Pirate: It’s not a phantom beast, it’s a phantom god!

Chapter 120: Gathering Prayers

That night, it was still the ship graveyard.

"Again?"

The old pirate, leaning on a worn recliner, still had his pipe in his mouth and greeted without turning his head.

"Yeah, here we go again."

"Come and take a look, then leave as soon as you're done. Don't disturb me, an old man, while I smoke."

Fryhail didn't reply, but just stared at his shabby pirate ship.

He was still tied by a rusty chain and drifting up and down on the sea, but he seemed to be a little more dilapidated than yesterday.

In the dark night, both of them were silent, with only the sound of the sea breeze and waves.

……

"I think I want to bring him up."

After a long silence, Fryhail finally spoke with difficulty.

"What?"

The old pirate stopped smoking his pipe, seemingly not hearing what the other party was saying.

"I said, I want to take my boat out and refurbish it!"

"Get out of here! You're trying to make fun of me, an old man, in the middle of the night!"

"What's the point of renovating your wrecked boat? It'll probably fall apart in a few days."

"The keel and mainmast are fine. As long as the other parts are repaired, he can still..."

"Ah!"

Before Fryhail could finish his words, he was interrupted by a sneer.

"Repair? What are you going to use to repair it? Who will repair it for you?"

"Go find Tang Li. Didn't he come from the Seven Water City? He has this skill..."

"Then do you have money? That greedy fellow, Tonli, won't hammer a single nail for you unless you pay him three times the price."

"Don't forget how he was driven out of the Seven Water City."

"..."

Fryhail was silent again.

A penny can make a hero fall, and a bailey can also cut off a man's hope of pursuing his dreams again.

"Let's go back."

The old pirate waved his hand.

"Don't come again."

"..."

Fryhail clenched his hands, then loosened them weakly, repeating this several times.

"Whoo~"

"I understand. That's it then—"

"If there are ready-made materials, that guy Tonli should be cheaper, right?"

A familiar voice suddenly sounded.

"Ok?"

Fryhail and the old pirate turned their heads and looked in the direction of the sound.

"Store manager?"

"Is it you, little devil?"

A figure limped out from the shadows, and it turned out to be the manager of the tavern in the daytime.

"Why are you here too, little brat?"

"What's going on lately? Why are there so many of them one after another?"

"Did you get the news that the island was going to sink so you planned to run away early?"

The old pirate teased, obviously very familiar with the tavern owner.

"Hahaha! Old Cigarette Butt, don't worry, Gaya Island won't sink."

"Humph! Your opinion on whether it sinks or not doesn't count, right?"

"And even if it doesn't sink, it might be swept up into the sky by the ocean currents one day."

[I don't think those ocean currents are that powerful...]
Forhaier complained in his heart.

The waters near Gaya Island, because it is located in a submarine volcanic belt, often have huge ocean currents that rush straight into the sky due to geothermal effects.

Locals generally call this current "Sky-high Current".

If ships sailing on the sea encounter this kind of current, they will basically be torn into pieces by the huge impact force, so the people on the island usually calculate the day to avoid it when sailing.

Of course, there is another legend in the town...

"Boss, do you two know each other?"

Looking at the tavern owner and the old pirate chatting familiarly, Fryhail couldn't help but ask.

"Of course I know him. Who on the island doesn't know this old cigarette butt?"

The tavern owner pointed at the old pirate who was puffing on his pipe and said.

That's true. Almost every pirate on the island who decides to stay knows this withered old man who's been watching over the ships for who knows how long. "You little brat, you've got some nerve! When you first came to the island, you stirred up quite a storm."

"A pirate with a fifty million bounty suddenly arrives on such a remote island, constantly talking about finding the legendary Sky Island..."

"The storm you caused back then was no less severe than an underwater volcanic eruption."

A bounty of 50 million berries was basically the pinnacle of pirates in the Four Seas and the first half of the Grand Line in this era.

As long as you don't go to the New World, you're basically walking sideways on the sea, and even the navy will have to detour if they see you.

"Haha~ Those were things from our youth, why are you still talking about them?"

"I'm just an ordinary tavern owner now."

"Yes. If it weren't for what happened that year, you..."

The old pirate's words were filled with regret for something that happened twenty years ago.

And Fryhail, who had been listening to the conversation between the two, was already stunned.

He didn't expect that this ordinary middle-aged tavern owner he knew had such a great background.

Fifty million Baileys! That's ten times his own bounty!
No wonder the other party could open the largest tavern in a lawless place like Magic Valley Town.

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore."

"Old Cigarette Butt, I came here this time to take out my boat."

"Huh? You've already wasted so much time here, why are you suddenly planning to go out to sea again?"

The old pirate's gaze switched back and forth between the two people opposite him, as if trying to figure out something.

"It's not that I want to go out to sea, but..."

The tavern owner said this, looking up at the sky.

The night sky was bright and sparsely populated, and it seemed as if one could see all the way to the end of the dome.

"I want to try one last time. Entrust my ship, my last companion, to someone who can take him to the future."

"Huh~~~Is that so..."

Upon hearing this, the old pirate took a deep puff of the pipe in his hand, with a hint of regret and pity in his tone that was difficult to conceal.

"I see, you've been waiting for that person?"

"But it's too late. Your former ship, the Wings of Liberi, can no longer sail."

"Its mast and keel are so badly rotted that they would break in even the slightest wind and waves."

The old pirate looked at the largest and also the most dilapidated ship in the bay.

The hull, covered with scars and patches, still vaguely shows the original feather-like exterior.

The deck was in tatters and covered with holes of all sizes.

The eagle originally carved on the bow has now been broken, leaving only half of its body.

At first glance, the only thing that seemed intact on the entire ship was the specially made wing-shaped guard plate on the side.

These damages were not caused by natural decay. The ship had already suffered quite serious impact damage before being abandoned here!
"Then..."

"Me! My ship! My keel and mast are sound!"

Before the tavern owner could say anything, Fryhail hurriedly spoke first, as if if he was any slower he would miss something that could never be found again.

"Using my ship as a skeleton and adding the materials available on your ship, I can definitely piece together a complete ship!"

"Um……"

The tavern owner neither agreed nor disagreed when he heard this. Instead, the old pirate spoke first.

"The only thing he can use on this ship is the side of the ship. It's not enough to build a complete hull."

"That--"

Before Fryhail could say anything else, he heard another voice coming from the dense forest behind him.

"If that's not enough, add my boat!"

The person who came was also a familiar face. He was the middle-aged pirate who asked Osi questions during the day.

After him, another voice came.

"And mine!"

"My boat can be dismantled, too."

"Please be sure to take my boat with you."

……

One sound after another rang out in this quiet little bay.

The pirates who had witnessed Ossi's bold words in the tavern during the day gathered at the place where their dreams were buried that night.

"you……"

Fryhail stared blankly at these faces, some familiar and some unfamiliar.

"You can't abandon us. I also want to see if the legendary Sky Island actually exists."

"That's right, it's really despicable for a person to sneak around like that!"

"I heard that the brat is a big shot from the New World. I want to give it one last try."

……

(End of this chapter)