Banquet

"Hahaha, I didn't expect you, Rayleigh, to also be in the spring of love. I must have been negligent as the captain for not noticing this," Roger jovially remarked as he wrapped his arm around Rayleigh and laughed.

"Hey, have you gone crazy or something?" Rayleigh felt annoyed and embarrassed by Roger's embarrassing words and the crew's gossiping expressions.

At this moment, he was in his prime, a dashing and handsome wanderer of the seas, not as thick-skinned as he would become in later years.

"Since we're all friends of Rayleigh, let's have a banquet together!" With Roger's words, the Oro Jackson changed course and headed towards the nearest island, and Nicholas signalled for his pirate crew to follow suit.

In the New World's waters, there was naturally no calm sea, even in what was considered the weakest sea, the East Blue. The ocean was quite dangerous for ordinary people and weak pirates alike.

Even warships embedded with Sea Prism Stone only reduced the chance of being noticed by Sea Kings in calm waters. Moreover, it was difficult for pirates to obtain Sea Prism Stone and the technology to process it, so they would often be attacked by Sea Kings. After all, pirate ships were like perfect prey for Sea Kings in terms of size and shape.

As relations eased, the people on the Oro Jackson became more enthusiastic.

Pirates on the sea could basically be divided into two categories: those filled with ambition like Rocks, and those like Roger, driven by dreams, freedom, and the enjoyment of adventure.

The former were dangerous, while the latter could easily become friends.

Nicholas sat at the bow of the ship, with Roger and Rayleigh sitting beside him.

As for Gaban, he had transformed into a kitchen god, preparing the ingredients needed for the banquet. After all, for Gaban, chopping people and chopping vegetables were no different; they were all forms of practice.

"Kiddo, how's Shakky doing lately?" Rayleigh looked into the distance and casually asked.

"How could she be doing? She's helping Rocks out, unpaid, and she's been harassed by Cipher Pol and the Marines from time to time. After all, Sister Shakky is quite charming."

As a female pirate who hadn't undergone the same facial changes as other pirate beauties in the future, Shakky's appearance in her youth was still quite striking.

By the way, there's a newcomer named Kaido recently. He seems particularly interested in Sister Shakky, and most importantly, he seems to have a thing going on with Linlin. If I hadn't intervened, that kid would have probably made a move long ago."

Nicholas didn't mind giving Kaido some tough training during this time. After all, the path to becoming the world's strongest creature was paved with beatings.

Upon hearing Nicholas's words, Rayleigh's aura burst forth, and the killing intent emanating from him seemed to affect reality, creating illusions. In the depths of his mind, Nicholas seemed to see a giant king of the underworld standing behind Rayleigh, hundreds of meters tall.

The previously cheerful Roger Pirates fell silent as Rayleigh's aura erupted. After all, while Rayleigh was usually easygoing, because of their less-than-serious captain, he was undoubtedly the most dignified person on the Oro Jackson.

"What's going on? Is there an enemy attack? Rayleigh!?" Gaban, wearing an apron and holding two sharp axes, rushed out of the kitchen.

"It's fine, just carry on with what you were doing." Rayleigh smiled at everyone and said, and the aura he emitted gradually dissipated into the air.

"Kid, are you telling the truth?" Rayleigh looked into Nicholas's eyes and asked seriously.

"Yeah, I am." Nicholas nodded repeatedly.

Seeing that Nicholas didn't seem to be lying, Rayleigh lowered his head and repeatedly pushed his thumb against the hilt of his sword, drawing and sheathing it.

"Kaido, huh? I'll remember that." Upon hearing Rayleigh's words, Nicholas's face lit up with a brilliant smile.

Ah, that's more like it.

"But these days won't last long." Nicholas picked up a bottle of wine nearby and finished it in one gulp before casually tossing the empty bottle into the sea.

"What do you mean?" Rayleigh quickly caught onto the meaning behind Nicholas's words and asked.

As for Roger, after listening to the gossip for a while, he had already sat down and dozed off.

Snooze...

"It's simple. We, the people gathered by Rocks, have ambitions you should be aware of. Rocks has made preparations, and it's about to begin. Otherwise, why do you think you haven't run into any trouble for so long?" Nicholas propped himself up on the deck with both hands and gazed at the sky, speaking lightly.

The reason he wanted to contact Roger was to give himself and his crew some hope of surviving the upcoming major event. After all, the upcoming Battle of God Valley, or other conflicts happening simultaneously in different locations, were likely to be quite intense. Even top-tier fighters could perish in this conflict.

Although Nicholas didn't know why Roger's pirate crew appeared at God Valley, and even chose to ally with the likes of Garp, there was no doubt that Roger's crew wasn't present from the beginning. They probably joined the conflict towards the later stages, becoming the final straw that broke Rocks's pirate crew.

"I see. It seems that the sea will soon become restless." With Rayleigh's words, bubbles suddenly appeared on the calm sea surface, followed by a massive shadow rapidly approaching the Oro Jackson from below the sea.

Boom!!!

The sea seemed to explode, and a colossal creature leaped out of the water, creating huge splashes. Then, a mouth big enough to easily swallow the Oro Jackson whole came straight towards them.

The massive shadow even obscured the entire ship.

"Sea... Sea King! It's huge, I wonder if it's edible." Roger, noticing the commotion, glanced at the gigantic Sea King with calmness.

After traveling across the seas for so many years, Roger had seen his fair share of Sea Kings. Moreover, as a strong individual, he needed a considerable amount of energy every day, and Sea Kings were part of the natural diet.

Besides, compared to those creatures thousands of meters deep in the ocean, these Sea Kings weren't that big.

"Wow, such a massive water splash!" Nicholas exclaimed as he looked at the massive water splash.

At this moment, Roger on the deck stood up, then swung his sword.

Swish!

A massive golden slash cut across the deck and slashed through the Sea King's body.

The Sea King, which had just used Water Splash, stiffened in mid-air, then split into two halves and crashed onto the sea surface, turning the surrounding waters into a pool of blood.

"Quick, gather some meat for the banquet. After collecting it, we'll leave immediately. This much blood will likely attract a bunch of big guys." Rayleigh looked at the Sea King floating on the sea surface and couldn't help shaking his head.