393. Calm Belt Journey

Their exploration of Calm Belt doesn't start well at all. They haven't found any island even after going around for almost 4 weeks. But they kept getting attacked by Seakings that came out every once in a while. The Seakings kept attacking even though each one of them get beaten up badly and some even ended up in the pirates' stomaches.

Sadly, the Seakings' attacks are keeping them from getting too bored. They also do other things like playing games, music, training, sparring, etc to entertain themselves. But without other people to see, the giant Seakings become their only companions besides their crewmates.

Luckily, their suffering finally ends after going around without results for 26 days. They find their very first island to visit in this exploration. It's just a small island the size of a small town, but they are still happy to find an island after so long.

The Clown Pirates land on the island and they immediately get out of their ship after dropping the anchor. They all have the same reaction as they immediately lay down on the beach to feel the land that they haven't felt for so long.

This is the first time they sail for almost a month without finding any land, after all. Their ship is fast, so they never need this much time to reach an island after leaving one. They can even travel from East Blue to New World in just 3 days, so this is very slow for them.

That's why they are very happy to see this small island and they just want to feel the land for now. Even the Fishmen are missing the land too because they are Fishmen, not fish. They live on the seafloor, which basically is an underwater land, after all.

The Clown Pirates keep rolling on the beach for a rather long time and most of them actually fall asleep. They feel at peace now after finding an island after so long. Even if they are used to sleeping on their ship, sleeping on something unmoving still feels the best.

Buggy is also one of the ones who fall asleep on the beach. Well, every man in the crew falls asleep anyway. It's only the women who stay awake because they don't lie on the beach for too long and enjoy it differently from the men.

They wake up at night and immediately hold a party to celebrate the finding of this island. They don't even think of what to do next and just want to enjoy this moment. The party lasts the whole night before they finally run out of alcohol, which is a nightmare for pirates like them.

"NOO! OUR LIVES!" shouts the boys.

"What?" asks Jude confusedly.

"Alcohol is their lives, everything they like is their life. Running out of alcohol is killing them," says Dela.

They've spent 26 days without being able to refill their alcohol supply. But they keep consuming it while sailing and now at the party. So now they run out of it and they can't buy it here because there's no civilization here.

"Don't be overdramatic! Just go explore this island and find fruits or grains! We can ferment them and make alcohol," says Mantis.

The boys lightened up and immediately takes their stuff before scattering all over the island. It's quite unreal how the boys are so concentrated because they don't want to miss anything. They gather any kind of fruit and grain they find on the island.

After a few hours, they return to their ship and give everything they find to Mantis. Mantis tells them to wash and sort the items which they do without any hesitation. She is the only one who can save them from this nightmare, after all, so they can only do what she asks.

After they're done, Mantis tells them to leave and do their jobs, but they are hesitating. Then they ask, "Uhm, when will the alcohol be ready?"

"If you want something at least decent, the fastest is in a week," says Mantis.

Their souls immediately leave their bodies when they hear that. Mantis sighs and says, "Sigh, this is not cooking, this is fermentation, so obviously it will take time. You all should know too that the longer alcohol is aged, the better it tastes."

The boys are still sulking even if they know that. They will live a week without any alcohol, after all, so it feels like the end for them. But what can they do? It's not like alcohol can just come out of a tree or ground.

So they start doing things to distract themselves from the alcohol. They haven't explored the island correctly, so they start by doing that. This is an exploration, after all, so they need to explore the islands they find like true explorers.

The boys then start exploring the island and they finish just in a day. It's just a normal island without any strange things like those often found in Grandline. This is a good starting island for them because they don't need to get through shits on their first island.

But they can't hope that other islands in Calm Belt will be like this. Even though there's not much information on Calm Belt, they still know a few things. Calm Belt is like the combination of Blues and Grandline.

They can use a normal compass to navigate here, but the islands also have a magnetic field like those in Grandline. However, Log Pose can't be used to go to the next island just because of the magnetic field. Although Eternal Pose can be used to mark the islands and return to them.

There are also many islands here that are absurd like Grandline's islands. The easiest example is Ruskaina Island located near Amazon Lily. It's an island in Calm Belt, but it has 48 seasons a year, which is extreme even for Grandline standards.

So The Clown Pirates are ready to find even more absurd islands than the ones they see in Grandline. But now, they just need to enjoy the normal first island because they might not find another one on this journey.

They stay on the 1st island for almost 2 weeks because they need to set an Eternal Pose. Even if it's just a small island, this is still the 1st island they find in Calm Belt. So they want to commemorate it and make an Eternal Pose of this island.

The problem is this island doesn't have a name yet, at least not to their knowledge. So they need to name it and they discuss it all night because they can't really find a good name for it. Until finally they decide on a name after getting too tired of thinking.

"One Island, everyone agrees?" asks the sleepy Buggy.

"Yeah," replies everyone with low energy as they are sleepy too.

"Alright," says Buggy before he falls asleep, followed by everyone else.

One Island, a simple name they've decided just because they can't think of anything else already. But it doesn't sound weird, so they are satisfied with it. Then after their Eternal Pose is set, they leave the island and go to find the next island that they don't know how long it will take them to find it.

Luckily, they find it just in a week now. It's fast compared to before when they almost need an entire month to find the 1st island. The other good thing is they don't run out of alcohol now, so they can fully enjoy their time here.

They explore the 2nd island which looks normal but has many giant beetles the size of average dogs. This island is very big and giant beetles are everywhere. Other animals also live here, but their populations are low and it's hard to see them.

Still, it's none of Clown Pirates' concern because they don't know much about biology. Only one of their scientists is interested in biology, so this is heaven for her. But it's just another interesting island for the others and a source of food for their journey.

Their opinion changes immediately after they find something that excites all of them. On the 4th day of exploration, they find something that seems to be manmade. It's just a rusty and broken rod, but there's no way the beetles made this rod before it broke.

Buggy grins and says, "Another ancient civilization. Another source of treasures."

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