The marketplace was already bustling with people, though locals were few. Well over half of the crowd were tourists.
Thanks to its unique geographical location and ecology, the Sabaody Archipelago was a famous resort island on the Grand Line.
Colorful bubbles floated in the air, airships occasionally glided past, and the streets were packed with pedestrians and the local specialty, bubble-cars. Klee couldn't take her eyes off it all.
Xia En figured he needed to set aside a day to take her and Kagura to an amusement park. He remembered the one Luffy and his crew visited in the anime was excellent, with facilities comparable to a modern city, only wilder and more thrilling.
They didn't walk long before arriving at Xia En's usual breakfast spot.
"Yo, little bro, here for breakfast again today?" The boss's wrinkled old face broke into a wide smile upon seeing Xia En. This was a major customer who bought dozens of servings of breakfast every morning.
"Yep, same as the past few days, but no need to pack it up today. My companions are all here at the shop." Xia En greeted the boss familiarly and directed Kagura and the other two to an empty table.
"Alright, coming right up." The boss nodded contentedly, but then suddenly realized only three people were accompanying Xia En, and two of them were small girls.
How are four people going to finish dozens of servings of breakfast? The boss was puzzled.
However, when he brought the food to Xia En's table, he watched the orange-haired girl devour a whole plate in one gulp. Her speed was astonishing; in the time it took him to turn around, she had already cleared nearly ten plates.
This little girl can eat way too much!
The boss was amazed. Even the burly shipwrights from the shipyard were far less capable than her. He genuinely wondered how such a small stomach could hold so much.
This scene was not only noticed by the breakfast shop owner but also drew the attention of many customers and passersby.
Xia En, whose perception was sharper than before due to his recent practice of Observation Haki, clearly sensed that as the stack of empty plates on their table grew higher, the number of eyes on them also increased.
With so many people around, Xia En worried that Klee's identity as a wanted criminal might be exposed. He pulled the brim of her hat further down, completely obscuring her hair and the upper half of her face.
"Brother Xia En..." Klee understood he was trying to hide her identity, so she let him do it. However, with her sight and face mostly covered, it became difficult for her to eat breakfast.
"Uh..." Xia En realized this, then had a flash of inspiration. He picked up a piece of food with his hand and held it up to Klee's mouth.
"Want me to feed you?"
"Okay!" Klee sounded very happy. Her small mouth, visible beneath the hat brim, slowly opened and took a small bite of the food, her eyes squinting as she enjoyed Xia En feeding her.
It was a very heartwarming sight, but Kagura watched with growing irritation.
She felt like her own food wasn't tasting good anymore. In a fit of pique, she slammed her hand on the table with a loud smack, nearly causing the customer at the next table to choke.
"What's gotten into you suddenly?" Xia En looked at her sternly, bending two fingers to flick her on the forehead.
"Hmph, I'm not eating anymore!" Kagura turned her head away, but her eyes kept glancing at the hand Xia En was using to feed Klee.
"..." Xia En instantly understood the mood she was throwing and sighed helplessly.
Ten minutes later, Xia En finished what was, up to that point, his most frantic breakfast.
At the Seaside
Under Drake's guidance, they arrived at a boat rental location at the port. To be able to tow a Sea King, they rented a medium-sized fishing vessel, a dozen meters long.
The rental fee wasn't expensive; a day's use only cost two million Berries. However, the shop owner charged Xia En a deposit of nearly 50 million Berries, which would be deducted from if the boat was damaged.
The owner initially saw how young Xia En and the others were, quoting a price several times higher than the actual rental fee, and even tried to give them an old boat that looked fine on the outside but had antiquated internal facilities.
This is where Drake, the seasoned old sea-dog, proved his worth. He casually strolled around the old boat for a bit, then immediately disembarked and pointed out dozens of defects right in front of the owner. The boss broke out in a cold sweat, realizing he'd run into someone who knew their stuff.
Under the blue sky, the fishing boat set sail.
"Wooooo!"
Standing in the center of the bow, with the sail flapping loudly behind him, Xia En spread his arms, letting the sea breeze rush against his face.
Cool and free.
He felt as if he were a soaring seagull, having never experienced such a sense of unbridled freedom.
The only pity was that this boat wasn't his own. He imagined how wonderful it would be to sail through these waters in his own ship one month from now.
"Wow! It's so cool!"
Like him, Klee was on a boat for the first time and joyfully ran all over the deck.
Kagura, however, was surprisingly quiet. She sat by the boat's edge not far from Xia En, holding her parasol, her small legs dangling over the side, swinging back and forth. Her blue eyes stared blankly at the vast ocean.
"What are you thinking about, Kagura?" Xia En walked over.
"Nothing much. It's just a feeling in my heart that's hard to describe. I don't know how to put it into words."
Kagura shook her head, her orange hair fluttering in the wind. Due to the parasol covering her, Xia En could only see her profile.
"Is it shock, excitement, thrill, and then calm?"
These were Xia En's own emotional changes after boarding the boat: the initial shock of facing the boundless ocean, the excitement and thrill during the voyage, and finally, the gradual calming under the sea breeze.
There was one more decisive factor contributing to his emotional change—seasickness.
Of course, the proud Xia En would never admit to that.
"It seems to be what you said."
Kagura pondered for a moment and realized she felt roughly the same way. However, she also felt an added sense of anticipation for the future, a feeling that didn't come from the sea but from Xia En.
"Xia-chan, will we keep sailing from now on?"
"Of course, we will. We'll set sail a month from now when the ship is built. Since we've made it to this world, we have to see all its scenery."
As the boat sailed, the distance from the Sabaody Archipelago grew further and further. Only when the island was reduced to a faint outline did Drake call for Xia En to help furl the sail and stop the boat.
"Isn't this a bit too far?" Xia En looked at the faintly visible Sabaody Archipelago in the distance. They had been sailing for nearly an hour.
"Not at all. The further you are from the island, the more Sea Kings there are. Besides, if we don't move further away from the island, won't people see that bomb-throwing little girl and recognize her identity?"
Drake replied. Unlike pirates like Luffy, he had a Marine's rigor and considered things more thoroughly. Perhaps this was the difference between the strictly disciplined Marines and the carefree pirates.
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