Chapter 51 - Kano Country

"LAND HO!" I yell out as I see a large island surrounded by what seem to be hundreds of large ships in its every direction.

I'm currently at the helm, steering the ship forward as it arrives near the waters of Kano Country, a country that I know very little about except for the Chinjao Family and the Happo Navy which reside in it.

Yet as I approach said country and see hundreds of large colorfully painted galleons and thousands of smaller boats in the waters, I begin to think I maybe should have looked a little deeper into this country.

"Oh well, it's not like we're going to be living here or anything," I comment to myself in self-assurance.

*Step* *Step*

"Oh wow! Look at that! Kano Countries port is crowded with tourists!" comes Carina's bubbly voice from behind.

"Tourists? What for?" I ask confusedly.

"Hmm…If I remember correctly this should be the time that Kano Country celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival!"

"Dragon Boat festival? What like a festival with dragon heads or something?" I ask to Carina that just stepped to my left.

"Right, that's something they also do but what I'm talking about is the boat race that takes place every year here… don't tell me you didn't do your research on the place you want to rob!" comes Carina's unbelieving response to my question.

"Ha… Ha, well you know I'm not big on homework, plus those libraries are always so poorly maintained! It's like people don't care about books or something! Everything's hard to find!" I complain back in order to make up an excuse for my laziness.

"Hmph, your just Lazy Cade! Don't try to hide it! We all know you are! Hmph, anyways this is good! In my professional opinion this will not only allow us to have some fun, but it will provide a good distraction for what we want to do!", comes Carinas jovial voice once again.

"She's right Cade-kun, this will likely be one of the few days where everyone is in a celebratory mood and everyone's guard is a little down," comes Porche-chans sweet voice as she approaches.

"Right…Anyways we should get our bearings first and then come up with a plan in order to do what we need to," I reply back a little more seriously.

"Right!" they both reply with a nod.

…

*Creak*

Is the sound made as our boat touches the side of the long pier which the island had set up.

I step off and tie the boat off, making sure that the boat is tied to the pier and not going anywhere with all the surges that the big boats are making on the waters.

The girls then step off and we walk down the long docking area, approaching what seem to be gates of a sturdy looking brick wall which looks remarkably like the wall of China.

"Why is there such a sturdy wall so close to the ocean?" Porche-chan asks Carina who seems to know a lot more about this island.

"Hmm… I think it's because this is a war-like state, chaos and wars are not uncommon here, I've even heard of a few major pirate battles happening in these waters." Carina says after a bit of thinking.

"I've also heard that this country has multiple layers of walls, this is the outer layer and the strongest, meant to deter any enemies, and within deeper into the island there are smaller but more well-guarded walls," She continues to say.

"Hmm…that might also be an issue for any thieves that are looking to steal any goodies… except for us of course," I cheekily replied, knowing that a few walls won't stop us.

They laugh at this and agree with my statement just as we approach the samurai-like guards at the doors which are actually opened completely wide, letting plenty of traffic go through.

"Reason for being here? Are any of you Pirate? Marine? Revolutionary?" The bored guard asks us as we approach.

"No criminal?" Carina asks skeptically as he left out criminal.

"Criminal?" the guard looks skeptically and intensely at Carina.

This continues for 10 seconds and as I'm preparing myself for whatever is going to happen, suddenly "HAHAHA! Girly, we don't care if you are a criminal! The majority of people living here are criminals! HAHAHA, you can be a pirate for all we care! Just done be a Marine or a Revolutionary and your good! HAHAHA." He upriaringly laughs at what seems to be a funny question.

After a bit of this I cough, "*Cough*, well none of us are criminals nor pirates as can be seen by our normal flag…also we ain't Marines or Revolutionaries…although would we really tell you that if we were?" I continue questioningly.

To this the guard simply scratches the back of his head with his armored hand and replies a bit embarrassedly, "Haah, well you would be surprised how many people answer truthfully to the question, you know…ties in this world are super important to a lot of people…anyways you can all pass as long as you pay 1000 Berry per person."

We simply nod at this, it's a strange world so I guess that could be possible, we then simply hand him 3000 berries and pass through the large wooden gate, and as we cross the threshold we are immediately bombarded by unique smells, exotic music, and the cacophony of people laughing and joking around, and so many other things.

We then continue walking and as we do, we are again greeted by a similar sight that we experienced when we first arrived at Ballywood Kingdom, but this time everything is so much brighter, friendlier, and Chinese.

All that's being sold this time around are souvenirs and different types of foods. Everything else seems to not be allowed to be sold in this section because that is all we see; however, this isn't a bad thing because everywhere you look you can smell and see thousands of different types of food being cooked and served.

And even though this island has what appears to be Chinese roots, like Wano, it also incorporates anything found on other islands, creating a diverse environment.

And as the delicious smells of cooking food calls us towards it, I spot a large white sign with a dragon head printed on it reading, "Dragon Race: 8am – 5pm! Don't miss out!"

As I read this, I look at my pocket watch and look at the time, it's 3:34 pm so the race should still be going on.

"Hey girls, we should hurry up and pick up some food and go watch this so-called Dragon Race! I'm a bit curious about how it looks." I say to them over the cacophony of noises.

"Sure, I've never seen it and very few islands in the world have the luxury of opening their borders to anyone in the sea in order to carry out a festival." Carinas replies with a smile.

I nod at this and continue looking around, and as I'm looking around, I hear loud sizzling sounds from nearby, and as I turn around, I'm greeted by the heavenly sight and smell of a large piece of bacon that seems to have come off of a dinosaur cooking and sizzling on a large griddle.

And on a table besides said bacon are huge pieces of dough and a delicious blend of veggies, seemingly the ingredients for a ginormous and delicious looking bacon dumpling.

And corresponding to the ingredient size they all come out as big as a pillow!

Seeing this my mouth instantly waters, 'I think I just found my breakfast!' I happily think as I dazedly skip over to the cook.