One Piece: Starting with God Valley, intercepting the Dark-Dark Fruit

Shanks whispered from the side,

"Uncle Raleigh, your arm..."

Rayleigh glanced down at Shanks, his gaze lingering on the straw hat Shanks was wearing on his back.

Upon seeing the straw hat, Rayleigh couldn't help but recall the scene when he first met Roger.

Roger was wearing this straw hat when he invited him to board the ship.

Thinking of Roger, Rayleigh's eyes reddened again. He raised his hand and pressed it against Shanks' head, forcing a smile, and said...

"Shanks, Roger risked his life for the new era. Compared to him, what is my one arm?"

Shanks raised his hand to wipe his already moist eyes, looked up and asked,

"Uncle Rayleigh, who exactly is the person Captain Roger is waiting for? We've paid such a heavy price for someone who's just a vague figure. Is it really worth it?"

Rayleigh frowned upon hearing this and said in a deep voice,

"It's worth it! Shanks, Roger valued you highly. Don't let him and our fallen comrades down!"

Shanks wanted to say something more, but when he saw the gruesome wound on Rayleigh's severed arm, he swallowed all his words back down.

He really wanted to ask, why couldn't Roger be waiting for him or Bucky?

Was everything truly predetermined?

Seeing Shanks fall silent, Rayleigh sighed and said,

"Keep that straw hat safe. Wake up Bucky, let's rest on this island for a few days."

Shanks nodded and asked,

"So where do we go next?"

After a moment's thought, Ridley replied,

"Sabaody Archipelago, I have a friend there."

Shanks paused for a moment, then said,

"Uncle Rayleigh, Sabaody Archipelago is very close to Marine Headquarters. If the Marines find out..."

Rayleigh smiled and said,

"Shanks, you're still too young. Sabaody Archipelago is a place where a large number of pirates gather year-round. Have you heard of any large-scale cleanup operations the Navy has carried out there?"

"It seems not. Could there be a powerful figure there that the Navy is wary of?"

“There are definitely strong individuals, but can they be stronger than Roger? What the Navy truly fears are the Celestial Dragons; they don’t like anyone causing trouble.”

......

In the waters near the windmill village in the East China Sea,

A massive naval warship sailed on the calm sea. On the shore of Windmill Village, several fishermen watched the warship and discussed it.

"Hey, that naval warship has been loitering around here for days. Is it on some kind of mission?"

"Who knows? These past few days I've only seen that warship blasting fish, and I haven't caught anything. If this keeps up, my whole family will starve!"

"Shh! The navy on that warship must be quite powerful. Apart from the one Vice Admiral Garp was on, I've never seen a warship this big before!"

"Sigh! I wonder how Lieutenant General Garp is doing now. He was the pride of our Windmill Village, how could he..."

"Don't even mention it! Wasn't it all the work of that damned Long? I knew he was rebellious since he was a kid, always acting all mysterious and strange!"

"That kid is really something... He caused trouble and ran away, leaving his father to take the blame! He's really something else!"

"Damn it! Do you think this warship is here to capture dragons? We hope it doesn't accidentally hit us! In a small place like ours, a few shells from that warship would flatten us!"

On the warship,

Aokiji stood at the bow of the ship, gazing at the calm sea below, and muttered to himself while stroking his chin.

"That's strange. We've been searching for almost a week, and we haven't found a single sea monster, let alone a sea king..."

Akainu and the others took the matter that Gigg had instructed them to do before he fell into a deep sleep to heart. They had only been back at headquarters for a short time and hadn't even had a few days to recover from their injuries when they began to work on the first thing Gigg had asked them to do.

However, since they are all important combat forces of the Marine Headquarters, it would be inappropriate to send them all at once. After internal discussion, they decided to send Aokiji first, as he is more convenient to release his abilities at sea.

However, after searching the vicinity of Windmill Village for almost a week, Aokiji and his men still found nothing.

Just as Aokiji was feeling at a loss at the bow of the ship, a huge dandelion suddenly rose slowly in front of him. Then, Aramaki, wearing a floral shirt and floral shorts, appeared in his line of sight, carrying a thin man who was rolling his eyes.

Seeing Aramaki dressed like a thug, Aokiji frowned and asked,

"Huang Mu, you went drinking in the village again, didn't you? This is something Senior Jige entrusted to you, can't you pay a little more attention? I knew I shouldn't have brought you!"

Aramaki tossed the person he was carrying at Aokiji's feet and said irritably,

"Stop talking nonsense! I'm much more concerned than you! Otherwise, why would I follow you? You need to use your brain when you do things! If you keep wandering around the sea like a headless fly, when will you ever find that sea king?"

Aokiji, hands on his hips, took a step forward, almost touching Aramaki's face.

"Then tell me, how do we find these sea kings?"

Huang Mu snorted and said,

"I told you you're not a genius! Whether you're looking for someone or a Sea King, what's the most important thing? Intelligence! Gathering intelligence is my old profession. When I was doing this, you were probably still hiding in some nook and cranny!"

"Hmm? So tell me, what intelligence have you gathered?"

Upon hearing this, Huang Mu smiled smugly and said,

"I heard from the tavern that there is indeed a sea king that looks like an eel nearby. Oh, they call this sea king the King of the Near Sea, a very imposing name. It doesn't sound like it's going to be easy to deal with!"

"After all, it's someone Senior Giger values... And then? What else did you hear?"

"What's the rush? I haven't told you the most important thing yet. The villagers said that this sea monster really likes to attack small fishing boats, and it especially likes to eat people!"

"Then what do you mean..."

"Don't you understand? All we need to do is find someone to act as bait. I've already found someone."

As he spoke, Huang Mu glanced at the person on the ground and said,

"This is the guy. He was drinking and bragging, saying he was some kind of bandit king, Higuma, and he was even showing off his wanted poster. I looked at it, and wow! 250 million Berries!"

Happy Dragon Boat Festival!

Chapter 249 Hunting Time

Sig woke up slowly at Aokiji's feet, and heard Aokiji and Aramaki talking to each other.

"250 million Berries? I'm amazed you could find that."

"Heh, they're just bandits after all, not presentable at all. Using them as bait is making the best use of them."

A look of confusion crossed Sieg's face as he murmured,

"Bare bait? What kind of bait?"

"Huh? This guy's awake."

Huang Mu crouched down, his five fingers transforming into five wriggling green vines, which bound Sig together in Sig's horrified gaze.

Sigurd had never even heard of Devil Fruits, and he screamed in terror.

"Monster!! Help!!"

Instead of being angry at being called a monster, Huang Mu clapped his hands and said...

"Great! Very energetic! You're definitely good as bait!"

After saying that, Huang Mu immediately ordered his men to prepare a small boat and push it off the warship. He threw Sig onto it, and then a dandelion sprouted from his back. He casually released a vine to pull Aokiji along, and the two of them flew into the sky to observe.

The small boat carried Sig as it drifted on the sea. Sig was indeed very energetic. With his upper body tied up, he struggled incessantly in the cabin, shouting for help. It was unclear who he was hoping would come to his rescue.

At this moment, the sun was shining brightly overhead, and the weather was unbearably hot. Sig, who was exposed to the scorching sun below, quickly wilted from the heat.

With Aokiji, a humanoid ice block, in the sky, Aramaki naturally didn't feel hot. In addition, since he was a vegetable, he could photosynthesize, and the stronger the sunlight, the more energetic he became.

Seeing that Sig had stopped moving below, Aramaki curled his lip and said to Aokiji,

"Hey, you should cool him down a bit, the bait doesn't look fresh anymore!"

Upon hearing this, Aokiji immediately released a beam of white, cold air that sprayed onto Sieg below. Sieg shuddered and jumped up from the cabin, letting out a series of pleasant "ooh ooh ooh" sounds.

This went on for several times, until afternoon. Looking at the setting sun, Aokiji, who had been acting as the air conditioner all day, sighed...

"Huang Mu, is your intelligence accurate or not? We haven't seen a single fish all day!"

Huang Mu glared and said,

"It's better than the methods you used before!"

"Then tell me, what makes it strong?"

"Its strength lies in... well, maybe we should head back today, I'm a little hungry."

"Don't you not need to eat?"

"Kuzan, don't make me slap you..."

The two were so engrossed in their bickering in the sky that they didn't notice a shadow rising in the sea below the small boat where Sieg was.