Set Sail

Watching Ryan disappear from his line of sight, Aokiji also recovered his senses and turned his gaze toward the remaining pirates. Garp was leading the marines with a clear advantage, currently suppressing the pirates.

Seeing that the main battlefield was handled and nothing was amiss, Aokiji began dealing with the escaping pirates. As long as anyone fled, he would strike and freeze them directly.

In a spot where no one noticed, a head was watching all this unfold, looking at Garp acting just like a villain leading a bunch of underlings to suppress those helpless pirates.

That head floated cautiously along the ground near the edge of the battlefield in this manner, until a hand suddenly reached out from underground and grabbed the head floating in midair.

"Who's launching a sneak attack on yours truly?"

A middle-aged man covered in blood climbed out from the underground, looked around at the surroundings, and asked in confusion, "Where is the Bloody Swordsman Ryan?"

"Left."

"Who are you?" The middle-aged man continued to ask.

"To think you don't even know the great Buggy! Hmph!" that head said with disdain.

Only then did the middle-aged man begin to properly size up the person before him, noticing two tattoos on the man's face resembling a pirate flag, though his most distinctive feature was undoubtedly his big red nose.

Buggy leaned toward the middle-aged man and asked, "And who are you? I saw you fighting the Bloody Swordsman on the platform earlier."

"Sigh, I was defeated, wasn't I?" The middle-aged man sighed deeply toward the sky.

"Yours truly is asking who you are!" Buggy said with an excited expression.

"Call me Dazhen, just a nobody."

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he suddenly remembered that Buggy's lower body was still buried in the dirt. Thinking to pull him out, he realized to his shock that Buggy's body could not be found at all.

Dazhen looked at Buggy in terror and asked, "Where is your body?"

"Hahahaha, yours truly's body isn't here!"

Then Dazhen watched as Buggy's head slowly flew toward him.

Seeing this, Dazhen completely disregarded his injuries, jumped straight up, and screamed, "Ghost!"

This loud scream also caught Aokiji's attention. Aokiji frowned as he looked toward a dune in the distance. Huh, there's nobody there. Did I just hear wrong?

Aokiji, still deep in thought, immediately had his attention drawn away by several fleeing pirates.

After waiting for a while and finding that no one else was paying attention to this spot, a person and another person crawled out from beneath the dune, who were none other than Buggy and Dazhen.

"Good thing yours truly reacted fast." Buggy said, still shaken.

Looking at Buggy, who consisted of only a head, Dazhen spoke up, "Can you save me out of here?"

Seeing Aokiji and Garp, Dazhen also understood his current situation. Severely injured as he was, he could not escape the rushing marine encirclement and could only ask Buggy for help.

Buggy looked at the heavily injured Dazhen before him and fell into deep thought. This Dazhen has decent strength; if I could recruit him under my command...

At this thought, Buggy felt a slight stir in his heart and probed cautiously, "If I save you, will you join my pirate crew?"

After a moment of silence, Dazhen said helplessly, "If you can take three moves from me, I'll join your pirate crew."

Dazhen certainly did not want to become a subordinate to a weakling. If he hadn't been completely out of options right now, he probably wouldn't have agreed to Buggy's request even if it killed him.

"It's a deal then," Buggy said happily.

Before long, two hands arrived from afar. Those hands grabbed Dazhen and moved him cautiously, and thus Buggy and Dazhen quietly left the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere among Ryan's group upon returning to the royal capital was somewhat delicate. Because Ryan, Mihawk, and Vista had all sustained heavy injuries, the three of them were now staying in the same room, which made it more convenient for the doctor to tend to them.

Flower Sword Vista watched Ryan and Mihawk drinking in silence over there, making Vista feel extremely awkward.

After all, they had been fighting to the death with Ryan just moments ago. Although he also wanted a drink, he figured he couldn't speak up, as doing so would bring shame to the Whitebeard Pirates.

Vista held the honor of the Whitebeard Pirates higher than his own life.

After finishing the wine in his bottle, Ryan looked at Mihawk in confusion and asked, "Does Vista not drink?"

"He probably doesn't like it."

Hearing this, Ryan looked toward the last bottle of wine on the table and immediately reached out to grab it, resulting in his hand meeting Mihawk's in midair, neither willing to yield for a moment.

Ryan looked at Mihawk and said word for word, "Mihawk, I saved your life again this time!" Ryan brushed Mihawk's hand aside and reached for the sole remaining bottle of wine.

"No!"

Mihawk blocked Ryan's claws once more.

Just as the two of them were locked in a stalemate, Vista quietly reached out and took the bottle of wine. Ignoring their astonished gazes, he started drinking right in front of them.

As he drank, Vista repented inwardly, Old Man, I've brought shame upon you!

Seeing the wine snatched away, Ryan started chatting with Mihawk. There was no help for it; the doctor had said wounded men couldn't drink alcohol, so Ryan had gone ahead and secretly had Kid smuggle over three bottles of wine.

"Mihawk, where are you planning to go next?"

"To seek a good blade."

Through these recent battles and advancing to a Great Swordsman, Mihawk found that his current sword could no longer bear his growing swordsmanship. It was fine when exchanging blows with ordinary people, but when fighting top-tier experts like Ryan and Vista, the gap in their weapons would become apparent.

"I'll give you the Supreme Skillful Grade Sword Yoru." Ryan picked up the box containing the sword from behind him and spoke.

Vista, who was drinking, instantly spat it out. As luck would have it, Mihawk was sitting right across from Vista.

Seeing this, Ryan wondered inwardly, Does Vista have something against Mihawk?

Mihawk glared at Vista, then said to Ryan, "No, I am a man with principles!"

"Who said I was giving it to you for free? You agree to help me do three things, and I'll give it to you." Ryan looked at Mihawk with a half-smile.

"Alright!"

Hearing this, Mihawk snatched the box from Ryan's hand and opened it, revealing a slender black blade inside.

Gently stroking the blade, Mihawk lightly flicked it with his finger, and to everyone's surprise, the blade swayed like a dancing woman.

"A fine blade! I feel like this sword suits me very well!"

Vista: "..."

Ryan laughed at Mihawk's excited expression.

Beating destiny for the first time put Ryan in a very happy mood. Successfully snatching the Supreme Skillful Grade Sword Yoru this time also gave Ryan a strong sense of reassurance.

At least Ryan knew he could alter the original course of history through his own strength and will. Although the sword still ended up in Mihawk's hands, Ryan was the one who gave it to him, meaning the initiative remained in Ryan's hands.

This was very important, proving that Ryan could control his own destiny.

Originally, Ryan had intended to make a trip to the palace, but now, having untied his emotional knot, he lost all interest in the secrets of the Nefertari Family.

Ryan and Mihawk closed their eyes to quietly comprehend the insights gained from this battle, leaving only the out-of-place Vista drinking in silence.

Meanwhile, in another part of Alabasta, Dazhen was staring in bewilderment at Buggy, who was laughing wildly over there.

"Three moves have passed. From now on, you're the vice-captain of my Buggy Pirates. Hahaha!"

Dazhen looked at the sword in his hand and began to doubt his life. Judging by his observations over the past few days, Buggy's strength shouldn't have been high, but the moment they fought, he discovered he couldn't scratch Buggy even the slightest bit no matter what.

"Following yours truly guarantees you'll eat well and drink spicy food!" Buggy was ecstatic over recruiting a powerful subordinate.

Seven days later, Ryan looked at Mihawk and Vista, who were still wrapped in bandages, and smiled. "I'm leaving now, Mihawk. Don't miss me too much."

"Vista, remember your promise."

Because he learned from Jozu that Ryan had held back at the very last moment and later saved him as well, Vista wanted to repay Ryan for saving his life. Thus, Vista and Mihawk promised to help Ryan with a favor in the future.

Since Ryan's physique was much stronger than Mihawk's and Vista's, his injuries had fully healed after seven days, and he had no intention of lingering in Alabasta before heading to his next destination.

"Captain, are we leaving this place?" Kid asked excitedly.

For the past few days, Kid had basically been beaten up by Jozu almost every day. Although the damage wasn't high, Kid felt deeply aggrieved—that big blockhead wouldn't say a word when taunted by Kid, only smiling honestly while beating Kid up.

"Yeah! Pack up and we set off shortly." The group all began packing their luggage one after another.

The party arrived at the docks. Looking at the long-seen sea, Ryan felt for the first time that the ocean was so close and familiar.

"Let's go! Set off for the next place!" Ryan pointed toward an island on the map.

-------------------------------------Everyone can guess where Ryan's next stop will be.