The club vanished as if by magic and the man's attitude took a complete one eighty, "Welcome, good sir. What can I get you?"
It would have been nice, if the bartenders eyes hadn't been laser locked onto the fat stack of Belly Peter had just slammed onto the counter. The man even went so far as to rub his hands together in that sleazy manner. Peter cringed a little but moved past it, "I want one of every bottle."
The man nodded agreeably and ran into the back only to return with an armful of bottles a few moments later. After a couple of trips there was a collection of fifteen different bottles of alcohol sitting on the bar. Most of it was various versions of rice wine, or Sake, which he did enjoy every now and then in his last life. But, like the majority of wine, it's alcohol content was pretty low.
What really caught his eye was the single bottle of rum. Given this was a pirate world you would think rum would be more ubiquitous, yet this was the first bottle he'd seen! The group quickly collected all of the bottles of alcohol while Peter claimed the bottle of rum for himself. None of them planned on drinking yet, it was too early in the day, but tonight they'd pass the bottles around and see who liked what.
While they packed the bottles away, one of the three pirate looking fellows at the back table got to his feet and made his way out of the pub. No one missed his departure but they also didn't care. It wasn't really any of their business what people on the island got up to.
Once the booze was safely stored away, Peter spoke to the bartender, "How long will it take for the Log Pose to set here?"
The bartender went back to what stereotypical bartenders do when not serving, wiping a glass with a cloth, "Three days."
That was not bad at all, not when you've got islands like Little Garden that take one hundred years to set. Peter nodded his thanks then asked, "What's with the storm on the other side of the mountains?"
"Ahhh, that's how our island got it's name, Tempest Crown." The bartender seemed to really be getting into it as his voice took on a deeper tone, "Legend says that deep within that swirling storm lies the Stormheart Obelisk, and ancient relic that can control the weather. They say that in the very center of the Obelisk is the heart of a Sea Devil. Any who attempt to gain the power of the Stormheart are destroyed when the storm becomes more vicious, more bloodthirsty. None who have attempted to claim it have returned."
There was a tense silence for a moment before the bartender cracked. He threw his head back and laughed, "Of course, that's just the legend. Fact is, no one really knows why half this half of the island is a spring island while the other half is a storm island. What we do know is that in the time this towns been here the storm has never passed the mountains. That's just the Grand Line for ya, doesn't make any sense at all! You'll get used to it rookie."
Most people might've been annoyed or disappointed by the bartender dismissing the story as 'just a legend' but not Peter. Oh no. Peter knew the truth of the world and if there was a legend of ANY sort, it was worth hunting down to learn the truth! Even treasure maps were worth pursuing, even if it ended up that the treasure was already claimed. There would always be an adventure of some kind related to it!
They had three days before the Log Pose reset, that meant three days they could spend adventuring on the island. Why not spend that time seeing if the Stormheart Obelisk existed or not?! Best case scenario, they find some sort of lost ancient technology or maybe a Devil Fruit related to storms. Worst case scenario, they have some fun exploring a cool legend while getting wet in the rain.
Peter once more stood at the bow of his ship watching the island go by as they sailed closer to the split between the spring side and the storm side. He wanted to explore the more interesting sounding storm side and walking there would take too long. Why cross a mountain when you can sail around it in just a few hours?
It was strange though. Right now they could see a delineated section where the storm abruptly began. What was freaky was that the moment a rough wave left the storm zone, it instantly smoothed out to a normal swell. It was as if there were an invisible line the storm simply could not cross. They decided that anchoring the ship on the calm ocean was the much wiser choice. They came to a stop after the anchor dropped leaving them a few hundred yards from the storm.
This time when he left the ship he went with Artoria, Domino, Merlin, and Valeria. Everyone else was staying on the ship to guard it slash train. Thanks to Captain Morgan, Alex had learned Geppo from witnessing it and the training method for Rankyaku. Captain Morgan had been focusing heavily on the leg based skills since they all required a similar level of strength. It made sense to train the legs and gain three useful skills at once than to train the whole body all together and slowly gain all the Rokushiki at the same time. Sadly, the good captain hadn't learned the training methods of the other skills yet. The Marines were only willing to give him on at a time and only after he demonstrated proficiency in the previously given one. He'd only just gotten the method for Rankyaku.
Peter considered Soru and Geppo to be the two most useful skills in the Rokushiki but felt the others had their place. Kami-e seemed like a good way to practice for and then utilize Observation Haki while it's opposite, Tekkai, seemed good for Armament Haki. Shigan... well that move was probably the dumbest of the lot but it at least meant you were always armed... No it was still stupid. Regardless, Alex was giving everyone else lessons in Soru and Geppo to make sure they could use it. Peter planned to learn it later.