When Shanks carried her onto the ship, the crew members were silent for a moment.
Raki Lu stopped turning the sea monster over, Yasopp put his sniper rifle aside, and Limejuice and Benk Punch simultaneously released their arm-wrestling hands.
Beckman looked at the girl being held in Shanks' arms, his brow furrowing slightly.
He looked into the girl's eyes, then at Shanks ' expression, and suddenly remembered Shanks's past.
According to Shanks, he was adopted by Roger when he was a child.
"Now it seems, it really is a cycle of cause and effect."
Beckman muttered something under his breath and stubbed out his cigarette.
From that day on, Uta remained aboard the Red Fosse.
Her recovery is very slow.
In the first few days after boarding the ship, she hardly spoke, but just huddled in a corner of the cabin, hugging her knees, staring blankly at the sea outside the window.
The musician on the ship was the first person to strike up a conversation with her.
It wasn't with language, it was with music.
He played an unknown tune on the deck; the melody was very light and gentle, like the sound of waves lapping against the beach.
Uta poked half her head out of the cabin, gazing at the guitar whose wood gleamed in the moonlight, listening for a long time. Then she spoke, her voice very soft.
"What... is this?"
The musician stopped playing, turned to look at her, and said with a smile:
Do you want to learn guitar?
Uta didn't answer, but her eyes lit up.
Uta's subtle change in expression was brief, but Shanks happened to be passing by the cabin door and caught it in the blink of an eye.
He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, a smile playing on his lips, without saying a word.
From then on, Uta began to learn to sing from the musicians on the ship.
Her voice is incredibly good, with a wide range and naturally impeccable pitch.
Learning a new song only requires listening to it once and you can repeat it completely, without missing even the subtle transitions in the melody.
Shanks would sometimes stand on the deck and listen while she sang, then clap and praise her for singing even better than the mermaids.
Uta would always lower her head and blush slightly when praised, but the smile on her lips was impossible to hide.
One month later, one evening, Shanks officially adopted her as his goddaughter.
There was no ceremony; they simply set out an extra set of chopsticks and a bowl at dinner and casually remarked, "From today onward, Uta is the musician of our Red Hair Pirates."
Uta cried for a long time that night, but she kept smiling even while she cried.
Life went on peacefully like that.
The Red Voss traversed the waters of the New World, with no specific destination in mind, simply sailing around and occasionally stopping ashore for resupply.
Until one day a month later.
That afternoon, the lookout suddenly reported that a warship had been spotted ahead.
The warship was not large, a standard medium-sized frigate, but the flag flying from its mast was different from that of ordinary warships.
It was a dark blue flag bearing the World Government cross emblem, with a smaller pennant below it bearing the words "CP0".
"CP0's ship?"
Yasopp down his wine glass, picked up his sniper rifle, and observed the warship through the scope.
His eyesight was among the best on the entire ship; he could see clearly through several windows in the cabin three kilometers away.
His expression quickly turned serious.
"Hey! Captain!"
"There are six high-ranking CP Agent on deck, all fully armed. Several boxes are piled up in the center of the cabin, each bearing the World Government's top-secret insignia and the Heavenly Tribute's logo."
" Heavenly Tribute?"
Beckman frowned.
"CP0 personally escorting Heavenly Tribute? That's quite rare."
Beckman's doubts couldn't stop Shanks's inquisitive nature.
Shanks slowly drew the Gryphon, its blade gleaming coldly in the setting sun.
" Heavenly Tribute?" Shanks ' face gradually lit up with excitement.
"If Roy can steal it from the Heavenly Tribute, then the Red Hair Pirates can't fall behind!"
"Take him!"
"Take it?"
" Shanks steals it, it's tantamount to completely breaking ties with the World Government."
Beckman is still patiently analyzing,
"Our current strength is insufficient to wage a full-scale war against the World Government."
"I know."
Shanks chuckled.
"We broke ties with the World Government the moment we rejected the Shichibukai!"
Beckman was taken aback by what he heard, then shook his head helplessly. Knowing Shanks' personality well, he knew that persuading Shanks would not be effective.
However, as the first mate, he felt obligated to offer this reminder.
However, since the captain has already decided to steal the Heavenly Tribute, Beckman naturally chooses to follow, after all, Shanks is the captain he chose!
The moment Shanks ' Gryphon was fully drawn, dark red arcs of Conqueror's Haki crackled wildly across the blade.
The crew members on deck stood up simultaneously, weapons in hand, each with the same fighting spirit burning in their eyes.
"All personnel—" Shanks ' voice echoed across the Red Voss.
"Attack."
boom--!!!
The Red Fox collided sideways with the CP0 warship, and the dragon head statue on its bow seemed to come alive, ferociously tearing at the warship's hull.
The Red Hair Pirates ' officers leaped over the ship's railing and pounced on the CP Agent on the deck who were still caught off guard.
The outcome of the battle was never in doubt from the start.
CP0 agents are the elite of the elite, each possessing combat capabilities equivalent to a Navy Rear Admiral.
However, the elite main force of the Red Hair Pirates are all rare and skilled individuals on the sea.
Beckman shattered the long knife in the lead agent's hand with a single shot, and the bullet, still propelled by the blade, pierced the agent's shoulder.
Raki Lu's fist slammed into another agent's chest, the immense force of his Armament Haki Hardening sending the man flying backward, crashing through two layers of ship walls before coming to a stop.
With Yasopp providing cover from the rear, three bullets were fired simultaneously, accurately hitting the three agents who were trying to flank him.
No one can stop them.
Shanks, carrying Gryphon, walked step by step into the depths of the ship's cabin.
CP Agent surged forward like a tide, only to be repelled by him just as quickly.
Dark red Conqueror's Haki electricity danced around him, and with each swing of Gryphon's fist, a figure was inevitably sent flying backward.
He kicked open the last hatch.
Behind the hatch was a cargo hold piled high with boxes bearing top-secret markings.
The box at the deepest part lay quietly in a beam of the setting sun's afterglow filtering through a crack in the ceiling.
Shanks walked over curiously and used his Gryphon to pry open the lid of the box.
The moment the box lid was opened, he saw the fruit—
Purple peel with spiral patterns.
Gum-Gum Fruit.
Shanks reached out and took the fruit from the box.
The moment his fingers touched the fruit peel, a strange sensation spread from his fingertips throughout his body.