Chapter 51

The enemy pirates, with swords in their hands, charged at Shooting Star with a grim intent. Some, holding onto firearms, immediately fired.

However,

"Barrier!"

Bartolomeo, by crossing his fingers, generated a transparent wall that blocked all bullets from reaching the ship.

"That wall again?!"

Ignoring the cry of one pirate, Nami flew high up to the sky by transforming her legs into fire. The pirates, with their jaws open wide, watched as Nami, now floating above them, conjured up a huge ball of fire.

"Morning Star!"

Said ball of fire separated into numerous smaller fireballs that began to descend all over where the enemy pirates stood.

"Gahh, take cover!!"

Pirates, forgetting their initial plan to reach Shooting Star, ran and ducked, trying to dodge the fireballs that fell on their left and right.

"..."

On this chaotic night, Deuce adjusted his mask before hopping out of Shooting Star. He walked in a relaxed state and narrowed his eyes as one pirate managed to get past the blazing disaster and reached nearby the ship.

Swoosh!

Lowering his body, Deuce dodged a stab that was aimed at his chest. Quickly closing the distance and rotating his body, Deuce landed a strong elbow blow on the pirate's face, which broke the man's nose and induced bleeding.

"You guys need to cool your head down."

When said pirate cleared his hazy vision, he saw a needle on his left forearm.

"What?! Since when..."

The pirate couldn't speak anymore before he fell unconscious. Deuce simply commented,

"It's just a somnifacient."

It was a devastating scene for Jean Bart Pirates. Though their number was vastly higher than Grimheart Pirates, the individual strength of the three surpassed them to a great extent.

And of course,

BOOM!

Jean Bart found himself in frustration. Though he was initially surprised to see that Rowan, one with a much smaller body, possessed a physical strength on par with him, he quickly realized that strength was not Rowan's strongest suit.

'I... can't... hit this man...!!'

Jean Bart's punches were slammed against the dirt, air, tree—anything else but Rowan. Rowan, as if having foreseen Jean Bart's next move, weaved around Jean Bart with ease.

'Just how the hell is he able to dodge everything?!!'

BOOM!

Rowan's eyes followed as Jean Bart's outstretched arm went past the space in front of his face. Then, as Jean Bart's arm retracted, Rowan used the opportunity to slam a punch of his own at the huge man's exposed face.

Jean Bart was knocked down on his back with an evident fist-shaped wound on his nose. Gritting his teeth, he quickly stood back up and charged at Rowan recklessly.

BOOM!

Jean Bart's fist landed on the ground as Rowan backflipped out of the range. Then, Rowan, as if made out of spring, suddenly sprang forth toward Jean Bart as Jean Bart lifted his fist back up.

Jean Bart then found Rowan's heel connected to his cheek before he was sent flying to the side.

"CAPTAIN!!"

One member of Jean Bart Pirates screamed, unable to believe that Jean Bart was getting manhandled like nothing.

"I am fine!!"

Jean Bart stood back up and wiped the blood on his lips.

Feeling Jean Bart's glare on him, Rowan rubbed his head while sighing in fatigue.

"Till when must we continue doing this?"

Jean Bart snarled,

"Until we get to revenge the death of—"

"But we haven't done that."

"—Buzz!!"

As if not having heard what Rowan said, Jean Bart charged at Rowan once more.

Rowan leaned down and grabbed a hand full of dirt. Then, when Jean Bart was right in front of him, Rowan simply threw it at Jean Bart's eyes, blinding the latter momentarily.

Then, another punch landed on Jean Bart's face, causing the latter to stumble before falling to his knees.

"Calm down first and think of what happened today."

As Jean Bart huffed heavily, Rowan spoke impassively,

"My crew members were ambushed by the agents who belong to the organization named Baroque Works. Similarly, I too was attacked by four of them. Baroque Works is a supposedly secret organization that conducts many schemes for the sake of profit, and from the gist of it, bounty hunting seems to be one of their main ways of profiting. Based on this information, who's more likely to be the killer of your crew member?"

Jean Bart, turning his head around, glared at Rowan. He swung his hand around, causing Rowan to step out of the range. Standing back up, Jean Bart, seemingly calmer than before, looked around the battlefield.

"...And how do I trust you?"

"For what reason would I lie to you?"

Rowan, placing his hands in his pockets, remarked,

"I'm stronger than you, and I've never seen you before. The feud earlier during the day with my member has been resolved peacefully. From what my crew explained, your crew's broke anyway. What benefit do I have from lying to you?"

Rowan shrugged.

"I suppose that I can be considered a culprit if I were to be some sadistic psycho who enjoys torturing others, but do I look like one to you?"

Jean Bart, in silence, looked at Rowan's appearance.

Sharp eyes, unkempt and messy hair, lean yet muscular body that grants both strength and agility, along with numerous scars that speak of his past life...

"...Yes."

"Oh, come on!"

Rowan complained, and Jean Bart found himself snorting dryly. Jean Bart then fell to his butt, feeling the adrenaline fading away in his body.

"If you aren't the one... Baroque Works, you said?"

"Ah yes. Mr.4 and Ms.Merry Christmas or whatever."

Rowan turned to look at the corpse with the bandanna: Buzz.

"One was a fat blonde who held onto a super heavy metal bat, while the other was a mole woman with sunglasses. They also had a dog-cannon. I killed them all though."

"Blonde... mole... dog... Buzz is the only bounty holder apart from me..."

Jean Bart entered the thought, trying to see if he'd come across any of them. Eventually, he flinched as he recalled something,

"Don't tell me..."

Rowan raised his eyebrows,

"Why, something clicked off?"

"It's them!! The bakery!!"

Jean Bart stood up and shouted,

"Cease fighting!! We've got to visit a place at this immediate moment!!"

However, no one responded. Jean Bart, feeling that something was weird, turned and found that all members of his crew were on the ground, sleeping soundly with needles in their arms.

"They're alive. Just sleeping, you see,"

Said Deuce, and Jean Bart was rendered flabbergasted.

...

"Captain, you got to look at this."

After the crew members of Jean Bart Pirates woke up, they rushed to one building that was located in the middle of the town.

In this building was a bakery shop that Buzz regularly visited from what they remember. And in this place, the owner was replaced all of a sudden a week ago.

"This is..."

Currently, in Jean Bart's hand was a note, two bounty posters, and an eternal pose that had the word 'Alabasta' written on it.

*'Red Bandanna' Buzz. 28 Million Beli.*

*'Hammer Fist' Jean Bart. 68 Million Beli.*

*Red Bandanna visits the bakery regularly. Poisoning the bread would suffice. Hammer Fist would be much tougher, and will need more thorough planning...*

"...Who's the owner of this shop."

Jean Bart, in a shaky voice, growled. One member shook his head,

"None of us knows; Buzz was the only one who visited this place. I simply remember Buzz mentioning that the owners of the place changed all of a sudden, from an elderly man to a huge blonde guy and sunglasses woman."

Jean Bart was left devastated. The explanation from his crew member matched what Rowan said. This led to one conclusion,

"Baroque... Works..."

the organization called Baroque Works was behind this.

"That man said that the culprits, Mr.4 and Ms.Merry Christmas are dead, but..."

Jean Bart felt the intense anger building up in him.

__________

"And? What do you think?"

Back in Shooting Star, Rowan was now staring at the map that was laid out in the middle. This map was one of the tools that Nami purchased back in the day.

"Travelling to Sandy island from here would take approximately a month from what this map suggests, and that's only if we were to go straight without visiting any other islands. However, this is virtually impossible considering how dangerous the climate of Grand Line is."

Nami drew a line on the map, one that connected multiple islands together.

"Therefore, the safest route of travel is to go in the following order: Maple island, then Sandy island. The estimated time of travel this way is approximately a month and 2 weeks more; around 2 weeks from here to Maple, and a month from Maple to Sandy."

After hearing Nami's explanation, Rowan turned to ask Vivi.

"Will Carina, Ms.Tuesday, be kept alive until then?"

Vivi nodded in certitude.

"Baroque Works isn't in a hurry, at least from what I saw. Judging by how Mr.12 and I were pinpointed, they probably believe that they have full control in their hands. Furthermore, Ms.Tuesday, compared to her stealth and information-gathering ability, doesn't have outstanding strength or known allies; Baroque Works already won the fight when they managed to catch her."

Nodding, Rowan turned to Deuce.

"You heart Nami, 2 weeks from here to Maple. Do we have enough supplies for the sail?"

"Well... yeah."

Deuce said with a slight reluctance,

"Most of them are dried though. It's not going to taste that great."

"In terms of nutrients?"

"They should be fine in that aspect."

"Good."

Then, Rowan turned to look at Bartolomeo.

"What about the state of the ship? Any abnormality?"

Bartolomeo scratched the back of his head,

"Not from what I can see. I checked at least 3 times, but couldn't find anything wrong with Shooting Star."

"Great."

Yawning, Rowan then fell to his seat, with them having finished the check-up.

"Then, before we leave here tomorrow—"

"W-Wait."

Vivi then interrupted.

"Maple island... you may want to avoid it."

"How come?"

Rowan raised an eyebrow.

"Within that island is a Mug town. Though this town seems normal at first glance, every single person in the town... are Baroque Works agent under disguise."

"...Just how big is that organization?"

Deuce mumbled, and Rowan hummed in thought. Rowan then said,

"Great. That makes Maple island an even better option for us."

"Eh? How come?"

"isn't it simple?"

Rowan smirked as he looked at Vivi.

"If you're able to think that far, don't you think your smartass boss, who managed to keep himself or herself secret for years, should be able to take that into account?"

"Captain has the point."

Deuce nodded in agreement.

"The head of the organization is likely to position stronger agents in the alternative route that circumvents Maple island. That way, that organization will get to monitor two islands at once. The question to ask is if they are even aware of our motive, but judging by how many Baroque Works agents were present on this island today, it is safe to assume that they will eventually find it out."

Nami furrowed her brows as she stared at the map.

"...Deuce's statement sounds plausible. From what this map tells, Maple island and Gloom island are two intermediary islands that lie in-between here and Sandy island."

"Uguahhhh, what do we do then?!"

Bartolomeo pulled on his hair, expressing frustration.

Rowan grinned as he pointed his finger at Nami's log pose. Deuce and Nami flinched, having realized what Rowan was suggesting.

"Right!"

Deuce whispered,

"We use the log pose to head onto the next island, before utilizing the eternal pose of Alabasta Kingdom. That way, we'll manage to go past both the Maple and Gloom islands...!"

Nami returned her eyes to the map and intently gazed at the island that was on the right of the current island.

"From what this map says... 'Battle Arena.'"

The log pose on her wrist swayed, indicating that the current island has already been recorded.

__________

Far away from Shooting Star, two animals, an otter and vulture, were seen to be sitting on top of one tree. Strangely, they were wearing sunglasses within the midnight, but seemed to be capable of seeing just fine.

The otter was Mr.13, while the vulture was Ms.Friday. They are the 'Unluckies' of Baroque Works, who serve as the messengers for the administrator of the organization.

Currently, in their hands were the drawn faces of Grimheart Pirates: Rowan, Nami, Deuce, and Bartolomeo, as well as the face of Jean Bart. It seemed that their sense of sight was truly phenomenal, for them to evade Rowan's Observation Haki.

"..."

In silence, Mr.13 and Ms.Friday looked at one another. They then nodded, before Mr.13 boarded on top of Ms.Friday and the two flew off from the scene.

And from the other side of the island...

"Captain! We're ready to head off!"

"The map suggests that travelling via the eternal pose of Alabasta Kingdom will take approximately a month, but we will first travel to Maple island to avoid the hazardous zone labelled in the map! The expected time of arrival is 2 to 3 weeks, but do expect a longer time depending on how harsh the weather may be!"

Jean Bart Pirates were hurriedly moving back and forth in the darkness, readying to sail out.

Jean Bart grimly gazed at the eternal pose in his hand. Then, he turned to look at the gravestone on the land—one that belonged to his first mate who jovially sailed out with him with hopes and dreams.

"Buzz... worry not."

Jean Bart's eyes gleamed in rage as he growled,

"Baroque Works... I will make sure that they go down, even at the cost of my life."