Chapter 15: Join My Crew!

"You really don't plan on taking residence in Alabasta? I already told you; I can promise you both status and power on the island. You wouldn't get an offer like this anywhere else." King Cobra inquired as we walked side by side in the torchlit tunnel.

It was now the day after the banquet.

He and I had met in private after the feast in order to discuss my rewards for saving the country. As expected, he had initially proposed land and titles, essentially things meant to tie me to the country. I guess I was a hot piece of property in the eyes of the throne; after all, their resident pirate-attack-repellent warlord had recently found himself knee-deep in trouble.

Of course, I refused his offers. I wanted to enable Robin's dream and travel the world, not play country-sitter.

Instead, I made a couple of requests of my own.

First, I wanted a fully stocked ship capable of traveling the Grand Line. Robin had already decided on our next destination, and we would need a mode of transportation.

Second, I asked to see the Poneglyph kept safe by the royal family. Cobra was initially confused about how I knew of its presence, but I explained that Crocodile had been after it, and as one of his executives, I had been informed about its existence.

The king was not opposed to letting me have a look at the Poneglyph; after all, it wasn't like it was decipherable in any way.

"I have already promised a friend we would set sail together the moment we get the opportunity." I answered Cobra. "Don't get me wrong, I Love Alabasta, but I'm not one to settle down."

The king let out a heavy sigh and suddenly seemed 20 years older. "A man can dream. Anyways, we've arrived".

The Tomb of Kings was the place the Poneglyph was kept. It was a modest white room with simple yet classy golden adornments separating the ceiling from the walls. An enormous Cube made from dark blue stone stood in the room's center. Carved on one of its surfaces was a text in the same ancient language as on Robin's necklace.

I glanced at the writing once and then turned to Cobra with a smile. "Alright, thanks for showing me. Let's go back."

He turned to me, stunned. "What, that's all? It took us an hour just to walk here. Are you sure you don't want to look around more or something? It would be a waste just to go back now."

His confusion was justified. Being allowed to see the Poneglyph was a pretty strange request, to begin with, and for me only to give it a fleeting glance and then leave must have seemed ridiculous.

However, it wasn't ridiculous at all, as I had already memorized the entire text just from looking at it once; hence there was no need for me to linger there. Though, Cobra, of course, didn't know this.

"I'm sure. Let's hurry back; if we rush, we may make it back in time for lunch".

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"I still can't believe you learned the ancient fucking language just from seeing my necklace once. You're an absurd fucking person, you know that?". Robin was walking in circles in our room, her hands firmly clasped at the sides of her head.

When I showed up with a paper with fully translated Poneglyph-writing, Robin had been surprised, to say the least. First, she had been angry with me, then wary of me tricking her.

By now, she had somewhat calmed down, only muttering and cursing a little about how it took her people generations to decipher the language, whereas I'd taken seconds.

"Anyways," I broke her out of her ramblings. "Our ship should be about ready by now. We can leave whenever we want."

She dazedly looked at me for a second before pulling herself together. "Right, let's leave this sun-baked wasteland of an island; now we know our next destination".

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As Robin and I were walking side by side in the streets of Nanohana, slowly approaching the docking point where our new ship was being prepared for us, I thought aloud. "Hey, I was just thinking… Don't we need more people on the ship than just the two of us?"

She seemed thoughtful for a second before answering. "Hmmm.. you have a point. It would be nice to have at least one extra set of hands, just for logistical reasons".

"So what should we do? You said you'd wanna set sail today." I inquired.

"Why are you asking me?" Robin stared at me, genuinely confused.

I smiled at her perplexion. "Well, you're the captain, no?"

'I wonder for how long I'm gonna have to remind her that she's the one making the decisions from now on', I added in my head.

She sighed before giving me a little smile. "Okay, then I'll delegate this task to my right-hand man."

"Alrighty!"

Before she could say anything else, I left her side, made my way to the edge of the road, and picked the first homeless-looking person I came upon.

He was sitting against a wall, the building shading him from the harsh sunlight. Beside him on the ground was a half-empty bottle of liquor. For an ordinary person, he was quite tall – lanky as well. He had spiky blond hair crudely wrapped in what looked vaguely like a bandana and a large nose. He wore a beige vest under brown shoulder pads and a matching chest piece.

"Yo", I opened the conversation. "You wanna come to sea with us? We'll give you food, booze, and some money. You'll just be doing menial chores and such".

The man turned his head upwards at my request. It took him not even a second to answer me. "Yes, I'll go".

'This guy's too good to be true', I grinned to myself.

I smiled brightly and pulled him up from his sitting position. I met him at eye level – he really was quite tall.

"What's your name, bud?" I shook his hand, which I was still holding from helping him stand.

"Name's Camus. And yours?" he was smiling widely by now, showing me a full set of pearly whites.

'Hah! How ironic'. I exclaimed inwardly.

I pointed to myself and then at Robin, who was looking at me fixedly from the middle of the street. "I'm Albert and the pretty woman standing there is my captain. She's called Robin…So, are you ready to go? We're sailing immediately".

"Sure", He replied. "I was done with this country anyways. Where are we heading?".

I turned my head back to Robin and gave her a thumbs-up with a grin. I faced Camus again and answered his question.

"We're heading to Wano".