"Great Beast Lord, why don't we go treasure hunting? Maybe the treasure contains what you're looking for?"
Olga held up the treasure map in her hand. Although it was a giveaway, she had compared it with the nautical chart after returning, and the location marked on it did indeed exist on an island in the New World.
Her intuition told her there was something good there, and she had always been confident in her instincts; after all, she survived in the belly of a giant lanternfish for so many years relying on them.
On the island, she perfectly avoided poisonous wild fruits, met the easygoing Elizabeth, escaped attacks from dinosaurs, and navigated around the corrosive tidal waves.
Besides, treasure hunting is also one of the main occupations of pirates, and she had a bit of interest in treasure hunting. However, she knew her own limitations; if she went out treasure hunting alone now, she'd only be a burden and create trouble for others.
Asking Kaidou wasn't an option. Kaidou would most likely agree to her request, since the intern is the group pet, but given Kaidou's personality, he would throw her into an independent training ground.
Shaina was out of the question as well. Such meaningless matters would be seen as a waste of time to her, and she might think Olga was too idle and drag her into more training.
After thinking it over, Arceus was the only one who might agree to the request.
And she wasn't speaking nonsense; Arceus's goal was to find the Plate, but he didn't know its location, so any island on the Sea could be his target.
With the Splash Plate in hand, the Sea became his domain, and there was no need to worry about encountering any trouble.
After a few more months passed without any results, since Olga had come up with a so-called treasure map, another trip wouldn't hurt. Who knows, maybe they'd really find something if luck was on their side.
Olga had made many annotations to the treasure map, essentially confirming the route and target.
"Treasure hunt... sounds good, let's try our luck and have Shaina prepare the ship. We'll set off tomorrow."
"Alright, Great Beast Lord, I'll go tell Sister Shaina right away!"
Arceus designated a new destination, and the corresponding personnel were ready to set out.
Meanwhile, Queen welcomed the first harvest season of bananas.
The bananas from Tropius were not ordinary bananas. With Queen's cultivation, these banana seedlings grew extremely rapidly, turning from seedlings into harvestable plants in just half a year.
The fruits hadn't fully matured yet, but Queen already knew that his cultivation had been successful.
Bananans are picked before they fully ripen, then allowed to mature off the plant; only those at the planting site can taste the flavor of fully matured bananas.
Queen had previously picked some to taste in advance. Although they didn't match the original version, their sweetness surpassed that of ordinary bananas.
Moreover, he was surprised to find that these bananas had a longer shelf life, which was undoubtedly a good thing. However, some problems still arose in his banana plantation.
Almost every inhabited island in the New World has its own overlord, but at the borders of different territories, there are often uninhabited islands forming boundary markers.
Queen chose one such island. Previously, he transported some defeated pirate captives here and established a banana plantation.
Compared to mining in the caves, working here planting bananas seemed easier; at least they could see the sun every day, so everyone competed to come here.
It's rare for someone to be born a pirate. Many pirates were just ordinary farmers, merchants, or fishermen before setting sail, driven by various reasons: the allure of desires or external pressures forcing them onto this path.
For some, planting bananas was simply returning to their roots.
But today, a battle erupted on this island, and the cause was these bananas.
...
This morning, the people on the island started caring for the bananas as usual. Dozens of members of the Hundred Beasts crew served as overseers.
This was originally an uninhabited tropical island, and Queen only cleared part of the land for farming. Therefore, only a few guarded the island. Normally, they didn't need to be on high alert, but recently, Queen discovered that several crates of bananas, which he had picked early to ripen, were missing.
This made him furious, so he ordered the pirates on the island to enhance the patrols.
At that moment, another pirate ship landed on the back of the island.
The pirate ship had a girlish vibe, adorned with many treats-like decorations. The design on the pirate flag featured a lipstick-wearing skull with crossed bones replaced by long candy-like sticks.
The BIG MOM Pirates, led by the eldest son of the Charlotte Family, Charlotte Perospero.
As the eldest son of the family, Perospero was carrying a heavy responsibility. Some time ago, as Big Mom's ship sailed near the island, Charlotte Linlin experienced an anorexia nervosa episode.
Linlin's anorexia is truly a matter of luck; if she doesn't get the food she desires, she'll continue to destroy. Last time, her episode targeted a banana mousse, forcing the BIG MOM Pirates to scour for ingredients.
Coincidentally, someone had taken those crates of bananas, and the pirates on the island were fast asleep, never expecting anyone to steal bananas.
And Charlotte Linlin was completely won over by the taste of the banana mousse, leading her children to plan on occupying the place, finding no other bananas satisfactory.
Last time they came at night, and the pirates didn't notice. This time, they appeared in broad daylight; when the plantation's pirates saw the BIG MOM crew, they were momentarily stunned.
"Who are you people!"
"Kukuku~, we've come to take over this island. From now on, this is our territory. As long as you pay enough bananas annually, you can borrow our flag."
Outside of the Tottland Kingdom, the occupied islands only borrow the flag, not requiring tribute of life spans. However, each quarter, they must provide sufficient offerings, or face destruction.
They might not be able to plant properly themselves, nor have enough manpower, so they let locals serve them instead.
Although Perospero spoke as if it was a negotiation, he was actually making an announcement.
"What a joke! Who do you think you are, kid? This place belong to the Hun..." Before he could finish, a large quantity of candy wrapped around him, muffling his voice.
"This is not a negotiation; it's an order, okay? Does anyone else have any objections?"
Suddenly, a threat came from the sky. Perospero transformed candy into a wall, blocking the attack from above, with seeds embedding themselves in his candy wall.
"So it was you guys who stole my bananas a few days ago, wasn't it?"