Chapter 135

Prior to starting this chap, I just want to tell you that I kind of messed up with the timeline on the last chap, haha;;

Luffy being caught actually happened approximately 2 months after Rowan's events at Sabaody. After all, from Spriggins to Sabaody, approximately a month has passed (insanely quick journey). The sequence of last chapter was in mess.

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Barto... you won't see them for a quite a long amount of time.

Sorry for confusing y'all; I'm gonna start putting an exact date to keep the time more coherent.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chap as well, and have a wonderful Sunday!

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[Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 27; July 1st, 1522]

"""Yo-hohoho, yo-hohoho, yo-hohoho, yo-hohoho!"""

With all members of the alliance gathered all together, a huge party was ongoing.

"Gather up all of the crew, it's time to ship out Bink's Brew~!" Carina, with a mic in her hand, was singing with passion, as Apoo played various instruments on his body along with his crew at the back, to provide a harmonical tune that perfectly matched Carina's singing.

"Sea King Ham, roasted to perfection." Carmen, who was holding a gigantic plate with a huge piece of delicious-looking meat on top, placed the dish down in the middle.

"Oooh, that looks good!!" Bonney, while drooling with anticipation, immediately jumped toward the dish.

"Hmm..." On the side, Nami was seen to be gazing intently at the sets of the cups that a member of Bonney pirates was swapping, before pointing her finger at one particular cup, "I bet on this one."

"H-how?!! it's been the fifteenth time, and... urghhhh!!!" That pirate groaned as he lifted the cup up, revealing the crumbled Beli that was hidden underneath.

"Huh? Barakus? No, we haven't been there before." Dan, on the other hand, was seen to be interacting with many others from the other crew, talking about the places that they've sailed before, "A tornado, huh. Well, as for me..."

As for Cavendish,

"Kyaaaa!!!"

"Marry me, handsome!"

He was busy with the hoards of female pirates who were swooning on him.

"Guahaha! Calm down, one by one!"

He was enjoying every moment of it.

And at some distance away, Urouge was hanging out with similarly muscular fellows,

"How much can you lift?"

discussing their routines, capabilities, and more.

Simply put, the whole grove was full of loudness, boisterousness, and a jovial atmosphere.

"I suppose this isn't bad." Rowan, as he took down the gulp from the mug of beer, grinned as he leaned back in his seat.

"This... seems a bit too loose though." Law, in serious demeanour, expressed his concern, "We are literally in Sabaody Archipelago, the place that is extremely close to Mariejois and Marineford."

"That's what I initially thought as well, but..." Robin, who was sitting on the other side, smiled, "I think it should be fine. Captain alone was capable of stopping the whole Buster Call, and now, all of us are here."

"Indeed." Alfred nodded in agreement as he placed his hand on top of Farul, who was busy eating the piece of meat in front of him, "Leave the worrying part for tomorrow."

"Wise words." Nojiko chuckled.

To Law, this kind of situation felt so awkward. Partying... he and his crew have never actively engaged in an event like this before, and frankly speaking, he had no idea what to do.

"And from there, we began to ride along with this insane current of sea clouds above. Even worse, the path was cut off at the end; any other crew would've died. Buuuut, of course, we were simply built different." While Rowan was busy boasting about his adventure to those around him,

'...And my crew is so intelligent that we've built a submarine that doesn't need a coating to enter the Fish-Man island.' Law, within his mind, thought in a proud manner—though he was too embarrassed to say it out loud.

As Rowan continued talking, Law momentarily turned his head to see what his crew was doing, only to see,

"""Law, look!!!"""

all of them putting the chopsticks between their nostrils and mouths in a weird manner.

Law, with wavering eyes, simply turned his head back.

'I didn't see anything. I didn't.'

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"Hey, Law."

As the party seemed to have died down, with all the pirates lying down somewhere and sleeping, Rowan called Law in serious demeanour.

"What is it?"

"Your fruit ability is Op Op fruit, right? One about surgery, which is capable of performing an immortality operation."

Law's face turned stoic upon hearing Rowan.

'How did he find that out?!'

Rowan had one inquiry to resolve for, and Law was the only one who knew the answer.

"I'm not interested in becoming immortal myself. If it happens to me, I won't hesitate to commit suicide." Rowan shook his head after having figured out what Law was worried of, before asking,

"Just tell me this. Is it possible to kill someone who received that operation?"

Law, although suspicious of the reason why Rowan would ask such a question, nodded nonetheless,

"Yes. Becoming immortal simply means one's body is forever sustainable. He or she still can be killed."

Rowan nodded, "Then that's enough for me."

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"…You asleep as well, Law?" Rowan, with the full moon brightening the Grove 27, asked within the dead silence.

There wasn't any response, for Law, with his hat lowered, was sleeping soundly after some time passed by.

After gazing up at the dark sky momentarily, Rowan looked down at his hand in contemplation.

'Bounce.'

Since learning the seemingly next stage of the devil fruit ability, known as the fruit awakening, Rowan couldn't help but wonder.

'A spontaneous production of vector off of the surface of myself or an object that I touched… if spoken in a fancy way.'

He always felt that this fruit was incomplete. In essence, all it did was to produce a short-lasting blunt force that pushes against; this wasn't what he expected for a fruit named as Bounce. The more fitting name was something like Push Push fruit.

'The awakening…'

The next stage of the Bounce Bounce fruit. Rowan could think of the two possibilities.

'One: Ability to apply bounce on the objects that I didn't touch. The limit that I must touch the object disappears.'

And,

'Two… the one I assume to be the case. Advancement of the ability itself. If bounce is temporary, a permanent granting of a characteristic: bouncy.'

Instead of a booming sound, an actual characteristic of bounciness, like a boinging sound.

But in the end, they were naught but his guesses. Perhaps it will turn out to be something else. He wasn't sure how this so-called awakening worked anyway. However,

if this was based off of one's mastery over the fruit ability,

'I definitely ain't far off from it.'

Rowan could feel that he has reached the wall.

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[After the Night; July 2nd, 1522]

"How long will it take?" Rowan asked with his arms crossed, as he gazed at the huge body of Prominence in the front.

"Oho... your ship is amazing... and unique. I've never seen something like this. The dials from the sky, and a smaller ship within, hmm... how creative—"

"How long?" Rowan interrupted the coating mechanic with slight annoyance in his tone.

"Oh my, my apologies! I'd say, hmm... around 5 days for a ship as huge as this."

This coating mechanic was the same one who coated X Drake's ship before. Round glasses, silver-white-coloured hair and beard, along with a lean muscular physique. Although unknown by Rowan and Carina, this man was Silvers Rayleigh, the former vice captain of the Roger pirates.

"And how much will it cost?" From Rowan's side, Carina asked with narrowed eyes.

"Coating is a hard job that requires an extreme profession. A small mistake, and pop. You have to start over." Rayleigh stated with his hand on his chin, "And this ship is big. And its surface is rough and irregular. I am afraid that it will cost around 1 million..."

"One million?

Rowan tilted his head with a slight frown.

'Back in Spriggins, we were charged with 400 thousand, which Carina managed to bring it down all the way to 70 thousand. 1 million, hm.'

Carine didn't sit idly by,

"Too expensive."

Carina simply crossed her arms and huffed,

"We were charged with 70 thousand in Spriggins for this exact same ship."

Although Carina didn't mention that Prominence received many modifications, she technically was speaking the truth.

"70 thousand?!" Rayleigh's eyes widened, "How generous! The raw cost that requires to produce enough amount of solution for that ship should at least be 100 thousand... just what have you done to them?!"

"100 thousand, yeah right." Carina snickered, "I heard from them that it costs only 10 thousand or so. Are all coating mechanics scammers?"

'What kind of idiot...!' Rayleigh grimaced before speaking, "Hm... 900 thousand then. Huge discount, isn't it?"

"100 thousand." Carina stated coldly, causing Rayleigh's jaw to drop.

"100 thousand?" Rayleigh exclaimed in shock, "Young lass, you must be joking! Fine then, how about 850?"

"100 thousand."

"Hey Carina," From the side, Rowan stated as he looked through the catalog in his hand, "Let's try going to the other coating mechanic. That dude does the same job for a cheaper price apparently."

Rayleigh began to sweat. The money that he got from X Drake a week ago, he used all of them up for gambling. If his wife, Shakky, were to find that out... he couldn't fathom what would happen.

"No no, I'm the best coating mechanic you can find here." Rayleigh, trying to calm himself down, said in a cold sweat, "Fine, how about 750 thousand then? The solution that I use is different than any other. You will regret it if you miss me."

"Hmm... yeah, this dude does the same job for only 250 thousand. Let's go with this guy." Carina, leaning toward Rowan and looking at the catalog in his hands, nodded in agreement.

"6-600!"

Rowan and Carina didn't seem to be listening.

"550!"

They began to turn around and walk away from the site.

"450!" Rayleigh shouted in panic, but they didn't seem to be paying attention.

"350!! I can't go any lower than that!!" Rayleigh was flabbergasted. He managed to rip off 1 million successfully against X Drake, but now, he was calling 350.

"250." Rowan, who stopped along with Carina on his side, stated in monotone as he turned his head around.

Rayleigh gritted his teeth, "3...330!"

"250."

"315!"

"250."

"Tch...!" Rayleigh finally stated, "2...290! That's my borderline! I can't go any lower!"

Rowan instantly turned around with Carina and grabbed Rayleigh's hand, before shaking it firmly,

"Deal."

They managed to lower the price from 1 million to 290 thousand.

From afar, Nojiko, Nami, and the Twin Cats were seen to be taking down the notes while spectating the scene.

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[July 7th, 1522]

"So her name is Tempest, right?" Rowan asked as he rubbed his hand onto the embedded body of the smaller ship within Prominence.

He had to admit, just the slight sensation was enough for him to realize that the quality of the wood was significantly superior than Prominence's.

"Yeah. Franky was going to name it the 'New Battle Franky Fast Wind Super,'" Carina shook her head, "but of course, no one liked it. Instead, we decided to follow Iceberg's idea, 'Tempest.' Hence, here it is."

Rowan chuckled, before turning to the front and walking up to the front section of Prominence.

In front of him, there lied 4 ships: Necrokitty of the Twin Cats pirates, Polar Tang of the Heart pirates, Jewelry Margharita of the Bonney pirates, and Stay Tune of the On Air pirates. Along with Prominence and his crew with him, the total force of the alliance was quite the sight to look at.

Now, with all ships coated, they were ready to head out to the next point of their destination: the Fish-Man Island.

"Underwater... I wonder what kind of ingredients exist there." Carmen said as she flipped her cooking knife up and down.

"I think it's the first time we're visiting an underwater island." Dan muttered with excited gleam in his eyes, "This adventure s going to be epic."

"Here I come, my loyal fans!" Cavendish began to jump up and down in anticipation.

"Sahaha! From the white sky above all the way down to the bottom of the blue sea... this surely is spectacular!" Urouge grinned as he bumped his fists together.

"Ufufu, I wonder how many floating corpses we will find there." Robin said right next to Urouge, causing the latter to turn pale in fear.

"Hm, it would be great if I get to find an item as unique as the dials from the sky." Alfred commented while stroking his mustache.

"Neigh~!" Farul let out a cry in anticipation.

'I'm not sure what will be awaiting for us down there, but...' Rowan, momentarily closing his eyes, thought grimly, 'Fish-men, Arlong pirates, and Jinbe... let's see how it goes.'

Raising his hand up, Rowan clenched it into a fist, signalling everyone to head out.

"Onto the New World."

With his eyes back open, Rowan grinned widely, to which,

"""Yeah!!!"""

everyone followed suit with a sense of excitement and anticipation.

And hence, all 5 ships began to submerge into the sea, with the special coating around their ships inflating up to a bubble-like shape.