...
A few days later.
In the calm and tranquil sea, the Death Star was sailing on the water. On its deck, Gin was training with his crew, while a lounge chair was placed at the front, and Sage, wearing sunglasses and no shirt, was lying there basking in the sun.
The rare clear sky and comfortable climate.
"Sage..."
Marika brought over a glass of mixed drink and walked to Sage's side.
Sage raised his hand to take it, pushing up his sunglasses, and glanced at her.
Perhaps due to the nice weather, Marika was dressed lightly today, wearing a white camisole that exposed her smooth shoulders and navel, highlighting her ample chest, and on her lower half only a pair of shorts, revealing her slightly plump thighs that seemed to glow under the sunlight.
"Caught it!"
On the railing of the ship, Renedia, dressed in a swimsuit-like outfit with a skirt, was holding a fishing rod and pulled up a fish about as long as she was.
"Sage, Sage! I caught a fish!" she exclaimed excitedly, turning back to Sage.
"Shut up!"
A vein popped on Sage's forehead, and he yelled.
The fishing rod originally belonged to him, and after hours without a catch, he lent it to Renedia, and not long after, she caught a fish...
"Great job, Renny, come and have a drink," Marika said with a smile at the side.
"Sure!"
Renedia jumped off the railing, leaving the fish on the deck, where the crew would take care of it.
Since leaving Alabasta, it had been about ten days now, having passed two islands—a deserted one and another with a small town too small to interest Sage in looting. They bought some supplies and waited for the Log Pose to fill with magnetic power before setting off again.
The town had no dancers or pirates willing to join the crew.
"There's so much more to replenish. I need to rebuild my dance troupe, find people to serve meals, there's no doctor on board, we need to find a Doctor Corps."
Sage sat up halfway, downed half of the mixed drink in a few gulps, then placed the glass on the small table beside the chair.
"Ah, shouldn't we be entering the New World as soon as possible at this time, Sage, your bounty... seems too high," Marika said.
A few days ago, they encountered a news bird, bought a newspaper, and discovered their respective bounties.
They weren't surprised that their own bounties had risen to this level.
Even though the battle in Alabasta was temporarily halted, Marika undoubtedly was in a dominant position when fighting Tina, which would surely raise her bounty.
Plus, they looted a royal city and a prosperous town, and with Crocodile defeated, they bear half the blame for the conspiracy to seize the country.
The other participants in the robbery naturally saw their bounties rise too.
The bounties of the three women were within the normal range.
Only Sage's bounty... seemed really high to others.
"That's normal, there's inflation now, even random cats and dogs have a billion or two bounty, it's not that mine is too high, yours is just too low," Sage said, waving nonchalantly.
Alabasta, being one of the top nations in the World Government, although he didn't gain much from the royal city, they did rob it and escaped unharmed.
For the bounty to reach this level is quite normal to Sage.
He remembered this era having quite a few Super Rookies, some with bounties over 300 million, so having 400 million is actually normal.
"Now that we're Pirates, bounties can't be low, the higher, the better for reputation, and with a reputation, it makes things easier for us to do. You guys should work harder, in this first half, you need to get a bounty over a billion, then we can attract some strong people to join us, grow our strength."
"But another situation could arise..."
A voice came from behind.
Lily came down from the control room on the third floor, not wearing her battle armor skirt, just a simple strappy dress with a hem above the knees, looking conservative but accentuating her great figure. As she walked, her chest swayed like large gelatin fruits.
"A Pirate Ship is heading towards us, it was sailing normally but seems to have spotted us and changed direction."
"Oh? What kind?" Sage asked.
Renedia ran to the ship's bow, pulled down the goggles on her forehead, and her small hands sparked with electricity to adjust the zoom function.
As a Dynamic Person, the things she made allowed her to see further than ordinary telescopes when used by her.
Since it only needed to be powered to work.
After watching for a while, Renedia turned her head and said: "Sage, a skull with two crossed scimitars, and a tuft of red hair on the head... by the traits, I know, could it be 'Red Hair'!"
Sage: "..."
"If he's coming here, the disturbance could be no less than a tsunami, the area should have long been surrounded by a Navy Admiral."
He rolled his eyes, drank all the wine in the glass, and walked to the bow of the ship, quietly watching until the ship's outline was visible to the naked eye when a red glow appeared in his eyes, shaking his head: "Pearl."
"Yes!"
Training Pearl responded by standing upright.
"Take some men over to check it out. If they're enemies, take their stuff and sink the ship," Sage instructed.
"Yes, Captain, leave it to Pearl with Absolute Defense, no problem!" Pearl responded with a grin, emanating a white light.
"Eh? Sage, do you know them? Are they enemies?" Renedia asked.
"Who's gonna know some small fries, not important, don't interrupt my sunbathing."
Sage shook his head and lay back down on the lounge chair.
The signal sensed by Observation Haki wasn't strong at all, and there were only dozens in number, totally weaklings, the level Pearl could manage easily.
Pearl took a dozen or so crew members, bringing out a few motorcycles, which looked like large unfolded discs with long handles at the front.
They were sizable, capable of seating three people, with small boat-like appendages on either side that could each hold three more.
This was a land-and-sea motorcycle made by Renedia, much more practical than the small assault boats, with nine riders per bike, three bikes were made so far.
Renedia named them 'Round Cycle.'
Pearl sat on one, waiting for his crew to board, and with a twist of the handle, shouted: "Round Cycle, ignite!"
With a puff of smoke, the three motorcycles shot off from the side of the deck, landed on the water, splashing waves, as Pearl adjusted the direction, heading straight for the Pirate Ship ahead.
"Fire!"
Gin ended the training abruptly, commanding his crew to load the cannons, firing chain bullets, hitting the opposite side's sail and breaking the mast.
This way, it also eliminated the possibility of the ship escaping.
Not long after, as Pearl neared the Pirate Ship, hooked up with large grappling hooks, he dashed up the rope, and soon cries of battle echoed from within that ship.
"Looks like they weren't coming to join me..."
Sage shook his head, handed the cup to Marika, and said: "Another drink."
Marika smiled, took it, and went to the kitchen to mix another.
By the time she had mixed a new drink, that Pirate Ship had quieted down, Pearl and his three motorcycles had returned near the Death Star, waiting for the crew to lower hooks, reeling them up along with their bounty.
Pearl carried a small bag of cloth, containing a small amount of gold and some Belly, totaling under five million, pathetically poor.
Others managed to grab some supplies aboard.
"Captain, it's Red Hair!" Pearl shouted.
"Huh?" Sage was stunned, "What Red Hair?"
"The captain of the opposing pirates calls himself Red Hair, with a bounty of 29 million Belly, said he saw your flag and wanted to take your head for fame..."
"Where is he?"
"Killed and thrown into the sea. I found this."
Pearl presented an item proudly, "Eternal Pose."
It was the Eternal Pose, engraved with some letters.
"Jaya?"
Lily took it, glanced over, and said: "Pointing to an island called 'Jaya'..."
Whoosh!
Just at that moment, a small black dot suddenly appeared in the cloudless sky, plummeting rapidly, about to land on Sage's head.
Marika reached out to catch it, paused, "A ship's helm?"
The thing that fell from the sky...
Was a ship's helm?
Snap!
Just then, Lily's ears caught a noise, causing her to instinctively glance at her hand, where a Log Pose embedded with compasses had its pointer jerk towards the sky, then stopped moving.