Even though Barrett did not get along well with the crew, he had still spent two or three years on this ship. Now that he was gone, a heavy mood inevitably settled over everyone.
Especially Shanks and Buggy. After all, both of them had been saved by Barrett before.
"Captain, is it really okay to leave Barrett alone on that island?" Shanks asked with some worry. It would be such a shame if a powerhouse like Barrett ended up dying in some shipwreck.
"Relax. Don't you know his strength?" Roger said. "Besides, Barrett can go to the Mohr Kingdom and ask for a ship. With the friendship between us and Mohr Kingdom, King Caesar won't refuse."
Roger pointed up at the sky. Even though he looked battered, his spirits were surprisingly high.
"I believe everyone already knows where we're headed this time," he said loudly. "That's right. We're going back to the Grand Line, to make up for the regrets we left behind the first time. Like the legendary island, Sky Island."
"Captain, does Sky Island really exist?" a crewmate asked skeptically.
"I don't know," Roger admitted. "But I believe no legend comes from nothing. Every story has its roots. Whether it's real or not, we'll find out by going to see it ourselves."
His passionate words instantly lit a fire under the whole crew.
"I heard the people on Sky Island have wings. Is that true?"
The crew began chattering excitedly, each person tossing out some rumor or tale they had heard about Sky Island.
"If we rush to the end of the New World too fast, wouldn't that be boring?" someone laughed.
"Yeah!" others echoed.
After all, they were the pirate crew closest to the New World's endpoint, Raftel.
"Then it's decided," Roger shouted. "Let's set sail again!"
The crew roared back in high spirits.
"Didn't expect the captain to be that good at hyping people up," Baichuan said, leaning against the railing as he looked at the energized men, then turned to Rayleigh beside him.
"True," Rayleigh replied. "But Roger's not wrong either. If you leave regrets behind on the final voyage, then they really become regrets."
"The final voyage…" Baichuan repeated softly. More and more people on the ship already knew Roger was ill. Before long, everyone would know.
"Is there really no way to treat the captain's illness?"
"You know Crocus's medical skills," Rayleigh said, his voice tinged with sorrow. "Even he can't do anything but suppress it."
Baichuan let out a quiet sigh.
Over the next month, the Roger Pirates ran into several battles, and none of them were easy to get through.
Roger was called one of the New World's overlords, but the people who made it this far were no weaklings either. Almost no one reached this place by luck alone.
Sometimes, when they ran into unusual Devil Fruit abilities, even Roger could end up suffering for it.
Just now, they had finished a grueling fight. The crew held a banquet to vent everything they had been bottling up, including grief. In battle, how could there be no deaths?
"Hey, what's with you two?" Baichuan asked after draining a mug of beer. When he turned around, he saw Shanks and Buggy dripping wet. "Why are you soaked? Don't tell me you fell into the sea."
"Buggy somehow started drowning," Shanks said. "I jumped in to save him, so I ended up like this."
"Shanks! It's all your fault, all your fault!" Buggy, finally catching his breath, grabbed Shanks by the collar and roared.
"What do you mean it's my fault? Buggy, say it clearly!"
"It's you, Shanks! Because of you, I lost a hundred million berries! And because of you, I turned into a total non-swimmer!"
"Buggy… don't tell me you ate a Devil Fruit?" Baichuan asked in shock.
All this time, he had never noticed Buggy eating one. He had even wondered if his arrival had caused some butterfly effect. Turns out the timing just had not come yet.
"That's right!"
"Then what does you eating a Devil Fruit have to do with me?" Shanks protested innocently.
"If you hadn't scared me from behind, how would I have swallowed the Devil Fruit?!"
"I only told you to come watch the banquet! Who knew you were skulking around doing something shady?"
Their argument immediately drew everyone's attention. After all, people who ate Devil Fruits were extremely rare in the Roger Pirates.
"Buggy, what ability did you get?" someone asked.
"How would I know?" Buggy snapped. He was still furious. He did not have the mood to answer anyone.
"We've got a Devil Fruit encyclopedia on the ship. Look it up and you'll know."
Hearing that, Buggy finally calmed down. If it could increase his strength, then maybe this loss was not a total loss.
He hurriedly dug out the Devil Fruit encyclopedia and carefully compared it with the fruit he remembered.
"What the heck! It's the Paramecia-type Chop-Chop Fruit?!" Buggy shouted in disbelief. He sounded completely disappointed, as if this ability had let him down.
"Oh?" Rayleigh pushed his glasses up, his tone deep. "The Chop-Chop Fruit is a very strong fruit."
"Really?" Buggy's eyes lit up with something called hope. He desperately wanted a firm answer from Rayleigh.
"Of course. The Chop-Chop Fruit is a swordsman's natural enemy. No matter how they cut, they can't cut you to death."
"Really?!"
"Why don't we test it and see," Baichuan said, standing up. He drew the blade at his waist and walked toward Buggy step by step.
"What are you doing, Baichuan? Stop right there, don't move! Don't come any closer! If you come closer, I'm going to get mad!" Buggy blustered, putting on a fierce front, but inside he was terrified out of his mind.
"Heh. I'm just helping you test your Devil Fruit ability," Baichuan said with a smile he clearly thought looked kind and benevolent. In Buggy's eyes, it was the smile of a devil.
"No! No! I'm going to die, I'm going to die!" Buggy wailed miserably, squeezing his eyes shut, not daring to look as Baichuan's blade came down.
"Whoa! It's real, he's really fine!"
At that moment, Shanks's astonished shout rang out, followed by the rest of the crew's gasps.
Buggy felt no pain at all. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a hand lying on the deck.
"Whose hand is that? Wait… isn't that my hand?" Buggy stared at it, feeling it look strangely familiar. When he looked closer, it really was his hand. Buggy's eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.
"Hey, Buggy! What's wrong? Don't scare me!" Shanks shook Buggy hard, tears welling in his eyes. It was obvious how deep their bond was.
"Move aside. Let me take a look," Crocus said as he walked over.
"Oh." Shanks obediently stepped back.
Crocus crouched beside Buggy and examined him carefully before saying, "No problem. He just fainted from being overly frightened."
"Good…" Shanks finally breathed out in relief. Then he pointed at the hand on the deck. "What do we do about this hand?"
"Who knows," Crocus replied. "Maybe it has to wait until he wakes up before it can be reattached."
Crocus picked up the hand and studied it closely. To a doctor, this was rare research material.
But when he brought it close to Buggy's body, the hand actually restored itself automatically.
"This is truly astonishing," Crocus murmured, a sharp light flashing in his eyes as he looked Buggy up and down, practically itching to try more.
/-\
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