Vacation

Sailing near the shores of Ulvehoved

Our ship had been sailing along the shores of Whitebeard's territory for quite some time.

It was now a full eight months since we had that battle on Whole cake island. Whitebeard was off sailing idly across the New World, while I was put on watch over the entirety of Whitebeard's territory. 

I didn't even care what the others had been doing. However, I did keep an eye out for whatever Roger had been up to in the recent days. 

He should be nearing getting to the last island by now. There had been countless multiple newspapers detailing his escapades across the New World while being chased around by Garp and his men. 

He even somehow managed to land in the land of the giants before causing a bit of a ruckus there. That garnered even more attention because it momentarily strained the World Government's relationship with the giants of Elbaf. 

It was then Roger and his crew escaped the island and visited a couple of more islands. He hasn't been heard from since. Even Garp ended up returning back to Marineford after a while, and since then, we haven't really heard much from the Roger Pirates.

Well, that's how things were until I got a transponder call from Dr. Vegapunk. The inventor had called me when I had just gotten up.

"Boris! It's been a while, how've you been holding up?" 

"Pretty good, nobody's been causing much of a fuss lately. So I enjoy my days in idleness," I replied.

"Well, I think your days in idleness aren't going to last long. I heard that Roger is close to finding it," Vegapunk commented.

"How close do you think he is?" 

"Close enough to cause the World Government to make a fuss of it," Vegapunk replied, "they've even commissioned me to create a device to track their movements. I told them that although it's possible, it's too late for me to track them down."

"What are they planning?"

"I think they want to do a World Conscription. They've been granting a lot of money towards the Marines, they masked it as a gift for their hard work, but we all know why they got that money."

 "Oh, good for them, I guess."

"Hm? Shouldn't you be worried that they'd get bold and decide to attack your crew's territories?"

"Well, at least I'll have something to do..." I muttered lazily.

Though I did enjoy these short periods of peace and quiet. I didn't mind indulging myself in the occasional scuffle with other pirates, or even the Marines. Nothing too crazy like raiding the Holy land again, but nothing too quiet either.

"Well, at least you're a little bit welcoming compared to the other pirates.." Vegapunk muttered, "but if you're looking for something to do. Why don't you go to the pirate festival?"

"Pirate Festival? You mean those crazy gatherings by that guy Festa? I never got invited to those parties before," I muttered.

"Well, can you imagine that I had gotten an invite from them? I even have a Eternal Pose for the festival's next island!"

Stussy, who had just sat right next to me in bed, immediately perked up as she exclaimed: 

"A festival? Where?"

"Vegapunk's talking about the Pirate Festival. He got an invite to go there, and he wants to give it to us," I explained.

"We should go, the other Divisions have already gotten a vacation out of us, why not enjoy a vacation of our own?" Stussy asked convincingly.

Pato, who had been eaves-dropping behind the door, immediately burst in with Ken before exclaiming:

"Vacation!!"

It seemed like heading to the festival was already set in stone. The only thing that they were waiting on was for my approval of it. 

"I mean, we don't have much to do right now. A little vacation isn't going to hurt much."

The crew, who were now eaves-dropping on us shamelessly, all cheered in excitement. It seemed that they were all praying for a day that they could enjoy a nice vacation.

I slowly grabbed the transponder snail.

"So, where do you want me to pick up the eternal pose? I imagine going to where you are is equivalent to starting a war with the Marines."

"Yeah, I'm thinking of sending one of my prototypes to give you the eternal pose. We just have to figure out where we can meet in quiet," Vegapunk responded.

"How about that island that's close to you....what's it called again?" I asked.

"The closest island near me is Carne, do you want to meet up there?" Vegapunk asked patiently.

"Yeah, let's go with that, is there anything we should know before we get there?"

"Only that there are heavy Marine presences on the island. The World Government doesn't play when it comes to my safety and secrecy, they occupied all the islands that were near me."

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem, we'll figure it out on our end how we'll meet up with you. So you shouldn't worry too much about it," I replied.

After some more small talk, I finally hung up before getting out of bed. We had finally found something to do in the midst of all the boredom that had been prevailing in the World.

Walking up to the ship, I came to meet the two navigators discussing the quickest route to get to Carne island. Ken was with them to mediate and offer a third opinion, and judging by their looks, it was obvious that they needed this vacation. 

"I don't get it, the way we've been sailing quietly these days are nothing short of a miracle..." I grumbled, while sitting down on a chair that was next to the railing on the deck.

"They're just happy because of a change in pace, Boris," Stussy walked over with a cup of coffee in her hand.

"A festival for pirates, huh?" I recalled Vegapunk's words.

"I've heard rumors about it when I was back in CP0," Stussy remarked, "I had brushed it off as rumors till now. I always assumed that if they ever did something as stupid as that they'd have the Marines breathing down their necks the moment they tried to leave the festival."

"Who knows? Maybe they have been keeping an eye on the festival. They just didn't care much for it," I replied, taking a quiet sip of my coffee.

"Do you think that this year's going to make a difference?" Stussy asked curiously.

"I wouldn't know, but I have a feeling it's going to be something," I replied.

If I recall my memory correctly, the only Pirate festival that would happen in the storyline is during the movie. The one where Luffy had to face one of Roger's old crewmembers, Douglass looked pretty strong in the movie, a pale comparison to when I had seen him in person. 

'I'll wait for the future, all good things come to those who wait, after all'

Anyway, I don't think that there had been a pirate festival before that movie. I could only figure out what would happen by continuing to watch what would happen.

"Speaking of vacations..." Stussy's hand slowly traced itself around my shoulder, "It's been sometime since we've had a 'vacation' of our own."

"The last time we enjoyed our 'vacation' your moans were heard all through the ship. Wait till we get to the island, and we can enjoy a 'vacation' that'll feel like a lifetime."

Stussy smiled before kissing my cheek and walking off with my empty cup of coffee.

The ship was now sailing towards Carne island. With Ken taking the lead and directing the pirates on how to guide and steer the ship.