Puzzled

Looking at Husky, Rogge no longer knew what to say. He had never owned a dog before and had only seen his neighbors' mutts. He had heard stories about huskies, but he had never seen what one could actually do.

Now that he had to raise one himself, he was at a loss. He poured it some dog food, left Ares to look after it, and climbed to the lookout atop the mast to train.

"Hey, what's with this dog? The floor's wrecked!" Cook shouted from below. Rogge ignored him and kept doing bench presses.

Rogge's training room should have been inside the cabin, but he had insisted on putting it atop the mast. For one thing, the cabin was too stuffy. For another, he could not see what was happening outside or get there immediately if trouble struck.

So Rogge had followed the Sunny's design and turned the lookout into a training room. It was a little cramped, but the view was wide open and the air flowed freely.

Rogge knew he could not rely too heavily on his Devil Fruit power. Strong as it was, he had never heard of anyone becoming a great pirate through Devil Fruit powers alone. Every true great pirate was a monster among monsters.

He still had a long road ahead. Only by growing stronger could he survive and get what he wanted.

Lifting weights was addictive, and that was no joke. Anyone who stuck with it found pleasure in the equipment. Rogge enjoyed the ache in his muscles. With Ares there as a doctor, he could recover as well as possible after every workout, then throw himself into the next round of training.

Rogge arrived at the dining room on time every day to enjoy Jelly's cooking.

Whenever Jelly saw Rogge eating like a starving man, he could not help complaining. "You eat ten days' worth of our food in a single day."

"You lot have nothing to do but play cards. I'm different. I'm your captain, and I train hard every day to get stronger. So what if I eat a little more?" Rogge did not even look up as he kept devouring huge chunks of meat.

Watching Rogge demolish the premium beef he had prepared so carefully, Jelly felt like a father watching a pig make off with his daughter. Damn it.

Sailing had to be the most boring thing in the world. Anyone who thought life at sea was fun had it wrong. They were only in the West Blue, but after three days without setting foot on land, the others were already worn down.

Not Rogge, of course. He happily lifted weights every day. The only problem was that something was missing.

He had always thought training called for rousing music. It would give his workouts a rhythm.

"Are we at the Red Line yet?" Jelly leaned against the mast and played with Billy. The past few days had been so dull that even Jelly, who could not stand the dog, had come over to pet him.

"Soon. We should get there today," Ham said, taking out the map.

"Thank goodness. We can finally leave the West Blue. It's so boring here." Jelly perked up for a moment, then slumped again.

"If you're that restless, go see the captain. He trains hard every day," Ham said.

"I don't want to end up covered in muscles. I'll keep the dog company instead. Right, Pigtaro?" Jelly said, patting Billy's head.

"What did you call him?" Ham froze.

"Pigtaro. Billy sounds awful. I swear Rogge picked it just to annoy me," Jelly said.

"I think you're reading too much into it," Ham said with a chuckle.

"One's a training maniac, the other's a research maniac. They've got it easy while we watch the ship." Jelly sprawled across the deck, arms and legs spread wide.

"Why is Billy tied up here? And why add another layer of planks?" Ham asked, watching Billy bounce around.

"Because this dog can do a lot of damage. He's not big, but look at the deck," Jelly said listlessly.

"Whoa!" Ham looked over. Scratches ran across the paint on the deck. None of them had done it; the dog was the only possible culprit.

"Did Cook put the planks down?" Ham asked with a smile.

"Yeah. He built a doghouse and added another layer of planks wherever Billy can roam," Jelly said.

Ever since Rogge had brought the dog aboard, he had left him alone. Billy's care had fallen to Jelly and Cook. Rogge lifted weights, Ares shut himself in his room to do research, and Ham was too busy, leaving the job to the other two.

Splash!

The sea burst open, and Cook leaped out of the water. A large sack hung on his back. Soaking wet, he dropped it onto the deck.

"Looks like we're having something extra today." Jelly perked up when Cook returned and went to open the sack.

"I envy you Fish-Men. You can swim wherever you like in the sea," Ham said.

"You wouldn't envy us," Cook said flatly.

"Why wouldn't I? You're born stronger than humans, you can live in the sea, and you don't have to worry about disasters on land. There's more sea than anything else in this world. I wish I were a Fish-Man myself," Ham said.

"You'll understand someday. You don't know Fish-Men at all." Cook said nothing more. He checked on Billy, then returned to the helm.

Seeing that Cook did not want to discuss it, Ham let the matter drop and shrugged.

"Why is it all shellfish? Didn't you catch any fish?" Jelly asked. He had sorted through the sack and found only shellfish, seaweed, and the like. There was not a single fish.

"Fish-Men don't eat fish," Cook said.

"Really?!" Jelly and Ham exclaimed.

"Fish are like our own kind. We don't eat our own kind. Some people even say Fish-Men evolved from fish. That's why neither Fish-Men nor the Merfolk Tribe eat fish. We eat shellfish and seaweed instead," Cook said.

"So that's why." Jelly and Ham nodded.

"Now I kind of want to visit Fish-Man Island. Beautiful mermaids..." Jelly said with a grin.

"Yesterday the captain was going on about Fish-Man Island being like a crystal castle. You'd think he'd seen it himself," Ham said with a laugh.

"The captain wasn't exaggerating. Fish-Man Island really is like a crystal castle. Don't you think there's something mysterious about him? He spends all day training, but sometimes he lets odd things slip," Cook said.

"Does he?" Jelly looked up.

"You might not have noticed, but my instincts tell me the captain's no ordinary man. He's seen far more than most people," Cook said, nodding seriously.