Five days had passed since they set sail. They followed no fixed route. Unlike Roger, who always had his own goals, what they wanted was to sail freely across the sea however they pleased.
Still, to keep from getting lost, they had managed to pick up a Log Pose along the way.
In those five days, news of the battle between Shirakawa and Kuzan had already spread across the entire world.
Silver Pirate Crew Captain Adolf K. Shirakawa had clashed with Navy Vice Admiral Kuzan, the Logia-type Ice-Ice Fruit user, in a certain stretch of the Grand Line. The fight had been fierce and intense, with neither side claiming clear victory. In the end the Navy had withdrawn, bringing the battle to a close.
After that, Shirakawa's bounty shot straight up to four hundred million berries. Even the bounties on his crew members had risen.
Two-Sword Style swordsman Ural Jora: one hundred seventy million berries.
Zoan-type Lizard Fruit user Riddle: one hundred eighty million berries.
"Why is your bounty higher than mine?"
The moment Jora saw the wanted posters, he was clearly unhappy. What gave Riddle the right to have a higher bounty than him?
"Maybe it's because he's stronger than you."
Riddle answered with a smug grin. He respected Shirakawa, but that respect was reserved strictly for the captain. As far as Jora was concerned, the two of them were on the same level.
In front of Shirakawa, Riddle kept his true nature tightly reined in and moved carefully. With Jora, however, it was completely different. The pair were always roughhousing and bickering.
And Jora had finally found someone he could spar with regularly.
Watching the two of them quarrel noisily, Shirakawa's face softened into a gentle, fatherly smile. If this ship had only him and Jora on board, the atmosphere would have been unbearable.
Neither of them was the talkative type. They might have gone an entire day exchanging fewer than ten sentences.
Jora's life now consisted of nothing but training. He wanted to become stronger, but that kind of growth took time to accumulate.
Shirakawa acknowledged that Jora's talent was genuinely good, yet he figured it would still take the swordsman at least five years to reach the rank of great swordsman. After all, not everyone possessed the same monstrous talent as Shirakawa himself.
Naturally, news of Shirakawa's new bounty reached everyone who already knew him.
"This kid has really grown up."
That was Roger's exact reaction. When he first saw the four-hundred-million-berry wanted poster, he had been genuinely shocked. He had never expected Shirakawa to improve at such a terrifying speed.
The poster even stated that he had already become a great swordsman. That level of strength was enough to earn him a name inside Roger's own crew.
"Still, I never thought he could fight the ice guy to a draw."
That came from Rayleigh. As a pirate crew that frequently tangled with the Navy, they were all too familiar with Kuzan—the young man who always followed close behind Garp.
Some of their own crew members had crossed blades with Kuzan several times before.
Shanks was overjoyed when he saw Shirakawa's wanted poster. For a while now there had been no word from Shirakawa, and they had all been worried. Now everything was fine. When Shanks learned the bounty had reached four hundred million berries, he grew so excited it looked as though the bounty were his own.
"What's wrong, Buggy? Aren't you happy?"
Shanks glanced at Buggy, who was sulking off to one side.
"Hmph. I'm just feeling a little nostalgic about when Shirakawa first joined the ship."
Buggy's memories drifted back to their very first fight. Back then the two of them had been evenly matched, neither able to gain the upper hand. But now? Even with his Devil Fruit powers, Buggy knew he would be instantly crushed if he faced Shirakawa.
"Yeah… back when he first came aboard I could still beat him, but now I can only look up at him from below."
Shanks sighed as well. Shirakawa's rate of growth really was frightening.
Still, Shanks quickly recovered his usual cheer. He believed that one day he would reach Shirakawa's level and even surpass him. He trusted his own talent and his own hard work.
The scientists living on the small sky island of Visalia naturally saw the newspapers that the press had been hyping up.
"I can't believe he's still alive. He fell from the sky island and didn't die."
The tallest scientist held up the newspaper as he spoke. They had all assumed Shirakawa was dead, except for Harada. Although Harada had no idea how the boy had survived the fall, he also knew Shirakawa had found a way onto the island in the first place. If he could get up here, he could certainly get down.
"Looks like we need to move the construction of his house up the schedule."
They had been taking their time building Shirakawa's house because they thought he was dead. That would not do anymore. If he suddenly showed up one day, what then?
After all, he was now a four-hundred-million-berry pirate.
"Hey, what if the next time he comes we just hand him over to the Navy? We'd get four hundred million berries in research funding."
One scientist suggested it, but the idea was incredibly stupid.
"If you don't want to die, go ahead and try. Just don't drag me into it. I haven't lived long enough yet."
Harada shot back at the man.
Even though Shirakawa had been friendly and generous with money the last time he visited, their contact had been too brief. No one knew what kind of person he truly was. If he turned out to be a villain, they would all be finished.
They might be able to use some of their weather devices to attack him, but what if it did not work? His bounty was four hundred million berries. That was not a number an ordinary person could reach.
"I was only joking."
The scientist seemed to realize how dangerous his earlier words had been. One careless remark could end up dragging the entire island down with him. He would become the sinner of Little Sky Island Visalia.
"So what do we do about his house?"
Another scientist asked.
"Of course we build the best one possible. It has to satisfy him completely. Otherwise who knows what he might do."
"Mhm, mhm." The rest of the scientists nodded in agreement.
"I should never have taken his money in the first place. We wouldn't have all these problems now." One scientist sounded regretful.
"Well, what's done is done. We have no choice. Let's just hope he isn't the kind of person we're imagining."
They had already painted Shirakawa as some monstrous villain in their minds. Otherwise how could he possibly have such a high bounty?
These scientists had lived on the sky island for years. Their thoughts were relatively simple. To them, anyone with such an enormous bounty must have committed terrible crimes.
Even Harada, who had originally believed in Shirakawa, was starting to have doubts. He glanced at his own house and could not help shivering. Shirakawa's future house was going to be built right next to his. If anything went wrong, he would be the first one to suffer.
Meanwhile, Shirakawa, sailing on the blue sea below, had no idea what wild thoughts the sky-island scientists were entertaining. Even if he knew, he would not have cared. His bounty was already a fact, and from now on it would only climb higher, never lower.
/-\
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