[Cover Story Continuation · Heart Pirates 4 · "MUTE!"]
[The two hide, only to suddenly realize that neither of them can speak. Rosinante is shocked; when did he activate Corazon's Silence-Silence Fruit ability?! Law is speechless. No matter how much Rosinante opens his mouth and gestures desperately to explain how to undo the silence, Law can't hear a single word from his soundless mouth… Luckily, Rosinante is already used to living like a mute. He quickly pulls out a piece of paper, writes something down, and points toward Vice Admiral Tsuru's battleship. 'Aren't you supposed to be telling me how to undo the silence?!' Rosinante is speechless and frantically waves his hands at him. 'Don't do anything reckless!']
The simple map of Kano Country was about as crude as the map of Dressrosa that Bepo the polar bear once drew for Law in the manga.
Liam didn't even need to rely on B.I.B.'s photographic memory. With Robin's own excellent memory, she only had to look at it a couple of times before silently memorizing the entire thing.
She pointed at the southwest and asked, "You drew the same symbol for the Mountain District Navy as the one for the Eight Treasures Navy in the eastern Flower District…"
"Oh." The village chief hurriedly wiped away the navy symbol in the southwest corner with her foot, looking embarrassed. "I'm getting old. My memory relies on rote learning now, so I accidentally drew the same symbol for both."
Robin asked, "So is that also the Eight Treasures Navy?"
"No. The one in the Mountain District is the Two Treasures Navy."
Liam glanced at the map.
Oh, right. The same Two Treasures Navy whose member Don Sai was engaged to in the original story. Later, Sai picked up Baby 5 in Dressrosa and took her home as his wife, so that engagement was called off.
"The Two Treasures Navy is a bit too far away. Let's go with the Happo Navy instead," Liam said.
More importantly, he wanted to see whether his iron staff could actually knock something out of old man Chinjao's head.
'My iron staff versus the Iron Fist of Monkey D. Garp and his grandson, which one is harder?'
Robin looked thoughtful. "So… Kano Country has at least eight naval forces? That would make it one of the strongest military powers among the World Government's Allied Kingdoms, wouldn't it?"
The old woman shook her head. "There aren't that many. Even three hundred years ago, when Kano Country's naval forces were at their peak, there were only seven fleets in total."
"Only seven?" Robin was surprised. After thinking for a moment, she understood. "If there's an Eight Treasures Navy, does that mean there's no First District navy?"
Yu spoke up then. "The 'First Treasure' is stationed at the royal palace. The King's soldiers are the Imperial Guard, so they aren't called a navy."
"Hahahaha…" Liam burst out laughing. "They really thought this through. But it makes sense. First Treasure… hahaha!"
The village chief froze as she watched his laughing profile.
"Anyway, thanks," Liam said, resting his Golden Iron Rod on his shoulder. "Let's go, Captain."
Robin nodded to the old woman, then bent down and gently patted Yu's soft cheek. "If you want to go out to sea, you'll have to grow up a bit first. At least until you're seventeen."
"…" Yu blinked, then lowered her head. "I'll never be able to go out to sea…"
…
Jolyne Cujoh and Giorno Giovanna headed north, following the road toward the Flower District and the Eight Treasures Navy marked farther up the map.
Yu noticed that the old fortune-teller was still staring blankly at the two strangers' retreating figures.
"Is something wrong with them?"
The old woman shook her head and let out a quiet sigh. "When he smiled just now… his profile reminded me of someone from a long time ago. Thirty years have passed, and I haven't heard a word about her. I don't even know what became of her."
"Thirty years…" Yu thought about it carefully, her eyes suddenly widening in realization. "Do you mean that 'half-disciple' of the Burial Flower Valley you mentioned?"
The old woman sighed. "Yes."
"Why is she only considered half a disciple?"
"Because she never truly joined the Burial Flower Valley…"
The old woman walked back toward Humble Bamboo Village with Yu, reminiscing as they went.
"That was forty-three years ago… When I found her by the roadside, she was just a little beggar wandering from place to place. Her clothes were stitched together from scraps of cloth she'd found, and she wore a rope around her waist that she'd woven herself.
"But the remarkable thing was that I never once saw her hang her head in despair. She always had a little flower in her hair, one she'd picked herself…"
Back then, the little beggar loved listening to stories about Princess Lily. She adored those stories.
["Hehe, Princess Lily is so cool…"]
[In her memories, the skinny little girl planted one fist on her hip and thumped the other against her chest.]
["I've decided what my name is going to be! I'm Lily! Hehe…"]
[The fortune-telling aunt, who was still young at the time, rolled her eyes.]
["Don't get carried away! You're just a little beggar I picked up, and you think you can share a name with a princess?"]
["Bleh!"]
[The skinny girl stuck out her tongue. She wasn't offended in the slightest, nor did she care.]
["I'm not a little beggar! I'm a wandering hero!"]
["I knew you were shameless." The fortune-telling aunt filled a chipped bowl with gruel. "You go around begging for food and still call yourself a wandering hero. Where are there any wandering heroes left in Kano Country these days?"]
["That's exactly why I have to become one!"]
[The little girl proudly lifted the chipped bowl and gulped down the gruel.]
["Wandering hero Lily, hehehe…"]
"And then what happened?" Yu was completely absorbed in the story. "Did she become a wandering hero?"
The old woman chuckled. "Didn't you just ask why she's only considered a half-disciple?"
Yu pursed her lips and stared straight at the old woman.
The old woman continued. "I raised her for less than a year, and she learned everything I had to teach… Someone that gifted, how could she fail to become a wandering hero? She traveled across all five districts of Kano Country at such a young age. There wasn't a place where she didn't leave behind stories of helping people and standing up for justice.
"But more than thirty years have passed. How many people still remember that there was once such a heroic young woman, a wandering hero as beautiful as a flower?"
Yu's mouth hung slightly open as she listened, completely captivated. "But if she left after less than a year, how did she become a half-disciple of the Burial Flower Valley? You said the last true disciple of the Burial Flower Valley was Lian…"
"Lian…" The old woman murmured the name, then sighed after coming back to herself. "She became sworn sisters with Lian. When she heard about the Humble Bamboo Alliance, she decided to lend a hand…"
["There was actually something like that going on?"]
[Under the moonlight at the Burial Flower Valley, the tall, beautiful wandering hero Lily rested her sheathed sword on her shoulder and smiled casually.]
["Why didn't you say so sooner? Count me in."]
["Lily, this has nothing to do with you!" Lian raised her sword in protest. "It's dangerous…"]
["Why worry about that?"]
[Lily reached out and pressed a finger against the sword tip reflecting the moonlight frost. Looking straight into Lian's eyes, she smiled.]
["Aren't we sisters?"]
"Later, she left Kano Country, and Lian disappeared without a trace as well. I thought the three-hundred-year-old Humble Bamboo Alliance had finally vanished with them…"
The old woman sighed. "…Enough, enough. That's all in the past now. All I want is for you to live a good life."
Yu fell silent and lowered her head as she followed the old woman back to Humble Bamboo Village.
When the villagers saw them return safely, they all breathed sighs of relief.
Yu turned around and gazed toward the north, toward the two outsiders who had come from the sea…
Neither she nor the old woman noticed that, throughout their entire walk back, an ear kept sprouting from time to time beside the road, hidden in a blind spot just outside their field of vision.
The ear slowly dissolved into countless flower petals…
…
Farther north, Robin walked with a slight frown, deep in thought.
She was just about to speak to Liam when he said, "Looks like we're almost there."
Robin looked up. Ahead of them was a town clearly much better off than Humble Bamboo Village.
As Liam walked through the streets, he looked around at the passersby and shook his head. "I thought everyone in Kano Country was supposed to be over two meters tall…"
Looking around, he didn't see a single person over 1.8 meters tall. Even people around 1.7 meters were relatively uncommon.
"The townspeople certainly look much healthier than the villagers back in Humble Bamboo Village," Robin said, observing the people around them. "But their average living conditions seem to be, "
Before she could finish, a booming shout burst from a shop beside the street.
"Stop, thief!"
Robin turned toward the voice.
A short figure came stumbling out of a restaurant, clearly in a panic. Unfortunately for the thief, he was so frantic that he didn't notice the patrol across the street as he ran headlong away with his stolen goods.
A large flag was raised among the group.
Printed across it in huge, bold letters were the words:
'HAPPO NAVY'
Clearly, these were members of the Eight Treasures Navy.
(End of Chapter)
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