The nameless hill opposite Cocoyasi Village received four visitors.
With a turn of Boer's palm, the magnetic field spread like invisible mercury, "transporting" Bellemere, Nojiko, and Ace straight from the Orange Grove across nearly a kilometer of bay.
When Bellemere's feet touched down, the soft soil beneath them abruptly solidified and rose into two chairs with backrests. Their curves fit the lower back perfectly, and their seats were just high enough to let both feet rest flat on the ground.
Nojiko looked down at the chair that had "grown out of nowhere." Her fingertips brushed the edge of its armrest, a little wonder rippling through her eyes.
Bellemere did not sit. She stood where she was, surveying every inch of the unfamiliar hill's terrain.
It was a typical East Blue hill, no more than a hundred meters above sea level.
A gentle slope stretched to the west, covered in low shrubs and wild silvergrass,
while wind and rain had eroded the eastern side into an exposed cliff. Its gray-white sedimentary layers were sharply defined, like a geological yearbook worn old by time.
Looking south, they could take in Cocoyasi Village's orange groves, warehouses, and docks, and even the distant stretch of sea stained by the evening glow.
"The Orange Grove was too small." Boer's voice came from behind her. He was looking up at the darkening sky, the sunset gilding his profile with a thin layer of gold. "Ace might still be a little brat, but under old man Garp's training regimen, his fighting ability is already pretty impressive. If he wrecked the Orange Grove..."
He paused, lowered his gaze, and curled his lips into a casual smile.
"I have no way to regenerate orange trees."
Bellemere said nothing. She took a cigarette from her jacket's inner pocket, put it