"Sengoku has already ordered Borsalino to give chase. Cipher Pol has also dispatched several skilled Haki users. This time, we must crush the Thunder God Pirates before they can grow," said the mustachioed member of the Five Elders.
"According to the information sent by Cipher Pol, the Thunder God Pirates appear to have someone aboard who resembles Burgess, who had already vanished in the New World," said the long-bearded member of the Five Elders. "I have never heard of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit possessing the power of teleportation."
"Perhaps he deliberately developed it in that direction. But Burgess has gained the power of the Boil-Boil Fruit, and he has appeared on that man Roy's ship. Does that mean the things from the core warehouse truly are in Roy's hands?" said the bald, sword-bearing member of the Five Elders.
"No matter how we look at it, he is absolutely connected to this incident. The private property of the Celestial Dragons was most likely taken by him as well. There are also quite a number of slaves aboard that ship. Have Borsalino complete the mission at all costs. Once he does, grant him the position of admiral. Zephyr can officially step back to the second line. With this, we can give the Celestial Dragons an explanation and restore the prestige of the World Government."
The blond, middle-aged member of the Five Elders settled the matter.
"I second it."
"Agreed."
"Then that is what we shall do."
…
After the Thunder God Pirates officially set sail, they carried out the one thing every pirate crew did—
They held a banquet!
During the feast, Roy brought out Water Meat and premium sea salt he had purchased from Water 7, along with Hatchan's takoyaki, making the atmosphere aboard the ship extremely lively.
Once Roy took out the Seven-Treasure Crystal Wine and Black Sun Fish, the mood on the ship reached its peak.
"Gulp, gulp—hah!"
Yasopp, Tiger, and Burgess drained the wine in their cups in one go and sighed in admiration.
"This really is my first time drinking wine this good! Captain, you really do have a lot of fine things on hand!"
And so, by the time the banquet neared its end, Roy assigned everyone their positions.
The captain was naturally Roy himself. As for the position of vice-captain, Roy gave it to Tiger.
Over the past year of adventuring on the Grand Line, Tiger had already proven himself. And with Tiger serving as vice-captain, he could properly manage the Fish-Men aboard the ship. In the future, that would also ensure that Fish-Man Island would have a steady stream of Fish-Men coming to join them.
There was no issue with Laffitte as navigator or Yasopp as sniper.
The helmsman was Jinbe. In the original story, Jinbe had already fully demonstrated his ability in that role.
As for the position of head chef, Roy gave it to a man named Hagens.
Hagens had once been a slave of a Celestial Dragon. For amusement, the Celestial Dragon had forced him to eat a Devil Fruit, which happened to be the Paramecia-type Cook-Cook Fruit, a power very suited for making food.
His entire body could transform into kitchenware and tableware, making him especially suited to cooking.
Hagens came from the North Blue. He was an honest, tall man in his thirties.
Originally, he had been the cook of a pirate crew full of dreams. Later, however, his captain was killed, most of the crew died, and he himself was reduced to a slave.
Because of that, he was utterly grateful to Roy.
Aside from Hagens, there were all sorts of other ability users aboard the ship.
Besides the Devil Fruits Roy had originally given out, there had already been ability users among the slaves. Some had been forced by the Celestial Dragons to eat Devil Fruits purely for entertainment, while others had already been Devil Fruit users before they became slaves.
Jelro was a Paramecia-type Sleep-Sleep Fruit user. He could emit sleep rays that caused people to fall into deep slumber.
He had originally been the butler of a noble family in a certain kingdom on the Grand Line. However, he accidentally discovered the noblewoman's affair with another person. As a result, he was framed and condemned to slavery. He was a young man whose manners and behavior carried a faint aristocratic air.
Kasta was a Paramecia-type Paper-Paper Fruit user. He could turn his body into paper-like sheets and also manipulate paper.
He had once been the vice-captain of a certain pirate crew, and his circumstances were the same as Hagens's.
Charkis had lived on the Sabaody Archipelago for many years. He was a Zoan-type Bug-Bug Fruit, Model: Mantis user.
The reason he had fallen into slavery was rather unusual: his name had violated a taboo.
On the Sabaody Archipelago, there lived a Celestial Dragon named Saint Charlos. Charkis's name sounded very similar to Charlos's, and so, under the charge of "blaspheming the name of a Celestial Dragon," he was made into a slave and reduced to a plaything of the Celestial Dragons in the Holy Land Mary Geoise.
Other than Hagens, the other three had been thrown by the Celestial Dragons into the arena they used for entertainment because of their Devil Fruit abilities. They had been forced to fight battles of all sizes every day.
Therefore, although they had all been slaves, their personal strength could not be underestimated.
In particular, after their year of training from the Grand Line to the East Blue, along with the training manuals Roy had left them, their strength had grown rapidly.
As for the captain and vice-captain of the combat unit, Roy assigned those positions to Kasta and Charkis.
With their strength, the two of them were more than qualified for those posts.
As for a ship's doctor and shipwright, there was no hurry.
During the three months Roy had spent meditating, his Nen ability had already manifested a huge jar of Senzu Beans for him. There were basically so many that he could hardly use them all up.
As for a shipwright, among the many former slaves aboard the ship, there were still two people who understood ship repair, so they could barely fill the role for now.
As for the most suitable candidates for ship's doctor and shipwright, Roy already had people in mind. It was simply not yet time to bring them aboard.
And so, everyone aboard the ship continued forward in a joyful atmosphere, heading toward Reverse Mountain.
At Reverse Mountain, they naturally encountered Laboon, the whale who was still stubbornly ramming himself into the Red Line.
"…Tsk, tsk. So this is one of those massive sea creatures from the Grand Line? Its size really is huge."
Yasopp and Daz clicked their tongues in amazement. Hatchan, standing beside them, laughed and said, "Even on the Grand Line, this whale counts as an especially huge one, nyu."
After spending several days together, Hatchan had clearly become familiar with everyone.
"You know, when we entered the East Blue from here, we were also startled by this whale's size. Luckily, it did not attack us, nyu."
"Is that so? The Grand Line really is a wondrous place!"
"Wee-hahahaha! Captain, should we kill this big guy? I want to eat whale meat."
Burgess, that guy, had once again begun his usual routine of courting death.
(End of Chapter)
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