Xie Wen immediately dropped the oar in his hands, scooped up Klee Meow, who had been making a nuisance of herself beside him, and ran to the forward deck.
Terrifying as the Calm Belt was, some powerful pirates could still come and go freely within it. There were also unlucky souls who wandered into it by accident.
But they had already been in the Calm Belt for several days, so the chances of running into the latter were fairly low.
"So it really is them?"
As the distant ship drew closer, Xie Wen made out its appearance and the pirate flag flying above it. Its identity came as no surprise-the Kuja Pirates, whose name and emblem both bore a strong resemblance to the Hydra.
Compared to other powerful people capable of crossing the Calm Belt, they were naturally more likely to encounter the Kuja Pirates, whose home was in the Calm Belt to begin with.
"Wow! Xie Wen, those two snakes are huge, meow!" Perched on Xie Wen's shoulder, Klee Meow marveled at the Kuja pirate ship. Then Little Plushie put her clever little brain to work and suggested, "Could we steal them to pull our ship, meow? Then Klee and Xie Wen wouldn't have to row anymore, right?"
"No." Xie Wen shook his head, rejecting Klee Meow's seemingly very constructive suggestion. "Those Yuda are pets and helpers raised from birth by the people of the Amazon Lily Kingdom. Even if we stole them, they wouldn't obey us."
"Aww... what a shame, meow..."
(=｀3=)
Still, Klee Meow's words reminded Xie Wen of something...
*Right! Those two Yuda belonging to the Kuja Pirates should count as large monsters with a role in the story, shouldn't they? And there's that giant python the Pirate Empress uses as a chair. That one gets