The Day Before

The world seemed calm on the surface, but beneath it, turbulent waves were already churning.

In the early hours of the day before Roger's public execution, the Marines stationed around Loguetown who were responsible for patrols spotted a pirate ship on the distant sea.

This was hardly unusual. Over the past few days, far too many pirates had appeared in the waters near Loguetown, sneaking into the town in hopes of witnessing Roger's public execution.

Besides pirates, there were all kinds of adventurers, pirate hunters, merchant caravans, ships belonging to kingdom governments, and more. At one point, they had even jammed Loguetown's harbor.

But this ship was different. As a rear admiral of Marine Headquarters, Volcanic Burn recognized the pirate flag on its sail at a glance.

"These pirates are really bold... Someone, report to Admiral Sengoku and tell him that members of the Sky Pirate Crew have appeared. Ask whether we should take action..."

"Yes, sir..."

While Volcanic Burn waited for a reply, the dazzling Twin Goddess had already entered Loguetown's harbor alongside countless other ships on the sea.

On the deck.

Tiger stared nervously at the various human ships and humans in the waterways to either side of them. He carefully handled the helm and asked Ye Mu in confusion,

"Captain Ye Mu, is it really all right for us to enter Loguetown so openly?"

Ye Mu answered with a relaxed expression.

"Don't worry, Tiger. At least until Roger is executed, we won't be in any danger. After Roger's execution, though, things may become uncertain... At that point, whether we can escape the Marines' pursuit and successfully enter the Grand Line will depend on you. You should have a fairly good understanding of our pirate ship by now, right?"

That put Tiger somewhat at ease. He nodded.

"Yeah. I've already mastered the Twin Goddess's systems, so I won't have any trouble piloting it now..."

At this point, Tiger couldn't help praising it.

"Even though I've traveled the world for so many years and seen countless ships, our Twin Goddess is definitely one of the finest vessels out there. With its performance, Marine warships won't be able to catch us. If all else fails, we can even return to the Calm Belt..."

"Exactly, so there's no need to worry too much. Besides, I believe the entire world will become lively tomorrow, and Loguetown will be no exception. By then, whether the Marines will even have time to deal with us is uncertain..."

Hearing Ye Mu say this, Tiger finally relaxed completely.

At that moment, Enel walked out of the cabin, chewing on an apple and complaining,

"The apples are gone, and there isn't much other fruit left either..."

Ye Mu smiled when he heard that.

"Aren't there still plenty in the Gravity Room..."

"Tch..." Enel let out an unhappy snort.

"Those are buried in a pile of corpses. They all smell awful now..."

"What a shame. But so many days have passed, and those fruits still haven't changed, so it seems my plan has failed. When you have the time, throw those fruits away. Also, get rid of the corpses of those four guys. Then we'll go to the island and stock up on more supplies. We also need to prepare some things for the Grand Line, such as a Log Pose and nautical charts. Tiger, I'll have to leave that to you. You know much more about this than we do..."

To be honest, Ye Mu was somewhat disappointed. After all, he had read some pirate-related information on Earth that claimed Devil Fruits would randomly reincarnate in nearby fruits after their users died. That was why Ye Mu had ordered Enel to keep the lives of the two CP9 Devil Fruit users, intending to conduct an experiment. In the end, they had merely wasted food.

"I understand, but my identity..."

After hearing Ye Mu, Tiger nodded, but he hesitated. His more than a year as a slave had left him somewhat fearful of humans. On top of that, as a Fish-Man, he would probably have difficulty moving around in Loguetown, which was filled with humans.

"I'll have Enel accompany you... Loguetown is a major town, and it's very lively. You can look around as you please and do some shopping. If there's anything you like, buy it. You can also exchange some of the gold on the ship for this world's currency..."

Ye Mu had deliberately asked Enel and Tiger to explore Loguetown on their own.

For one thing, with Enel protecting him, Tiger's safety wouldn't be a problem. If anything happened, they could notify Ye Mu immediately.

For another, Ye Mu hoped Enel would discover some of his own interests and find a life of his own. For the past ten years, the two of them had lived together inseparably. Their lives had been extremely monotonous—training and nothing but training. Although such a life was orderly, it was simply too boring.

Enel was clearly tempted. No matter how mature and arrogant he appeared on the surface, deep down, he was still a sixteen-year-old boy. How could he not be interested in a lively world?

Sky Island had towns and villages like this as well, but for one thing, Sky Island was much smaller than Loguetown and had far fewer people, so it couldn't compare in liveliness. For another, because of the abuse Enel had suffered as a child, he harbored hatred toward Sky Island. That was why, while living on Sky Island, Ye Mu had been the one to interact with the island's residents and handle the shopping.

Loguetown was different. The human world here was an entirely new world to him.

"Then what about our ship..."

"Leave it at the harbor... But, Enel..."

"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on it at all times..."

"Good. Then you'll have to do more than your share of the work. Who told you to have such useful Observation Haki..."

"Tch..."

Enel was somewhat annoyed by this. Although he was indeed far superior to Ye Mu in Observation Haki, he was far behind when it came to Armament Haki. On top of that, over the past five years, he had been unable to awaken Conqueror's Haki no matter what he did...

He couldn't exactly say that he was jealous of Ye Mu, but his competitive nature still made it impossible for him to avoid feeling that way.

Ye Mu understood this as well.

That was also why he felt Enel needed to discover some of his own interests and find a life of his own.

At present, aside from Ye Mu, his elder brother, there were still far too few things Enel cared about.

People needed desires in their hearts before they could unleash a powerful longing to obtain something. That desire was the true force that made people grow stronger.

Ye Mu had such a desire. He harbored the ambition to rule over and overthrow this world.

Tiger had one as well. He wanted to save his fellow Fish-Men and allow them to live on the surface.

But Enel alone did not—or rather, he did have one, but it was nowhere near as intense as Ye Mu's or Tiger's.

His hatred for Sky Island had already been put down over the past ten years under Ye Mu's care.

His desire to rule the world also existed only because of Ye Mu.

Perhaps that was why Enel still hadn't been able to awaken Conqueror's Haki.

"Then once we dock, we'll split up and act separately. As long as you don't cause too much trouble, you can do whatever you want. We'll meet again tonight..."