Far away from Little Garden, the White Dragon sailed peacefully through the vast, open ocean.
For the first time in what felt like forever, Bardock wasn't training. He wasn't steering the ship, either. He was simply sitting on the deck, fishing.
Whenever he found himself in these rare moments of total, absolute quiet, he couldn't help but genuinely admire Dracule Mihawk. To possess no crewmates, to sail on a tiny coffin-shaped raft, and to drift completely alone across the boundless, empty sea—it required a truly terrifying level of mental fortitude to endure that kind of absolute isolation.
Coo! Coo!
The sharp cry of a seagull broke his train of thought. Bardock looked up to see a News Coo circling the ship.
Moments later, Robin walked over, holding a freshly purchased stack of newspapers. "Bardock. There's news about Moria."
"Oh? What did that lazy bat do this time?" Bardock asked, taking the paper and glancing at the front page. "Ah. He officially became one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea."
The Seven Warlords of the Sea (Shichibukai) was a system devised by the World Government to combat the endlessly rising tide of the Great Pirate Era. By pardoning seven exceptionally powerful or infamous pirates and officially allying with them, the Government effectively used pirates to fight pirates.
Only individuals with massive global infamy or overwhelming personal strength—capable of terrifying other pirates into submission—were selected. Having survived the New World and clashed with Kaido, Moria easily met the criteria.
'Honestly, this system is ridiculously flawed if you think about it practically,' Bardock mused internally. 'If the World Government just funneled all the time, resources, and political capital they waste on managing the Warlords into the Marine budget, they'd be far better off. The Marines are currently stacked with talent. The older generation like Garp and Sengoku are still in their prime, and the middle generation—the three Logia Monster Vice Admirals—are currently peaking in combat power.'
'Perhaps it's precisely because the Marines are so terrifyingly strong that the World Government deliberately restricts their funding. They need the Warlords to maintain the balance of power, ensuring the Marines don't become strong enough to challenge the Celestial Dragons themselves.'
With Moria's appointment, the Warlord roster was starting to take its canonical shape. Boa Hancock would likely be offered a position this year. A few years down the line, Doflamingo would hijack the Heavenly Tribute to blackmail his way in, and Jinbe would accept the title after Fisher Tiger's death. Combined with Crocodile (who was already a Warlord) and Mihawk, the next few years would be the absolute peak of the Warlords' global infamy.
But in Bardock's eyes, the only truly 'useful' Warlord to the Government wouldn't join until Bartholomew Kuma signed the contract. Kuma was the ultimate employee: he relentlessly carried out the World Government's orders without complaint, while simultaneously finding the time to secretly sabotage them and assist the Revolutionary Army.
Flipping past Moria's headline, another article caught Bardock's eye. Fisher Tiger and the Sun Pirates spotted rampaging in the Grand Line.
"Bardock, do you know the Fish-Man hero, Fisher Tiger?" Robin asked, noticing how intensely he was staring at the article.
"I don't know him personally, but I deeply admire him," Bardock replied. "To scale the Red Line with his bare hands, completely alone, infiltrate the holy land of Mary Geoise, and successfully liberate thousands of slaves... he is a true, undisputed hero. It's a damn shame."
Bardock sighed heavily, folding the newspaper.
"A shame?" Robin tilted her head, confused by the abrupt shift in tone.
"Yeah. What Tiger did was the ultimate provocation against the Celestial Dragons. The World Government will absolutely never let him go," Bardock explained grimly. "Now that he's openly sailing the Grand Line and making headlines, the Marines will relentlessly hunt him down. If he stays in Paradise, it's only a matter of time before they corner him. He really should have fled straight to the New World; the Government's influence is weakest there."
If Bardock recalled correctly, Tiger was destined to be ambushed by Vice Admiral Strawberry's fleet within the next year or two, eventually bleeding to death after refusing human blood.
"Provoking the Celestial Dragons. Hunted relentlessly by the World Government. Fleeing through the Grand Line. His situation sounds eerily similar to mine," Robin murmured, a shadow falling over her eyes. Her only real advantage was that the World Government hadn't realized she had entered the Grand Line yet.
"Hahaha! Don't worry, Robin. Compared to Tiger, our target profile is incredibly small!" Bardock quickly reassured her, realizing he had accidentally triggered her anxiety. "To capture Tiger, the Marines have to deploy a Vice Admiral at minimum. To capture you... well, until we make a massive name for ourselves, they'll probably only send a Captain or a Commodore at best. We can handle that easily."
"Achoo! I suppose you're right," Robin sniffled, quickly shaking off her gloom. She had survived far too much to let a little anxiety paralyze her. "For the sake of Ohara, I have to survive and uncover the Void Century."
She rubbed her arms. "The air is getting incredibly cold. It seems we're almost at Drum Island."
"Yeah. Tell the others to bundle up. Drum Island is a Winter Island. The temperatures are going to drop well below freezing," Bardock said, standing up and packing his fishing gear.
"Understood."
Robin immediately sprouted hands across the ship, relaying the warning to the rest of the crew to put on their heavy winter coats. As she turned back, she glanced down at Bardock's fishing bucket. She quickly covered her mouth, trying desperately to muffle a giggle. No wonder he had packed up so fast—the bucket was completely empty. He hadn't caught a single thing all day.
Drum Island was globally renowned as a medical powerhouse. Even from a distance, the island was defined by its massive, drum-shaped, snow-capped mountains.
It was also the birthplace of Tony Tony Chopper.
'I wonder if Chopper has eaten the Human-Human Fruit yet?' Bardock wondered as the White Dragon smoothly docked at the snowy port.
Since they weren't flying a Jolly Roger, the crew's arrival didn't cause any panic or attract unwanted attention from the local authorities.
"Bardock... do I really have to leave my ghosts here to watch the ship again?" Perona asked, shivering slightly despite her thick winter coat. She looked genuinely miserable. "Constantly maintaining the vision of the ghosts while exploring the island gives me a horrible headache. It feels like my brain is being split in half."
"Ah. Sorry, Perona. I got so used to relying on your ghosts for security that I completely overlooked the mental strain it puts on you," Bardock apologized sincerely. "Don't worry about it. I'll just leave a passive field of Observation Haki focused on the ship. You can recall your ghosts."
He patted her shoulder. "To make up for working you so hard, I actually have a pouch of high-quality gemstones I looted back in the West Blue. I'll give them to you when we get back. Didn't you say you wanted to bedazzle your crown?"
He genuinely felt bad. He couldn't just treat Perona like a 24/7 security camera just because her Devil Fruit was convenient.
"I don't need the gemstones," Perona mumbled, looking away. "It's not that I'm unwilling to help the crew... it's just really exhausting to see out of multiple pairs of eyes at the same time."
"I know. And if something is bothering you, you need to tell me immediately. We're a crew; we solve problems together," Bardock smiled warmly. "And you're definitely taking the gemstones. They're just gathering dust in my storage anyway."
"Bardock, do you have any specific goals for Drum Island?" Robin interjected, smoothly changing the subject to ease the slight awkwardness.
"My primary goal is to meet a certain 'Witch' who lives here," Bardock listed off his fingers. "My secondary goal is to see if I can find a specific reindeer with a blue nose. And my tertiary goal is to take a look at the current King of this country."
The crew stared at him in complete bewilderment.
"A witch?" "A reindeer?" "The King?"
"I'll explain everything later," Bardock laughed, rubbing his stomach. "Right now, I'm starving. Let's go find a warm tavern, eat a massive meal, and gather some local intel. Then we can start hunting down our targets. Let's go!"
Bardock easily spotted a bustling tavern near the port and led his crew inside.
As they walked through the snowy town, Bardock noticed that Drum Island was actually incredibly prosperous and lively. Listening to the chatter of the locals, he quickly realized that King Wapol hadn't enacted his insane 'Isshi-20' (Doctor 20) policy yet.
Currently, Drum Island was still a thriving medical utopia. The streets were filled with hundreds of highly skilled doctors, bustling clinics, and countless foreign patients and tourists seeking medical treatment. The economy was booming.
'The Kings in the One Piece world are always so extreme,' Bardock thought, shaking his head. 'They're either pure-hearted saints like King Cobra, or absolute, irredeemable scumbags like Wapol.'
Wapol was the epitome of incompetence and cruelty. Did he ever actually stop to think about how utterly brain-dead his plan was? Exiling every single doctor in the country just to hoard the final twenty for himself? By doing so, he single-handedly destroyed his nation's greatest export, alienated his entire population, and completely ruined Drum Island's global reputation. It was a masterclass in how to instantly destroy a prosperous kingdom.