Such a Suck-Up

"What's your dream?" Rogge asked with his back to him, eating breakfast.

"My parents and I..."

Unfortunately, things did not go as Rogge had expected. Simon spoke, his voice low and deep. "Freedom."

"Walking out the door is freedom. Joining a pirate crew doesn't mean freedom. Only the captain can have freedom. On a pirate ship, everyone can only listen to the captain. Only the captain gets to enjoy freedom." Rogge turned around and looked at Simon expressionlessly.

"..." Simon was already cursing internally. Brother, you're not following the script. How am I supposed to respond to that?

Keeping his solemn expression, Simon said in a deep voice, "Wouldn't the captain's freedom be my freedom too? Besides, I'm not trying to become captain. I only hope that Simon's name will be part of Captain Rogge's legend."

"Get out, you bootlicker." Jelly kicked Billy out of the kitchen.

Billy was kicked out, but he had a piece of bacon clamped in his mouth. Clearly, being a bootlicker was not entirely without benefits. At least he had gotten something out of it.

"Since you have that kind of resolve, and I'm not some famous pirate anyway, I'll take you in. Work hard." Rogge turned around, finally getting a look at Simon.

A little handsome, the pale-faced type, quite tall, and that was about it.

Rogge turned away after looking him over and went back to eating.

Simon was a little dazed, but he was already satisfied just to have successfully joined the Asura Pirates. As a bounty hunter—especially one still being hunted—he felt that another payday would be coming soon.

"Jelly, isn't it ready yet?" Rogge called toward the kitchen.

"Shut up, it'll be ready soon." Jelly bustled about in the kitchen. Before long, he came out carrying a huge platter of food, and five people and one dog pounced on it.

Simon stared blankly at the five people and one dog fighting over food, especially when he saw Rogge snatch a ham from a dog's mouth and toss it into his own stomach.

Was this really a pirate with a fifty-million-Beli bounty? He looked more like a starving ghost.

After eating and drinking their fill, Rogge dragged an eager Jelly, along with Billy, who was biting Rogge's thigh and getting dragged along, toward the woods.

"What is the captain doing?" Simon watched Rogge and the others leave, having no idea what was going on.

"The captain is training. He won't waste a single moment he could spend training unless there's an adventure to be had. Obviously, Tavern Island has nothing worth adventuring for. If you have time, go familiarize yourself with the ship alongside Cook. There are some cannons and firearms on board, and they'll all be yours to handle from now on. Take this money and buy whatever supplies you need before setting sail." Ham took out one million Beli and gave it to Simon to buy supplies.

Simon held the money with a bewildered expression. He had never seen a pirate crew offer benefits like this. They actually gave him money to purchase supplies. Were these really the pirates he knew? Was this not a company recruiting employees?

Over in the woods, Rogge put Billy up in a tree. Standing on the tree, Billy was not scared at all. Instead, he lay seriously on a branch and watched Rogge get beaten up.

With yesterday's experience, Jelly was even more skilled today. His angles were trickier, and every vine lashed toward spots Rogge found difficult to defend.

After half a day, Rogge was covered in injuries. Still, he had done a little better than yesterday, though his wounds were just as severe. Jelly's methods were more devious than yesterday's and even harder to evade.

Rogge was truly going all out to become stronger. Jelly did not know why he was doing this; only Rogge understood. He was following the same method Rayleigh had used to train Luffy's Observation Haki.

Rogge simply did not understand it, nor had he ever experienced it himself. He could only follow the method from the anime: blindfold himself and rely on his sixth sense to adapt to combat.

There were results. It was only the second day, but Rogge's combat talent was clearly not bad. He was gradually adapting and could even make out some vague shadows.

They ate at noon, then continued training in the afternoon. Billy followed them the whole time. Though he had no interest in the name Pigtaro, following Jelly meant there would definitely be food. Even if he got eaten, he would be willing—as long as there was food.

Three days passed. When dawn broke on the fourth day, Ham told them that the Log Pose had recorded the next island. The island they were heading to was not deserted either. Only one island was connected to Tavern Island, so anyone living on Tavern Island naturally knew what kind of island lay next.

Simon had been hanging around here for some time and had visited the next island several times. It was a winter island. Tavern Island was an autumn island with a pleasant climate, making it suitable for brewing alcohol.

"Simon, what did you buy?" Rogge had ignored this guy for the past few days, but when he saw him fiddling with a pile of equipment, he curiously went over to ask.

Seeing Rogge approach, Simon took a deep breath, stopped what he was doing, and showed Rogge the items in front of him.

It was a pile of parts, and Rogge could not really make sense of them. He had actually liked this sort of thing when he was young and had often taken things apart himself.

At first, he took apart cassette players, the kind that played tapes. Who knew how many people had seen those? People born in the eighties and nineties should know them—the kind where, after playing once, you had to rewind the tape before you could play it again.

His parents had not minded him taking those apart. Then Rogge got curious about a fan and dismantled it. He got curious about a DVD player and dismantled it. He got curious about a television and dismantled that too.

Then one of Rogge's hobbies was strangled in its cradle. If not for that, he might have become an appliance repairman someday.

"I've looked over all the cannons on our ship. They're decent, but their range is too short. Ordinary cannons only reach about two hundred meters, but after adding some modifications, the shell range can be increased to five hundred meters," Simon said.

"Five hundred meters? Are you sure?" Rogge asked in surprise.

"This isn't some secret. Navy warships have this kind of device too. It increases the range, but once the distance gets longer, it's hard to control the aim, especially with cannons on a ship. It's not like firing from land," Simon explained.

"Then isn't installing it useless? Tch, what a waste of money. I thought it was some kind of advanced technology. I got excited for nothing." Rogge immediately lost interest.

Seeing Rogge turn to leave, Simon took a deep breath, stood up, and said, "Captain, the aim may be a little worse this way, but I'm a sniper. Watch closely."

Simon walked over to a cannon and began attaching the device he had assembled to it. Then he started searching the sea for a target.

Soon, he spotted a piece of foam floating on the water, probably a fishing net float.

Boom!

The cannon fired, and the shell struck the float dead on.

"Good! Beautiful!" Rogge clapped.

Simon broke into a wide smile. Just as he was feeling smug and about to brag a little, he realized Rogge was no longer there. Turning around, he saw Rogge with his backside facing him, slowly climbing up the mast.