Chapter 187

"Get the captain of this ship!" Wilson exclaimed as soon as they landed on the ship, unmindful of Laffite and Byron's exasperated sighs nor the stunned expression of the vessel's crew.

"I'm right here, you mannerless basta-" came an angry voice from the side as a human with ape-like features, wearing an orange-yellow jumpsuit, approached the trio, brown furry tail swinging behind him as he aggressively walked towards them.

However, the ape-like man, Masira, and the captain of this ship, suddenly stopped as he stared at Wilson's hybrid form with an awed expression, seemingly at a loss for words.

"Monkey...!" Masira said while pointing at Wilson as if gesturing towards a god with the most impressed expression the trio and Masira's crew themselves have ever seen.

"I'm a gorilla, you bastard! The only monkey here is you!" Wilson replied with a frown pointing at Masira, and if Johnny were here, he would have more than likely muttered something about a spiderman meme.

"Oh! So you think I look like a monkey?!" Masira asked with an exaggerated shocked expression, causing Laffite to sigh again, preparing to sink the ship.

"You're too kind! You're not half bad yourself," Massira added with a flattered expression, nodding his head in satisfaction, much to Laffite and Byron's confusion.

Masira was a simple man, and although he liked to act seriously, he was, in fact, silly and not very bright.

And despite Masira's brutish appearance and quick temper, he was easy to make friends with, especially if someone showed interest in his salvage work or mentioned how much he resembled a monkey, the two things he prided himself on the most.

"Anyway, what can I do for you, friends?" Masira asked, the scowl on his face already gone, replaced by a cheerful, toothy smile.

"That's what we came here to ask," Laffite replied, cutting off Wilson with a gesture before the latter had a chance to say anything. "Your ship came out of nowhere and began approaching our ship..." he added while gesturing towards the Black Pearl.

"Oh! That's right! I almost forgot," Masira said with a wide-eyed expression as he suddenly remembered his purpose in coming here. "You guys are salvaging a shipwreck in our territory!" he added while gesturing towards the sea.

"Only members of the Saruyama Alliance, the Shoujou, and Masira pirates are allowed to salvage shipwrecks here!" Masira concluded, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Sais, who?" Wilson asked with a bored expression, leisurely picking his ears. "Besides, we were already done anyway," he added with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders.

"You guys don't seem like bad people, and this is the first time you did it, so it can't be helped," Masira said with a troubled expression, scratching his head.

"But you'll have to pay fifty thousand berries as compensation," Masira concluded, nodding his head in satisfaction, having figured out a solution that wouldn't lead to him fighting his new friends.

"Now listen here-" Wilson tried to snap at Masira, only for Laffite to stop him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Let me call our captain, and he'll decide..." Laffite said with a smile as he looked at Masira, earning a nod from the latter as he took out a transponder snail.

"Hello, captain..."

...

"Laffite? What up?" I asked as I picked up the call after hearing Laffite's voice. "Hmm? Masira? Salvage pirate crew?" I frowned as I listened to him explaining the situation, taking a minute to remember the two monkey pirates who were helping Nolan in the original anime.

I had honestly forgotten about those two. Well, it's no surprise, considering how hectic things were in the past month.

"Pay him off. We have more than enough Berries," I concluded after listening to Laffite explain the entire situation, only hanging up the call once I heard Laffite's affirmative reply.

"Now to deal with this shit..." I murmured with a sigh as I lowered my gaze to look at the chest with a literal mini-nuke inside of it.

As much as it would be useful to have it in case of emergencies, I couldn't keep the Dyna on the black pearl because of how easily it could accidentally set off, considering the infamously awful weather of the grand line.

I also couldn't leave the Dyna stone here because it could easily fall into the wrong hands, not to mention it could be used against my crew and myself.

I couldn't destroy the Dyna stone as well, simply because I didn't know if I could survive the endeavor in the first place. It's times like this that really make me wish I had dimensional storage, but that was neither here nor there.

"I'm going out," I flatly said as I turned to look at Elly, picking up the Dyna stone's storage chest as I did. "I need to get rid of this thing as soon as possible, so don't wait up and head back to land," I concluded as I jumped into the air and flew into the sea.

...

"Are you guys back at the Tropical Hotel already?" I asked as I spoke into my transponder snail, pausing and waiting for a reply from the other side.

I had already dealt with the Dyna stone the only safe way I knew how. I took it to the furthest, most deserted island my stamina could take me to and buried it there.

All that remained is top hope no one finds it, or that I wouldn't have to come back for it someday, but I digress.

"We are, but Laffite, Byron, and myself are currently heading out," came the reply I was waiting for in the form of Elly's voice. "We're going to visit some guy named Cricket. Masira invited us there."

"But more importantly, where have you been, captain?" Elly asked in a concerned tone. "We were really worried you know! what was that thing you took with you anyway?" she asked once again, her tone one of reproach.

"Sorry for making you worry," I replied with an awkward sigh, scratching my head. "But I had to deal with that thing no matter what," I added with a shake of my head.

"I'll explain everything once we meet up. I'm already near Cricket's house, so I'll wait for you guys there," I concluded as I looked down, seeing a half house covered with plywood resembling a huge castle, that would make anyone seeing it from far away think it was a castle.

"Wait, how do you know where cricket's house is...?" Elly asked in a surprised tone, trailing off as she suddenly paused. "You know what? Forget I asked!" she added, realizing I'd just give her a vague answer, and I just chuckled as I hung up the call.