Conomi Islands

Upon reaching their ship, they encountered Po, who was already waiting for them. Without further delay, they set sail. It was challenging, but not as much as parking the boat.

"Which way do we need to go?" asked Shun, who was handling the helm.

Toma was looking at the map and holding the navigation compass in the other hand.

"Over there! Or at least, I think so" Toma said with less certainty while pointing with his finger. Upon hearing this, Shun began to turn the helm and head towards the Conomi Islands.

"How much food and water do we have left?" Shun asked.

"At best, it'll last us for one more day" Toma replied. As the one in charge of the provisions, he knew how much they had.

"Then we can't afford to make a mistake" Shun whispered with a furrowed brow. If they took the wrong direction again, they would take more days to reach their destination and run out of supplies.

"This time, we won't go wrong" Toma said as he looked at the map and made sure they were on the right track.

The day was sunny, and the breeze was normal. Since they needed to keep going straight, Shun took out the wanted posters he had taken from the Marine base and began to examine them more closely.

The first poster he saw was of a black-haired man with a scowl on his face and circular glasses. His name was Kuro and he had a reward of 16,000,000 berries.

He moved on to the next and noticed two people at the same sign with a reward of 7,000,000 berries. The names were Sham and Buchi. One was a man with a strange hairstyle and green in color. The other had a fat face and had part of his face in black.

'Are they pirates or buffoons?' thought Shun disdainfully. The last thing these pirates would provoke in him would be fear.

As he moved on to the next, his face turned into a strange expression.

"A clown pirate? That's the first time I've seen one" commented Toma interested in the bounty posters.

The poster Shun was looking at, was of a clown named Buggy with a bounty of 10,000,000 berries.

"Have you heard of him?" asked Shun looking at Toma.

"No, it's the first time I've seen him" he replied.

Moving on to the next, he finally found what he was looking for, Arlong's poster with a reward of 20,000,000 berries. Toma upon seeing it made a more frightened face than before. As they headed for the base of these pirates the odds of running into Arlong or some gyojin minion were increasing.

Unlike the other posters, Arlong's was much more intimidating. It featured Arlong's face with a fierce smile showing his sharp teeth and a hard expression.

Besides the sharp teeth, what caught Shun's attention the most was his strange nose that resembled a saw.

"I hope it stays stowed away in its base, so we don't run into it" Toma said.

"Don't be such a scaredy-cat. If he came from the Grand Line it's because he failed and preferred to come to a weaker sea to reign, no big deal" said Shun with disdain towards Arlong and his pirates.

Toma looked at Shun in surprise. He never thought anyone would dare to say that Arlong was no big deal.

He moved on to the next poster which was about another gyojin named Chew with a bounty of 5,500,000 berries. The most striking thing about this one was his long snout and super thick lips.

Another poster was of a fish-man named Kuroobi, with a bounty of 9,000,000 berries. He had black hair tied in a straight ponytail and was very muscular. The last poster, belonging to the Arlong Pirates, featured an octopus fish-man with pink skin, gray hair, and strange tendrils. His name was Hatchan, and he had a bounty of 8,000,000 berries.

"They're too powerful! Their entire crew has a total bounty of 42,500,000 berries," Toma said.

'42 million... that's a lot of money' Shun thought, also surprised by the high bounties of the Arlong Pirates' crew.

Their current capital was 5,700,000 berries, as they had to give 500,000 to Nezumi. With this amount, Shun already felt rich.

"You're not thinking of attacking them, right?" Toma asked, noticing Shun's thoughtful gaze.

"Stop being so fearful and start training with your new sword. You need to get used to it in case we face any of these fish-men on the way" Shun said as he put away the wanted posters.

"Yes!" Toma replied eagerly. Since they had set out on their journey, he had put his training on hold.

The day passed without many complications. They didn't encounter any other ships, and the sky was clear, saving them from a storm. Toma trained for several hours with his new metal sword, and Shun occasionally checked the map to ensure they were on the right course, although he wasn't entirely sure.

He also took the money to the captain's room for safekeeping. In this room, there was a safe, but he didn't know the code to unlock it. So he keeps the money somewhere else.

Most likely in that safe Gally kept money, gold, and jewelry, so Shun was very tempted to cut it in half, but he preferred to do it without breaking it since he could use it later.

In the evening they ate as little dinner as possible, something Po didn't like at all, but Shun made sure he didn't steal an ounce of food anymore.

The next morning Shun and Toma got up and headed for the deck of the ship.

"I don't see any islands in sight..." said Shun noticing again an expanse of ocean with no land in sight.

"Did we make a mistake...?" wondered Toma as he opened the map not understanding what had happened.

"There should be no mistake, by afternoon at the latest we will arrive" said Toma without so much conviction.

"Let's hope so..." said Shun.

The food would only last them until noon today and the water another day.

Noon was done and they ate their last meal together with Po.

"Sailing is harder than one thinks" said Toma as he ate slowly as he had a very small portion.

"Yeah, it's annoying" Shun said with a frown.

Shun began to worry. If Eldorrago and his crew headed for the Grand Line how will he get there? When his ability to navigate is bad.

It took almost twice as many days to get to the 16th Division and now it's already taking more than a day to get to the Conomi Islands when it was supposed to be an easy trip.

Plus, the little man at the chart store told him that navigating the Grand Line is twice or three times as difficult as navigating the East Blue.

He shook his head and put this concern aside. He would engineer some way to get to the Grand Line and look for Eldorrago.

Evening came and they didn't see an island in sight either, then it got dark and they didn't notice anything either. With no other option, they dropped anchor, as they could not sail in the dark and had to sleep.

As soon as the day broke, both of them got up, and even Po complained about being hungry.

Fortunately, they could see the Conomi Islands in the distance. "Finally..." Toma said as his stomach growled with hunger.

"On which island should we dock? We wouldn't want to park right in front of Arlong Pirates' base" Shun commented from the helm.

"That's true" Toma said urgently as he opened the map.

After a few seconds, Toma said even more urgently, "There's no specific information on this stupid map! It just says Conomi Islands and nothing else"

"That woman mentioned that the village of Gosa is in the northwest of the Conomi Islands" Shun said, luckily recalling this detail.

"Right!" Toma said again, this time with a more hopeful tone.

After a few seconds where Toma switched between looking at the map and the navigation compass every second, he pointed with his finger and said, "Go that way"

Quickly, Shun began to maneuver the helm to the right, heading in the direction Toma pointed.

After a few minutes, they were very close to one of the islands in this archipelago.

"Phew... it doesn't seem to be Arlong Pirates' base" Toma said relieved.

"There's no harbor, we'll have to anchor near the coast," Shun remarked.

When they were at a moderate distance from the coast, where it was still deep enough, Toma dropped the anchor and lowered the sails.

They had finally arrived at the Conomi Islands.