Spade Pirates

The vast sea was rarely this calm, especially on the Grand Line, where such stillness was a sight one might not see for hundreds of days.

This should have been a rare day of rest, but no one in the Spade Pirates was in the mood for it.

Everyone lay sprawled across the deck like salted fish, like fish stranded out of water.

Clearly, they had gone several days without food or water.

The Spade Pirates had a rather complicated makeup. There were long-limbed people and Fishmen among them, even a cook—rare in other Pirate crews—but they lacked a navigator.

Good navigators were scarce talents across the seas, and most had been monopolized by the Marines. That was why Arlong and Golden Lion had both coveted Nami so desperately. Even among the navigators of the New World, Nami possessed the greatest talent for navigation.

That was why even Golden Lion, a man on the level of an Admiral, had wanted Nami.

Unfortunately, the Spade Pirates did not merely lack a good navigator—they had no navigator at all.

Their navigation relied entirely on someone in the crew nicknamed "Teacher." Yet this "Teacher" was really just an amateur who had read a few books on navigation. If they had not been so powerful, they never could have made it this far after entering the Grand Line.

They truly did not know any Haki, nor had anyone eaten a Devil Fruit. But before entering the Grand Line, Zoro and Sanji had already been strong enough to rival Arlong. As for someone like Ace, beating Arlong senseless would have been no problem at all.

And since Ace's companions had become one of the forty-three Pirate crews under the Whitebeard Pirates after Ace was taken in, they were obviously no pushovers. Every one of them was a fierce fighter who could rival Zoro or Sanji—though there might have been a few idiots among them.

This pirate crew was practically a copy of the Straw Hat Pirates, and the ship should have been filled with joy—if they had not fled here in blind panic while being chased down.

"Captain, couldn't we just crush that chick? Why keep running? Capture her, make her yours, and whether she agrees or not, she'll have to follow you." Someone lay limply over the railing. He was short, with a slight underbite and crimson skin. He was a Scorpionfish Fishman named Rewos. Aside from his sharp teeth, several flag-like spines protruded from his body like those of a Peking opera general, and spines even showed from beneath the sleeves of his short shirt. Clearly, he was an exceptionally powerful fighter.

As for how strong a captain had to be to win the loyalty of such a Fishman, a little logical thinking was enough to tell.

"You uncultured idiot, shut up already." A tall blue-haired man snapped.

He seemed to be the First Mate, one of the few reliable people aboard, and the ship doctor—second only to a navigator in importance on this ship. So once he spoke, the Fishman fell silent.

They had ended up here because they had been chased by a group of Marines and had fled all the way here, nearly losing their bearings. On the Grand Line, without an Eternal Pose, a Log Pose that had not finished recording would keep pointing toward the previous island.

They had fled the island while being pursued by the Marines, which was why they had lost their way. Their pointer was still recording the location of their previous island, while they were now already a hundred and eight thousand miles away from it.

Going back was impossible. They could only grit their teeth and keep drifting forward without a pointer.

The worst part was that behind them trailed a female Marine who wanted to bring Ace to justice, had a bit of a thing for him, yet could not bring herself to strike him down.

Otherwise, they could have simply wiped out the Marines behind them and drifted onward at their leisure.

"Alright, it's decided." Ace suddenly leaped down from the mast. The whole ship nearly shook twice, jolting everyone sprawled on the deck awake.

"Let's raid Iska's warship and find her Log Pose."

Iska was the female Marine who had been chasing Ace all this time.

"Captain, you've finally come to your senses!" Everyone else wore expressions of ecstatic delight. Having run out of food and water, this was their only option.

And it was the safest option, too, because Iska had been following right behind them and was an extremely conspicuous target.

But if they did that, their captain's future happiness would be gone. Ship doctor Masked Deuce wore a bitter smile. He would bet that Ace had not considered any of that when he claimed to have thought it through, but...

Who told him he was the captain?

Everyone in the Spade Pirates perked up. Though they had not eaten or drunk anything for a whole day, they would soon have rations and rum!

Suddenly, a huge shadow slowly enveloped them.

When they turned around, a ship as towering as a mountain, drawn by two Yuda, had already appeared before them.

Gulp...

Everyone in the Spade Pirates swallowed hard. As they watched the two Sea Kings lower their heads to inspect them closely, their bodies instinctively tensed.

"Hey, it's the Kuja Pirates!" Masked, the ship doctor, cried in a low voice. He was one of the people aboard who paid more attention to the news, so he naturally knew that the Kuja Pirates were one of the Shichibukai. The distinctive Yuda alone made them unmistakable.

"It's one of the Shichibukai!"

Excitement appeared on every face aboard the Spade Pirates, and some even looked eager to try their hand. Leaving aside everything else, Ace had been invited to become one of the Shichibukai after obtaining his Devil Fruit. Though the Logia Devil Fruit had played a part, the formidable strength of the Spade Pirates was also what gave Ace the confidence to become a Shichibukai.

In another two or three years, he might even be able to fight Knight of the Sea Jinbe to a draw.

After examining them for a moment, the two sea serpents withdrew. Amazon warrior women gradually filled the bow of the Perfume Yuda, each with bow drawn and arrow nocked.

Radiating Haki, they drew their bows and aimed at every member of the Spade Pirates.

"Hey, hey... That kind of pressure isn't something ordinary people can give off." "Teacher" Michael, holding a musket in his arms, adjusted his hat and spoke softly.

"No, shouldn't we say this is what one of the Shichibukai should be like?" Scorpionfish Man Wores wore an eager expression. Although the bow of the Perfume Yuda was high, he could leap twenty meters up there in one jump!

PS: Second update. I'll work hard to prepare an extra update tomorrow.

PS1: Also, here's today's market report. The U.S. market opened with a full retaliatory rebound, everything in the green, but some people were still selling. Yesterday, all three markets fell by around 7% to 7.9%. They opened up 3% today, but the Nasdaq has now fallen to -1.5%, while the Dow dropped from up 3% to up 1.5%. I think that's about it. I'll check again when I wake up tomorrow morning.