11: Recruiting the first crewmember

All in all, the whole process had taken barely 15 minutes and had left both Shandians and Skypieans confused. They couldn't believe that their 'new ruler' was only implementing rules to ensure peace and development. Shouldn't he demand exorbitant taxes or something?

Gan Fall, on the other hand, was actually somewhat relieved. He knew that Eren had planned to bring peace to Skypiea through overwhelming force, but he had feared the he would resort to using violence. Now that he knew that Eren had only talked about displaying his might instead of actually using it, he was very happy.

With Eren's power, it might actually be possible to end the centuries-long conflict with mere threats. There might be some idiots who would test their new rulers, but those were necessary sacrifices.

At that moment, portals opened once again beneath everyone's feet, and they were teleported back to the place from which they had been taken.

But again there was an exception in the form of Wyper.

* * * * * * * * * * *

When Wyper fell through the portal for the second time today, he fully expected to reappear in his house, where he had left from a few minutes ago. But instead of his house, he suddenly found himself inside a large, unfamiliar room.

He was sitting at a very large table made of massive wood that could easily seat 10 people. Facing him were both Eren and Enel, the two people who had just kidnapped him. His first instinct was to fight them, but he realized that it would be useless.

The man facing him could probably kill him in seconds. Since he hadn't been killed yet, Wyper decided to listen first and find out what Eren wanted from him.

Eren on the other side of the table was waiting for Wyper to react or fight back somehow, but it seemed that the Shandian was better at controlling himself than he had expected. After sitting in silence for a whole minute, Eren finally decided to break the silence.

"I want to congratulate you, Wyper. Your application to join our crew has been accepted."

Wyper was stunned when he heard Eren's words. What was he talking about? "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you're trying to say. I've never applied to join your crew or whatever."

But Eren wasn't convinced. "Of course you did," he said before he took out a piece of paper and a pen. After scribbling on it for a few seconds, he finally showed it to Wyper.

It read: 'I, Wyper ,probably no last name, would like to apply to join the crew of Eren C. Birka and follow him on his journey to the blue sea.' Below the words was a poorly done drawing of Wyper's face that looked like it had been done by a child.

'Is this supposed to be my signature?' Wyper thought, completely stunned. As he moved his finger over the words, the fresh ink smudged slightly. He did not know what to say. The man in front of him was far too powerful for him to resist, but he couldn't just follow his every whim just because he wanted to.

"This was obviously created by you just now," Wyper mustered all his courage to confront the overwhelmingly powerful opponent.

"Well, no matter who created it, the fact remains that I have an approved request with your signature on it. So it looks like you will have to join my crew. Otherwise, all my integrity would be lost if I broke this contract right now."

Wyper didn't know what to say. How did Eren manage to speak all that nonsense with a straight face? It seemed that he was not only incredibly strong, but also incredibly shameless.

Gritting his teeth, Wyper tried once again to talk himself out of the situation. "I can't leave yet, after all, I haven't achieved true peace yet. Most of the Shandians probably won't accept the current rules and as the future chief I have to be present to calm them down".

Eren was stunned. How could Wyper talk such nonsense with a straight face? This was obviously just made up.

"Who would dare to confront me or violate my rules? I can also offer to teleport you back to Shandora from time to time. That way, you can keep your people calm while you travel with me."

Silence filled the room, as neither of them really knew what else to say. Then Eren had a brilliant idea.

"Now that you have officially joined our crew, there is a protocol we have to follow for you to officially leave. All crew members will have to vote on the matter and whatever the majority decides will be done. Since all current crew members are gathered here, we can begin the vote immediately."

The vote ended as expected, with two people voting against Wyper's departure and one person voting in favor of it.

"Now that you've been given a fair chance, you can't really complain anymore, can you?"

Wyper was about to explode with rage, he had to use all his mental capacity just to sit still. His hands created cracks in the table from clenching them so tightly.

"But I can," Eren continued, "help you to calm down your people. Have you ever heard of the Golden Bell of Shandora?"

Hearing Eren's last words, Wyper's anger suddenly subsided. Instead, it turned into confusion as he narrowed his eyes and looked at Eren with a worried expression.

"How do you know about this?" He asked. This was supposed to be one of the most important objects of the Shandians. How did this random guy know about it?

"It's not important how I know about it." Eren replied to Wyer, his voice calm. "What you should be interested in is what I know about it. Like its location for example."

Hearing Eren say that he even knew its location, Wyper suddenly threw all his caution out the window. "Where is it? As long as you tell me, I will definitely come with you."

Wyper's reaction was to be expected, for that bell was like a divine object to the people of Shandora. It's ringing would announce the resurrection of their past glory and was an extremely important signal to them.

"If you insist. I really didn't want to force you to join my crew, but it seems like you're really eager, even finding excuses like wanting to know the location of a bell." Wyper was about to explode. Was this guy ever serious? How could he follow such an incompetent captain?

"Just follow me, we are going there right now." Before Wyper could react, Eren grabbed his shoulder and immediately teleported them to the location of the bell. It was on a cloud near the top of the giant beanstalk called Giant Jack that grew in the middle of the Upper Yard. Its location had been unknown for centuries.

The moment they appeared, they saw a gigantic Golden Bell. It was held up by massive Golden Pillars, but it was also overgrown with vines.

When Wyper looked at it, tears ran down his face. His people had been searching for this bell for centuries, and it had been right under, no, above their noses the whole time.

After collecting himself, he slowly made his way to the bell. He began by removing the vines from this sacred object, as they would also prevent it from moving. This process took about 2 minutes, and after he finished, he took another minute to collect himself.

Finally, he struck out with full force, causing the bell to swing. After a few seconds, the bell finally produced a melodious ring that reached the entirety of Sky Island. It was so loud that it had even reached Jaya, alerting the pirates living there to the existence of the island.

The melody was one of the most beautiful Eren had ever heard. It was so clear and pleasant that he thought about taking the bell with him. But in the end he decided against it, because that would make Wyper angry again. He could just come here and ring it whenever he felt like it.

As the sound waves continued to spread, the Shandians began to realize what they were hearing. The entire tribe erupted in celebration as the ringing of the bell announced a bright future for them. Perhaps they would indeed be able to achieve a lasting period of peace with the Skypieans.

The bell continued to ring for an hour, as Wyper struck it again and again until his fists began to bleed and his knuckles broke. When he was done, he collapsed on the ground from exhaustion and pain, but the only thing he felt was happiness.

When he got up and saw Eren's face, he remembered the high price he had to pay and his expression turned wry again. 'Joining his crew was worth it. I would even give my life to find this bell.'

Eren, on the other hand, was getting bored. No matter how beautiful the bell sounded, it would be boring to hear the same sound over and over again. Besides, he really wanted to start his adventure. He had waited long enough.

"Come on," he finally said to Wyper, "you still have one hour to say goodbye to your tribe and tell them about this place, then I will teleport to you again and we will go to the Blue Sea.

Wyper was glad to have another hour. He would also be lying if he said he wasn't excited to finally visit the Blue Sea. Supposedly, all the ground down there was made of Vearth.

Finally, Eren teleported Wyper away without warning. At the same time, he gave the system the command to display the Shandian's status.

[Name: Wyper]

[Age: 16 years, 4 months, 3 days]

[Haki: -]

[Total strength: 50 - 100 million Berry Pirate]

'It seems that recruiting him was the right decision. Even in the original anime, he stood out for his extremely high physical strength, being able to take three Reject Dials that would kill a normal human. Though I would say that his strength has only barely reached the 50 million mark at the moment.'

Wyper would probably be more talented in Armament Haki, which was the main way Eren planned to train him. At the moment, Wyper was still too weak to be of any use to him, but hopefully that would change soon.

After evaluating his newest recruit, Eren finally turned to his second in-command. "Let's go back to Birka. We still have a few things to do."

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I decided against updating on sunday, since I feel like it would reward my laziness. So here's a new chapter today already. Though the next one will truly only come out on sunday.

Please leave some Power stones or reviews.

Number of Onions that have been consumed during the Shandian's celebratory feast: 647

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