Early the next morning, Kazu left the inn feeling refreshed to buy some breakfast.
Makino still had not gotten out of bed. Even with her habit of rising early, she had yet to wake up.
That showed just how exhausted she had been yesterday.
Kazu simply bought a few bowls of porridge, several dozen buns, ten bowls of noodles, and some side dishes, then returned to the room to wait for Makino to wake up.
The noise of Kazu returning woke Makino after all.
"You're awake?"
"Get up and have something to eat first. You must be worn out."
Kazu put the food straight onto the table beside the bed, filling Makino with warmth.
That damned bastard had put her through the wringer yesterday.
But judging by his behavior this morning, he could at least be considered a man who knew how to be considerate toward women.
"Kazu, I don't need that much. Just give me a bowl of porridge and two meat buns."
"And a serving of that side dish, too."
Both of them were a little hungry, and they polished off breakfast in no time.
Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, they left the inn. Even though Kazu wanted Makino to rest a little longer, she refused.
She said resting here was not as comfortable as resting on the ship.
Kazu summoned Carlmand back with a single call. From his smug manner, he had clearly had a good time yesterday.
"All right, a new adventure is about to begin."
"Raise the sails! Set sail!"
With a shout from Kazu, the Blond Hair Pirates set sail once again.
Although Carlmand was not particularly professional, he was much better than Kazu, so he had always been the one handling the ship.
This had prompted Carlmand to complain several times, telling Kazu to hurry up and recruit someone specifically to sail the ship.
"Fire!"
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Kazu and the others had only just set sail when two warships appeared in the distance.
Cannonballs rained down on Kazu and the others as though they cost nothing, but not a single shot hit. Kazu was rather speechless at these Marines' accuracy.
"It looks like news of Captain Nezumi's death has reached Marine Headquarters. Judging by how quickly they arrived, these warships should be from nearby branches."
Makino had also come onto the deck, and her analysis made good sense.
"Hahaha! Then let's make them the opening shot that puts the Blond Hair Pirates on the map."
"Hehehe, now that sounds interesting. They're all yours, Captain!"
Carlmand wholeheartedly agreed with Kazu. His only regret was that he had no means of attacking at range.
If they were close enough, he could board and show what he could do, but at this distance, he might as well leave it to Kazu.
"Leave it to me. Let me show you your captain's might."
Kazu drew Muramasa, coated it in Armament Haki, and unleashed two Flying Slashes.
Against Marines from an East Blue branch, those two slashes were enough to settle the fight.
Sure enough, the slashes were incredibly fast, reaching the warships in the blink of an eye.
"Wh-what is that?!"
"He can unleash such a terrifying slash!"
"What kind of monster is he?"
"Turn the ship! Dodge!"
"Damn it, we can't get out of the way!"
Whoosh, whoosh.
The Flying Slashes cut through the two modestly sized warships like tofu, cleaving each in two.
Not many Marines died, but every last one of them fell into the sea like a drowned rat.
"Bye-bye, Marines."
Kazu waved and sailed away from the scene in style.
"Damn it! Someone this powerful has appeared in the East Blue. We have to report this to Headquarters."
The Marine in charge hurriedly shouted orders, directing the soldiers to find floating pieces of wood and swim together toward the nearby Conomi Islands.
Smack!
"To think someone this formidable has appeared in the East Blue."
Sengoku threw the documents heavily onto his desk, his expression grave.
The Marines who had swum to the Conomi Islands reported Kazu's situation directly to Marine Headquarters.
With such a monster suddenly appearing, Sengoku immediately ordered the intelligence department to bring him every piece of information they had on Kazu.
But the information ultimately delivered to Sengoku was pitifully sparse. There were only records from the Goa Kingdom and the Conomi Islands; everything else was unknown.
"To think he could fight Red-Hair to this extent. He truly is a dangerous individual. Are the seas about to grow turbulent again?"
Shanks was no longer the brat aboard Roger's ship. Sailing the seas on his own, he had already risen to fame, and especially after his defection from Mary Geoise, his strength could not be underestimated.
"Pass down the order. Increase intelligence gathering on Her Kazi and his crew, and make thorough preparations to wipe them out in the future."
"For now, set Her Kazi's bounty at two hundred million Beli."
Starting him off at two hundred million Beli was already a very high assessment of Kazu. Other people's first bounties were in the hundreds of thousands, millions, or tens of millions of Beli. Few reached even a hundred million.
Had he not fought Shanks, Sengoku would never have been so wary of Kazu.
But Sengoku also knew that this bounty did not match Kazu's strength. Setting it too high, however, would be bad for the balance of the seas.
The sea breeze brushed Kazu's face as he lay on the deck, enjoying a rare sunbath.
He wore sunglasses and had juice close at hand to drink, while nearby, Carlmand trained hard and Makino performed some simple exercises.
"Tch. That Kazu really has it easy."
Carlmand did not want his buddy to struggle, but he did not want to see his buddy driving a luxury car, either.
When Kazu trained constantly, he felt he could not keep up with him. When Kazu did not train, he felt Kazu was slacking off too much.
After all, people who made their living on the seas faced challenges at every turn. They might run into a powerful enemy any day.
"What can you do, Carlmand? Kazu is already so strong. It's only natural for him to take a break."
Makino had just run dozens of laps around the deck. Sweat streamed down her face, but a smile remained on her lips.
"There's something really off about you, Makino."
"Why have you been speaking up for Kazu all the time lately?"
Carlmand felt like an outsider, and it was not a pleasant feeling.
Makino said nothing at his words. She simply smiled and moved on to her next exercise.
Kazu, meanwhile, had drawn up a training plan for himself. He could only train five days a week and had to leave two days for rest.
His training also focused more on exploring ways to develop his fruit. Other areas offered little improvement, and training on his own conflicted with the rewards he received from the system's idle training. He could not have both.
Relaxing his mind and body and balancing work with rest were important, too. Kazu easily convinced himself.
During his leisure time, he could also think about how to combine his many abilities perfectly into combos. Sharpening the axe would not delay the woodcutting.
Right now, for instance, Kazu was wondering whether he could leave a spatial marker in empty space.
That way, if he encountered someone he could not beat who was also an ability user, he could unexpectedly teleport them over during the fight.
Even someone as powerful as Big Mom of the Four Emperors would have few options after sinking to the seabed. Others would have little ability to resist, either.
But the dream was beautiful and reality was harsh. After trying for ages, Kazu still could not leave a spatial marker in midair, so he could only regretfully set the matter aside for now.
"I'll take a nap first."
With the sunshine this lovely, it was the perfect time to sleep.