Synonym for Happiness

Wude came ashore and stood next to Crocus, looking at the bloody wound on Laboon's head.

The flunkies asked Crocus one after another about the island whale, since this fellow had scared them half to death.

Crocus treated the wound on Laboon's head while telling the story of the Rumbar Pirates.

This island whale from West Blue will keep ramming against the wall in the future, and the wounds on its head will only get denser, Wude thought as he glanced at Laboon; the bond between Laboon and Brook was something time could not shake.

Crocus glanced at Wude, who was leading the group: "I can't talk it out of it. It simply refuses to listen and is bent on smashing through the Red Line to see its companions."

"Then why not go smash the Red Line at the entrance of the New World?"

"Idiot, the world is round, you can smash it right here!"

"It's possible the Rumbar Pirates returned to West Blue, you know."

"Maybe they married women from the New World and live there now!"

Flunkies A and B, both blockheads, began to bicker, and before long they started fighting.

"...* Wude moved a bit further away from A; even B had caught it, terrifying.

Laboon watched the two little things bicker and roughhouse foolishly, its huge eyeballs rolling as it stared—

Flunkies A and B trembled all over under the stare of the giant eyeball and stopped, while Laboon went back to staring blankly out of boredom.

Wude and Crocus withdrew their gazes from staring at the shark-hang and started chatting.

Dusk descended, and the sailboat anchored near the shore of Twin Capes.

Ocean waves surged, lapping against the shore.

Moonlight draped a faint silver glow over the shore and the sea like ripples.

Crackling~

Near the lighthouse, far from the shore, the people set up a campfire, put a pot on the fire, and added vegetables and meat at the bottom.

"It would be even better if we had a little island whale blood and made something like blood tofu." Flunky A, with bumps all over his head, squatted in the corner and muttered softly.

"You can go collect some, we support you in our hearts." Wude sneered, holding a bowl of fish noodles.

"Forget it, he-he." Flunky A chuckled and waved his hands.

Wude paid no more attention to this bunch of clowns and ate his noodles while deep in thought.

To say something embarrassing, he was actually waiting for Laboon to ram the Red Line again...

He still craved the rewards from Famous Scene Check-Ins, wishing he could grind them to his heart's content.

However, he didn't plan to freeload off Laboon's famous scene without a thought, wondering how he could help Laboon let go of its emotional burden.

If it kept ramming like this, he couldn't bear to watch much longer.

There were still eighteen years left before the start of the main plot, which meant that if no one interfered, Laboon would keep ramming recklessly like this for eighteen years.

By the time Luffy arrived at Twin Capes, Laboon had been ramming for fifty years!

Actually, persuading Laboon was quite easy. All he had to do was tell it that Brook was in the Florian Triangle and let it go find Brook.

As for the promise to Luffy? Spare me, ramming for another eighteen years hurt too much.

Roughly calculating the time for Brook in his mind, Wude continued slurping his noodles.

"Shall I teach you all how to sing?" Wude looked at the flunkies and said.

"Really? Not only did My Lord give us a chance to start over, but he's also so good to us, wuwuwu..." B neurotically covered his face and wept bitterly, scaring Wude into moving a bit further away from him again.

Wude hummed a tune under his breath, then started off by singing the lyrics of Sailor, "Bitter Sand".

"Eh? I thought it would be Binks' Sake, how unexpected." Crocus, resting in the distance, looked at this young man in surprise.

The melody of Binks' Sake had a very cheerful feel, while Sailor carried a completely different charm.

"He says, what are these pains in the wind and rain? Wipe away your tears and don't be afraid, at least we still have a dream!"

When Wude sang this passage, the former pirates gathered around him couldn't help but hum along.

There was a touch of motivational spirit amidst the bitterness.

The young flunky couldn't help his eyes moistening with tears, and as he sang, his emotions infected him and he burst into crying.

Flunky A, tone-deaf, dragged out a harsh duck-like honk and roared out discordant notes, then looked confusedly at the grieving young flunky and lowered his voice out of a sense of guilt.

"Wuwuwu, I've failed my mom and dad." The young flunky wailed in sudden despair, placed his bowl of noodles on the ground, and buried his face in his hands, weeping bitterly.

That year he took to the sea with burning passion, hoping to obtain Roger's treasure and return to honor his parents, who had never eaten a full meal.

As a result, as soon as he went to sea, he was seized by the pirate Elton to serve as cannon fodder.

He once dreamed of wielding a sword to roam the ends of the earth, but got caught right outside the village gate.

Later, he stayed by Elton's side for a longer time and earned the qualification to return home for a look.

As a result, things had changed and people were gone; the village had long since turned into ruins, and his aging parents were no more, leaving only two skeletons embracing in the ashes.

The opening of Sailor—"Bitter sand, the feeling of the wind stinging my face, like a father's scolding, a mother's crying, never to be forgotten"—directly brought the guilt-ridden young man to tears.

Wude didn't care about that; he just kept singing his songs. After finishing Sailor, he sang Old Boy, and the opening line moved a middle-aged flunky to tears.

It was said that this fellow had left his fiancée to go to sea back then, but when he finally returned home to check on her years later, his fiancée had become his sister-in-law. Ah, it was all tears.

A single song could break down a flunky; Wude even started to doubt himself.

With this kind of skill in his past life, why would he even bother being an office drone!

Flunky A scratched his head in puzzlement, looking at the group of crying mental patients around him. Was it really that serious?

Were the noodles not tasty anymore, or was My Lord's song no longer good?

"Are they crazy, why are they crying?" A looked at Wude, bewildered.

"...* Wude let out a long sigh toward the heavens. As expected of idiot A, was there really not a single story in that brain of his?

"Don't go getting all sentimental over nothing, you barnacle. Flash your idiot smile and infect them with it~" Wude knocked A on the head with a mischievous grin.

"That's true too, as long as we're happy!" A clapped his hands, then went back to making a fool of himself to cheer up his companions. He suddenly turned his head to look at Wude, "My Lord, what is a barnacle?"

"Your synonym for happiness."

"Oh, does synonym mean a code name?"

"...Whatever makes you happy."

A truly left Wude speechless; did this guy really not have any pure-idiot genes?

"My Lord, I don't want to carry the name of a pirate anymore." B suddenly said, looking at Wude with bloodshot eyes.

The flunkies all looked at Wude. At the very least, these fellows still retained the emotions of being sons and husbands, retaining a human conscience.

They wanted to turn back.

"Oh, why?" Wude smiled, truly not expecting a few songs to make people cry.

"I don't want my son to point at me and curse me as a pirate," B said with red eyes.

"I don't want my wife to be called a pirate's woman by the neighbors," C said, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists.

"I don't want to see my mother's disappointed look anymore, even though she already doesn't... wuwuwu." D turned his back and sobbed.

"A bunch of grown men, you dare do it but don't dare own up to it?" Wude sneered.

The flunkies were no longer numb like extras; a trace of anger surfaced among them.

"A bunch of trash, pathetically weak. Do you think anyone even knows who you are?"

Wude stoked the fire further. Some of these people were lost, some despairing, and some furious.

The ocean breeze fluttered their clothes. Wude scooped up another bowl of noodles and took a slurp: "Eat up. Mistakes have to be made up for by yourselves. Do you really think that I, an unknown nobody, can restore your reputation just by exchanging a few empty, painless words with your family and neighbors?"

"Choosing which path to walk is your own business. Pull yourselves together, all of you! Go work hard, shed blood and sweat, and walk the path that can win back your families' good opinion, you bastards—!"

At this moment, they were no longer numb pirate cannon fodder; they were human beings of flesh and blood.

One by one, they nodded with agitated emotions and dug into their food with heads down.

"My Lord, we will work hard!" B buried his head and stuffed himself.

"Thank you, My Lord, for sparing our lives! Thank you, My Lord, for waking us up!" people cried out emotionally.

"I don't get it," A stated, only to be glared into silence by a ferocious look from the crowd.