Sunshine Town

"Let's wait for them to leave before we make a move."

The man said in a low voice.

Their purpose this time was to take that whale away.

"Alright, we should be able to handle just that old man."

The woman speaking had long blue hair, though it was all tied up at the moment, making her look very neat and efficient.

Moyun in the distance suddenly glanced in their direction, as if sensing something.

It scared the two of them into hiding quickly.

"What was up with that man just now? Did he spot us?"

"Probably not. Don't overthink it, Miss Wednesday."

The man swallowed involuntarily.

Truth be told, he was not entirely confident either; dealing with this whale right in front of so many people was indeed quite difficult.

"Why don't we just hide instead?"

"Hide where?"

The woman called Miss Wednesday looked around. There was nowhere to hide here at all, just this single small rock.

The man's eyes instantly locked onto Laboon.

"Do you remember where that old man came out from?"

"You mean hiding inside that whale's body?"

"Right!"

The two exchanged glances and quietly slipped into the sea.

A day later, the Log Pose was fully charged with the island's magnetic force.

"We'll be heading out first."

Moyun waved at Crocus, getting ready to leave.

Luffy should be arriving in a few days, Vivi had already appeared, and Laboon would soon be free as well.

"Goodbye, Laboon!"

Hisoka waved hard at Laboon.

Through a day of getting along, Hisoka and Laboon had built a small friendship, and he had not expected the time to part to come so quickly.

"Wuwuwu, my good friend is gone."

Hisoka cried sadly. ShSh slowly walked to his side, sat down against him, and occasionally licked Hisoka's cheek.

"It's a good thing I still have you, ShSh, wuwuwu!"

Man and dog leaned against each other, looking extremely cozy.

Tsk tsk, what a child indeed.

Seventeen-year-old Moyun was mocking a seven-year-old child.

"Olvia, do you know Whiskey Peak?"

Moyun cupped his chin and gazed into the distance.

The first island Luffy went to was Whiskey Peak, which was Crocodile's territory. Whose territory was he going to, then?

Or was it managed by no one at all!

If that was the case, could he also—

Every man had a grand dream, and that was to conquer the world!

"I don't remember very well, and besides, it's been over twenty years; there are bound to have been many changes."

"That's true. I wonder if we'll run into anything interesting over there."

Having just entered the Grand Line, there shouldn't be any overly powerful characters.

So Moyun wasn't worrying much at the moment.

With his current strength, he should be able to sail quite smoothly in these early parts.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be long before Moyun's face was metaphorically slapped hard.

"How much longer until we arrive?"

"By the afternoon, I suppose. Charging the magnetic force on this island should take three days."

"Why so long!"

Olvia didn't know either; three days wasn't too long, they just had to wait it out.

In the blink of an eye, afternoon arrived, and the group could finally see the shape of the island.

The island consisted of only one large peak, showing nothing particularly special about it.

"This is it? We'll go stock up on supplies first in a bit. If you have time, you should practice your cultivation more too!"

"Yes!"

Kuina did not have much desire for shopping.

Instead, she was even more eager to train.

Through their last battle, Kuina felt that this sword should be able to unleash even greater power.

"ShSh and I will just stay on the ship. I don't have anything I want to buy."

"Are you sure? Won't you be in danger by yourself?"

Moyun asked somewhat uncertainly.

This was the Grand Line, after all, and there were simply too many uncertain factors.

"Aren't there fireworks on the ship? If I run into danger, I'll notify you."

"Alright."

Since Kuina put it that way, Moyun had no other choice.

With crew members so motivated, he ought to feel happy.

Right, Olvia couldn't just remain incapable of everything either; when he had time later, he should still teach her Rokushiki.

"Then we'll be going. If you run into any danger, be sure to notify me!"

"Yes, yes, yes, I know!"

As the ship slowly docked, Moyun came ashore with Olvia.

Before leaving, he even turned back to glance at Kuina.

For some reason, he always had an ominous premonition.

Moyun knew how accurate his intuition was, which was why a faint sense of unease lingered in his heart.

He would just hurry back after finishing the procurement.

"Let's go."

The two walked one after the other toward the interior of the island. There was only one town on the entire island, called Sunshine Town.

Right in the middle of Sunshine Town was the largest peak on the whole island.

The small town was surrounded by a forest, so they had to pass through a forest first.

"Do you feel anything unusual?"

"I do."

This forest constantly gave them a lifeless feeling.

It wasn't as if they hadn't seen animals as they passed by, but they could sense that these animals were all—all unhappy?

"What on earth is going on here?"

Moyun frowned tightly. It wasn't autumn right now, and the season on this island should be summer.

Yet for some reason, the leaves on these trees looked withered, and some were turning yellowish.

The animals passing by were all sluggish.

"Awooo!"

A huge tiger suddenly burst out from the bushes. Moyun quickly grabbed Olvia and used Geppo to leap up onto a tree branch.

They watched as that tiger bit a deer to death, took a couple of bites, and then stopped eating.

The tiger already looked somewhat thin, and even though it had clearly caught an animal, it only ate a couple of bites before stopping.

Moyun could even sense that this tiger wasn't happy at all.

"This island is simply too strange. The plants and animals here have zero vitality, as if they can't feel any joy."

"Yeah, we'll just go find someone in town to ask in a bit."

Olvia vaguely remembered that when she came to this island before, it didn't seem like this.

What on earth had happened here?

When the tiger finally left, the two of them climbed down from the tree and continued walking toward the interior of the island.

The two soon came to a stretch of city wall. The wall was dilapidated, and the three characters "Sunshine Town" were crookedly written on a wooden board.

There wasn't even a single person guarding the entrance.

"Was this city wall built to keep something out?"

Moyun was somewhat speechless.

With the town gates wide open like this, it was as if they were afraid people wouldn't be able to get in.