OPTC Chapter 347: Departure, Reverse Mountain
Perona answered, "Originally, after beating him up, I planned to drag him straight to the Marine base. But halfway there, a girl with bright red rooster-comb hair suddenly jumped out and attacked me. Luckily, Wendy reacted fast and took her down in one move."
The girl didn't want to watch Bartolomeo being taken away, so she launched a surprise attack on Perona. But Wendy knocked her out instantly. Bartolomeo also couldn't stand seeing his childhood friend get hit, so he tried to fight back. And it turned into that classic scene where both sides want to save each other, but in the end, neither manages to escape.
The girl with the red rooster-comb hair was Dezaya, Bartolomeo's childhood friend. The two had apparently done countless stupid things together since childhood. This time's attempt to steal candy was probably one of them—this was the conclusion Carla reached after observing the way they interacted.
Ye Yan stroked his chin and said, "Now that you put it that way, we really do look like the villains who bully the male and female leads in a story. Be careful or they might come back for revenge later."
Zhang Da Ye laughed. "Ha, you kind of have a point."
"How are we the villains here? He tried to steal from us!" Perona protested. "Besides, the Marines said he's not a good person. He won't be getting out anytime soon."
"So he's locked up." Zhang Da Ye had actually been thinking, if Bartolomeo hadn't been arrested, he might've dropped off a small gift to his house. But now he wondered—had Perona's personality changed? After catching someone, she actually handed them over to the Marines.
Carla looked at him. "Why do you look disappointed? Don't tell me you still want revenge? That guy's already been beaten into a pig head by Perona. And after Wendy softened a bit and helped reduce the swelling, Perona beat him again. Isn't that enough? If it weren't for his very recognizable hairstyle, the Marines wouldn't even know who he was."
Zhang Da Ye suddenly understood. "Oh, so that's possible! Perona is a genius. Next time we meet scumbags, we can beat them half-dead, heal them, then beat them half-dead again. Repeat until Wendy runs out of magic."
Wendy showed a troubled expression. "That sounds wrong…"
But Perona was thrilled—rare praise from Zhang Da Ye meant she'd be eating an extra bowl of rice tonight.
At that moment, Rui Meng Meng came out of the cabin. "Everything's sorted, boss. But ten sausages are missing, and the apples weigh less than they should."
Zhang Da Ye pointed to the side. "It'll be even less by tomorrow. Let's buy more before we leave."
Rui Meng Meng turned to look. Tom was lying back on a beach chair with a sausage under his nose, slowly sniffing from one end to the other before chopping it into pieces with his teeth and chewing happily.
"…Alright then." Rui Meng Meng had long grown used to this.
"Shark Chili hasn't come back yet?" Zhang Da Ye asked.
Rui Meng Meng replied, "He came back once. He brought some shipworkers and checked the Amber thoroughly from inside to outside, then left again. He said he wanted to buy something and would return later."
Probably investigating toothpaste and toothbrushes again—that was Shark Chili's routine. Zhang Da Ye continued, "Did any pirates come by? A loud group carrying three really good swords?"
"Several groups came," Rui Meng Meng said. "But we knocked them out before they could say anything. Don't know if they were loud. They're all stacked on that ship. The earlier ones have already been taken away by the Marines. The rest will be picked up soon, along with the bounty payment."
"Alright. I'll take a look. How many captains have we collected?" Zhang Da Ye asked. There were twenty pirate ships anchored here—he wondered how many had returned into their trap.
Rui Meng Meng thought for a moment. "Eighteen. Two still haven't come back. Something this big must've reached them already."
"No matter. Whether Ye Yan keeps the lantern lit or not, they'll probably sneak back at night to steal their ship. We'll likely complete the set then."
Zhang Da Ye found the three swords on the pirate ship. As for the treasure and Berries, the Flags had already searched everything and brought it back to the Amber. They'd gotten so good at this that Zhang Da Ye worried they might drift toward the wrong career path.
"I'm going to deliver something. Anyone want to come along?" he asked.
Tom was busy tinkering with the ice cream machine with Carla and the little girls. Ingredients were already prepared.
Artoria, in this case, was counted among the little girls.
Brook didn't want to go out. For someone who used to be a pirate, the execution platform was probably the only interesting thing in Loguetown—but the great pirate senior Brook had no interest in a place where a rookie pirate was executed.
If he really went, he'd probably feel like a dark-haired man watching another dark-haired man's funeral.
In the end, Ye Yan and Rui Meng Meng went with Zhang Da Ye.
Ye Yan wanted inspiration; Rui Meng Meng needed more supplies because Tom would inevitably steal food anyway.
Zhang Da Ye brought the three swords to Ipponmatsu's weapon shop. The old man was overjoyed—selling new swords and buying old ones back was basically the equivalent of earning a fortune for free. Time to drink something good tonight.
But he wouldn't be happy for long. The pirates visiting Loguetown had almost all been wiped out by the Amber Travel Crew.
Once news spread, Loguetown would be quiet for a long time. Hopefully Ipponmatsu's mood would still hold up.
After delivering the swords, Zhang Da Ye went looking for the mail courier, but after searching all over, he ended up at the Marine base again. The guns were expensive—better to trust the Marines to send them.
Colonel Last patted his chest. "No problem. The Third Patrol Unit has a route near that area anyway. We'll deliver them along the way. You can count on us."
His adjutant wanted to speak, but Last shot him a warning look.
The adjutant probably wanted to say that the area belonged to Branch 16 and Branch 77, not Loguetown's jurisdiction. But Last thought: as long as Zhang Da Ye doesn't ask to eat here, everything is easy. Delivering something under the name of patrol duty could count as a military exercise.
"Boss Da Ye, you guys are here?" Shark Chili walked in carrying a big bag in his left hand and a pirate captain in his right.
"Shark Chili?" Zhang Da Ye was confused—until he saw the guy he was carrying. So buying toothpaste now came with a free pirate captain?
…
It wasn't surprising that Shark Chili picked up a pirate while out shopping. The last remaining pirate group really was exactly as Zhang Da Ye expected—they couldn't bear to abandon their ship and planned to sneak back at night to escape.
When they reached the pier, the Amber Travel Crew's spot was completely dark. The pirate captain happily climbed aboard his ship with his men, whispering, "Not even a night guard. So this terrifying Amber Travel Crew is only this level."
A clever crewman whispered, "Boss, should we burn their ship? If we burn them to death we'll instantly become famous!"
"Idiot!" the captain smacked him. He was just venting; why would he actually want to provoke them? If they started a fire, regardless of whether the ship burned, those monsters would chop off their heads before the flames spread.
At that moment, a loud voice called out from the darkness: "Dry weather, beware of fire hazards!"
"Who? Who's yelling? What if you wake them?" the captain snapped. "Didn't I say keep quiet?"
GONG!
A gong sounded. Another voice said, "Captain, don't shout nonsense if you don't understand. This is the seaside—there's no dry weather here. If you're going to shout slogans, at this hour it should be 'close your doors, guard against thieves.'"
"Hey, well, someone just tried to burn our ship. I thought the line fit," Zhang Da Ye teased. "Their mood right now is probably like Boss Cao laughing three times in Huarong Road—complicated."
Ye Yan didn't bother correcting him. Nobody recited those outdated slogans anymore; night patrols only needed to know them for tradition's sake.
The pirates panicked. Their voices still worked, but their bodies couldn't move. The captain realized this strange power had to belong to the Amber Travel Crew.
"I surrender," he said miserably. His pirate career was full of ups and downs—mostly downs.
…
With the pirates handled, the Amber Travel Crew rested and played in Loguetown for three more days before preparing to set sail again.
Colonel Last had even mustered the courage to offer them a meal, but Zhang Da Ye declined. "You've got your hands full processing all those pirates. We'll just rest on our own and head out soon."
"This… I feel so ashamed. Truly poor hospitality," Last said, torn between guilt and gratitude.
He felt guilty because he was too stingy—hesitating this long just to treat them to one meal. And grateful because someone as strong as Zhang Da Ye was so considerate and understanding. He didn't realize Zhang Da Ye was actually avoiding their terrible cooking.
After three days of rest (eating, drinking, and playing), the Amber set sail. Under the gazes of Colonel Last and many Loguetown residents, the cat-faced flag slowly disappeared into the distance.
People's faces were full of gratitude and wistfulness. Thanks to the travel crew, Loguetown wouldn't be troubled by pirates for a while. But once they left, pirates would eventually return.
Of course, some people felt the exact opposite—like Ipponmatsu from the weapon shop.
He thought he'd profited when he bought back those three swords, but his plummeting sales over the past few days told him otherwise. Thanks to the Amber Travel Crew, he suffered a painful loss.
…
Sailing west from Loguetown, it wouldn't be long before the Red Line came into view. Following it would lead to the Reverse Mountain canal—the entrance to the Grand Line.
But this route had serious risks. The distance between the canal and the windless belt was extremely close. If they made a mistake, they could drift directly into the windless belt and end up staring at giant Sea Kings eye to eye.
And the currents around Reverse Mountain were bizarre. Aside from the canal entrance, every current would slam into the mountain wall and sink rapidly. A careless navigator or helmsman could doom the entire crew.
But the Amber Travel Crew didn't have to worry. Their navigator Shark Chili could dive underwater to observe the currents directly and use his body to guide their path.
They also had an excellent helmsman—Artoria, though at the moment she wasn't doing her job.
"Here, strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate." Artoria had mastered multiple flavors of ice cream and happily distributed them to Wendy, Carla, and Perona.
As for Tom and Artoria, of course, they wanted all flavors. Artoria never worried about stomachaches—she could single-handedly demolish an entire food district. Temperature and sweetness meant nothing to her.
Tom's stomach was… inconsistent. Sometimes he could swallow two ice creams at once without blinking. Sometimes a single lick made him shiver all over. But he insisted on eating ice cream wrapped in a blanket. Zhang Da Ye figured he couldn't die from it, so let him do whatever he wanted.
Perona, the clever troublemaker, had an idea to eat more ice cream. "It's fine! If I get a stomachache, Wendy can heal me!"
"Healing magic isn't for things like that," Zhang Da Ye said, flicking her forehead. "One per day. At most… if you exceed your training targets, you can have one extra."
"Hmph." Perona ran off, licking her ice cream while calculating the best strategy.
Her antics made Wendy start calculating too. She almost always exceeded her training goals. "Then today I'll eat strawberry and vanilla. Tomorrow strawberry and chocolate. I can share the vanilla with Carla, and tomorrow share the chocolate with Perona…"
Kind-hearted Wendy never ate good things alone—she always shared with her friends.
"This isn't the time for ice cream. Artoria, get to the helm! We'll crash into the mountain if no one steers!" Zhang Da Ye remembered how dangerous it was in the manga—when the Straw Hats entered the canal, the wheel couldn't be controlled, broke apart, and they had to rely on Luffy's balloon form to get through.
Artoria held two ice creams, torn. She really felt she could finish them first.
Zhang Da Ye placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed her to the helm. "I can eat the ice cream for you, but I can't steer in your place!"
Reverse Mountain was classified as a winter island. The air was getting colder…
A/N About Bartolomeo:
In the manga, the two events that caused people to hate him were "the arson and cannon incident targeting good citizens" and "the release of a skewer video involving pirates," but neither was explained in detail.
Coincidentally, when the Navy described the G-5 fortress, they mentioned that the rogue Marines there abused pirates—using needles to skewer them like bait or burning them as bonfires…
Meaning these two events might actually be one event. Bartolomeo probably released footage of Marines burning pirates for fun, which horribly damaged the Navy's reputation. Their way of handling it was likely pushing all blame onto him, giving him the title of "man-eating demon," causing his bounty to skyrocket.
The other incident, I couldn't find details about. But Oda might have done something with the phrase "good citizens." Maybe Bartolomeo saw nobles bullying people and burned down the nobles' houses.
And when you really add things up, the worst thing he ever did was become a gang boss. But in some countries, being a gang boss isn't even considered a crime.
If that's true, then I've wrongly judged him. His portrayal doesn't fully match the rumors.
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