Chapter 169

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[Naruto: Infinite New World]

[Slashing Through Worlds: Starting from the Soul Society]

[One Piece: My Piltover Technology is Far Ahead]

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In the calm and peaceful sea, the Endless Dream was moving slowly.

Zyhark was sitting at the front desk drinking tea, King was quietly lifting weights in the corner, and Aqua and Meowth were fishing with Kanna on the deck.

As usual, the ship exuded a leisurely and relaxed atmosphere, as if they were not "notorious criminals" being hunted.

Taking a sip of the tea brewed with Aqua's holy water, Zyhark's eyes became serious as he started planning their next course of action.

First, he deeply reviewed the companions he had summoned:

A dim-witted goddess with incredible power but cursed with bad luck, a frail gamer whose only use was his gaming skills, an antagonistic Pokémon meant as emergency food, and an innocent dragon girl who puts everything she catches into her mouth...

Each one seemed more unreliable than the last!

The next requirement for the wishing well was three Devil Fruits and a red Poneglyph. To quickly become stronger, the most optimal choice would be Fishman Island, where a red Poneglyph might exist.

With Aqua, diving into the deep sea wouldn't be a problem, and they wouldn't need to return to Sabaody for coating. However, if Fishman Island didn't have the Poneglyph, they would have to venture into the turbulent New World!

Considering that his companions were not yet reliable enough (especially the troublemaking goddess), and the severe lack of allied forces, Zyhark decided to delay the trip to Fishman Island.

He planned to first interact with some of the Seven Warlords of the Sea in the first half of the Grand Line, allowing Aqua to gather more faith power and giving Kanna time to fully adapt to the pirate world before heading to Fishman Island and the New World!

At the same time, he himself could train the newly awakened Conqueror's Haki from the Sabaody Archipelago.

After all, the latter half of the Grand Line was dominated by the Four Emperors; having more techniques would never hurt.

The key was to be steady and cautious.

Thus, the current target became clear.

The nearest Warlord from Sabaody was the one residing in the Devil's Triangle, on the Thriller Bark...

Gecko Moria!

"Hopefully, at this time, Moria hasn't completely degenerated into a useless, unambitious fat otaku," Zyhark muttered.

After all, he had once dared to invade Wano Country and fight the young Kaido. His performance shouldn't be as disappointing as it would be ten years later.

Besides Moria himself, another crucial reason for heading to the Thriller Bark was that the foggy and concealed Devil's Triangle would be a good place to lay low and avoid the heat from killing a Celestial Dragon and their subsequent high bounty.

Zyhark wasn't the type who liked unnecessary show-offs.

As he pondered, he heard the sound of footsteps from the deck.

Looking up, he saw Aqua and Kanna running down the stairs to the dining area.

"Zyhark, there's a pirate ship with a snake figurehead approaching us quickly!" Aqua called out.

After the newspaper incident, Zyhark had sternly instructed them to be particularly wary of approaching ships, especially those flying pirate flags.

Those bloodthirsty bounty hunters would swarm like flies at the smell of blood, even if they themselves weren't that powerful.

In this world, pirates were synonymous with madness and brutality, far from the romanticized adventurers. They were not to be underestimated.

Hearing this, Zyhark put down his tea cup, his eyes flashing red.

With Observation Haki spreading like invisible waves, he quickly locked onto the large pirate ship approaching them.

"I see. Aqua, get ready to welcome our guests."

After confirming the aura of the people on the pirate ship, Zyhark calmly stood up.

Though a bit dim-witted, Aqua quickly understood his meaning and giggled, "Got it, got it!"

"Zyhark runs a restaurant, right? But I don't have a maid outfit to welcome the guests..." Kanna looked down, her delicate brows furrowing in worry.

Even at her young age, she was very considerate and wanted to help Zyhark, who had fed her and given her power.

"Ha? Kanna, who gave you the idea that you need a maid outfit to greet guests?"

As she spoke, Aqua's eyes were filled with disdain as she stared straight at Zyhark.

Revealing maid outfits and such, Kanna was still a child!

"Don't look at me like that, idiot. I didn't teach her that," Zyhark said helplessly, spreading his hands.

Feeling pained by Aqua's assumption that he was a "pervert," he added, "Kanna, it's not Zyhark who said that."

Big eyes full of confusion, Kanna tilted her head and asked Aqua, "Then what should Kanna do?"

It was clear she really wanted to contribute.

At the same time, she genuinely wanted to establish herself as the leader of the team...

Being called "little Ya" by a dignified water goddess would have earned anyone else a mouthful of scolding from Aqua.

But who could blame Kanna for being super cute?

Thus, the usually bad-tempered Aqua patiently clenched her fist and punched the air: "When dealing with pirates, use the strongest fist!"

"Oh!"

Upon hearing this, Kanna immediately pulled out a small notebook and a doodle pen from behind her skirt and lay on the ground, seriously taking notes.

Zyhark: "..."

He wondered where this idiot got the confidence to accuse others of teaching bad ideas.

He walked over, squatted down, patted Kanna's head, and corrected, "What the idiot goddess said only applies if you sense danger, okay?"

"Uh-huh!" Kanna nodded vigorously.

"Hey, hey, hey, sly guy, you said it out loud! You directly voiced your thoughts!" Aqua, with her keen hearing, immediately caught the keywords and angrily walked over, grabbing Zyhark's collar and shaking him.

"By the way, you seemed to call me an idiot earlier, right? You jerk! A mere top disciple, daring to treat a noble, sacred..."

Just as she was about to start her tirade, Meowth, holding a monocular, ran down from the deck.

"The pirates are here, meow!"

As soon as the words, spoken in Meowth's peculiar accent, fell, the sound of a large ship pushing through the waves echoed from outside.

A twin-masted ship several times larger than the Endless Dream slowly came to a stop.

Following the descent of a wooden gangplank, the pirates lined up neatly at the entrance of the dining hall.

A bright red carpet was laid out, and the pirate captain walked with steady steps on it.

This grand entrance was rather exaggerated, even among the pirates Zyhark had known.

As soon as he entered and saw Zyhark, the pirate captain's arrogance and swagger vanished, replaced by an expression of admiration and excitement as he exclaimed:

"Ahhhh! Lord Zyhark, are you really the Zyhark who killed a Celestial Dragon?!"

(End of Chapter)