The waves crashed against the hull of the ship.
Yujin, the pirate, felt the sea breeze brush against him like the gentle touch of an eighteen-year-old college girl and stretched lazily.
The warship he was on had already left the Calm Belt and was now near the Red Line in the middle of the Grand Line.
Ivankov climbed out of the cabin and, seeing Yujin, asked, "Hopeless romantic, where are you headed again?"
"To Skypiea."
Ivankov scratched his afro. "Oh? Skypiea? Are you sure this island even exists?"
"Of course."
"Do you know exactly where it is?"
Yujin thought for a moment. "Not really. Maybe near Alabasta, maybe near Water 7. I'm not exactly sure. But it should be somewhere in the Grand Line."
Ivankov frowned. "Are you saying there's an island called Skypiea in these places? How come I've never heard of it?"
Yujin patiently explained, "Because it's called Skypiea—it's an island in the sky."
"Ah! There's such a place? So it's your dream destination?"
"Well… not exactly. I mean, I need to go there to find a Devil Fruit."
To make it sound dramatic, he covered his face and cried, "With that fruit, I can face the Celestial Dragons head-on and rescue my beloved Kaori."
But in his heart, he thought, If I could get the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, I could just strike down Mariejois itself! Kaori? Who's that? Never heard of her!
His fake crying made the crew on the ship tear up as well, and they couldn't stop.
After more than ten minutes, Yujin could barely hold back a smile and continued, "But I should go to Reverse Mountain first, right?"
"No need. No need. We have a Navy-powered warship, and the bottom of the ship is reinforced with strong Seastone. We can take the Navy channels and leave the Grand Line passing through the Calm Belt."
Just as Ivankov finished speaking, Inazuma walked out of the cabin holding a glass of red wine and interrupted, "No, we can't. Our ship is already marked as wanted. If we rush into the Calm Belt, the Navy will be waiting for us in force."
He pulled out a standard Navy Den Den Mushi. "I heard the Navy is moving in large numbers toward the Impel Down, forming a blockade. If we want to avoid them, it's better to head to the Sabaody Archipelago first and bypass these approaching Navy forces."
"And also, Captain…" Inazuma sighed.
Although reluctant, he still spoke out, "Regarding the organization recently…"
Ivankov nodded.
"I understand," he said.
Then Ivankov turned to Yujin.
"Lover-boy," he said. "We're heading to the New World to support our organization's headquarters. I'm sorry, we can't go with you."
"It's okay," Yujin replied.
"Pirates always go to the New World. Who goes the other way? I understand~"
He thought for a moment.
"If you're going to the Sabaody Archipelago, then I'll go there too. I need to get a ship."
Ivankov gave a thumbs-up.
"Leave that to me! I know some shipwrights. I can get you a ship you'll be satisfied with!"
As the three of them spoke, a few seagulls flew by.
Yujin looked up.
With his Sharingan, he noticed something attached to the seagulls' legs and grew suspicious.
"Could these things reveal our location?! Should we shoot them down?"
Ivankov hurriedly stopped him.
"Absolutely not! These are carrier pigeons, a neutral third-party service outside the Navy and pirates. Both sides rely on them heavily. They're used for delivering news and for rescue operations after sea accidents. These birds are very important."
"I understand," Yujin said.
At that moment, the largest seagull in the flock dove toward the warship.
It landed on the railing, right in front of Yujin, and used its feet to pull out a stack of newspapers from the cloth bundle it carried.
"Squawk! Squawk!"
The seagull cried.
Yujin turned around, puzzled.
"What does it mean?"
Inazuma explained, "It's trying to sell us something. It wants us to buy its newspapers."
"Hey! Birds like this exist?" Yujin thought, raising a hand as if he was about to swat it down and make soup.
Just then, Inazuma shouted in surprise.
"Wait! That doesn't look like ordinary newspaper… this is—"
He stepped forward, trying to grab what the seagull was holding.
But the bird squawked twice and took off, flying in circles without leaving.
Its meaning was clear.
Pay up.
Inazuma finally dug into his pocket and threw some bills.
The seagull caught them skillfully.
"Squawk! Squawk!" it cried, dropping the papers it held.
The ship's crew, including the Okama members, quickly picked up the papers.
They looked at them in shock.
"This… this is…!"
Ivankov picked up one of the papers, and when he saw what was written on it, he was dumbfounded.
This wasn't a newspaper.
This was… Yujin's bounty notice!
"Three hundred million Berries."
Even Inazuma couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the number.
Because even a rising star of the new generation rarely had a bounty exceeding a hundred million, let alone three hundred million.
Yujin stared at his own bounty for a long moment before he could even react.
If he remembered correctly, Luffy's bounty only reached three hundred million after defeating Buggy, Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates, Pirate Fleet Admiral Krieg, and the Fish-Man Arlong, and then going through the Alabasta incident, defeating the Warlord Crocodile, causing chaos in Enies Lobby, challenging the World Government, defeating CP9, and rescuing Robin.
Even after participating in the Marineford War, Luffy's bounty had only risen to four hundred million.
Yujin muttered to himself, "How is it that just breaking out of a prison is worth as much as all those other guys' dozens of 'bad deeds'?"
Ivankov, ever experienced and knowledgeable, frowned. "You fool, you need to be careful. The World Government will surely see you as the ringleader of this prison break. You're a prime target, and they will expend every effort to capture you!"
Inazuma also looked worried. "I've never seen anything like this. Heading out to sea with a three hundred million bounty means not just the Marines will give you trouble—pirates and bounty hunters will also target you. No one knows exactly what you did or how your bounty got this high."
Ivankov quickly tried to reassure Yujin, worried that he might panic. "Don't let it get to you. We all have bounties. Yours is just higher. As long as you stay careful, nothing will happen. Besides, you're strong and you can fly—there aren't many people in this sea who can catch you!"
"Understood."
Yujin silently rolled up his bounty notice and put it away. Seeing the worried expressions on Ivankov and Inazuma's faces, he spoke calmly:
"It's fine. I'll take one for now, but soon… my bounty notices will keep rising until they cover an entire wall!"
"Uh…"
Ivankov and Inazuma exchanged a glance, feeling that they had probably been worrying for nothing.
****
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