Chapter 21

A day has risen in the Carol town, belonging to the Cross island that is located at the south of the East Blue.

After Rowan and Carina's successful escape, the marines attempted for an immediate chase. However, using Rowan's bounce force, they swiftly reached the Grandeur island. Right after landing, they quickly disguised themselves, before stealing a boat and heading to the Cross island. When marines arrived at the Grandeur island, they could no longer track the duo down.

Currently, using the money Carina got on herself, they recuperated in an inn. They have been sitting on the table, thinking about their next course of action.

"So are you going to continue your 'Angel' pirates?" Carina said mockingly.

"Ha, as if." Rowan snorted in response, before speaking out. "Honestly, I have no idea at the current moment. Frankly speaking, my face is well known. I can't keep myself hidden; it seems to me that I have no choice but to continue being a pirate."

Rowan sighed, knowing that he brought this upon himself.

"Oho, so you are building a new crew?" Carina said playfully. "Then I want a spot there!"

Rowan scratched his head. "Well..."

"Huh, why? Don't tell me that you are going to reject me?! I can navigate, steal, annnd assassinate!" Carina said as she pulled out her knife with a scary smile.

"Assassinate? Ok, you are in." Rowan gave her a thumbs up. "Good thing for you! Got lucky here, having acquired the titles of Grimheart Rowan's first mate and the vice-captain of the Demon pirates!!"

"Yayy~" Carina pumped her fist up in an excitement. "So what's the plan?"

"I think we should stay and train a bit more. Stay in the East Blue? Nope. With Mad Treasure gone to Grand Line, the marines stationed here will be chasing after me for days and nights. Therefore-" Rowan held up his finger as he spoke. "-We will ensure to become hella strong, before heading out to Grand Line ourselves. Rack up tons of fortunes, gain more crew members, and beat up anyone who blocks us!"

"Aye aye captain!" Carina replied with a cheeky grin as she saluted.

"Alright! With all that said, our training begins today!"

For the next 6 months, Rowan and Carina trained themselves diligently.

Rowan has focused on a further development of his basic strength, as he realized that he relies on his fruit ability too much. Since he has already developed an absurd physical strength, Rowan's training went next level. 20,000 push-ups with a huge boulder tied around his back! 20,000 sit-ups in a beach where ocean water gushes in and out! 20,000 squats while upside down, with his feet tied to a random ceiling! 80km full sprint run while 3 boulders are tied around his waist! Although such trainings were hard not to notice, Rowan was able to train secretly, thanks to the fact that many dangerous animals lived within the forests near the town, which prevented any commoners from heading inside.

Carina, on the other hand, seemed to be practising her knife skills. Rowan couldn't help but clap in awe when she did triple back flip while slashing a target tree 20 times consecutively, in an instant. Her dexterity and reflex seemed to be very honed too; Rowan could not believe that she was the same girl as the one he saw a year ago!

Now that 6 months have passed, Rowan having reached an age of 18 and 17 for Carina, they looked at the ship prepared in front of them.

Naturally, it was a stolen ship, of course. One day, they saw the pirates coming into the town, demanding for money to the villagers like Arlong has done in the past. While they were busy, Rowan and Carina secretly snatched the ship away into a different coast, and earned stupefied looks from the pirates as they realized the disappearance of their 'Lady Luck.'

"Ugh, this ship surely looks ugly." Carina faked a vomit as she stared as the figurehead in disgust, which had a shining statue of a naked woman. "Captain, can we remove that, please??"

Naturally, Rowan nodded. He didn't want his ship to look like a joke. "Alright, all tools are ready." He stared at the buckets of paints containing various colours. "Hmm, we are going to colour the sail clothes with brown. Gotta look cool."

"No! Brown on the sail?! Are you seriously thinking that would look cool?!" Carina looked at Rowan in disbelief. "Use something else, like red or blue! Looks more menacing and unique that way."

"What? But brown-"

"No buts!" Carina said resolutely. "I am not seeing any brown on the sail, ok?"

"Yes, ma'am..." Rowan said dejectedly.

For the next few days, they spent their days re-painting Lady Luck. In the end, the product turned out quite decent. The sails were painted in red, while the body, including the masts, were painted in yellow and orange, along with little bit of brown at Rowan's request. The ship looked simply flamboyant!

"Ooh, very fiery. I like it." Rowan and Carina nodded their heads in appreciation as they looked at the ship.

"What should the new name of this ship be?" Carina asked to Rowan, who was contemplating.

"Hmm, something related to fire would match nicely. How about 'Prominence?'" Rowan suggested, to which Carina agreed immediately. "Alright, Prominence then."

Rowan nodded, before shouting ahead. "Hey, Lady Luck, you heard that? Your name, from now on, is Prominence! Believe it!"

Carina laughed before lifting up her brush. "Well, we only have one last thing to do now. Jolly roger!"

"Well whatever the end product may be," Rowan sighed, "Please, don't let it turn out like my last one. Seriously, a bald skull with a halo? That was the ugliest one I've ever seen!"

"Hmmm..." They thought about it while drawing many possible candidates.

"How about this one?" Carina said, pointing at the particular jolly roger, where the skull had red eyes and black hair. The overall structure, including the bones at the back, had blue hues around the edge. "This one looks pretty unique, and anyone would recognize this jolly roger as you!"

"Yeah, that one seems quite good." Rowan agreed to Carina's idea. Soon after, the jolly roger officially made its way on top of their sail.

They stared at the finished ship in pride. The ship that they will be riding on, standing tall majestically! The horrendous Lady Luck was long gone, and replaced by the cool-looking Prominence!

<Thank you, thank you so much! Waaaahhhhh!> Rowan and Carina heard the voice all of a sudden, but couldn't see where it came from. Shrugging, they thought that they misheard.