The adjutant immediately activated the Den Den Mushi and dialed a number.
Not long after, the call connected, and the Den Den Mushi took on the image of an old man wearing a dog-head cap with grizzled white whiskers.
"Moshi moshi?"
"It's me! Mr. Garp! I'm my grandpa's grandson! You even held me when I was little!" the adjutant blurted out nervously.
There was a brief silence on the other end.
The adjutant failed to realize anything was wrong, but the colonel standing beside him had already had enough and smacked him on the head.
"Idiot! Everyone's somebody's grandson! Tell Vice Admiral Garp who your grandfather is!!"
"Ah! Right! My grandfather is Dili! He's a fisherman from Foosha Village!"
Only then did the voice return from the other side.
"So you're old man Dili's grandson. What is it?"
"It's like this, Mr. Garp! We're in the Sage Kingdom! Not long ago, someone attacked the royal palace and killed His Majesty the King!"
"We also found what appears to be the corpse of a World Noble, as well as a large number of dead guards and CP agents! The death toll is already in the hundreds!"
"So that's what this is about…" said the Den Den Mushi, still wearing the old man's dog-cap face. "Sengoku already told me. Trash like Celestial Dragons should stay in Mary Geoise. If one of them died in the East Blue, he had it coming."
Those shockingly irreverent words left both the colonel and adjutant flustered.
"Mr. Garp! You can't say things like that!!"
"Pwahaha, is that so? Then just pretend you didn't hear it…" Garp laughed, then his tone turned serious. "Still, a monster of this level showing up in the East Blue really can't be ignored."
"That's great! Mr. Garp, are you moving out?"
"Yeah. I'm already on my way to the Sage Kingdom," Garp said in a low voice.
The Den Den Mushi call ended.
Garp turned to look at the man who had just been hauled aboard on deck.
The man's clothes were in tatters, and his skull had nearly caved in. His face was so badly damaged that he was almost unrecognizable.
"It's hard to imagine anyone surviving injuries like that," Bogard said quietly beside Garp.
"If even CP0 got taken down, then that criminal probably came from the New World," Bogard speculated.
"One of the Four Emperors' right-hand men? One of the Emperors themselves? Or some other great pirate?"
Garp was silent for a moment before speaking gravely.
"It's also possible some old monster from the previous era came back looking for revenge."
Bogard paused, then said, "Mr. Garp… are you suspecting…"
"Golden Lion?" Bogard asked.
"That's right." Garp nodded. "Ever since he escaped from Impel Down, that old bastard has kept a low profile. After all these years, it wouldn't be strange for him to resurface."
"What a pity," Bogard said. "There were no witnesses who clearly saw the culprit's face. We'll have to wait until this CP0 agent wakes up."
---
East Blue, Somewhere at Sea...
The White Pearl sailed across the ocean.
Inside the captain's cabin, Norton and Nami were locked in an intense battle, while Funing watched from the side.
"Checkmate!" Norton placed his piece.
In front of him sat a square board engraved with a grid of intersecting lines, with round pieces placed at the intersections.
At that moment, one of Norton's pieces pinned down Nami's general.
"No way, no way! Start over! You definitely cheated!" Nami threw herself over the board like an enraged kitten, knocking the pieces into complete disorder.
"Nami, this is already the ninth game you've lost to Norton," Funing said from where she was kneeling beside them, delivering the finishing blow with perfect timing.
"That's right. You owe me a total of 900,000 Berries, Nami. Don't even think about backing out," Norton said with a cheerful grin.
Truth be told, whether it was money or not didn't really matter to him.
But if it was money pried out of a miser's hands, then Norton liked it very much.
"Damn it… it doesn't count! This shitty game was invented by you, so of course you have a natural advantage! And you understand the rules better! This isn't fair!" Nami was practically tearing her hair out.
"Haha, not my problem."
Amid the laughter and bickering, someone knocked on the captain's cabin door.
Sanosuke's voice came from outside.
"My lord."
"What is it?" Norton looked toward the door. "Come in and speak."
"Yes."
Sanosuke pushed the door open and entered.
"The headcount on the ship is complete."
"Excluding the remaining 12 pirates from the Redbeard Pirates, the chef team and shipwright crew number 13 people."
"Including you, Miss Nami, Miss Funing, and myself, there are now 29 people aboard this ship."
Twenty-nine people living on a hundred-meter-class giant ship still left plenty of room for daily activity. It was spacious by any standard.
"I see." Norton nodded slightly. "How many days can our food supply still last?"
"We have more than enough for now. There's no need to worry about that yet," Sanosuke replied.
"And the Berries? Including the portion gifted by Funing's father, how much money do we have altogether now?" Norton asked again.
"Including the duke's gift, along with the nobles' property salvaged by Nami, the total value now exceeds 200 million Berries," Sanosuke said.
"Excellent. Add in the 900,000 Berries Nami lost to me, and I'd say I count as a rich man even in the East Blue now." Norton smiled.
Nami's teeth itched with irritation. She wanted nothing more than to bite him.
"Hey! What are you doing?"
"Ow! Why is your body so hard?!"
Nami had actually bitten him.
Unfortunately, not only did it fail to hurt Norton, she nearly chipped her own teeth instead.
Funing covered her mouth and giggled, her eyes curving like crescents.
"You actually bit the captain! As punishment, hand over my 900,000 Berries right now! Otherwise, I'll deduct it from your daily 500,000 Berry salary!" Norton said fiercely, pressing down on Nami's head.
"Hmph! Fine, I'll pay!" Nami puffed out her cheeks. "What's the big deal? Today is already the fifth day! That means you owe me 2.5 million Berries in wages!"
With that, she stormed out and slammed the door behind her.
Watching her leave, Norton shook his head with an amused smile.
"Any other orders, my lord? If not, I'll go back to training," Sanosuke asked quietly.
"Can't you ever take a break? Training, training, training every single day—where's the fun in that?"
Norton flopped back onto the large sofa behind him.
"How about I teach you how to play a game? Boring life at sea needs games to pass the time."
Sanosuke shook his head.
"I must decline."
He had no interest in that sort of thing.
Besides, on this ship, apart from Norton, he was the strongest one aboard.
As the White Pearl continued sailing toward the Grand Line, more and more people would surely join them. If he didn't keep training hard, he wouldn't even be able to hold onto his position as the number-two figure anymore.
Well, with Nami and Funing around, Sanosuke didn't really count as number two in overall standing.
But if they ranked by strength alone, then yes—he was unquestionably second.
And as a ninja, he carried the duty of protecting his lord and those close to him.
Whenever he thought of that, however, an overpowering sense of frustration rose in his heart.
Norton was simply too strong. He didn't need protection at all.
The reason Sanosuke trained so desperately was because he wanted to shorten the distance between them, even just a little.
At the very least, he didn't want it to remain like now—so vast that he couldn't even see the end of it.
"How boring." Norton sighed. "That's all, then. Go do your training."
Sanosuke bowed slightly and withdrew.
Only Funing remained in the captain's cabin.
"Um… Norton, there's something I wanted to say to you," Funing said shyly the moment the two of them were left alone.
"If you've got something to say, just say it. You can call me Norton. My shipwright," Norton said as he stood up, took a bottle of vodka from the liquor rack, and poured himself a glass.
"It's like this…" Funing hesitated before continuing. "I heard the story of that ninja gentleman just now. The pirates on board told me."
"Mm. And?" Norton tipped back a mouthful of vodka.
Funing bit her lip, unconsciously wrinkling her dress in her hands.
"I mean… people like Mr. Sanosuke, who bring bad luck… and the White Pearl, which seems to attract disaster… if those two things are gathered together…" She finally summoned her courage and blurted it out. "Wouldn't that be too dangerous?"
"So that's what's worrying you?" Norton waved a hand, completely unconcerned. "That kind of thing doesn't matter to me at all."
"You're not worried? We could run into shipwrecks or worse at any moment," Funing said anxiously.
"No matter what Sanosuke or the White Pearl attracts, I won't care. I like things that are challenging. If there's no danger at all, then it would just be too boring."
Norton drained the strong liquor in one gulp and flashed a fierce, reckless smile.
"Bad luck, calamity—I can bust all of it!"
"I'm the man who's going to become the King of the World!"
Funing's lips parted slightly as she stared blankly at Norton, radiant with confidence.
...
After leaving the captain's cabin, Nami returned to her own room, which was right next to Funing's.
On the White Pearl, only Nami, Funing, and Sanosuke had been permitted by Norton to have private rooms.
Everyone else had living quarters too, but they were shared rooms with multiple people per cabin.
This arrangement was something Norton had intentionally created.
His goal was to distinguish ordinary crewmen from the future core officers.
Norton had no intention of taking the same elite-focused route as the Straw Hat Pirates or the Red Hair Pirates. If he wanted to build a nation of his own, then the first thing he needed was manpower.
The path Norton wanted to take was more similar to Big Mom's.
Which meant that as the pirate crew expanded, a hierarchy would inevitably appear within it.
Rather than waiting until later to impose ranks, it was better to separate value and privileges from the very beginning so that everyone aboard became accustomed to the rules, instead of breeding resentment when the time came.
"Damn that Norton… just wait. I'll win it all back sooner or later!"
Grinding her teeth, Nami dragged a sack out from under her bed.
After untying the red cord around its mouth, a large quantity of banknotes spilled out.
Nami pulled out one stack, counted 900,000 Berries, and set it aside.
Then she stood up, drew the curtains shut, locked the door, and lit a kerosene lamp.
Only after all that did she sit back down and begin counting the money inside the sack.
"One million, two million, three million… nineteen million five hundred thousand!"
After finishing the count, Nami took a deep breath, delight spreading across her face.
"With this, I finally have enough! I just need to find a chance to leave, buy the village back from Arlong, and settle everything!"
Sanosuke had no idea that Nami had already hidden away part of the Berries in advance, back when the Sea King destroyed the travel ship and the treasure had been scattered across its back and into the sea.
More than that, when the duke gifted part of the treasure, it had been Nami who was responsible for counting it.
And naturally, she had not passed up such a perfect opportunity to "skim" a bit off the top.
That was also one of the main reasons she had remained on the White Pearl for so long…
The money came in way too fast.
Norton didn't seem to care much about treasure at all. He had never investigated deeply. At most, he would ask casually now and then.
And what thief—no, what navigator, wouldn't like a captain like that?
Nami had already decided.
Once she bought Cocoyasi Village back from Arlong, she would return to this ship.
Whether in generosity or strength, Norton was the strongest man Nami had ever met.
If she hadn't already saved enough money, she would have wanted to ask Norton to simply deal with Arlong for her.
But now that she had enough money, there was no need to trouble Norton any further.
"After all these years of oppression, it's time for me to end it with my own hands! Just wait, Arlong—I'll make you hand Cocoyasi Village back to me willingly!"
At that moment, thunder rumbled outside the window.
Nami shoved the Berries back into the sack, pulled open the curtains, and looked out at the sky.
Darkness had gathered overhead, and lightning slithered like snakes across the blackened heavens.
"A storm's coming!" Nami's face changed.
She threw open the door and sprinted out onto the deck.
"Quick! Take in the sails! A storm's coming!"
Norton and Funing pushed open the cabin door and stepped onto the deck, lifting their heads toward the blackened sky.
"That's strange. The weather was fine just a moment ago," Funing murmured.
Norton smiled, already sensing that this kind of terrible weather would likely become a constant companion in the White Pearl's future voyages.
"Have faith in the White Pearl!" Norton patted Funing's shoulder. "Besides, we've got the best navigator in the world on board."
"Stop chatting and come help already!" Nami shouted while directing the pirates to prepare for the storm. "Move everything on deck into the hold!"
"Coming!"
---
Dozens of nautical miles north of the White Pearl's current sea route was a small island covered in dense jungle.
Because wild beasts roamed freely there and resources were relatively scarce, no one lived on the island.
But on this day, a man carrying three swords arrived there by accident.
He had short green hair, wore a white short-sleeved shirt, and had three gold teardrop earrings dangling from his left ear.
"I lost them… Where the hell did that bounty target run off to?"
The green-haired man casually plucked a fruit from a tree and took a bite.
"Too sour!"
He immediately tossed it aside.
"And… just where the hell did I end up now?"
The man's name was Roronoa Zoro, and he was currently working as a bounty hunter.
A few days earlier, he had been chasing a band of pirates across the sea. Instead, he got lost, lost the pirates he was chasing, and also forgot the way back, ending up adrift on the ocean.
After finally managing to land on an island, he discovered it was an uninhabited wilderness.
"I wonder if any ships ever pass by a place like this. Merchant ships, pirate ships, whatever—I need to get back to town and buy some booze," Zoro muttered as he walked deeper into the island.
In truth, Zoro had meant to head back toward the shore and look for his little boat.
Unfortunately, he had once again chosen the wrong direction.
As everyone knows—
Roronoa Zoro has absolutely no sense of direction.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
If you liked the story, adding to library and dropping stones are enough. I will add extra chap for stone milestones:)
400 P.S - Bonus chap
800 P.S - Bonus chap