At the pirate's shout, Norton paused briefly and looked at Sanosuke.
It had happened without warning, yet Sanosuke remained remarkably calm, as though accidents like this had been a regular part of his life.
Noticing Norton's gaze, Sanosuke finally spoke slowly. "As you can see, Captain, this is the bad luck I was born with."
"Over the past twenty years, I've served eight masters, but they all died in the end. Redbeard was the eighth. You're the ninth."
Nami steadied herself with a hand on Norton's back and peeked out, the blush still lingering on her cheeks. "You're saying this ship hit a reef because of you?"
"That's right." Sanosuke nodded.
"Interesting." Norton grinned. "Then why did Redbeard keep you around?"
Before Sanosuke could answer, a pirate beside them cleared up Norton's confusion. "Ever since Sanosuke joined the crew, nothing's gone right for us. Everyone said he brought all this bad luck."
"But Captain Redbeard couldn't bear to lose Sanosuke's fighting strength, so he kept him aboard. Sanosuke is even stronger than Captain Redbeard was."
"If Sanosuke was stronger than Redbeard, why did he work under him?" Nami asked.
"That I don't know." The pirate scratched his head.
Norton turned to Sanosuke. "Tell me your story."
Sanosuke hadn't expected Norton to still be in the mood for stories at a time like this.
The hull had struck a reef, which meant the ship would be stranded at sea. Without rescue, death was their only fate. They could leave in the boats, but how many people could those carry?
With so many people aboard, their supplies wouldn't last long at all.
"We should've brought our ship too!" one pirate began to complain.
But complaining now was useless. The Redbeard Pirates' ship had long since been abandoned at sea. Norton had thought it too filthy and foul-smelling to keep.
"What do we do now?" The nobles and their wives were starting to panic.
"Wait a moment. I've already sent the shipwrights to assess the situation," the duke said.
This was a pleasure ship for nobles, equipped with professional maintenance staff. The wealthy always put their own safety first. They hadn't had their fill of life yet.
For a moment, every gaze settled on Sanosuke. Everyone was curious about the past of someone so unlucky.
There was nothing else to do now but wait for the shipwrights to finish their inspection. Listening to a story wouldn't hurt.
Sanosuke spoke quietly. "The country where I was born was a Non-Affiliated Nation. Ever since I can remember, good fortune has never smiled on me."
"My father died in a war when I was very young. After that, with no one to protect her, my mother was abducted by human traffickers."
"The villagers said misfortune had plagued the village ever since I was born. They all wanted to drive me out."
"Later, an old Ninja in the village took me in. He had been my father's teacher, and he became mine too."
"My teacher told me that the only way to change my fate was to find a master whose fortune was strong enough to suppress my bad luck."
"So I went to sea, traveled from island to island, and sought out many masters, but the bad luck remained."
Strange looks crossed the listeners' faces. A Non-Affiliated Nation was a country outside the World Government's protection. It didn't have to pay the World Government the "heavenly tribute," but it received no protection from the Navy either.
As someone who had transmigrated into this world, Norton knew more. Those Non-Affiliated Nations not only went unprotected, but were also treated as hunting grounds by the Celestial Dragons.
With no authority taking responsibility for them, almost all became lawless zones overrun by pirates and human traffickers.
"Have you never suspected that old Ninja lied to you? Maybe he just made up an excuse to trick you into leaving the village and taking your bad luck with you," the duke said.
Sanosuke's gaze turned cold, murderous intent flashing in his eyes. "Impossible! My teacher said that many years ago, someone with the same fate as mine appeared. He was called a harbinger of disaster, but after he entered the service of a wise king, his bad luck was suppressed."
The duke frowned. "You mean the legendary King Edward?"
"You know about him?" Sanosuke looked at the duke.
"Of course. It's a famous fable," the duke sneered. "Do you know how King Edward ended up? His queen and her lover overthrew him, and he was thrown into prison in misery."
"They say revenge was taken on him in prison. His executioner shoved a red-hot iron rod into his anus, burning through his internal organs and killing him!"
"Everyone said it was all because of the bad luck that harbinger of disaster brought! His bad luck had transferred to King Edward!"
Nami's face went pale as she listened. What a horrible death.
Sanosuke couldn't believe what he was hearing. He felt as though his entire world had collapsed.
"It seems you weren't very good at choosing masters in the past, but luckily for you, you've met me." Norton smiled. "Looks like I'm the one destined to suppress your bad luck."
"You aren't afraid of being affected by my bad luck?" Sanosuke looked at Norton, hope in his eyes.
"I like a challenge. If I suppress your bad luck, won't that prove I'm destined to become a wise king?" Norton said with a smile.
His dream was to become a great king, so this interested him.
Sanosuke was speechless.
Nami couldn't help raising an eyebrow. How did this man's mind even work?
Something normal people would avoid at all costs actually stirred Norton's desire to conquer it.
Just then, the deck beneath their feet lurched. Everyone staggered, unable to keep their balance.
The ship stuck on the reef seemed to have been lifted by something!
"A Sea King! It's a Sea King!" someone screamed.
What had lifted the pleasure ship was an enormous angel shark, red all over. Leaning over the bulwarks and looking down, they could see nothing but a vast expanse of red skin.
This Sea King was so enormous that the massive pleasure ship occupied barely a tenth of its back. As it surfaced, its red skin covered the surrounding sea.
"It's at least five hundred meters long! How could a Sea King this huge appear in the East Blue?"
Sea Kings was a collective term for all higher animals other than mammals that lived in the sea. They could be found in waters throughout the world, but most lived in the Calm Belt or the deep sea.
Their strange appearances and immense bodies set them apart from ordinary sea creatures, making them seem like kings of the ocean-hence the name. They were the creatures sailors most feared encountering at sea.
The Sea Kings living in the Four Blues and the Grand Line were smaller. Encounters with any over a hundred meters long were virtually unheard of.
Let alone a five-hundred-meter Sea King.
"Bad luck! This has to be Sanosuke's bad luck!"
At that moment, everyone thought the same thing.
"Your Grace, there's a huge hole in the hull. We can't repair it, and it's taking on water fast!" Only then did a shipwright emerge from below deck, belatedly wiping sweat from his brow. "What happened? Why is the ship rocking so much?"
The duke pointed at the enormous Sea King beneath the ship, and the shipwright's mouth slowly fell open.
The reef was actually growing out of the Sea King's head.