The Great Pirate Era was not friendly, and pirate ships were everywhere on the sea, bringing great threats to merchant ships and civilians traveling.
But for those with sufficient strength, these pirate ships sailing on the sea were an opportunity. Previously, Kikunojo casually grabbed a small boat at the port and left that island.
This was mainly because Drake's physical strength hadn't recovered much at the time, and after taking two hits to the chest from Laffitte, his condition wasn't great either, so getting a big ship might not have worked.
However, on the Grand Line, a small boat is not a long-term solution, so when they encountered other pirate ships, they chose to switch ships. As for the method... of course, it followed the pirate's traditional rules.
Those pirates were initially refusing, but even with Drake temporarily having one less eye, he could easily deal with these newcomers.
Originally, she wanted to snatch a Radio Snail. The Hundred Beasts' peripheral territories still kept Radio Snails as basic communication tools; as long as one could contact someone, they could call for support or something.
The thought process had no issues; it was just that these pirates didn't cooperate with her. Drake didn't expect that in this day and age, some pirates didn't have a Radio Snail.
"Damn it, Radio Snails don't even charge a call fee. Is it that hard for you to raise a Radio Snail?"
Unlike the version of mobile phones sold by Tesoro, as long as a Radio Snail is fitted with fixed communication equipment, all you need to do is feed the snail well. Radio Snails are quite adaptable; even if frozen, as long as they're defrosted in time, it won't affect their usage.
If one wanted to, they could buy some decorations to build their personalized Radio Snail; if not, decorations didn't matter either, yet this group of pirates didn't even have that.
"Uh... Miss, we only have about a dozen people; we really don't need this thing..."
"Shut up! No ship doctor, no Radio Snail, not even medicine, the fact that your ship managed to get here is a miracle! Apart from this Record Pointer, there's nothing useful at all. Are you newbies who just set sail?"
"How did you know we set sail just three days ago?"
"You might as well just play house; the pirate life doesn't suit you."
Helplessly rubbing their head, Drake couldn't think of a suitable word to describe these naive pirates. If they hadn't been born on the Grand Line, they probably couldn't have even gotten past Inverted Mountain.
"Miss Drake, I found a pirate ship; maybe we can seek some help from that ship..."
"Hmm? Our people?"
"No, it's... it's Whitebeard's people."
Kikunojo walked over with a telescope, bringing a message Drake couldn't comprehend.
"I say, Kikunojo, even though I just had a fight with Blackbeard, trying to use this to contact them is impossible. Don't be too naive; we are pirates, and Whitebeard and the Hundred Beasts are already enemies."
If they saw the forces of Red Hair or BIG MOM, or the Empress or the Seven Warlords of the Sea like Doflamingo, Drake could go over, but not Whitebeard.
Nowadays, when the forces of Whitebeard and the Hundred Beasts meet outside, it's restraint not to fight, let alone seeking help.
"No... it's possible; I saw my brother on that ship."
"Eh? A brother? You have a brother on Whitebeard's ship?"
"Yes, actually, you've met him before; you met during the battle with Miss Iscariot."
With Kikunojo's reminder, Drake only then realized who he was talking about.
And also understood why Kikunojo's reaction was so strange during that battle. No one questioned it at that time, and Kikunojo didn't voluntarily bring it up, so it was left unresolved.
While observing other ships on the sea, he happened to see Izou on that ship.
After Ace left, Whitebeard was still worried. Although he was restricted by the New World's environment and couldn't leave there, he still sent out a few capable officers to find Ace and help him deal with Blackbeard's problem.
Izou was one of them, but they never caught up with Ace, as his small boat powered by the Flame-Flame Fruit was too fast.
Ordinary pirate ships couldn't catch up, and due to the time difference, Izou and others never caught up with Ace.
...
"Is it that person dressed as a geisha back then? Now that you say it, I do have some impression."
"Yes, Miss Drake, please believe me, your eye can't be delayed any longer."
As one of the body's most important organs, the existence of the eyes is extremely special. If they get injured, they might trigger an attack by the immune system; if not handled properly, issues in one eye could easily spread.
Drake's physique was strong, and there were no infections in the eye or such problems, but in Kikunojo's view, it still needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.
"It's a captain, then I'll trust you."
According to what these pirates said, it would take another half month to reach the next island, and she didn't want to delay it any longer.
This injury wouldn't claim her life, but it would hurt. She wasn't a masochist, so she definitely needed to deal with it as soon as possible.
...
At this moment, a small whale-shaped pirate ship was sailing on the sea.
The Whitebeard Pirates was a massive group. Besides the Moby Dick and ships forged in its image, there were other similar small ships for convenience in traveling.
"Captain Izou! A ship is approaching us! They're signaling that it's someone you know."
"An acquaintance? In a place like this, how could I have acquaintances? Give me the telescope."
Though puzzled, Izou still asked for the telescope, and then he saw Kikunojo waving at him.
"Kikunojo?!"
Izou didn't follow Kozuki Oden onto Roger's ship, nor did he return with him to Wano Kuni. From the day he boarded Whitebeard's ship, Izou stayed there.
In the original timeline, he maintained his status as Whitebeard's crew member and ultimately, due to lack of faith in Oden, lost his alliance buff and died in the final battle on Ghost Island.
The last time he saw Kikunojo was during the war with the Hundred Beasts, and it was from that battle that the Whitebeard Pirates discovered the trouble with Oden. However, after the war between Whitebeard and Kaidou, this matter was left unresolved.
"Is that pirate ship under the Hundred Beasts' power?"
"I haven't heard of it, and among the newcomers, this pirate crew isn't known either..."
The Sea Emperors were familiar with each other; while some secrets weren't known to outsiders, which pirate crews were under other Sea Emperors' flags, they were aware of, especially known pirates.
It wasn't an old group nor a famous newcomer, almost ruling out the possibility of it being a force of the Hundred Beasts.
"Great..."
"What did you say?"
"I said move the ship closer; it really is someone I know."