Golden Island Adventure (6)

"That bastard was still alive?" Zoro stared at the man who had attacked them in astonishment. He had never expected him to survive such a devastating attack.

"Bad guys really do live a thousand years!" William was equally shocked as he looked at him. Even with the Six Powers' Iron Body, he would not have dared take such a terrifyingly destructive attack head-on and expect to emerge unscathed.

Of course, the man standing before them was hardly unscathed. He looked seriously injured, and it would have been strange if he had not been.

"All the gold is mine! No one's taking it from me!" Eldoraggo roared furiously. Because of the Sound-Sound Fruit, though his roar had no destructive force, it was still deafening.

"Sonic Barrage Cannon!" Unlike the Laser Cannon from before, the Sonic Barrage Cannon had far less range and power, but it could continuously attack several different targets.

"Usopp!" William suddenly called Usopp's name as he held Nami and kept dodging.

Though Eldoraggo was badly hurt, and no one knew how long he could hold out, he was clearly prepared to risk his life for the gold and wipe out the Straw Hat Pirates. No one could get close to Eldoraggo, but this was exactly when a sniper needed to shine. The moment Usopp heard William call his name, he knew what his task was.

Usopp might not have been good at close combat, but he was a sniper who excelled at long-range attacks. Delivering a fatal blow without even approaching the enemy was a sniper's job.

"Special Attack: Pepper Star!" The bold Usopp fired a spicy pepper into Eldoraggo's mouth the instant he opened it to use his power, making flames seem to pour from his mouth.

"So spicy! That's so underhanded!" Under the effects of the Pepper Star, Eldoraggo's voice immediately changed from the heat. While calling others underhanded, he had clearly forgotten that he had been the one to launch a sneak attack first.

"You filthy lion, you nearly hurt my navigator, you know that?" Still holding Nami, William viciously kicked Eldoraggo in the face, sending him flying to the ground. The kick knocked out several of Eldoraggo's teeth. After all, Shave, Moon Walk, and Rankyaku of the Six Powers all relied on the legs, showing just how powerful William's legs were.

"G-gold is all mine!" A swaying Eldoraggo struggled to get back to his feet. After swallowing Usopp's Pepper Star and losing several teeth to William's kick, his speech had become slurred.

"Special Attack: Gunpowder Star! You dared scare the great Captain Usopp? Don't you know I have eight thousand subordinates?" Usopp proudly declared after his Gunpowder Star struck Eldoraggo in the face.

"Gum-Gum Bazooka!" This time, Luffy truly blasted Eldoraggo away. Even if Eldoraggo survived, he would never get another chance to trouble them. Before Luffy's Gum-Gum Bazooka sent him flying, he had already been unable to stand steadily.

Now all the gold is mine! Nami secretly chuckled to herself as she watched Luffy blast Eldoraggo into the sea with one move.

"Nami, don't even think about keeping it all for yourself." William leaned close, putting on a gloomy expression.

"Huh? Pervert, get lost!" Nami froze for a moment when she saw William approaching with that dark expression. Then, once she understood, she punched him in the face. Since William was still holding her, her body was flung toward the ground as well, but William's body cushioned her fall, so she did not hit the ground.

"William, what happened?" Luffy cried out anxiously when he saw Nami knock William to the ground with one punch. He had experienced Nami's fists several times before. Other than William, Nami was the only one aboard whose punches, like his grandfather's, could make him feel pain. Seeing William get hit by her again, he could not help feeling concerned and sympathetic.

"Nothing happened!" Nami replied bluntly. It was unclear whether she had struck him because she thought he was trying to take advantage of her, or because she wanted to keep the gold for herself and did not want to share it with William.

In truth, Nami had overthought it. William had neither intended to take advantage of her nor planned to ask for any gold. He had only wanted to tease her.

After successfully dealing with the hidden threat of Eldoraggo, the group finally passed through the concealed passage and arrived before a rotten old wooden door, both excited and nervous.

"What is this?" When Nami opened the wooden door, she found a skeleton inside, dressed unmistakably like a pirate captain. Other than that, the entire room was empty.

"Look, there's writing on the wall!" Usopp said, raising his lamp toward the wall.

"That's Woonan's handwriting. I can't be wrong!" Tobio's grandfather cried excitedly. From all the signs, the skeleton sitting there was clearly Woonan himself. Though he had long prepared himself mentally, confirming it now still left him feeling somewhat disappointed.

The words on the wall had indeed been left by Woonan, and they were his final testament. According to it, Woonan had long since returned all the gold he had stolen to its original owners, so Woonan's treasure never truly existed. Only when he was about to leave this world did Woonan understand what his friend Iwazō had meant when he said gold could neither laugh nor keep one warm and fed. What he had truly been pursuing all along was not gold, but the adventure of searching for it. Unfortunately, he had realized this far too late.

If possible, he sincerely wished he could eat Iwazō's oden just once more.

"What? So there wasn't any gold!" Luffy laughed. What mattered to him was the adventure itself; whether there was gold or not was unimportant.

"So we're going back empty-handed!" Nami sighed. Still, she had collected quite a bit of gold from Eldoraggo. Together with the treasure she had saved before, it should amount to nearly a hundred million.

That meant she would soon have to part ways with the Straw Hat Pirates. Though she was reluctant to leave them, Nami did not want to drag the entire crew down and get them all destroyed.

After bidding farewell to Tobio and his grandfather, the Straw Hat Pirates once again set sail for the Grand Line.

"It would've been great if that old man had joined us!" Luffy looked somewhat disappointed at failing to find a companion, but that feeling lasted less than three seconds.

"You just want to eat oden!" everyone shouted disdainfully. No one knew what standards Luffy used when looking for companions.

"But Luffy's right. We really do need a cook to improve our meals." William's goal, however, was not merely to improve their food. He also hoped to find a promising companion to join them and strengthen the Straw Hat Pirates as a whole.

"That's true. The three of us can cook, but we're not professionals." Usopp looked disdainfully at Luffy and Zoro. To avoid eating dark cuisine, Usopp, William, and Nami could only take turns cooking. However, none of them knew many dishes, and they would eventually grow tired of them.

"If I remember correctly, there's a very famous sea restaurant in the East Blue!" William felt that he had to recommend the Baratie to the Straw Hat Pirates, or they would miss their chance to invite their next companion.

"A sea restaurant?" Other than Nami, a pirate thief with years of stealing experience, everyone else was hearing about a sea restaurant for the first time.

"I'll make them all join us!" Luffy shouted excitedly, apparently without considering whether the Baratie's chefs wanted to join the Straw Hat Pirates. He had already forcibly counted them in.

"That's impossible!" Though Usopp did not want to dampen Luffy's enthusiasm, the truth was that not everyone wanted to become a pirate, much less sail with the "future Pirate King."

"Who knows? Maybe Luffy can persuade their boss!" William was not entirely sure whether the Baratie's sous-chef, Sanji, would be willing to join the Straw Hat Pirates. After all, this world had already changed subtly because of his arrival, so he had to invite Sanji personally.

"Destination: Baratie!" Luffy shouted as he took his special seat.