Five days passed in the blink of an eye. During this time, the little girl Apis had come looking for them a few times. Mia and Muret both adored the little girl, but she simply wasn't cut out to be a pirate. Living quietly on this island was her destiny.
"Let's go." The ship had been repaired; it was time to leave. These five days had been the most tranquil and comfortable period for the Bellamy Pirates since they set sail. But a short rest was for the sake of a longer journey; five days were enough.
"Captain, where are we heading next?" The East Blue sea chart they had bought from the black market wasn't very detailed; a small place like Foosha Village couldn't even be found on the map.
"Find a peaceful little village and drop off these two brats."
Drake, upon hearing this, was somewhat puzzled. "Isn't this place good?" Having stayed on Gunkan Island for five days, he felt it was quite nice.
"Not very good."
Bellamy didn't explain much. Foosha Village – he definitely had to go see it. If he had the chance, he also wanted to slay the Lord of the Coast along the way. That Sea King had bitten off Shanks' arm; Bellamy had always been curious just how big it was.
"Our target is a small village called Foosha Village. It's not very far from here."
"Muret, I'll drop off your brother and Mani there. Go have a good talk with them first." It was time to address the ship's doctor's situation. The illness her brother suffered from – the cause had been found long ago; it was congenital weakness, basically incurable by medication. If it weren't for Devil Fruits in this world, Bellamy would have advised her to just give up. This kind of illness could only be treated by the Op-Op Fruit or the Heal-Heal Fruit; other methods were ineffective.
But this was also good. Having some attachments when setting out to sea would make one fight even harder. Bellamy hadn't yet told Muret the specific details about these two fruits. He planned to find an opportunity to have a proper chat with her. Whether it was Law or the little princess of the Tontatta Kingdom, both were entangled in huge troubles, which in turn were deeply connected to Doflamingo. With Muret's current strength, she had absolutely no chance of getting close to either of them. This could serve as a good reason to push her harder.
The Goa Kingdom, hailed as the most beautiful country in the East Blue. Foosha Village, Gray Terminal, and Mt. Colubo were all within its territory. Like the Lvneel Kingdom, this country was essentially one large city, with all its citizens and nobles living within. Foosha Village was just a tiny, insignificant hamlet located outside the city. The country folk living here were not recognized by the city dwellers. In other words, although Foosha Village nominally belonged to the Goa Kingdom, these villagers lacked city registration and were not acknowledged by the Goa Kingdom. If Garp hadn't chosen to raise Luffy and Ace here, no one would care about the existence of such a place. But conversely, apart from a few petty thieves, no pirates would come to plunder a place like this either.
After a few days of sailing, a large windmill faintly came into view ahead.
"We're here." Foosha Village. Finally.
"Go, take down our flag." Bellamy didn't want to cause too much of a stir here. This ship was originally a cargo vessel; once the pirate flag was furled, no one could recognize their identity. "Anyone who wants to go ashore and look around, follow me." With Clone Soldiers guarding the ship, Bellamy wasn't worried about anyone stealing it. The pirates of the East Blue were much weaker than those in the North Blue; these few Clone Soldiers alone were enough to dominate a stretch of sea here.
Ross had little interest in such a small place and volunteered to stay behind and watch the ship. Everyone else, including Drake, decided to go ashore for a look. The small boat was quickly lowered, and before long, Bellamy and his group entered the peaceful little village.
"Muret, take them into the village and buy a property."
"I'll wander around myself. You don't need to follow me."
This small country village was truly tiny; one could see its boundaries at a glance. The moment Bellamy and his group entered, they immediately alerted half the village.
"Who are you?" A villager looked at Bellamy, trembling, and asked in a low voice.
"Stand down. This isn't something you should know." He couldn't very well say he was a pirate; that would scare them to death.
Bellamy casually lit a cigar and began to stroll around the village. Soon, he had explored the entire place. There were less than a hundred households in total. A den of mountain bandits resided near the back mountain; Luffy should be there.
"So peaceful." The East Blue gave him a very different feeling. In the North Blue, no matter how small a place, the shadow of chaos was rarely absent. But here, it was truly too peaceful.
"It's quite nice." If the whole world were as peaceful as the East Blue, perhaps Bellamy wouldn't have chosen to go out to sea at all. Foosha Village actually didn't have much to see; it was just this small. After walking around once, he was, as expected, greatly disappointed. Bellamy's greatest remaining expectation for this place was probably that straw-hatted kid.
"Let's go sit in the tavern." He still harbored a faint hope of running into that fellow. If he didn't meet him this time, then he'd just postpone their meeting to the future.
Bellamy was still unaware that their arrival had already thrown the entire village into an uproar.
"Hey, have you heard? A group of pirates seems to have come to the village."
"What? Pirates have come to our village again?"
"What do we do? Quick, find the village chief and ask him to think of something!"
Bellamy's fierce appearance had, after all, caused a misunderstanding among the villagers here. Though, he was indeed a pirate, so they weren't exactly wronging him.
Makino, the proprietress of Foosha Village's tavern, was also quite an interesting character. In his previous life, there were various rumors that she was Shanks' wife, but those were all fan speculations and not to be taken seriously. Bellamy sat in the tavern for a while and even chatted a bit with Makino, mainly trying to inquire about Shanks. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to know anything.
While he was chatting in the tavern, news that pirates had entered the village finally reached the nearby mountain bandit den. Upon hearing this news, the straw-hatted kid was so excited he almost leaped off the ground. "Waaah! Pirates, pirates! There are pirates!"
"I want to go see the pirates!"
The mountain bandit Dadan slammed a fist onto Luffy's head, raising a large bump. "In your dreams! These are pirates!"
"You're not allowed to go, you hear me!"
"Heard you. I'm going to see the pirates," Luffy replied to Dadan with a serious expression, stating his decision.
"You little brat! You're infuriating me!" Dadan was so angered by Luffy she was hopping mad, but she was completely helpless against this rascal.