Early the next morning, above the sea of clouds high in the sky, a somewhat comical chase was unfolding.
Pica, a Stone-Stone Fruit user and one of the top officers of the Shichibukai's Donquixote Family, sat with his arms folded on his companion Buffalo's back in an exceedingly cramped position.
Buffalo was a Spin-Spin Fruit user whose rotating propellers normally made for efficient flight. But now, with the stocky, nearly three-meter-tall Pica riding on his five-meter-long body, he was visibly struggling, looking every bit like an overloaded miniature aircraft.
"Pica! You're... too heavy!" Buffalo's voice distorted in the howling wind as the propeller on his neck spun furiously with a constant drone.
"If it weren't for you, two days at most! Just two days! That's all I'd need to fly from Dressrosa to that Kingdom of Bernia in the West Blue, snatch up that Boer kid like a little chick, and return to the family after carrying out the young master's mission perfectly!"
Pica, wearing a strange metal mask, immediately retorted in his shrill, childlike voice, which sounded as though someone were squeezing his throat:
"Hmph! Fufufufu! Stop bragging, Buffalo! If you weren't so weak, why would the young master have specifically sent me along?"
As he spoke, he impatiently kicked the base of Buffalo's neck with his heavy metal combat boots.
"Hey! Damn it! That hurts!" Buffalo cried out in pain.
"Shut up and fly faster!" Pica ordered shrilly. "If some other faction has already captured that 'White-Haired' Boer, and the young master finds out your slow flying ruined everything, you'll be in for it!"
"Don't make things up! Aside from stopping to eat and sleep when I have to, I've been flying at full speed this whole way! Unlike you, sitting on my back and making snide remarks!