Another month passed. During that month, fewer and fewer people came looking for trouble with the Silver Pirates, most likely due to the battle between Baichuan and the Golden Lion.
All in all, the Silver Pirates were now living quite freely in the South Blue, and they'd even taken on a new crew member—a longleg tribe member named Mute.
Baichuan had discovered Mute on an ordinary island. Because his legs had been longer than a normal person's since childhood, he'd constantly faced discrimination from the local residents.
Baichuan figured Mute must have been abandoned by his parents or trafficked there, since there wasn't a single other longleg tribe member on that island.
Having had to fend for himself on the streets from a young age, Mute had picked up a set of impressive skills. Ordinary people were no match for him, and he could run remarkably fast.
He was perfectly suited to handling chores aboard the Silver Pirates' ship, especially now that Riddle's strength had grown considerable and he couldn't be stuck doing menial tasks forever.
"Captain, when are we heading to the Grand Line?"
One day, Jora grumbled to Baichuan. The four seas no longer held anything that could draw their interest, and the Silver Pirates' crew simply couldn't get any real training there.
This was especially true for people like Jora and Yuristin—they needed constant battle against powerful opponents to gradually improve their strength.
The same went for Kurokam. His power was already top-tier in the four seas; only by going to the Grand Line and fighting the strong could he progress further.
"Do you all want to go?"
Baichuan swept his gaze across his crew's expressions. Every one of them wore a look of longing, and those who had joined in the four seas yearned for the Grand Line even more intensely.
All the crew nodded in unison.
"Alright. We set sail for the Grand Line right now."
"Awesome! Finally, everything I've learned will be put to use."
The happiest of them all was More. All that navigation knowledge he'd studied was useless in the four seas; only on the Grand Line could he truly prove his worth.
"Haha, you little rascal."
Kurokam ruffled More's hair, equally excited himself. At last, he was going to witness that world belonging to the truly strong.
Honestly, the person he most wanted to see right now was Whitebeard. Baichuan's description of Whitebeard the last time had left a deep impression on him.
Once the decision was made, the Silver Pirates sprang into action. The reason Baichuan had returned from the Grand Line last time wasn't just to evade the Marines' pursuit—it was also to recruit promising comrades. And look, hadn't he just recruited Kurokam? With him aboard, a huge weight had been lifted off Baichuan's shoulders.
Since they weren't far from Reverse Mountain at the moment, it took them only two days of sailing to reach the town in the South Blue closest to the mountain.
This town was called Bolo Town. The island was said to be a place brimming with pineapples—every variety of pineapple imaginable could be found there.
"Alright, let's go ashore and buy some supplies, then we head for the Grand Line."
"Aye!"
The Silver Pirates disembarked. Though they didn't cause much of a stir, they could all sense they were being secretly watched.
"Are they heading for the Grand Line or one of the other two seas?"
The Marines made all sorts of guesses about Baichuan and his crew's next move. If they were going to the Grand Line, that would actually be a good thing—it would take some pressure off the Marines stationed in the four seas.
Soon, everyone returned with huge bundles strapped to their backs. Since they hadn't stirred up any trouble on the island, they made it back fast.
"Set sail! Destination: the Grand Line."
"Aye, Captain!"
Sailing across the calm sea, each of them carried grand ambitions in their hearts. Everyone who set out for the Grand Line had a dream they wanted to fulfill.
Halfway through their voyage, the News Coos in the sky suddenly multiplied.
"What kind of huge event happened? All of a sudden there are this many News Coos, and newspapers are just dropping like they're free."
Yuristin said, somewhat astonished. He had never seen such a scene before.
Baichuan was equally curious. Even when overlords of the New World fought each other, or when the Marines captured a great pirate, they'd never made such a massive fanfare out of it.
Suddenly, a newspaper drifted right in front of Baichuan. With a wave of his hand, he snatched it.
"Captain, what's the big news?"
The crew crowded around, intensely curious.
Baichuan's expression shifted abruptly the moment he saw the headline printed in the paper. Then he handed it to Jora.
"Already reached this point…" Baichuan thought to himself. He hadn't expected it to come this soon.
"The Roger Pirates have successfully completed their navigation of the Grand Line and reached the final island of the New World, Laugh Tale."
Jora read the words on the paper aloud, one by one. As he finished, everyone fell into shock, because no one had ever reached such a place since the World Government was founded so many years ago.
"Dammit! Who leaked this news?!"
At Marine Headquarters, Fleet Admiral Kong slammed his fist against the table, splitting the long conference table clean in two from end to end.
The Marines in the meeting room had already sunk into silence.
Fleet Admiral Kong was at the peak of his fury right now. No one dared to touch his temper; nobody wanted to walk straight into the firing line.
"It must be that bastard Morgans. After all, nothing stirs in the New World without him catching wind of it."
The one who spoke was Admiral Sengoku. In a situation like this, the only ones with the nerve to speak were Sengoku and Garp.
Morgans was the president of the World Economy News Paper, or you could say the boss of these News Coos. He possessed a well-connected intelligence network spanning the entire world.
"Morgans again."
Kong gripped the newspaper tightly in his hand. The content it reported was the undeniable fact that Roger had conquered the Grand Line.
The Marines could be said to hate Morgans to the bone, because every piece of news they intended to cover up would be mercilessly exposed by him.
But as one of the emperors of the underworld, moving against Morgans would entangle far too many pros and cons.
"As expected of Roger… he actually found Laugh Tale."
Aboard the Whitebeard Pirates' ship, watching the news about Roger, Whitebeard grew genuinely excited. It had been a long time since he'd heard news that could thrill him.
"Pops, can this news really be true?" Marco said, somewhat unwilling to accept it. He'd never imagined the first person to set foot on Laugh Tale would not be his own father.
"If it's Roger, then the news is definitely real."
"What's even more outrageous is that they're calling Roger the Pirate King."
"Pirate King? Hahahaha! That title is well-deserved for Roger."
Glug, glug. Whitebeard raised his bottle and downed two big gulps of liquor.
"I'm in a good mood today! Sons, let's throw a feast!" Whitebeard bellowed.
/-\
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