[51] Journey Continues…!

Chapter 51: Journey Continues…!

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The sun shone brightly in the sky, casting a warm glow over the area. The air was filled with the sound of waves crashing against the shore and the distant cries of seagulls.

The crew and Cricket were sitting on a chair, while some were on a large blanket spread out on the ground. A Clone-rama was cooking on a grill, filling the air with the aroma of sizzling burgers.

Then lunch happened, and ended in no time. Still sitting on the large blanket that was spread on the ground, Hashirama burped and started to speak.

"All right. This should be enough. It's about time we leave Jaya."

The others turned to him, and Cricket expressed his pity at that.

"Huh. It was an enjoyable time. Why not stick around for a bit more?"

Hashirama shook his head, stretching his arms a little.

"Can't. Marines should be in search of us—and we have somewhere else we have to go. Robin, explain. He should be able to help."

Hashirama nudged his chin at Robin, who looked curious at his implication. Could Cricket help? Deciding not to think much about it, she began to explain the situation to the man with a chestnut for hair.

After the explanation, where Robin told him about the Emerald City, to the incident where Mikita was captured, Cricket nodded with a surprised face.

"I see. This is… a great discovery. This really motivates me; makes me want to believe if the City of Gold is real too."

"Wait, City of Gold? You know something about it??"

While Robin was surprised to hear Cricket's words, Mikita was drawn in a lot more. She asked about the city with unhinged excitement behind her tone.

"Well,"

Rather than Cricket, it was Hashirama who spoke. With his finger pointed up at the sky, he started to speak.

"Ten thousand meters above the sea level, the City of Gold is a city that does exist. To access it, you either use the Summit of the West located in the west blue or ride those knock-up stream things we saw earlier."

The crew was lucky enough to witness a knock-up stream while staying here. It happened this morning, in fact.

Since only 5 knock-up streams happened in a month, and this was the first week of the month, there should be four more streams left. This stream wasn't that strong, the height was on the level of a five-story building; the big one should happen on the four other chances.

"Well, actually, it's Skypiea Island that is up there. The City of Gold just happened to be shot up there due to a knock-up stream, but that stream just happened to be super strong. It cut Jaya Island in two, with one being this beneath our feet, and the other up in the sky."

Hashirama finished speaking, under the awe-filled gazes of the group.

Mikita was about to speak, looking excited, but Robin cut her off and asked with a suspicious look on her face.

"And how do you know all this?"

"My sister?"

Hashirama shrugged as if the answer was obvious.

"My sister is a Vice-Admiral, she wishes me to be safe, so she often shares the secrets of Grandline with me. Coincidentally, she happened to know and went to Skypiea."

Unlike his usual battering and lies about Tsunade, this was real. Sadly, his sister had gone up there in Skypiea and beat Enel up. This incident happened a year ago, after which she was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral.

As for the false God of Thunder—he mirrored the canon timeline and fled to the Moon, slipping Tsunade's grasp.

The news brought great regret to Hashirama who was planning to grab the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. He wasn't interested in eating devil fruits, there was no need for that with his power set, but a few fruits did catch his fancy. Enel's fruit was one of those.

Sadly, now it was out 0f his reach—literally—as the consumer was on the moon. Now if he had to eat a Devil Fruit, for serious emergencies, he would need to manage with other useful options. Though he didn't plan to actively hunt for it.

Hashirama looked at Mikita and Robin, explaining further.

"The City of Gold has been reclaimed by the people it belonged to—a tribe of humans with wings, called Shandia. So we should stop hoping to grab a piece of it. Instead,"

Hashirama turned to look at Cricket, who was still shell-shocked from all the bombs of information. Cricket had been searching for the City of Gold, or any information on it, for years. Now, the information was suddenly in front of him without any tries whatsoever.

"We should ask Mont Cricket here about it. Being the descendant of the great adventurer, Noland, he might know a thing or two about the Emerald City."

Cricket had shared his ancestry with the crew earlier. So it wasn't weird for Hashirama to know all that.

With a sigh and shaking his head, Cricket started to speak.

"A year ago, I do recall hearing the bell… ringing from up in the sky. A large part of me started believing that the City does exist and that my ancestor was not a liar. However, I didn't hear any news about it, who went up there, or anything whatsoever. So I wasn't sure. But, hearing your words, knowing it was your sister, I can be at peace and believe. Indeed, my ancestor was not a liar. I am not… the descendant of a liar."

Mont Blanc Cricket smiled brightly, even as tears and snot started to drip down his eyes and nose. The crew smiled and reassured him, patting his shoulders and telling him it was all right.

A few minutes later, after wiping his face, Cricket cleared his throat. He started to speak to Hashirama and Robin.

"You guys are in luck. I do happen to know a bit about the Emerald City."

The crew's attention was snatched right away. Finally, there was light at the end of the tunnel.

* * *

The warm sun and the gentle wind beat down on his face as he sat at the nose of the ship.

The sea was a deep blue, the surface sparkling in the sunlight. The sails of the Sail of Ohara billowed in the breeze, the ropes creaked as the crew worked to adjust them.

The sound of the waves lapping against the hull was a soothing background to the bustle of activity on deck. The scent of salt and sea air filled his senses, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of freedom and adventure.

Hashirama looked out at the horizon, the endless expanse of water that was stretching out before him. At that exact moment… he felt alive.

"Hey- Hashirama!"

His enjoyment came to an end when a call from Vivi pulled him back to his senses—disconnecting him from nature, and interrupting his training to attain [Sage Mode].

"Ugh, this fucking bi-"

Hashirama stopped himself from cursing and took a deep breath. He looked back at Vivi who was wearing casual shorts and a t-shirt. She also wore a pout with her hands on her waist.

"Oh wow, cursing me just because I called? Fine, keep it up, I will go do something else. Bastard."

'What a bitch. First she interrupts my focus that I earned after hours of meditation, and then this. Sometimes I wanna ruin her.'

Hashirama forced his lips to smile and jumped off the ship's nose. There was no point in going back to meditating now.

Wrapping his arm around her grumpy form, to which she didn't resist, Hashirama asked her what was up.

"What happened? It must be something big since you interrupted me even after me warning you all to not do that."

"Besides the fact that we are almost near the Calm Belt, as you planned, there really is something huge."

Vivi stopped pouting and shoved a newspaper on his chest. One that she was holding onto until now.

"It seems you got a bounty."

Hashirama frowned in worry. Nobody should have known that he took out the Bellamy Pirates.

Except for Cricket, but Hashirama could trust that man. After leaving Jaya 3 days ago, he was confident Cricket wouldn't sell his name to the Marines.

"It's not due to the Bellamy Pirates, don't worry. It's… well it's because you kidnapped a certain princess of a certain kingdom."

Vivi said and sighed, pointing her brows down at the paper where a bounty poster was also present.

Looking down, Hashirama blinked before smiling softly. They used a picture of him from when he trained the soldiers of Alabasta, he used a sword for that particular duel–though he doesn't fancy that weapon.

[Image Here]

The perfect bounty of 100,000,000 berries stood out quite nicely under his full name.

It also said "Only Alive" instead of "Dead or Alive". The King and Queen didn't want him dead. It was good to know that they didn't entirely hate him.

Robin, who was nearby, sitting with Mikita and Karoo, tilted her head and spoke.

"Your track record has the defeat of a Warlord in it, just when you were 16 years old. I reckon Sir Crocodile had a bounty of 81 million back in his active days. The recent kidnapping of the princess of a large and prominent country like Alabasta adds quite the number on you too."

"I think this is my first time seeing someone's first bounty being 9 digits," added Mikita.

That was not surprising. A 16-year-old young man strong enough to take down a Warlord was ought to be stronger nearly 3 years later, as an 18-year-old. Warlords were a few of the strongest Pirates in this sea, so to defeat one would require great power.

"Good, good, hehe."

Hashirama smiled sheepishly at his magnificent bounty poster; his first. He walked over to Robin and gave her the poster for safekeeping.

"Remind me to buy a frame at the next stop, I wanna keep it as a memory."

Robin accepted the poster with a 'Sure,' while Mikita looked at Hashirama with incredulous eyes.

"Whoa, what a weirdo. You are wanted, you know? Life will be harder from now on, yet you wanna keep it as a memento?"

"Shut up,"

Hashirama ignored her and looked at Karoo.

"Karoo, go fetch the Den-Den Mushi. I have to call someone."

Vivi came up to him, and the four people waited until the duck ran and returned with the talking snail. The ship lacked one before, but Hashirama got one from Jaya's town.

"Who are you calling?"

Robin asked as Hashirama typed on the dial.

"My dear sister. It's about time I call her and tell her to leave."

It had been a long while since he last saw Tsunade Senju. So he couldn't wait.

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