Azars sailboat floated through the East Blue waters with his hands behind his head. Feeling the heat of the sun basking on his. Azar was by no means a good navigator, but he was decent enough to know how to traverse the temperamental waters around Dawn island.
"I've been out on the sea for…Almost two days by my count…" Azar spoke with curiosity. His finger coming to touch his chin. "Where was the next island I was near? Was it….Hmmm Wheres that map at" He scratched his head as he bent forward and shuffled his luggage around. Quickly he found his backpack. It was old but still in good condition, he'd had since highschool.
Of course. The highschool was bare minimum in education and typically only taught the basics of Humanities, Sciences, Social Studies, and Liberal Arts. Mainly because these concepts and subjects were useful in creating 'Well Rounded Individuals' for working in Cobalt so you weren't total drones of labor…
But Azar was not Leroy. Where as Leroy obsessed over books, comic or otherwise, that interested him. Azar cruised. He wasn't bad, nor was he not smart. But if it was doing more than required with what was taught. He didn't do it. This resulted in him being a B and A student.
Even though, until his graduation, Leroy was nearly almost always an F or A student. This was because he either thought too much, focused on other aspects that the school didn't like, or he was late to doing the hyper-specific assignments that bored him to tears
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"Ah! There it is." Azar pulled the yellow colored Map from the pack, and unfolded it. The map was very detailed, showing the entirety of the east blue, from one side of the Red Line to the Louge Town and Reverse Mountain side. From large Archipelagos of Cocoyashi, Organ Region, Yotsuba and the like. To Tugal, Glass, Fist, Mirror Ball, and others. The East Blue also had some islands and Civilizations that were technically apart of the Red Lines Maroon rock, but at the very bottom.
And of course, there was the Calm Belt labeled clearly. As to anyone that wasn't a pirate…Well even if they were. That 'Calm' belt was nothing more than a death sentence.
Sitting up. Azar rubbed his greasy hair with a hand. "I need a Log Pose…And a place to grab a bite…If I wanna become a Pirate I also need a crew…" He screwed his face in a contorted look of contemplation… "Ya know…I thought about this for years…But I've never actually left the Shomi or Sunflower Regions…Well there was that Vacation with Mamtha to Red Peaks…."
Red Peaks as an island that was said to have been originally connected to the Red Line but over long periods of drift, the mountains, that by comparison were just mounds of the 30 km of the Red Line, were a hot tourist destination for the Southern and Eastern members of the East Blue.
After all. What else is there to do in a place thats long past its glory days?
Hundred of Years ago. The East Blue was 'The Bread Basket' of many parts of the World. From Agriculture, to Industry, Culture, and even innovation as seen with Cobalt. Wheat, Corn, Rice, Maze, and other hardy plants was due to the incredibly potent and fertile soil of the East Blue due to the thought that the minerals that were once on the bottom of the ocean made their way to the top soil.
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Meat Packing, Steel, Coal, Iron. There was large sections of mining that once made many islands Industrial Hot Spots before the mechanicalization and Technological power of other oceans that out paced the East.
But the East wasn't so easily beaten. Even in the later period of the golden age, Labor was one of the biggest Exports. There were businesses and contracts that guaranteed work in other sections of the east and other blues that predicated itself on the work culture of the east. Where in that it was thought the more you could work, regardless of benefit to society, or money made, was seen as a moral and just cause
The Falcons, and Riser families were much like this before Jacks Father joined the Marines
If it wasn't Labor. It was Military Service that became an immense point of Pride for East Blue Citizens. With nearly 38% of Marines coming from the East Blue 60 Years ago.
Junior Marine Programs in Schools, Marine Bases such as Shells and Fist. At one point there was a nearly 3:1 Island to Marine Base in the East Blue .Which didn't seem like much given the 'Sparse' naturae of the East by modern standards. But that meant there was dozens of Bases both mobile, artificial, and Island Based.
But that number has drastically lowered to only 18% now.
"Oh! I know!" Azar began to rummage around in his pack some more. Moving around his canteen, snack pack, meal kits (Courtesy of Mamtha), survival gear, clothes, toiletries…Where was it? His brow furrowed. It was around here somewhere…
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"Finally!" He pulled out a pamphlet advertisement! It was a drawn depiction of a ship with a lighthouse on top of it.
"I heard about this place! Supposedly its supposed to be really good! And it only opened up a few years ago I think…Or is it new? Hmmm…." He opened up the pamphlet. And flipped through, seeing food! Meat! Sea Food! Drinks and more!
Azars mouth salivated at the sight "If I wanna find a crew mate…I'm sure that I can find it there!"
Standing up he readjusted the rigging and the sail to start blowing in the direction of his destination!
"Alright! Rose Arbor, Here I come!"