"Ah, him. Sounds like you have a pretty good relationship with him?" Shakky asked with a smile.

"So-so. Roger gets along with him pretty well. You could say they became friends after a fight. That happened before we reached Lodestar Island..." Rayleigh found a reef to sit on and began telling the story.

Barolomew Redfield.

He was an unusual pirate in the New World, incredibly powerful and capable of hearing people's hearts. His Observation Haki was absurdly strong, earning him the titles "The Lone Red" and "Red Count."

He was extremely withdrawn and never traveled with anyone. He did not have a single companion.

But he loved seeking out powerful opponents to challenge. Shiki, Newgate, Monkey D. Garp, and Sengoku had all fought the Red Count.

Six years ago, he had suffered a crushing defeat at Rocks's hands and disappeared for a long time. He only became active on the seas again before the Roger Pirates reached Lodestar Island.

Because he could hear people's hearts, he had seen far too much darkness. But Roger was a remarkably simple-minded person, and after the two fought, they formed a fairly good relationship.

Roger had invited Redfield aboard back then as well, but he had refused.

Who would have thought that Shiki would go looking for him too?

The New World was really becoming more and more interesting.