Chapter 13

"Not enough. Bring more."

Previously the crew members of the Vomitbeard pirates, and now, miners of the Mine village. Huffing and sweating in exhaustion, they looked at Nami, who ordered them around with her arms crossed. Most of the groaned while descending back down the mountain with shovels in their hands, to bring up more dirt. On the other hand,

"What the hell..." One of them mumbled, "Why do we have to listen to these two girls?!"

"What?" Carina bickered, "Did you just say, 'Why do we have to listen to these two girls?'" She pointed up, at Rowan who was standing atop the steep hill of dirt at the highest point of the mountain, with binoculars in front of his eyes, "Do you wish to die?"

"G-gahh! No, no! Definitely no!" The same man shook his head rapidly, before running back to dig up more dirt.

"...Just how?" Another man whispered as he carried a shovel full of dirt, looking up at Rowan, "How is he balancing on top of that dirt tower, without falling at all...?"

A third man sighed in exasperation, "Whatever man. Keep your opinions to yourself. I just want to get this done with—"

Tap.

At the next moment, Rowan jumped from high up and acrobatically landed on the ground without any injury. As the miners expressed awe at his performance, Rowan opened his mouth,

"Enough. All of you may return now."

The miners froze on their spot, full of delight. Simultaneously, Nami and Carina gazed at Rowan with anticipation. As they clenched their fists tight and gulped, Rowan shook his head in negative,

"There's none."

Nami and Carina immediately slumped in disappointment. Rowan, however, laughed jovially,

"Vahahaha! At this point, the treasure, from the start, didn't exist at all!"

There was no gain, and Rowan's theory turned out to be false. However, he was enjoying this act of 'treasure hunting' itself, much to Nami and Carina's deadpan.

"What's so funny, Rowan?" Nami pouted, "There was no treasure at all, and you are smiling!"

Rowan, ignoring Nami's words, perked up in realization, "Oh, but there was one gain!"

Nami and Carina leaned back in with expectations, ""Which is?""

"A pack of birds were sitting on top of those clouds," Rowan replied while pointing up, "which means that they indeed are solid!"

"...That's not a gain at all!!" Barked Carina, which Rowan ignored with an intact grin. Nami sighed, before shaking her head.

"Vahahaha!"

""IT ISN'T FUNNY!!""

The three of them then walked away, intending to leave the island swiftly—before hyenas smell their acquired wealth and come to snatch it.

...

Now, within the island, there only were miners who held the shovels with dumbfounded expressions.

"...Clouds are solid? Gloomy island... sun's almost always hidden... so that's why!"

"Eh..."

One among them then looked up at the sky, and whispered,

"...I swear. Right at noon, 12 o'clock, there is one area where a sun's light comes through—for a split second. I think I was seeing things whenever I saw that during my lunch, but..."

Said miner gulped, before looking to his left and right carefully. He then began moving out as sneakily as possible—

"—Hey, Bobson, where are you going?"

And within a week, another event will arise in the Mine village, which the news will call 'The shocking ruination of Mine village!'"

__________

"So far, so good! The wind will persist for hours more, and there is no particular abnormality in terms of weather! Continue riding the current, and at this rate, we will reach Lutu island in approximately three hours!"

With a roughly drawn map in her hands, Nami stated with confidence,

"And you're getting off there! Got that, witch?!"

"Nope!"

Curently, they were in the ship previously owned by the Vomitbeard pirates, sailing out in the sea. Though there lied a pile of treasure in the ship, the ship was large and strong enough to carry them all.

Looking at the horizon ahead of them, Nami watched the sky above and muttered, "The current time should be around 5 pm. And..."

Ding Ding Ding! Carina, holding onto a golden bar, then clanked it against the rail and cried urgently,

"PIRATES!!!"

Carina raised up her other hand to look through the binoculars. Confirming for the second time, she cried once more, "PIRATES!!! IT'S THE ALVIDA PIRATES!!!"

Rowan, who was enjoying a light sleep on a lounge chair, instantly woke up. Standing up and yawning, he walked up next to Carina and squinted his eyes,

"Alvida pirates?" Rowan tilted his head in thought, "...Ah, the fatso one with 3 million on her head. Remember that one."

From his eyes, one pirate ship was coming just on its way, though it was so small that a bad-sighted person will perceive it as a black dot.

"...3 million?" Nami immediately reacted, looking at Rowan with sparkling eyes.

"...I was the watcher here," Carina said at the next moment, "...Can we divide 50-50?"

"99 and 1," Rowan replied casually, "1 for you, of course."

"What?!"

Rowan swiftly moved around, taking out the cannons from a nearby storage room. Carina and Nami helped him out, bringing out the cannonballs.

Now, with the Alvida pirates' ship closing in, Rowan got to see its design. Absurdly, it had many hearts drawn everywhere, raising a frown out of Rowan.

"...And what was the name of that ship again? I think I saw it in one newspaper before," Nami asked.

"...Miss Love Duck, as far as I recall," Carina stated with disgust in her eyes, "What an amazing sense."

Rowan recalled what one now-miner said to him back then,

<...This ship's name is 'Ugly Adventure.' Take good care of her, will you?>

"Ugly Adventure versus Miss Love Duck..." Rowan chuckled, "You are kidding me."

"...Huh?" Nami sweatdropped, "This ship's name is 'Ugly Adventure?!'"

"Oh, did I not tell you?"

"...Ugly Adventure," Carina raised her head up and looked at the jolly roger, "...Right. Vomitbeard. Figures."

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Then, a boisterous laugh boomed from the approaching pirate ship, "VOMITBEARD!!! LONG TIME NO SEE!!! HAVE YOU MISSED ME, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD?!!"

Rowan squinted his eyes once more, and came to see an extremely obese woman with freckles across her face.

"...The most beautiful?" Rowan rubbed his eyes, and yet, what lied in his sight was the ugliest woman he's ever seen.

Just when Rowan mumbled in confusion, Alvida too came to see Rowan, Nami, and Carina, and frown confusion of her own,

"Wha?!" Alvida cried, "Who the hell are you?! Where is Vomitbeard—"

BOOM. Before Alvida could finish her words, her ship was blown up, and,

"—AHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Alvida was sent flying up high in the sky.

"...Eh?" Carina looked at Rowan and asked, "Did you fire just now?"

"I was literally standing right next to you the whole time, girl." Said Rowan with his eyes narrowed.

"G-guys," Nami, with her shaky eyes headed to their left, then exclaimed, "L-LOOK!!!"

Rowan and Carina shifted their eyes at the direction pointed by Nami, and froze. In their sight were numerous ships, amounting to 50 in total, sailing toward them at once.

"That jolly roger..."

Without a doubt,

"D-Don Krieg."

just as Carina whispered, they were the Krieg pirates—the East Blue's largest known Pirate Armada.

Rowan's eyes narrowed at the subsequent moment, from his subconscious use of Observation Haki, before he hurriedly fired a nearby cannon.

BOOM!

The cannonball shot met with a cannonball fired from the flagship of the Krieg pirates. An explosion occurred in the middle without harming anyone in particular, and the remnants of cannonballs fell down into the ocean with a splash. And immediately after,

PUK.

Rowan slammed a kick onto the descending Alvida's, instantly knocking her out and causing her massive body to lose its momentum before dropping to the deck without any damage on the ship.

"...Did you grow stronger?" Nami, watching this scene in disbelief, spoke, "That pig was literally falling from the sky, and with a kick—what the hell, Rowan?!! How is your leg fine?!!"

However, Rowan didn't have spare attention to reply to Nami. His eyes were headed to Krieg, who stared at Rowan with amazement in his eyes.

"Hahaha... what an amazing precision," Krieg grinned, "Never have I expected someone to actually be capable of shooting down a cannonball mid-flight. And in addition, quite a formidable strength also... not bad."

"...Let me deal with him, captain," Gin narrowed his eyes at Rowan, "That guy must be the 'Pirate Slayer.'"

"Hold on, Gin," Said Krieg while raising his hand up. The ships were still inching closer to The 'Ugly Adventure,' and Krieg said, "Wait until I ask. If he refuses, then we attack."

"Eh..." Another man, who had two large iron plates covering his front and back, Pearl the 'Iron Wall,' spoke up, "Do you plan on giving that dude a spot in our crew?"

"Indeed. And if it does work, not only do we gain the entire sum of wealth, but also a valuable combatant."

On the other hand,

"R-Rowan! What should we do!" Carina whispered as they watched the pirate ships trying to surround them. Rowan, just having finished his thought, ordered the two girls,

"Nami! Take the steering wheel and have us back away! Carina, you listen to what Nami says; she's the navigator! Got that?!" With a cold sweat on his back, Rowan gritted his teeth, "We can't allow them to surround us! Have them chasing after us, and I'll prevent all the cannonballs from landing!"

Nami and Carina stiffened up from nervousness, but nonetheless nodded and began moving. Rowan, rolling cannonballs into every single cannon, braced himself for the attacks.

"Hm?"

Krieg, watching the retreat of Ugly Adventure, growled in annoyance. Scratching his head, he clicked his tongue before ordering,

"Don't fire yet!"

One pirate nearby turned back, and relayed Krieg's order with a speaker, "DON'T FIRE YET!"

The pirates seem confused of Krieg's order, but nonetheless, complied. Krieg, snatching the speaker from one pirate's hand, shouted at the distancing Rowan's ship,

"STOP IMMEDIATELY IF YOU DON'T WISH TO GET BOMBARDED!!"

On Ugly Adventure,

"...Huh?" Rowan, having heard of Krieg's shout, let out a dumbfounded remark, "What do you mean stop if we don't want to get bombarded? We have to keep moving not to get bombarded, right?"

Nami nodded in agreement, "That was the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"

While chasing after Ugly Adventure, Krieg lowered the speaker from his lips. Gritting his teeth in a mix of frustration and anger, he muttered, "...No need to speak any further." Turning around, he brought the speaker back to his lips and stated,

"FIRE!!!"

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

At the next moment, Rowan, Nami, and Carina found their jaws dropped as the sky was filled with fifty cannonballs, descending toward their ship.

SPLASH SPLASH!

One by one, they struck the body of water adjacent to the Ugly Adventure's route. The ship violently shook, and Nami and Carina held onto the steering wheel and rail tight, in order to prevent themselves from being thrown out of the ship.

"...Shit." Rowan cursed as he saw two cannonballs falling right on top of him. Grabbing one cannon that sat by the side and aiming it upward, Rowan immediately fired.

BOOM!

One was shot down, but another was right about to land on the ship. Without any hesitation, Rowan threw the cannon itself toward the falling cannonball and quickly ducked,

BOOM!

and managed to prevent damage to the ship.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

And just then, another fifty was fired, causing Rowan to grimace as he stood back up.

"Nami!" Rowan cried, "Is this the fastest that we can go?!"

"Urghhhh!!!" However, Nami was busy turning the steering wheel to the left. Carina answered in her stead,

"Yep!" Carina's voice boomed loudly, "The treasures are slowing us down!"

Rowan's eyes widened in realization. He stated, "Throw them out!!!"

Upon his statement, both Nami and Carina barked at him,

""HELL NO!!!""

And unbeknownst to them, Alvida, who was lying on one side of the ship, slowly opened her eyes.

"...Uaaah...?"

Just as she did so, the first thing that she saw was the rain of cannonballs,

SPLASH! SPLASH! BOOM! BOOM!

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Alvida shrieked in horror. And as she did so, one cannonball was directly falling toward her,

BOOM!

before said cannonball was blasted away by another cannonball, shot by Rowan. Alvida's greasy face immediately loosened as she breathed rapidly. Rowan, having heard Alvida's scream, immediately came her way.

"...Y-you..." Alvida whispered with a blush, "...Is this the love—"

PUK.

Rowan stomped his foot onto Alvida's face, knocking her out one more time.

"...Alvida the 'Iron Mace'... looks extremely heavy. Seriously... her head alone looks heavier than the gold bars worth just as much as her bounty."

Lifting up the unconscious Alvida at the next moment,

SPLASH!

Rowan then threw her into the ocean without any mercy.

"Rowan!!" Just after, Nami's voice was heard, "We're speeding up all of a sudden!! You didn't throw away any treasure, did you?!!"

Rowan spoke, "Do you consider 3 million a treasure?"

""YES!!!""

"Well," Rowan shrugged, "Yes then, I guess." And before Nami and Carina could say anything more, Rowan threatened them as another round of cannonballs were shot from the Krieg pirates,

"Don't provoke me, you two," Rowan growled in annoyance, "Unless you want me to throw out those actual treasures."

Nami and Carina, who were about to speak up, immediately shut their mouths.