-January 12, 1518.
"Whoa! That felt great!"
Outside a bar in Titans, the members of the Heart Pirates emerged with Luo at their head.
"Nothing beats a good drink like that!"
Even Bepo, the Mink Tribe's polar bear, had shed his usual timid demeanor. Slightly tipsy, he began performing drunken bear boxing with his comically plump body.
"Hey, Bepo, careful!"
"...Huh? Wh-what... I'm... I'm your senior!"
Bepo waved his paws defiantly. Barely able to stand, he still struck a White Crane Spreads Its Wings pose.
"White Goose, Bepo's all yours."
Luo smiled and patted the spiky-haired man wearing a white mask.
"Aww!"
As the helmsman, White Goose was always tasked with looking after their navigator, Bepo. After a token protest, he propped up the unsteady polar bear.
This was a Steampunk nation filled with machinery, gears, valves, pipes, and other such elements.
With Titans' powerful Automated Control Legion maintaining public order, and a policy that generally prohibited pirates from entering, it could be called one of the safest countries in the world.
When they first arrived, they had not been so relaxed. But after a month, they had quickly been swept up in this nation's glittering nightlife.
"Seriously... Weren't we supposed to set sail?"
Luo grumbled and pulled his hat lower, but the upward curl of his lips showed he was in a fairly good mood.
After all, he had just avenged Corazon not long ago.
Doflamingo's status made killing him outright inconvenient. Still, Luo was fairly satisfied with having shattered his ambitions, his power base, and his dreams.
The reason they could now rest comfortably in Titans was that the Heart Pirates had officially been taken under the wing of the newly appointed Shichibukai, Tyrant Kuma. Their bounties had therefore been canceled.
At first, Luo had actually told Sephiroth