Chapter 92

[In the middle of nowhere, Grand Line]

In the middle of the vast sea, one ship with a jolly roger consisting of red lips with the tongue sticking out, was sailing at a slow pace. This ship belonged to Bellamy's crew, who had previously run away from Jaya a few days ago.

"...Where are we going?" One member of the crew anxiously asked Eddy, the navigator of the crew.

Eddy gritted his teeth as he lifted up his left wrist and stared at the remains of the Log Pose, which broke due to Psycho P's sneak attack. Sighing, he lifted up his right hand, which was holding onto the Eternal Pose of Alabasta, "This is the only option we got. And even this, it's partially broken; we can only hope that it will guide us successfully."

Nearby, Bellamy, who was wrapped around in bandages from head to toe, blankly stared at the sky above, unknown as to what he was thinking.

*Creak* The door that leads to the lower floor opened, and Hewitt, the chef of the Bellamy pirates, stepped out with a bag full of plain buns.

"Guys, y'all gotta eat something." He said as he placed the bag onto the table, before taking out the contents one by one and passing them to the crew members.

"Bellamy," Sarquiss called while holding a bun to Bellamy, but the latter didn't bother to respond. Sighing, Sarquiss was about to retract his arm,

"Oh, thanks! I was real hungry, haha!"

Suddenly, a new voice was heard as a hand took the bun from Sarquiss's hand. Irritated, Sarquiss turned his head to the source of voice, only to sight someone he's never seen before.

"Who the f*** are you?!!" Sarquiss growled as he and the other crew members all took out their respective weapons, pointing at the man with the orange smiley hat, Ace, who was munching on the bun jovially.

"Oh, sorry for the interruption." Ace said as he took a bite from the bun casually, "I was brought forth by the sight of your food."

Ace bowed slightly to the crew, "My name is Ace. Nice to meet you."

Hearing Ace's introduction, Bellamy slowly stood up from his spot with a murderous expression, "You gotta be kidding me."

*Tap* *Tap* Bellamy began to walk towards Ace, who took out a second bun from the bag after having finished the first one.

"B-Bellamy, wait!!" Eddy cried out in a cold sweat, "That man is 'Iron Fist' Ace!! Wanted for 550 million Beli, and known as the 2nd division commander of the Whitebeard pirates!!"

With Eddy's fearful exclaim earning the shock from the whole crew, Bellamy froze in midst of his walk.

'D-damn, 550 million?!' Bellamy began to sweat, which began to drench the bandages, 'S***, even that dude with 85 million beat me, and now, 550 million?!!'

"Hahaha, this is *Munch* real good!" Without a care for the pirates who stared at his nervously, Ace laughed while munching onto a third bun.

"But still, not as good as That...ch..." Ace laugh halted as he realized the name he just spoke of. Looking down at the bun he was holding onto, Ace muttered with a hint of depression, "No one will ever be able to best him as a chef...."

Meanwhile, Bellamy slowly backed away and positioned himself next to Sarquiss, pretending as if he never expressed any sign of hostility against Ace.

"Psss, Bellamy!" On Bellamy's left, Lily, another member of Bellamy's crew, whispered into his ear, "Look over there!"

Bellamy turned his head to the sea where Lily was pointing at, and widened his eyes upon sighting a man who seemed to be standing on top of the water.

"Huh?" At the same time, Ace too noticed such phenomenon, and expressed his interest with two buns in his mouth simultaneously.

"Hello?" Said main was seen to be wearing a checkered jester-like green-blue costume.

""Huh?"" Bellamy and Sarquiss stared at the man with a vivid surprise.

"Huh?" The man tilted his head in confusion.

"Hello?" Ace stopped munching onto the buns as he too tilted his head.

In the next moment, the man began to elevate, as the large-sized ship surfaced out of nowhere. The water around shook violently and formed sudden waves, causing Bellamy's ship to sway side to side.

"What the f***..." Sarquiss muttered unconsciously as he firmly gripped onto the rail, "Am I dreaming?"

With an unknown mechanism, the figurehead of the ship that looks like a hippopotamus, was brought up and positioned itself in the front of the gigantic ship.

"Maaahahahaha!!!" A loud laugh boomed from the top of the giant ship, "Why, did our jumbo underwater raid ship, Bliking, surprise you?!"

On the gigantic ship, many number of soldiers were seen to be pointing their guns at the Bellamy's crew and Ace. On one level higher than the soldiers, an obese and disproportional man with a jaw made out of tin, was standing while chewing onto a chunk of meat he was holding onto. He was Wapol, the king of the Drum kingdom who ran away from his own country, upon Teach's rampage.

Looking back and forth at Bellamy and Wapol, Ace gulped down the food and formed a grin, "An unexpected trouble, huh?"

"Seize the ship!!" Wapol cried out while pointing his gun towards Bellamy's ship. Under Bellamy and his crew's watch, the countless number of Wapol's soldiers began to jump towards them.

"A trouble after trouble..." Bellamy glared at the enemies falling from the sky and turned his legs into the springs, ready to jump up. However,

"As the compensation for the food, I suppose I can help you out a little here." Ace stated as he adjusted his orange smiley hat and stared up at the sky, where the soldiers were falling towards the ship.

At the next moment, an inconceivable force burst out of Ace. Bellamy and Sarquiss felt an invisible pressure crushing upon them, and noticed that Wapol's subordinates suddenly lost their consciousness in the mid-air and fell into the sea. Simultaneously, the rest of their crew members too lost their consciousness.

Bellamy and Sarquiss found themselves flabbergasted. They previously believed themselves to be quite strong, and yet, Mad Treasure, Baten, Teach, and now, Ace, they met individuals whose strengths far surpasses their's.

"Ah..." Ace scratched his head sheepishly, upon noticing how most of Bellamy's crew fainted as well, "My bad. I'm not too familiar with this yet, you know?"

"W-w-whattt?!!" Witnessing Ace's incomprehensible technique, Conqueror's Haki, Wapol dropped the meat from his hand and dropped his jaw in shock.

"And as for the ship," Ace casually rotated his right arm, which was clenched into a fist, before blasting towards Wapol's gigantic 'Bliking.'

Ace's right fist turned into a greyish metallic colour as he punched his fist through the figurehead of the Bliking,

"Tekken (Iron Fist)!!!"

*BOOOM*

Subsequently, Ace quickly used the surface of Bliking to propel himself back to Bellamy's ship.

*Crack* *Crack* A cracking sound was heard from Bliking, as the cracks began to spread in all directions from the figurehead all the way to the back of the ship.

"What's going on?!!" Wapol cried as he peered down to the bottom of the ship while holding onto the rail. The ship began to shake furiously, and panicked Wapol helplessly watched as the ship, along with him, began to sink. "No no no, this can't be happening!!"

Bellamy stared at the scene with a daze, as the gigantic Bliking broke out into pieces and collapsed into the sea, along with Wapol's comical cry.

Watching Bellamy's stupor, Ace chuckled before grabbing the whole bag of buns and waved his hand, "Think this is a fair trade. Welp, I'm leaving now. Bye."

While Bellamy and Sarquiss were motionlessly gazing at the destruction of Bliking, Ace made a silent exit back onto his motor boat, before peacefully sailing away.

________________

[Spriggins]

Few days passed by since Rowan and his crew arrived at Spriggins, waiting for the start of the Great Sprout race. Surprisingly enough, there existed many means of entertainment in this place, and currently, Rowan's crew were dispersed, enjoying the stay in their own way.

In the case of Rowan, he was with Carina, exploring various cloth shops. At the current moment, with Carina in the dressing room, Rowan was seen to be snoring with his arms crossed and hands holding onto many shopping bags.

*Creak* The door to the dressing room opened, revealing Carina, who was now wearing a purple-coloured dress.

Simultaneously, Rowan straightened up from his spot, acting as if he never fell into a slumber.

"Hehe, Rowan, how do I look?" Carina stepped out of the dressing room and winked with her hands held together behind her, showing off the purple-coloured dress that she was wearing.

"Hmm, is that purple?" Rowan let out a smile, "Suits you well."

For an unknown reason, Rowan's Observation Haki seemed to have an abnormal growth recently, after viewing the Poneglyph and having begun to cover his eyes. It developed well beyond the basic abilities of being able to simply sense the presences and intents; he was somehow able to 'feel' every single detail of his surrounding, be it the colour of a dress, the structure of the gigantic plant, or the shop owner who was nervously gazing at them from the counter. It was as if he was looking through a microscope 24/7.

Carina chuckled before grabbing Rowan's arm and pulling along, "But this isn't why I wanted to bring you here. Come here for a second, will you?"

Letting Carina guide him to the different section of the shop, they eventually came to where the hats and capes of different varieties were organized altogether.

"Hehe, now that we gained some fame here and there, we can't have our captain look so plain, can we?" Carina grinned, "Captain's hat and cape, they never fail to make one look cool!"

"Well..." Rowan tilted his head slightly, "They are kind of nuisances when it comes to battle though."

"You can just take them off, right?" Carina leaned into Rowan excitedly. "Don't worry about money, and just choose one! We are a billionaire, aren't we?"

This was the kind of life that Carina wanted to enjoy; being able to enjoy life as a wealthy person, and spend money without needing to worry about the cost. After all, what's the point of becoming rich if you aren't willing to use them?

"Hat and cape. Hmm, let's see." Complying with Carina's suggestion, Rowan stepped up and 'observed' the characteristics of the garments half-heartedly, before grabbing the dark-purple-coloured cape. "I'll go with this cape only. All the hats look ugly."

"Purple?" Carina raised her eyebrow upon seeing Rowan's pick, "Hehe, it matches with mine. It is just a concidence?"

Rowan grinned, "What can I say? I just like the colour purple"

After paying for the clothes they purchased, the duo exited the shop.

"Huh, this cape is somehow attached onto my shoulders like a magnet." Rowan said in amazement, with the cape now draped over his shoulder, "Probably some weird Grand Line technology. Maybe Alfred knows."

Carina smiled gently, "You said that a cape may be inconvenient for fighting, and yet, look how giddy you are now."

"So this is why all those pirates wear the capes." Rowan stated as he placed his hand under his chin, "It may serve as an extra piece of clothing against cold environment or whatever, but in the end, it's just, you know, awesome. That's the only reason to wear this, unless you are a flasher."

The duo continued to chatter as they walked across the town, ignoring the occasional stares full of fear. The peace seemed to continue indefinitely, until,

"Y-y-you... no way, it's you!!!" An anguish scream was heard from the side, causing Rowan and Carina to stop on their spot.

Carina may not have recognized the voice, but Rowan surely did. Rowan slowly turned his head to the source of the voice.

In front of them lied Sanji, who was madly glaring at Rowan with an immeasurable anger blazing within his eyes.

Behind Sanji, Luffy, Zoro, Borodo, and Bartolomeo were looking back and forth at Rowan and Sanji in a mix of confusion and interest.

"Haha, no way." Rowan placed his free hand on top of his lips, trying to hold in the laughter, "Look who it is! Sanji, Nyaruko's husband, what are you doing here?"

"You BASTARD!!!!!" Sanji shouted with his fists clenched and shook, "I... I still haven't forgot what happened during that day!! D-do you even know what she did to me?!!"

Rowan shrugged with a mischievous smile on his face, "Sorry about that, but one of us had to survive you know? It's your fault for fainting."

"This MARK!!!!!" Sanji screamed as the tears began to fall from his eyes, with his finger pointing at his left shoulder, in which he exposed by yanking his black suit. There lied a pink-coloured kiss mark, causing Rowan to go pale immediately.

"Hey, just saying..." Borodo whispered to Bartolomeo on his right, "That dude seems to be capable of seeing although he got a blindfold on his face. Weird."

"Hahahaha, Is that a hickey?" Carina burst out into a laughter, "Just how hard did she suck you?!!"

Rowan gulped and slowly turned around stoically, before lifting Carina up in a bridal carry and fleeing from the scene, leaving the Straw Hat pirates dumbfounded.

"GRIMHEART ROWANNNN!!!!!!!!" Sanji screamed with an ear-crushing loudness.

Zoro, Borodo, and Bartolomeo's eyes widened upon hearing Sanji's words,

"""Grimheart?!!! That's him?!!!"""

"Shishishishi, this island looks fun!!" Luffy laughed heartedly.