Kita Island

While we were sailing toward our destination, we suddenly started feeling the waves moving aggressively and playing with the ship.

"What's happening?" I asked Ken.

"Is it another storm?" Diana was observing in worry.

"I don't think so" Ken said while looking at the sky and trying to read the weather.

A few seconds later we saw the water started splashing upwards and the waves became more aggressive, and a massive shadow appeared in the water near the ship.

"Oh no!" Ken looked down in shock and suddenly a huge figure appeared near the ship. It was a massive octopus about four times bigger than the ship.

"What in the world is that?" Everyone eyed the monster in awe.

"It's a sea monster…" Calvin stated.

"A sea monster?!! It's the first time I see one this big" Diana said.

"Ashen, let me deal with it" Calvin said in excitement while cracking a smile.

"Have fun!"

"Are you seriously planning to fight that thing?!" Ken shouted at his direction in concern.

"Don't worry old man just take care of the ship" Calvin then proceeded to jump out of the ship.

'What is he trying to do?' Just before he fell down, he kicked the air with his leg at superhuman speed which made him fly in the air.

After that the sea monster lifted one of his tentacles and swung it sideway at his direction, but just before it hit him, Calvin disappeared using Soru and reappeared in front of the monster again, but this time he closed the distance between them.

"Is he going to be, okay?" Ken asked in concern.

"Don't worry he should be fine" I assured him.

Calvin proceeded dash toward the monster's eye and lifted his leg and swung it as hard as he can until it created a sharp compressed blade of wind that flew at its direction in a high speed.

"!!!"

'When did he learn that? he definitely saw me using it multiple times in our training but to think he would learn it this fast, this guy is something' I kept observing the fight in interest "to think He managed to unlock Geppo and Rankyaku in such a short time!!'

'I guess its thanks to the constant fights that we had we all managed to develop quickly'

"*SLASH!!*"

"ROOOAAAAAARRRR!!" The monster let out a loud roar from pain and started flapping his tentacles aggressively, but Calvin managed to avoid them easily by flying at a high-speed using a combination of Soru and Geppo at the same time.

After that Calvin took the chance and started punching him using Tekkai without a break then he finished his attack by flying above his head, then he lifted his leg upward and swung it down with all his might using Rankyaku.

The attack went directly down and hit the center of the monster's head which left a long cut across it.

"ROOOAAAARRR!!" The monster became even more aggressive and started losing his balance, and his attacks endangered the ship.

"Hey, let's fall back a little bit!" I ordered Ken and he immediately moved the ship away.

Calvin kept attacking the monster restlessly until it finally fell down dead, and its blood painted the sea red.

Calvin came back flying to the ship.

"That was awesome, I can't believe you defeated such a big monster with ease!!!" Ken praised him.

"Good work!" I also praised him.

"It's nothing" Calvin replied Calmly then he grabbed a bottle of sake and went to drink at the back of the ship.

"You guys sure are strong" Diana said while observing us.

"Impressed?"

"Not really, but with your strength you could have a bigger crew, but I wonder why there are still only three of you" she said in curiosity.

"I prefer quality over quantity, a crew is a set of people that will sail with you for years, so I always make sure to recruit the right people" I replied.

"Why did you decide to become a pirate?" she asked.

"I always dreamed about it" I said with a smile.

"Hahaha it's the first time I hear such an answered! I like it!" she said while laughing.

"What do you think about joining us?" I gave her an offer.

"Sorry but I'm not interested in that" She rejected my offer respectfully.

"If you ever changed your mind your welcome" She nodded her head in understanding then I left to the captain's cabin.

One week later,

It took us a whole week to finally reach our destination, the main reason for that is the unsteady weather and our lack of experience in sailing in the grand line.

'Kita Island, it looks like a large island' I observed it from a distance.

After we reached and docked the ship, we all proceeded to go to an inn together.

The moment we started walking on the street everybody started looking at us and kept their distance while gossiping to each other.

'What the hell is going on?' Once we found and entered an inn the same thing happened again except this time, they were some pirates, and they didn't bother to keep their distance.

'This place seems like a gathering point for pirates' I thought while scanning the place.

After we ordered food and drinks, we asked the waiter for some information, and we got to know a few things about this place.

The first thing is, we are in Kita Kingdom that is ruled by King Alfred who he was crowned a king in the recent year after he successfully planned a military coup with the help of some pirates against his brother the king.

The second thing is this country is also a part of the world government. It also doesn't seems too welcoming when it comes to outsiders.

"So, what's you plan?" I asked Diana, she looked at me for a second then replied.

"I still haven't thought of anything yet, but I'll be staying here for some time until I decide" she said while holding a filled cup in her hand.

"We'll be staying here for a while, so If you change your mind about my offer, you can come and find me." I said to her then proceeded to order a newspaper and started reading the headline.

"East Blue Trio!" I raised an eyebrow reading it.

"The three most infamous pirates from east blue teamed up against marine forces in a large-scale conflict on Logue Town that resulted in massive casualties in both sides" I read slowly.

"Is it about last time?" Calvin asked.

"Yeah, looks like it became a big deal in east blue" I thought about the situation earlier, it was because of this.

"The East blue Trio is a term said to refer to the three captains leading the pirate alliance, 'Demon of The Sea' Ashen, 'Silver Rain' Seth Williams and Aela Kristin"

"It obviously is going to be a big deal since at least three high ranking marines were killed along with dozens of other people" Ken stated.

"They also released new bounties!" I said in excitement while reading.

"!!!...Ashen 'Demon of The Sea' Captain of Ashen Pirates Dead or Alive 28.500.000 Berries" It increased by almost ten million.

"Holly shit! That's a lot!" Ken shouted in excitement.

"Calvin Helios Dead or Alive 20.900.000 Berries… yours also increased!"

"It's only natural after what we did" he said.

"Wait…There is more" I was surprised after I flipped the next page.

"Ken Dead or Alive 8.000.000 Berries, unbelievable you got your first bounty!" I said to him.

"For real?!" Calvin was also surprised at hearing it.

"Stop joking!" He said annoyed.

"I'm serious" When I showed him the newspaper, his eyes widen in shock but after a moment he regained his composure.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!!"

"Stop freaking out before you have a heart attack!" Calvin said to him.

"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN AFTER READING THIS?!!" After a few minutes he finally calmed down.

"Anyway, we'll be staying her for a while, so we should gather as much information as we can about this place" I said then added "And try to stay out of trouble for now!" I informed everyone.