491. Progress

Leo, Zoro, and Sanji go to the source of the explosion sound while the coward trio tries to stop them. Now it's not that they are worried about the 3 boys, but they don't want to cause any problems before entering the New World. Their Captain hasn't even arrived too, so they shouldn't cause commotion.

But they can't stop these boys who have been out of real action for some time. So in the end, the coward trio can only hide in the back when they arrive at the location while the 3 boys are openly watching the situation.

"What the hell are they doing?"

"A competition maybe. It can't be a war with spectators cheering on them."

What they see is a war between 2 pirate crews that is watched by so many people. The spectators are even betting on which side will be victorious. This is like a tournament instead of a war, but they truly try to kill each other.

"Are you guys new here?"

A hunched old man suddenly shows up beside them and asks.

"Yeah, we've just arrived."

"No wonder you don't know. This is actually something that started after the War of Gods. Many pirate crews tried to enter the New World, but they were stopped and could only stay here. They didn't even dare to sail around Paradise because the Marines were very active. So they stayed here and you can guess what would happen when many pirates were gathering in one place."

"They clashed."

"Correct, they started fighting each other. They fought everywhere, causing problems here and there, endangering civilians. So the Red Hair Pirates that stopped them from entering the New World took action. They forbid the pirates from fighting in any location. They could only fight here where no civilian lived. Also, they could only fight one at a time, either it's a personal battle or a crew battle."

"That really looks like a competition."

"Yeah, you can say that. This thing then becomes something like a tradition. Now pirate crews often fight here to see which one is more qualified to enter the New World. Of course, they started fighting because of arguments."

"Heh, sounds interesting. Should we join after Luffy comes?"

"Not a bad idea, Leo. We can warm ourselves up before going to New World."

"No can do, mosshead, fire brain. If we join the fight, we will draw too much attention. We should remain low before leaving Sabaody. 2 years aren't that long for people to forget. We were causing so much problem back then and our Captain was gaining too much attention in Marineford. At least wait for Luffy before you go make trouble."

Leo and Zoro click their tongues but don't say anything because Sanji is right. It will be very problematic if they gather too much attention before Luffy arrives. So they only watch the show and don't join for now.

They return to Shakky's bar after a while and finally get to meet with the others who have come here too. Everyone else has met 2 days ago and shared their experience, so now it's Leo's turn to share his experience as he has just arrived.

Obviously, they also share their experience with him because it won't be fair if he is the only one who doesn't know what his crewmates have gone through. Everyone has different kinds of exciting experience that doesn't lose to each other.

But the most exciting one for Leo is Sanji's life in the last 2 years. Well, by exciting, he means it is the most entertaining to hear of everyone's lives in these 2 years. Sanji's 2 years might be the most miserable out of everyone here, after all.

He lived with wannabe women while being a true woman lover himself. Every day was hell for Sanji and he was having a nightmare every night. These 2 years might be the scariest and worst time of his whole life. Even scarier than when he was stranded and almost died on an island with Zeff when he was a kid.

But for his crewmates, everything that happened to him is hilarious. They aren't even sympathizing with him and just keep laughing at how miserable his life was. Though none of them want to be in his position and just want to laugh at him.

"Hahaha, you should see what happened when he saw Nami and Robin for the first time."

"SHUT UP, USOPP! YOU BETTER NOT TELL HIM."

Sanji tries to stop Usopp, but Zoro holds him back so that Usopp can tell Leo what happened.

"Oho? What happened?"

"He has a nosebleed. Wait, calling it a nosebleed doesn't sound right because blood was coming out of his nose like a strong stream. He even flew to the sky because his blood shot out very strongly from his nose. All was because he saw Nami's and Robin's cleaves."

".... Seems like they broke him in Kamabakka."

"Sigh, it was really hard to cure him. He needed so many blood transfusions and did therapy with pictures of women. Chopper was working very hard to cure him and now he's better."

"Sigh, you don't need to work that hard, Choper. He might not have a nosebleed anymore, but it doesn't mean he has been fully cured. It's impossible to cure idiocy and pervertness, after all."

"DAMMIT, LEO, SHUT UP! DO YOU WANT TO GO AT IT, HUH?"

"Sure, let's do it outside."

Sanji and Leo are starting a quarrel outside the bar and no one stops them now. Even Nami doesn't stop them because they are not in a crowded place like the park or street and the owner of this place doesn't stop them anyway. Instead, Rayleigh goes outside to watch how it goes with the others.

Although they are not fighting seriously using all their might, everyone can see that they have gotten much stronger now. Rayleigh can see even more from their little quarrel. He is impressed by the 2 of them, but he is the most impressed with Leo.

It's not that he is biased because Leo is Buggy's son, but he really can see the power that dwells in Leo's body even though Leo doesn't show all his power. Rayleigh can see that Leo is holding back more than Sanji and he still has more power he hasn't discovered yet.

He doesn't say anything though because Rayleigh knows that the only way to release those potentials is by going through difficulties and maybe life-death situations. That is how all strong individuals grow, including Buggy and him.

Leo's little brawl with Sanji doesn't last long because some people disturb them. These people are the flying fish riders, Duval's gang. They have just returned from sending some pirates to a marine base to get their bounties.

"Ooh, you guys look stronger now."

"Aye, big bro fire, you're here now. You can tell, huh? We are now the strongest bounty hunter group on Sabaody."

The idiots start posing to show their muscles that have developed a lot in the last 2 years. Rayleigh then tells Leo that they have protected Thousand Sunny for 2 years. The 1st year was very difficult for them as many people were attacking.

But their luck changed after the War of Gods when Red Hair Pirates came. They were trained by Red Hair Pirates who were impressed by their loyalty. It was just a few weeks, but the training given by an Emperor crew has made them get much stronger.

"Heh, should we test how strong you've become now?"

".... Y-you must be joking, big bro fire. We are stronger now, but we are not as strong as you."

"As I said, it's just a test. I want to see how strong you've become and maybe I can give you some advice so that you'll be even stronger."

Leo grins while playing with his blades, making the Duval gang cower in fear. They might be very confident with their power, but it's just among the bounty hunters and average rookie pirates here. They are not arrogant enough to face the Straw Hat Pirates' members, especially the main fighters after 2 years of training.

Too bad, Leo was not listening. He was having too much fun brawling with Sanji, so he is a little pissed they come and stopped that. Then they get into a little game of fire shooting with Leo as the shooter, of course.

Anyway, Luffy still hasn't come after a day and they wait again. Leo mostly stays in Shakky's place while waiting to play music. He didn't have that much time to play the music he loved when he was training on the island, so he takes his time to do it now.

Leo pours all the song ideas he has while training on the island. He had too many ideas in his mind but didn't have the tools to play them. He has tried to make musical instruments using anything available on the island, but he realized he isn't good at all at crafting, so he could only sing the song ideas without any instruments.

Also, he used his imagination to play the instrument in his head. He was worried that it would lower his skills, but he actually gets better now after some adjustments with the instruments after not playing them for a while.

Leo keeps playing music happily all the time that he doesn't realize 3 days have passed since he arrived here. He only realizes it when his crewmates tell him that Luffy has finally arrived. Now they can finally continue their journey after 2 years. It's time to enter the New World.

________________________________________

You can read more chapters ahead of my fanfics and more pictures on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

Voting for this book is highly appreciate. Cover image is the MC, artist's ig: @fatmaqn_

I've uploaded Chapter 529. Unworthy Yet

- Pictures of both stories (ex: bounty poster & magazine cover) by fatmaqn_

https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain

(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)