Doctor? Sniper?

"Hah!"

Up in the crow's nest, Rogge was still pumping iron. He had practically become a second Zoro. It was all for the sake of growing stronger; even with a Devil Fruit, he would never stop moving forward.

He lifted a five-ton barbell with one hand. He repeated this motion thousands of times every day. The old Rogge had never imagined that one day, he would be able to lift something this heavy with a single hand.

Yet now, he could do it several thousand times a day. It had gone beyond the limits of his common sense and reached an utterly unimaginable level.

Still, Rogge enjoyed the feeling. He had been training nonstop these past few days. Whenever he had time, other than eating and sleeping, he was almost always up here. He believed that as long as he kept training and fighting, one day he would become a true powerhouse.

"Hey, Rogge! We're almost at the Red Line!" Jelly called up to Rogge on the mast from the deck.

Hearing Jelly's shout, Rogge set down the barbell, wiped the sweat from his body with a towel, then jumped straight down with the towel draped over his shoulders.

Thud!

He controlled his strength perfectly and landed steadily on the deck. If this had been an enemy ship, that one stomp from Rogge would probably have cracked the entire deck apart.

"We're here?" Rogge asked, raising his head toward the others while gripping the towel with both hands.

"Can't you see for yourself? You work out all day long. You're about to go insane from it," Jelly mocked.

"How many times do I have to tell you? This isn't working out. See these fists? My strength has increased. Keep running your mouth, and I'll crush you with one punch," Rogge said, clenching his fist.

"Tch." Jelly did not want to waste words on Rogge. The two had fought before, and Rogge's ability completely countered his. Rogge had nearly destroyed even his sword. Rogge's power made it impossible for him to get close; anything could be shattered. It was practically a cheat.

"Ham, no problems, right?" Rogge asked navigator Ham as he looked at the shadow of the Red Line emerging in the distance.

"Even though it's my first time crossing Reverse Mountain, there won't be any problems. We've got the best helmsman in the West Blue aboard this ship," Ham said confidently.

"Cook!" Rogge looked at Cook.

"No problem. Conditions like this are nothing. As long as the weather doesn't get too bad, getting this ship over it will be effortless," Cook said.

"Then I'll leave it to you guys." Rogge nodded.

He was a little nervous too. Leaving the West Blue for the Grand Line meant he had taken another step closer to his ambitions and was gradually drawing nearer to those legends.

"If only we were in the East Blue. I want to see the birthplace and place of death of the legendary Pirate King," Ares said flatly, having somehow come out to stand behind them.

"Loguetown," Rogge said calmly.

Cook glanced at Rogge. He had always felt that there was something strange about Rogge, but he could not put it into words.

"We can visit the East Blue when we have time. For now, let's enter the Grand Line first. Hahaha! Brothers, don't forget our dreams!" Rogge laughed.

Rogge was the youngest of the five, so calling the other four brothers was not a problem at all. The companions might bicker at times, but when it mattered, none of them would ever hesitate. They were all bound by the same ship and the same fate; they had long since become inseparable.

"Dreams... How many years has it been since I last mentioned them?" Ham said with a sigh as he smoked.

"What's the difference between someone without dreams and a salted fish?" Rogge said with a grin.

"Young people really are nice," Ares said blandly.

"You two aren't old yet," Jelly said, looking at Ham and Ares.

Cook held the helm as the ship gradually approached the Red Line. Staring ahead, Cook frowned and shouted, "Something's happening up ahead!"

"Sea Kings?" Rogge stepped forward and asked. It was still too far away, and his eyesight was nowhere near as good as Cook's. He shaded his eyes with his hand and looked into the distance.

"Not Sea Kings. Ships," Ham said flatly, peering through a telescope.

"Ships? Merchant ships?" Rogge asked excitedly.

Ham shook his head. "No, pirate ships. Heh, I knew it. How could those people possibly hold back? They were waiting here specifically for us."

"Who are they?" Jelly took the telescope from Ham and looked through it. Before long, he laughed. "Yo, yo, it's actually them. They still dare to show their faces? I thought they'd all gone into hiding."

"Who are they, exactly?" Rogge still could not see clearly and asked the two impatiently.

"The pirate crews we screwed over before. I heard they suffered terrible losses. Out of nearly twenty thousand people, fewer than ten thousand escaped in the end. Of more than sixty pirate crews, only thirty-one remain," Ham said with a smile.

"Oh, so it's them." The moment Ham said that, Rogge remembered.

Ares asked nervously, "They're all enemies? Just how many people did you offend? That's so many ships!"

"Don't be scared. They had even more people last time, and we still tricked half of them to death. They're here for revenge now. I heard they showed up on Thousand Lake Island before, so I thought they'd make their move there. I didn't expect them to be waiting here," Jelly said with a smile.

"They probably know all of you are ability users, so they chose to fight at sea. Even if they can't beat us, they have the advantage in numbers. They can easily destroy our ship with cannon fire. When that happens, aside from me, it'll be hard for any of you to survive," Cook said.

"What do we do now?" Ares asked nervously.

"You're a ship's doctor, but your guts are tiny. Don't you have poison? What are you afraid of?" Jelly said, turning toward him.

"Who says I'm scared? I-I can fight too." Ares pulled out a long gun.

"Huh? You actually have a weapon?" Rogge asked in surprise.

Rogge had never thought Ares could fight. If it had not been for the man's medical skills, Rogge had not actually wanted him to join the pirate crew. After all, Ares had little combat ability. If they could not protect him once he came aboard, he would die even sooner than the rest of them. A ship's doctor like that seemed no different from having no doctor at all.

Ares said unhappily, "I used to be a member of a musket unit. It's just that I haven't used one in twenty years, so I'm a little rusty. And don't underestimate me. I've been researching these past few days. See this?"

Ares took out several syringes. They were each about as thick as a child's finger, filled with purple liquid.

He opened the bolt of his musket, inserted a syringe, then pulled it shut.

"Poison?" Rogge asked.

"Yeah." Ares nodded. "I modified it based on a tranquilizer gun. The poison is stored inside the syringe. As long as it hits someone, the poison will immediately enter their body."

"Looks like we have a sniper now." Rogge smiled.

"Not a professional one, probably just a half-baked amateur. What kind of ship's doctor moonlights as a sniper? Can you fire cannons?" Jelly gestured toward Ares.

Ares shook his head. "No."

"See?" Jelly spread his hands.