Two ambitious young men, still wet behind the ears,
sailed their ship through the Calm Belt near West Blue, heading toward the New World.
"Come to think of it, the Calm Belt really doesn't have any wind at all."
This was Aus's first time in the Calm Belt in all his years.
Back when he followed Roger's ship, he'd been to most places in the world, whether Paradise or the New World.
But the Calm Belt—this "silent domain" that separated the Four Blues from the New World—since the Oro Jackson lacked proper engine power, they almost never passed through here.
They mostly took the Fish-Man Island and Twin Cape routes.
"Oh, and Amazon Lily should be in the Calm Belt too!"
Controlling the Oro Jackson halfway through the Calm Belt, Aus clapped his hands as he remembered.
A real-life nation of women—Aus had heard Uncle Rayleigh seemed to have been there.
Since he wasn't rushing to see the old man anyway, stopping by Amazon Lily along the way sounded pretty good. After all, they were out here to have fun.
With this thought, Aus went to ask Mihawk for a Log Pose to the women's island,
but got his ass chewed out instead.
"Hey... are you a fucking idiot? Amazon Lily is in the Calm Belt by South Blue, and we're in the Calm Belt by West Blue!"
Never mind that it wasn't on the way—there was an entire Red Line between them.
Really, one random idea after another...
Mihawk felt a headache coming on and sighed deeply.
Hearing this, Aus lost interest and dropped the idea.
Well, he'd go when he had time. Come to think of it, the Empress probably hadn't been kidnapped yet...
Aus lay in his chair flipping through his little notebook, which recorded events he remembered happening in specific years.
While reading, he released solid Conqueror's Haki. The Sea Kings that tried to attack the Oro Jackson along the way rolled their eyes and passed out before they could even get close.
Mihawk stood at the bow, sending out massive emerald sword slashes. Those unconscious Sea Kings got sliced cleanly in half,
their cuts perfectly smooth. Some were chopped to clear the path, while little hawk picked and chose others, cutting them into blocks for food storage.
Just as the Oro Jackson was cruising without a care in the world, an incredibly vast black shadow suddenly appeared beneath the sea.
"Aha... a super-sized Sea King?"
Aus paused in his notebook-flipping, slowly turning his head with full expectation.
It was a monster with a tiger's head and fish body, now surfacing and glaring menacingly at this toy that had invaded its territory.
Its length...
probably dozens of Oro Jacksons long. Aus figured he definitely wasn't as big as its pupil,
though it was under ten thousand meters, still within his Observation Haki range.
"What a big-ass fish~ But fishing isn't on today's agenda."
Aus's expression stayed calm.
Normally, he wouldn't mind playing fish tamer, but with home so close, he was in a good mood.
He didn't want to play tag with this big bastard right now.
After all, even if he teleported the Oro Jackson several thousand or ten thousand meters, that would just be a couple splashes to this giant.
So...
"Get the fuck out!!!"
"Buzz—!!!"
Aus's gaze turned deadly.
In an instant,
nearly solid Conqueror's Haki transformed into lightning, crossing the sea toward that super-giant Sea King!
"!!!"
The Sea King struck by black-red lightning showed very human-like terror in its eyes, its house-sized pupils shaking violently.
It slowly backed away,
then rolled over and dove fast toward the seabed. The massive waves stirred up by its movement nearly flipped the Oro Jackson.
Aus had to teleport the ship into the sky to dodge the giant whirlpool.
"Looks like Marine warships are way smarter, installing Seastone like invisible radar."
But hey,
the Marines had technology, and he had brute force.
He'd just bulldoze through with Conqueror's Haki all the way!
"Hey hey hey, almost home."
Aus lay back in his chair feeling great, naturally remembering the time before he joined Roger's crew.
...
"What the hell?! Where did this brat come from? I don't have time to babysit!"
"I'm only keeping you one night. Once I find your shitty parents, I'm shipping you out!"
"Don't laugh! I'm a great pirate! Just mixing baby formula..."
"Ow ow ow ow... let go let go!!! Are you a monster?! A little kid made my arm all red???"
"Huh?! How do you know what birthday present is in the box? Hey, explain yourself!!!"
"Well... kid, you'll definitely become one of the world's top monsters in the future, just like those captains I followed when I was young. Let me tell you, when they made their moves..."
"From now on you're my grandson. Take my surname, Doctor!
The future monster Doctor Aus!!!"
When Aus was tiny, Old Kik switched from pirate to nursemaid. Aus heard plenty of his bitching and lectures:
"Aus, when you become a great pirate in the future, don't forget your grandpa.
When I was young, I also dreamed of being a sea overlord, but unfortunately I didn't have your advantages back then..."
Little Aus listened to these familiar-sounding speeches and really couldn't argue back.
With Old Kik's talent, even if he'd trained his body from childhood, learned Haki after boarding a ship, and survived countless life-and-death battles,
at his peak he could maybe fight Marine Headquarters commodores and rear admirals, serve as a regular grunt on Rocks' ship.
Even after a lifetime of grinding, he still wouldn't reach his dear grandson's starting point.
If he remembered right,
Aus could already one-shot Marine rear admirals at twelve or thirteen.
No wonder Old Kik dumped his dreams on Aus to fulfill. His own body really wasn't cut out for it.
Besides, wasn't raising a sea overlord way more satisfying than becoming one yourself?
Also because of Aus's freakish talent from childhood, just feeding him was a massive problem.
Even with the decent money he'd saved in his youth, Old Kik had to find ways to earn extra cash and accept help from the townspeople.
The residents knew it was because of Old Kik that they were free from noble oppression, so they were happy to help raise the kid.
Even when their own children got their asses kicked by Aus, as long as it wasn't too brutal, they pretended not to see.
So Aus basically grew up eating at a hundred different homes. As a kid, he'd regularly hunt fierce beasts in the mountains for the whole town to feast on meat.
Coming back this time, he definitely wanted to repay their kindness.
How should he do it...
Maybe conquer a kingdom to mess around with?
Those nobles were just a bunch of useless parasites anyway. Anyone could sit in their chairs.
Besides, the World Government still owed him a favor...
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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