Seven days later.
Kōta and his crew boarded the Thousand Sunny and set sail from the port of Water 7, continuing their journey.
There was no lingering sentiment.
After all, Water 7 was ultimately just an island with a rather peculiar shipbuilding design. It was lively, no doubt, but the scenery on the island was just so-so, and there wasn't much to do.
After two days of exploring, they were tired of it.
Once they had bought everything they needed.
The remaining time was spent on the Thousand Sunny, training, being bored, and fighting pirates.
During this period, Kōta went to see Franky alone.
Not up close, he merely observed from a distance.
He held a certain curiosity for characters who appeared in the original work, especially those from the main crew.
After all, they were the "Children of the World's Crew," each with unique traits.
Franky, in particular, was a rare cyborg.
It was worth mentioning the technology of this world here. They could even modify humans, and their power source was cola. It was truly baffling how that worked.
But what did it matter if he couldn't understand? This was, after all, a fantastical world where all unreasonableness could not be explained by reality, only attributed to special technology and a world of miracles.
...
"Captain, are we really going to follow these guys and provoke a silver-haired crew whose bounty alone exceeds 5 billion Berries?"
Outside the territorial waters of Water 7, an alliance of pirate crews lined up in this sea.
For those familiar with the sea and pirates, many familiar pirate flags could be spotted within the alliance.
The total bounty of these pirate crews combined was not significantly less than that of the silver-haired crew.
At the prow of one of the pirate ships.
Several burly figures stood there.
One man, wearing goggles on his head and a sniper rifle on his back, turned his head to ask a one-eyed man of similar stature, who wore a pirate hat and a rapier at his waist, in a low voice.
"Don't worry, Chers."
The captain turned, his remaining eye looking at his subordinate, and laughed heartily, patting Chers' shoulder.
"While the silver-haired crew is strong, everyone who came here knows that."
"But!" He withdrew his hand, took a step forward, spread his arms, and laughed wildly, tilting his head back. "The combined strength of so many of us is not to be underestimated!"
"Our bombardment alone can easily destroy their ship. Once the ship is gone, what can they use to fight us on this sea, no matter how strong they are?"
"Heh heh heh heh heh!!"
Watching the captain's back, all his companions, except for Chers, burst into laughter.
Their laughter was filled with arrogance.
"Am I being too cautious?"
Suppressing the flicker of unease in his heart, Chers looked around.
Gazing at the massive fleet, a fleet powerful enough to attack a Marine base, he slowly calmed down, and then feelings of excitement and madness surged within him.
He then raised his head, looked at the surging sea ahead, grinned, and joined his companions in laughter.
Kōta's thoughts were correct. These pirates had indeed gone mad upon seeing the bounties on Kōta's crew.
They toiled endlessly, killing and arson, adventuring in the Four Seas for years, then venturing into the Grand Line, competing with countless pirate crews, and overcoming innumerable hardships, only to earn bounties of over a hundred million.
Why...
Why should a crew that had only been at sea for half a year have their bounty skyrocket to tens of times theirs?
Unfairness, conspiracy.
The sense of injustice in their hearts, coupled with the pursuit of fame, was like the devil's temptation, compelling them to immediately dispatch their pirate ships upon hearing that Kōta's crew had arrived at Water 7.
It was just lucky that they killed a Shichibukai!
As for fighting an Admiral to a standstill, heavily injuring four Vice Admirals with a single strike, or killing the legendary pirate Golden Lion, while they felt a slight apprehension, it wasn't enough to make them truly afraid.
They had also clashed with Vice Admirals before. While they were outmatched, the Vice Admirals couldn't do much to them, could they?
The Vice Admirals here were the base commanders of the Marine bases in the first half of the Grand Line.
In reality, these Marine base commanders rarely pursued pirates. They had to man their bases and would only personally mobilize when encountering exceptionally powerful pirates or pirates of particular interest to the Marines and the World Government.
Even when they mobilized, they wouldn't chase too far from their bases.
For ordinary pirates, it was usually the Rear Admirals from the bases who pursued them.
The daily duties of these Rear Admirals were to patrol the sea areas around their respective Marine bases, so they could pursue with confidence and venture far from their bases to chase pirates.
As for encountering pirate crews with Marine Headquarters Vice Admirals on the high seas and still managing to escape, it was either due to their strength or their luck. Pirate crews with strong power were eager to reach the New World, where the Great Treasure they dreamed of awaited them.
For those with luck, it was naturally impossible to always be lucky.
And among the pirate crews gathered here to hunt Kōta's crew, it was unlikely that it was all luck. They had fought their way from thousands of pirates to this point, and after one more hurdle, they could reach the Sabaody Archipelago and then the New World. Therefore, there were indeed a few strong individuals among them.
However, even strong power was useless.
In the Four Seas and the Paradise, in these waters where ordinary people had no idea what Haki was, it was a good fortune if one or two pirates, through luck and decent talent, awakened elementary Haki.
Powerful Devil Fruits could indeed dominate these waters, but they could not make them kings, nor could they allow them to act as they pleased. Moreover, they were merely low-level pirates, far from being able to dominate the sea solely through their Devil Fruit abilities.
So!
*Zzzzt!*
*Crack!*
The sound of electricity mingled with thunder, spanning a vast distance, reached them.
"What is that?"
The sea, which had been calm moments before, suddenly churned with a gust of wind and a surge of waves from the front of the pirate alliance.
This was, of course, not what surprised them.
What surprised them was that on the distant sea surface, a towering pillar of emerald light suddenly appeared. The pillar, accompanied by thunder, stirred the wind and raised the waves.
*Crack!*
The light pillar shot into the sky, resembling a dragon, traversing the distant heavens. It stopped over the sea area of the pirate alliance, then turned, and before the pirates could even react, it fiercely struck a pirate ship.
*BOOM!*
Blinding emerald light flashed across heaven and earth, followed by a thunderous explosion.
"Ah! Help..."
Amidst the flames and smoke, the shockwave, along with splinters of wood, stirred up waves, pushing the surrounding pirate ships rapidly away.
The wind fanned the flames, and the high temperature brought by the lightning instantly ignited the ship, and then the great fire, driven by the wind, spread across the entire ship in an instant.
Screams, sounds of people jumping into the water, and the crackling of burning objects were incessant.
So!
These fellows were truly courting death.