"By the way, now that you've all joined my pirate crew, haven't you felt anything… different?"
Walking down the street, Shirakawa suddenly tossed the question at his crew.
It had just occurred to him: he was a King, so why weren't his crew members his Clan?
"Not really, Captain. Why do you ask?" Jora replied, a little puzzled.
"Never mind."
Shirakawa brushed it off and sank into silence. The question of a King's Clan had popped into his head without warning. Logically, everyone who joined his crew should have become his Clan already. So how come there wasn't the slightest sign of that happening?
He rifled through the few remaining memories he had of K at lightning speed, but couldn't recall the method for turning an ordinary person into a clansman.
Could it be that I'm missing some kind of medium, or is there a completely different way to form a Clan?
"What's up with the Captain? Why's he suddenly wearing a face like he's constipated?"
Behind Shirakawa, Jora leaned in close to Yuristin and whispered.
"Who knows? Maybe the Captain just got stumped by something," Yuristin said. He had no idea what was going on either. Just a moment ago the Captain had been laughing and joking with them. One question later, he'd turned into this. Could he really be constipated?
"Captain, Captain! I've changed!"
Right then, Moore came running up to Shirakawa.
"Oh? Tell me, what kind of change?" Shirakawa's eyes lit up. Could Moore have become his clansman?
"Captain, after spending all this time on the ship, I've found that I've gotten a lot more resistant to getting beaten up."
Moore announced this proudly, a touch of pride in his voice. See? That still counts as a change, right?
"Get lost."
Shirakawa kicked him square in the backside, snuffing out every last flicker of hope that had just flared up.
"Hahahaha!" The whole group burst into merry laughter.
"What, did I say something wrong?" Rubbing his rear, Moore looked genuinely confused.
"By that logic, me getting stronger from all this time on the ship counts as a change too," Yuristin remarked.
"I don't know what kind of change the Captain was hoping to see in us, but I get the feeling it hasn't happened."
Yuristin addressed the group.
"So, Captain, just what is this change you were hoping for?" Jora asked, curiosity thick in her voice. The others fixed Shirakawa with equally questioning looks.
"How do I put it… hard to explain in a sentence or two."
Shirakawa scratched his head, unsure where to start.
"It's fine, Captain. If a sentence or two won't cover it, we can find somewhere to sit down and take our time. Ten sentences, twenty sentences—sooner or later we'll get it all sorted. Not like we have anything else to do right now anyway."
"Forget it, let's drop it for now. When the time is right, you'll all know naturally. And give me a moment—let me get my thoughts straight."
"Fine."
Jora pouted slightly, clearly a little dissatisfied at not being able to dig any useful information out of the Captain.
In the end, Shirakawa stopped dwelling on the problem. Overthinking it was giving him a headache. The Clan would show up when it was meant to show up. Maybe tomorrow morning, they'd wake up as his clansmen.
Even though he knew perfectly well that was impossible, just letting himself imagine it lifted his mood considerably.
"Everyone must be hungry by now. Let's find a restaurant and grab a meal," he said.
"Yeah."
As if on cue, a restaurant came into view the moment he spoke—almost like fate. They decided to eat there.
But the place was so wildly popular that they actually had to queue. That was when money did its talking.
Yuristin pulled a thick wad of cash straight from his coat and tossed it onto a table that had just been seated, where the customers hadn't even ordered yet. Without a fuss, those customers got up and left, clutching the money with faces full of delight.
"Isn't the crowd here a little ridiculous?" Salar remarked, looking at the packed streets. He'd been to big cities before, but he'd never seen such a frenetic bustle.
"Yeah, there really are a ton of people here. Maybe something's about to happen in this city or this kingdom," Shirakawa guessed.
Most of the people they could see were outsiders. You could tell easily, because Alabasta natives all wore the same kind of clothing. The vast majority they spotted were people coming in from outside, just like them.
"We'll find out once we hear what the people around us are saying. We're hardly the only ones who just arrived today."
Throughout the meal, they kept their ears open to the surrounding chatter, looking for anything useful.
By the time they were done eating, they had learned exactly what they wanted to know.
"So that's it. The king of this country is getting married in two months. No wonder he wanted to invite us to the palace."
Shirakawa said this with an enlightened expression. Inviting pirates to the palace wasn't something a king would normally ever do.
"Captain, are we going to attend the king's wedding?" Jora asked.
"Of course we are. Something this fun, and now that we've heard about it, how could we possibly miss it?"
"But there'll be a lot of important people there—nobles, maybe even Marines," Yuristin said with a hint of concern.
They were pirates. There was a good chance they'd end up in a very dangerous situation.
"Relax. As long as it's not someone at the level of a Marine Admiral, we have nothing to fear. And you know our strength better than anyone, don't you?"
Shirakawa gave Yuristin a light punch to the chest.
"Besides, I doubt the king wants a battle to break out on his wedding day."
Even if the Marines did try to make a move on them, the king of this land would step in to stop it.
By the time they came out of the restaurant, night had already fallen. Somehow, even though they'd finished eating two hours ago, they'd ended up sitting there for a full six hours before finally leaving.
As they stepped outside, a cool breeze washed over them. A kingdom in the desert, true to form—scorching hot during the day, freezing cold at night. Though, that only applied to ordinary people.
"Alright, everyone find a place to rest tonight. Tomorrow we'll meet here and head to the next city in Alabasta—Rainbase. They say that place is Alabasta's city of dreams."
Shirakawa addressed his crew.
"No problem. Tomorrow morning, I'll definitely be the first one here."
Moore declared confidently. Out of everyone on the ship, he was always the earliest to bed.
Come nightfall, Shirakawa didn't keep a tight leash on his crew. Everyone had their own nightlife. Of course, he himself planned to hit a bar and cut loose.
/-\
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