There was nothing particularly remarkable about exploring the Shatterbone Islands. Just as Ottilia had said, no humans lived there at all. The vicious fish and sea beasts she had mentioned posed no threat to Xie Wen and his companions, either. Instead, they became ingredients for Sanji Meow.
Xie Wen had originally wanted to tame a sea beast or two to pull their ship, but feeding such enormous creatures would be a major problem. There was also no telling whether they might escape while his group let their guard down, damaging Explorer One in the process. In the end, he abandoned the idea.
So, after quickly revealing the map, Xie Wen returned to the ship with the two cats.
Of course, they had not come away empty-handed. Besides revealing the map, Xie Wen had unlocked several sea beast entries in his bestiary, Sanji Meow had gathered plenty of ingredients, and the lucky Klee Meow had not only accidentally dug up a ruby, but also found plenty of materials for making explosives...
Well, Xie Wen could not quite say whether that last haul was a blessing or a curse.
Their subsequent travels followed much the same pattern as their visit to the Shatterbone Islands. Whenever they reached a new island or island group, Ottilia stayed behind to watch the ship while Xie Wen took the cats ashore to reveal the map...
The beauty had rather poor luck. Several islands in a row turned out to be uninhabited, just like the Shatterbone Islands.
Still, judging by her calm demeanor, Xie Wen did not think she was in much of a hurry.
Even when they finally came across an inhabited island, Ottilia not only declined to stay there, but still had no intention of leaving the ship.
"The Capone Family may be based in Gures, but their territory extends far beyond that. We haven't even left their turf yet. If you include the places where they can exert influence or intervene, their reach is even wider," Ottilia explained to Xie Wen. "Besides, this island is too small. I'd have trouble finding another ship to leave on."
Though her reasoning made sense, Xie Wen could not resist probing. "Just to be clear, I'm not trying to rush you off the ship, but aren't you being a little too cautious? As far as I know, Capone Bege isn't interested in becoming an affiliated nation. You're just a maid from the already-destroyed Buono Family. Even if he learned who Cody was, Bege probably wouldn't give it much thought."
"Well..." Ottilia's expression shifted several times before she finally sighed. "I'm sorry. I lied to you. I'm not a maid of the Buono Family. My full name is Buono Ottilia, and I'm the family's third daughter."
Just about what I suspected.
After briefly congratulating himself, Xie Wen considerately reassured her. "Don't worry. As long as you're aboard my ship, we'll keep you safe. Capone Bege probably won't dare bother us again. If you're really worried about the Capone Family finding you, I can take you to Uncle Cody's hometown. With his position and the Marine Base nearby, making sure you can live in peace would be easy."
"No... there's no need..." Ottilia declined his offer with a somewhat odd expression, then explained softly, "I've already decided where I'm going next. When the time is right, I'll leave the ship myself."
Oh...
Xie Wen understood.
Clearly, the Buono Family had some influence outside Gures as well. Ottilia was probably planning to gather their former followers or something along those lines. What happened afterward was none of Xie Wen's business.
He had no interest in avenging the Buono Family. It was just gangs tearing each other apart, after all. Ottilia's beauty was not going to make him entertain foolish notions like She's innocent or She can't beat Bege unless I help her.
Ottilia, for her part, knew where to draw the line and showed no intention of asking Xie Wen for help.
The days that followed were no different from before: an endless cycle of sailing, going ashore, then sailing again.
Fortunately, he had two cats for company, and the beautiful Ottilia to look after his daily needs. Every so often, he would board the little skiff with Klee Meow to set off some big "fireworks." When he truly had nothing else to do, he could even take out the Never-Wearing Fishing Rod and do some fishing at sea.
So, rather than finding it dull, Xie Wen thought this little life of his was quite pleasant.
Except...
Is this really the world of the Pirate King? We've been at sea this long, and we haven't encountered a single pirate ship.
"Xie Wen, there's a big ship coming toward us from the right, meow!" Sanji Meow, who climbed to the top of the mast to serve as lookout whenever he had nothing else to do, suddenly shouted. "They've got a skull flag! I think we've run into pirates, meow!"
Xie Wen: "..."
Sure enough, I really do have a bit of a talent for jinxing things...
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry at that thought, Xie Wen hurried over to the ship's starboard side.
Just as Sanji Meow had warned, a dark silhouette was gradually approaching in the distance. After crossing into this world, Xie Wen's nearsightedness had disappeared. His inexplicably enhanced physique had improved his vision even further, so he easily made out the pirate emblem on the sail-a skull pierced vertically by a dagger, with two crossed flintlock pistols behind it.
Hmm... doesn't ring a bell. Never seen it before. Probably a pirate crew that never appeared in the manga.
That made sense. After leaving the East Blue, the manga's story had headed straight into the Grand Line. Aside from the Supernovas who had also entered the Grand Line, pirate crews from the other seas naturally had no opportunity to appear.
"Do you recognize that pirate crew?" Xie Wen immediately consulted the ever-capable Ottilia.
Ottilia seemed to have good eyesight as well. Shading her eyes with one hand, she watched for a while before answering, "Those are the Head-Hunting Pirates. Their captain is Condit the Head-Hunter, with a bounty of twenty-seven million Beli. His favorite pastime is cutting off his enemies' heads and turning them into drinking cups. He's an extremely brutal pirate."
"Yeah, the name gives that away." Xie Wen nodded.
Pirate crew names generally fell into just a few categories: a feature of the captain, the captain's ability, or simply the captain's name or nickname. Straightforward and easy to understand was the whole idea.
"Are we going to fight bad guys, meow?!" Her eyes shining, Klee Meow climbed onto Xie Wen's shoulder and tugged on his ear with just enough force to make her point. "It's Klee's turn this time! You're not allowed to steal them from Klee, Big Brother Xie Wen, meow!"
"Okay, okay, okay..." Since they had actually encountered enemies, Xie Wen naturally would not tease Klee Meow at a time like this. He raised both hands in surrender and answered repeatedly, "This time, Sanji and I won't lift a finger. We'll leave everything to you, Klee."
A mere twenty-seven-million-Beli pirate could not possibly hurt Klee Meow. Losing one opponent to practice on was no big deal, either, so Xie Wen had no reason to stop her.
However...
"You'd better not blow them and their ship up all at once," Xie Wen reminded her. "They're pirates. There might be plenty of treasure aboard. If you blow it all up, we don't have any way to dive to the seabed and salvage it."
The chances were slim, but if these pirates happened to have a famous sword or a devil fruit aboard, he would hit the jackpot. Besides, there was a bounty of at least twenty-seven million Beli to collect...
That also showed just how low Xie Wen's asking price to Capone Bege had been. Some pirate they happened to encounter had a bounty of nearly thirty million Beli. If Xie Wen remembered correctly, Luffy's bounty before entering the Grand Line had only been thirty million as well.
"Oh, right..."
The little ragdoll cat had barely had time to enjoy herself before Xie Wen's reminder plunged her back into distress.
Her usual approach to enemies was to hit them from every direction with explosions and even bigger explosions. Holding back was simply not in Klee Meow's tactical manual.
But Klee Meow was still Klee Meow. She tilted her clever little head, thought for a moment, and immediately came up with a solution.
"Klee's got an idea, meow!" The little ragdoll cat proudly lifted her chin and bobbed her head. "Klee can use Whoosh-Whoosh Bombs and just blast all those bad guys unconscious, meow!"
I asked my editor, and apparently the number of readers keeping up with the updates is too low. There's another second-chance round next week. If it doesn't make it through, this book is pretty much a flop...
Still, even if it flops, I'll finish writing it. I have at least that much integrity.
Before you continue