In the end, when the drinking reached its peak, the members of both crews had gotten completely familiar with each other. They threw their arms around each other's shoulders, singing and dancing, and it was almost an entire day before they finally settled down.
Even the centipede hiding in the cave that day felt puzzled. What was going on? Why hadn't those people come today? Had they all left? Because of that, it even sneaked out for a moment to take a careful look.
Well, as the saying goes, it didn't know until it saw, and seeing it gave it a real fright. Not only had those people not left, but another group had arrived, and the new group seemed even stronger than the original one.
It could already imagine just how miserable its life was going to be from now on. Truly, one wave had barely settled before another one rose.
"Perfect. If you're not in a hurry, stay here for a few days."
The next day, Shirakawa said to Jabba.
"What's up?" Jabba asked him.
"I'm going to train my crew, right? You guys can serve as their sparring partners and also point out their shortcomings."
"You little brat." Hearing Shirakawa's words, Jabba let out a wry laugh. Was he treating him as free labor?
"But I don't have the final say on this. I still need the others' agreement."
"Don't worry, they should give me this much face."
After that, Shirakawa left Jabba and went to make his request to the other members. Although the process was a bit bumpy, the result was satisfying—everyone agreed to stay and help the Silver Pirates.
After all, if they went home now, they would only bring extra trouble to the people of their hometowns. A village having a former crew member of the Pirate King return was not a good thing; it might even bring harm to the entire village.
Of course, in the end, Shirakawa shared this good news with his own crew, and they were all incredibly excited. These people were crew members of the Pirate King, after all.
They were practically the goal of every pirate out there.
"Right, I should warn you, you all need to be careful during this time."
At that moment, Jabba's expression suddenly turned very serious, and his tone became extremely solemn.
"I know." When the topic came up, Shirakawa also dropped his joking manner.
Recently, the Marines were certain to carry out a massive manhunt for the members of the Roger Pirates. And Shirakawa, being the pirate who had been making the biggest waves recently, and also a former member of the Roger Pirates—
those two identities would definitely make him a priority target for the Marines. He might even receive some special attention from them.
"If you ever run into any trouble in the future, don't forget to let me know. I'll definitely help however I can."
"Don't worry. I'll try my best not to trouble you retired folks."
Shirakawa chuckled lightly.
"I knew you'd say that."
Jabba poked Shirakawa lightly.
After that, the members of the Roger Pirates began training the members of the Silver Pirates.
Lisa studied medical knowledge together with Crocus. After all, as the ship's doctor who had journeyed through the entire New World, Crocus knew far, far more than Lisa did. Studying with Crocus, Lisa could be said to benefit immeasurably.
The person Jabba trained was mainly Abro, since both of them used axes as their weapons.
Seagull was mainly in charge of Salar, because Seagull also used a blade as his weapon. Although it wasn't a kitchen knife, there were still some things in common.
Jorah was mainly handed over to Shirakawa to take charge of. After all, the only person here who knew Jorah best was Shirakawa, and he knew exactly where Jorah was lacking.
As for the other members, there were also suitable people to teach them; there was no need to worry at all.
Even Shanks and Buggy joined the training—though, of course, the two of them were the ones being trained.
In his spare time, Shirakawa would have heart-to-heart chats with Jabba, ask him about various navigational matters, and listen to all the interesting things they had experienced after Shirakawa had left.
He would also occasionally catch up with Buggy and Shanks to keep their bond alive. Even though Shirakawa no longer needed to cling to the thighs of the future Four Emperors and Seven Warlords of the Sea, these two were still his first friends after arriving in this world. Shirakawa really didn't want their relationship to grow distant.
Time passed quickly. The Roger Pirates, who had stayed here for two months, were now preparing to leave. They had no choice but to leave.
Their whereabouts had been reported to the Marines by passing travelers. With members of the Roger Pirates lingering on this island, warships could be seen passing before them every now and then these past two days; it seemed they were being observed.
Kurokamu, who loved to challenge the strong, also had a fight with Jabba. The result was very clear: although Kurokamu's strength was great, he was still no match for Jabba.
After hearing that Kurokamu's goal was to challenge Whitebeard, Jabba deeply admired his courage and passed on his own unique secret technique to him. Of course, this was partly for Shirakawa's sake and partly to pass on his own legacy.
"Berserk"—that was the name of Jabba's secret technique. You could tell what kind of move it was from the name alone.
When this technique was activated, a blood-red aura would radiate from all over his body, and his eyes would turn completely crimson, giving off an extremely dangerous feeling.
Shirakawa speculated that the reason Jabba always wore sunglasses was because he had used Berserk too many times, causing a permanent red-eye condition that wouldn't go back.
When Jabba used Berserk during Kurokamu's special training, even Shirakawa, who was watching from the side, felt a sense of danger.
Shirakawa felt that if he fought Jabba in that state, he definitely wouldn't last a hundred moves.
Jabba had also wanted to teach this secret technique to Shirakawa, but he refused. He believed that he could stand at the top of the world without needing such a technique.
Shirakawa felt that this move was similar to the demonic aura that Bullet used; both greatly amplified the user's own power. It was just that one looked red, and the other looked black.
As for their departure, the members of the Silver Pirates expressed great reluctance.
"Why don't you all join our pirate crew instead?"
At that moment, Mol suddenly said to them.
Hearing these shocking words, both sides instantly fell into complete silence.
"Mol, you little brat, you really dare to say anything, huh?" Shirakawa said to Mol.
"Kid, it's only because you're still young. If you were a bit older, I'd have to teach you a lesson," Jabba also said to Mol.
"I understand what you meant by saying that, but you need to know that not everything should be said out loud," Jabba continued, educating Mol.
"I understand."
Mol's tone was a bit dejected. He had just grown too attached to them and couldn't bear to see them go.
"Alright, let's part ways here. Until we meet again by fate."
The members of the Silver Pirates watched them board their ship.
"Until we meet again by fate."
Both sides waved to each other, and then they departed.
"This really hasn't been a wasted period of training." The Silver Pirates' combat strength had improved enormously over these few months, and the centipede in the cave was now completely tamed by them.
"Let's get ready to leave too. We've spent quite a while here," Shirakawa said to his crew.
Come to think of it, in this chapter I've decided to revert Jabba's weapon to the original version, since this character's chances of appearing later are very low anyway.
/-\
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