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The group of pirates who ran up to carve the giant lizard spent a long time hacking away but not a single blade could pierce its skin.
The hide looked like dried tree bark… and was just as tough.
Dylan watched quietly for a while, then sighed and stepped forward.
He took a clean blade from one of the pirates, pulled back his arm—
Slice!
One clean stroke split the hide open.
Naturally, the task of butchering the beast immediately fell to him.
Eddie had overestimated the size of their cold storage rooms… and underestimated the amount of meat a monster this size could provide.
Even after filling every single cold room across all 14 ships, over two-thirds of the carcass was still lying there.
By the time Dylan finally finished cutting, the sky had already turned dark, and the long-awaited banquet finally began.
Except for a few dozen pirates who remained on watch duty aboard the ships, every single crew member, almost one thousand in total, gathered around the island clearing.
They collected the trees crushed by the lizard earlier and built more than a dozen massive bonfires, skewering huge chunks of meat and roasting them over the flames.
It was destined to be a sleepless night.
A night of pure celebration.
Their captain had become a Warlord of the Sea.
And to pirates, that wasn't just Aero's achievement it belonged to all of them.
They ate meat, drank wine straight from the bottle, and shouted at the top of their lungs.
Weeks of military discipline dissolved in a single evening of wild freedom.
Even so… the smell of roasting meat began attracting other predators.
In the jungle nearby, several smaller beasts crouched in the dark hesitant, but tempted.
They had seen what happened earlier. That gigantic lizard had been torn apart like it was nothing.
They didn't want to end up as the next entrée.
But the scent of roasted meat was too much.
Eventually, a wolf, a bear, and a tiger stepped from the trees and directly approached one of the fires.
Aero, drawn by the noise, walked over and stared at the bizarre trio in silence.
The three beasts froze. Their bodies trembled… but their eyes never left the meat.
Aero instantly understood.
He grabbed three large skewers of roasted meat and tossed them over.
The beasts devoured the food immediately literally "wolfing it down."
When they finished, they looked back at the bonfire… still hungry.
Aero waved his hand. "Let them eat. We've got more than enough."
The animals calmly sat down beside the fires and continued eating like regular guests.
"...???"
The rest of the crew stared in absolute confusion.
But Aero simply chuckled and walked back to his seat.
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The next morning.
Aero was up even before dawn.
This time, he wasn't wearing his black robe, but a light grey shirt, rolled pants, and a red dagger strapped to his thigh.
Over the past half-year in this world, he had grown taller and much sharper.
Four officers, Dylan, Eddie, Gin, and Ray, quietly followed behind.
From today onward, the entire Hurricane Pirate Crew would begin a period of full-scale training.
If they remained the weakest of the Warlords, then Aero would have no leverage even within the alliance with Crocodile.
Their boots sank into the dew-covered ground as they walked deeper into the forest.
Little Garden was full of savage beasts meaning food would never be a problem.
They chose a site far from the volcanoes and settled in.
Aero's thousand-strong crew began daily training:
Basic drills and physical conditioning for everyone
Hunting giant beasts as combat practice
And a special unit of 100 trusted pirates began training in the Six Powers (Rokushiki)
Even if they couldn't fully master the techniques, the training itself would raise their strength significantly.
Veterans like Grey, Ves, and Rush, who had already learned one or two of the Rokushiki, became the trainers for this group.
Because as a pirate crew grows, you can't rely on just the captain and a few officers.
You need mid-level commanders people who can lead, enforce, and fight independently.
That's what Aero was building now. Like Crocodile's Million Agents and Billion Agents in Baroque Works, the Hurricane Pirates needed their backbone.
And this was where it would begin.
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