The Golden Grizzly #33

Three days later

South Blue

The Happy Squid

'It's been a while since I've seen any snow...' Standing at the ship's bow, I unconsciously smiled as I watched a small flake fall into my waiting palm, slowly melting due to my body heat.

'Still, this guy sure isn't happy to see me...' I mused, chuckling as I turned to Wayland, the captain of the Happy Squid, and saw him giving me the side eye.

By sheer lucky coincidence, I found Wayland and his crew at the docks and asked to hire them with the last of my savings. The ship's captain initially refused, but I managed to talk him into it with promises of more money once I took down Roshio.

Though South Blue wasn't nearly as turbulent as the Grand Line, its waters were still dangerous, and I didn't feel like entrusting my life to some incompetent crew with no experience, even if I had to pay extra.

It's also one of the reasons I had to seriously contemplate joining the Marines, as I had no idea how to navigate a ship or even steer it, for that matter.

I was strong and had the confidence to cure any curable illness known to man, but that's the extent of my ability. Besides that, I could barely cook a decent meal, but that's about it.

At first, I wanted to take it slow, explore South Blue, and gather some people capable of navigating, steering, and maintaining a ship, or at least learn to do it myself, but that's no longer viable.

I'd be able to learn the basics of sailing if I joined the Marines and maybe even more, but it came with the glaring downside of taking orders from the world government, which didn't suit me that much.

I seriously contemplated sailing to Four Clover Island and talking Kid and the others into leaving with me, but they were still just a bunch of brats. They weren't ready.

On the one hand, there was freedom and uncertainty. And on the other was safety and a sure path to move forward but at a heavy price.

It's not like I had to stick to each of these two paths since I could always since I could always quit the Marines or even fight my way into a warlord position as a pirate in the future, but that only made me more hesitant.

'Whatever... I'll just go with the flow...' I smiled as I looked up and gazed at the falling snow, pausing as I noticed Chuchun approach the ship with something in its peak.

"What you got there, boy...?" I asked, tilting my head as the giant sparrow landed on the ship's railing and spat a seemingly lifeless seagull-like bird out of its mouth. "Bad Chuchun... I already told you not to hunt News Coos..." I muttered, sighing as I picked up the bird to check its vitals.

"You can stop playing dead... he won't eat you..." I said, and at my words, the News Coo instantly came back to life. "You got today's newspaper?" I asked as I reached into my pocket and took some money.

The little bird affirmatively cawed as it reached into the bag hanging off its neck and retrieved a rolled-up newspaper with its peak before taking the money and flying away.

"Ugh... those bastards sure work fast..." I muttered, my eyes twitching as I opened the newspaper, and a wanted poster with a picture of me standing over Hill's bloodied corpse fell from between the pages.

'Still... Cedric "The Golden Grizzly" Strode... It's got a ring to it...' I couldn't help but chuckle as I read through the wanted poster. "Eight million... wanted dead or alive. Kinda makes me want to turn myself in...' I mused, promptly crumbling the yellow paper and throwing it into the sea.

'Don't want these guys getting any ideas soon...'

...

Four Clover Island

The Grog Box Bar

"Looks like Cedric is already making a name for himself out there..." Killer blankly said as he walked into Kid's workshop. "This just came in with the paper..." He added as he put a wanted poster on the table before the redhead, causing him to stop working.

"Ha! So much for seeing the world!" Kid said with a loud laugh as he took up the wanted poster and saw Ceddric's picture. "Murder, robbery, theft... yeah, that sounds like that big blonde bastard, alright..." He added with a chuckle as he put down the yellow paper.

"Which reminds me..." Kid said as he activated his devil fruit power and pulled a screwdriver wrench from the other side of the room. "Is that crazy lady friend of his still around...?" He added as he resumed working on the gun in front of him.

"She is... though she said something about leaving soon..." Killer replied with a shrug. "Why? You didn't bother with her until now...?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No particular reason... just curious..." Kid calmly replied as he put the last touches on his work. "Anyways... we need to step up our game too..." He added as he raised the four-barreled revolver in the air, giving it an appraising look.

"It's about time we make a move on the rest of the towns..."

...

The Shark Kennel bar

"Ye sure held back longer than expected, laddie..." Old Dean muttered, leisurely sipping his drink as he looked at Cedric's wanted poster. "What will ye do now, I wonder..." He added, smiling from ear as he stood up and walked to the wall next to the exit.

"I can't wait..." The old pirate said as he began hammering the poster into the wall.

...

Four Days later

The Happy Squid

Covered in blood, I couldn't help but sigh as I stood on the ship's deck, looking at the dozens of bodies littering the floor. "Damned pirates don't know when to quit..." I said, shaking my head.

During the past four days, pirates have attacked the Happy Squid three times already, which wasn't really surprising since we were getting close to Centaruea, and the island was near the Reverse Mountain, pretty much like Loguetown in East Blue.

The closer we got to the island, the more pirate ships we encountered, though most of them were content to let us be after one look at the Happy Squid and the many canons on its broadsides.

Then there were the reckless idiots who'd charge in without a second thought, like the first two pirate crews whom Wayland and his lads promptly sunk into the depths without letting them even get close.

Although the third pirate crew was competent enough to maneuver around the canon fire and get to the Happy Squid, the pirates didn't account for me waiting for them here.

"It's why I didn't want to come here..." Wayland calmly said as he walked toward me. "These water are infested with pirates..." He added, kicking the lifeless body of the pirate captain.

"Who cares?" I said with a grin as I turned to the ship captain. "This guy's gotta decent bounty, and we'll be able to sell his ship, granted you have you lads haul it along..." I added with a shrug.

"You get twenty percent of whatever we make, as we agreed..." I added as I walked past Wayland, heading for my cabin. "I'm going to get a shower and some shut-eye. have someone wake me up when we reach Centaurea..." I added, lazily stretching my arms as I walked.

"Aye, I'll do that..." Wayland replied with a nod, then turned to his sailors and began barking orders. "You hear the lad, man the pirate ship, and get this guy's head on ice..." He exclaimed as he gave the pirate captain's body another kick.

"We don't want it rotting before we spot land!"

...

"Everything's going according to plan so far..." I muttered as I leaned into the bed and took a sip of whisky, feeling refreshed after a cold shower to get rid of the blood and grime.

According to Wayland, we were steadily approaching Centaurea, and we should arrive in less than twelve hours if we continued sailing at the same pace.

Naturally, Wayland and the Happy Squid's crew still didn't know about my bounty since I had Chuchun chase away News Coos approaching the ship, and he took pleasure in the task, being the vicious bird of prey he was.

The sailors would find out about the bounty sooner or later. But before they did, I needed to show them the benefits of staying in my good graces as opposed to the consequences of double-crossing me, hence the generous twenty percent of any bounties I claimed.

I still couldn't determine whether to join the marine or not and how to proceed, but I intended to make a final decision after arriving at Centaurea and taking out that Roshio guy.

After all, there was no telling what awaited me on the island.