章 24: Windmill Village and The Redsilver
Same as last time they were traveling without a single belly on them. But this time they were prepared, they brought all the necessary things needed to catch the fish and roast them. From now on, they never have to worry about hunger while journeying on the sea.
They were halfway through their journey to Dawn Island, this is an island where the Goa Kingdom is situated.
The sky was clear, the sun directly hanging above their heads. As far as they could see there was only blue water around them. Their boat gently swaying on the water.
Leo was standing on the boat with a fishing rod in his hand. He was waiting for the fish to catch the bait. Beside him was a large empty basket.
"Bolt, how many times do I have to remind you of no flying rule?" Leo said in frustration.
"There are only two of us, who is going to see? Let me fly for a few more minutes, please," Bolt pleaded.
"No means no. Flying is absolutely forbidden when we are outside of our island unless there is a need to. And I told you to practice your ability with the sand, why aren't you doing that?" Leo said sternly.
Bolt made a bitter face. "Sand is too difficult to control. I am bored practicing with it."
Now bolt's training was advancing toward the fluids. Controlling the sand was the first step towards them. In this training, his aim was to make solid shapes like cubes, spheres, cuboids, and many more using sand. But the problem was his power was treating each sand particle as a different object, so controlling sand means controlling numerous objects at the same time. That's why it was too difficult for him to make any proper shapes.
"Then do you want to catch fish with me?" Leo asked.
"No, no. I can't waste my time fishing. I have so much training to do." Bolt hurriedly sat in front of the heap of sand on the deck.
Bolt smiled at this.
Bolt dreaded fishing. Just imagining sitting still for a long time made him shiver. He himself was the speed, the concept of being still didn't fit well with him.
As for Leo, fishing was too easy for him.
[Limitless] truly was an overpowered function of the system. Leo didn't feel bad anymore about not being able to use the devil fruit. His body wasn't any less amazing than devil fruit power. His senses were so powerful that they can be considered as different abilities coming from different devil fruits.
With his body, he can easily become proficient in almost every profession
In just half an hour the large basket was half-filled.
His second brain with the help of his senses was showing everything inside the water. Everything known was shown in colors while unknown in shades of black and white. For fishing, Leo intentionally asked his second brain to keep water in black while fish in white, it was easier this way.
As he could directly see inside the water, he knew exactly where to through the fishing line and when to pull it out.
Leo was eyeing a big fish, four feet long and three feet wide. It was too cautious and clever. It observed the bait from afar, whenever it saw other fish biting on the bait and then getting pulled out from the water it would run away. Only after a few minutes, it would return just to run away again after seeing the same thing. Leo wanted to catch it but it never came near the bait.
Seeing its behavior Leo devised a plan. He made some changes to the hook so that fish wouldn't get hooked even after eating the bait. He let the other fish eat his bait freely. This continued for almost half an hour.
Seeing this big fish slowly started getting closer to where he was throwing the bait.
When it was close enough Leo quickly changed the hook, after fixing a bait on it he threw it right in front of the big fish.
The big fish immediately ate the bait and got hooked. Fish started struggling, but Leo was quicker, he pulled it out of water.
The fish line broke in the process. Before it could return to the water, Leo jumped from the boat and caught it. Big fish struggled to free, splashing water everywhere, but against Leo's strength, it was useless.
Leo swam to the boat, threw the fish on the boat, and then climbed.
"What a beautiful fish!" Bolt exclaimed.
Fish was four feet long and three feet wide. It had silver scales soft as silk, and fading red fins, eyes light red, and gills in shades of red-silver. Each of its scales had a red spiral pattern on it. It felt as if nature took quite the trouble to create this fish.
The size of the fish didn't surprise Bolt as they had seen far larger fish than this, but it was the first time he was seeing such a beautiful fish.
After this Leo stopped fishing as he was almost out of the baits.
Bolt used his ability, the boat began speeding towards Dawn Island.
Around two in the afternoon, a tiny mountain range came into their sight. As they neared closer it became bigger and bigger. After some time they were close enough to see the windmills and the houses in front of one of the mountains and along the shore.
Bolt turned the boat towards the village.
In just a short time they reached the port. After docking their boat they walked on the long wooden walkway, climbed the stairs, and then stepped on the land.
They finally landed on Dawn Island. What lay in front of them was the Windmill village, the birthplace of Luffy.
Few windmills scattered in the village would always be the first to attract the attention of anyone arriving. The wind was making the windmill blades turn slowly. The dirt road with many branches was connecting all the rustic wooden houses and the stores. Healthy black and white cows were happily grazing on the green grass pasture bordered with the wooden fence to keep them from running everywhere.
Bolt didn't feel much, except being a little amazed after seeing the windmills. Other than that this was just another typical village.
As a crazy die-hard fan of One Piece, it was a historical moment for Leo. It was his first time seeing something original from the anime.
What he was feeling?
Excitement. Nervousness. Awe. Reverence. Proud. No. It was a mixture of everything. He thought this how Neil Armstrong must've felt when he took the first step on the moon. Leo had the urge to kiss the land under his feet. He was itching to take the selfies and post them, regretfully he didn't have his mobile with him.
In front of the house nearest to the shore, a brown-haired man in his forties was relaxing in a chair while looking at the sea.
He looked curiously at the boys who just arrived. Boy with the average face was carrying the basket on his head. And the other boy was too pretty, his eyes dazzled looking at him. The pretty boy was carrying a big fish on his shoulder. Seeing the fish man gets up from the chair while rubbing his eyes, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Holy mother of God!" he exclaimed and ran to the Boys.
"You caught the Redsilver!" the man exclaimed while looking at the fish. "And this one is ridiculously big. You two are going to be rich." He was overflowing with envy.
Bolt and Leo were puzzled at whatever the man was saying.
Seeing their expression man wanted to cry. "Heavens are truly blind. These boys don't even know what they have caught," he murmured inwardly.
"This is the 'Redsilver'," the last word he said with more pressure. "This fish can only be found in the sea around Dawn Island. The Redsilver is so rare that even in the fish market of the Goa Kingdom having it once a year could be called a miracle. It is rumored that even a single bite of it is enough to make a person immune to any kind of disease. Now, do you understand how an amazing thing you have caught?"
Leo and Bolt were shocked hearing this.
"Is it just a rumor or there is some truth to it?" Leo asked.
"At least in our town it is just a rumor. Who would be crazy enough to eat such an expensive fish just for making yourself immune to the disease? It would be better to go to the doctor, and live rich carefree life by selling it," the man said.
Hearing the fish was expensive Bolt's eyes felt as if they were flashing with belly symbols. "How much this fish can be sold for?" He asked eagerly.
"It is beyond me to put a price on it. But once I heard, Redsilver big as the palm can be sold for at least a million belly. You can imagine how much you can get for your Redsilver," the man said with wide eyes.
Bolt's eye looked as if he had hit the jackpot. Now he can say goodbye to working in the kitchen. He was jumping in joy inwardly. As for Leo, he wasn't much interested in money, he was thinking of taking fish back to their town. If the rumor is true no one in their town would ever have to worry about any disease.
Just now the man remembered something. "Quickly hide the Redsilver. If the bandits got the wind of it you can only cry then," the man said in urgency. He hurriedly looked around for something with which he could cover the fish.
"It's okay. Bandits can never take the fish away from us," Leo said casually.
"Boy, you don't know how scary bandits can be? It is safer to cover the fish," the man warned them seriously.
"Don't worry. There is no need to get scared of bandits," Bolt said.
The man felt frustrated at how they weren't listening to him. "Well that's your fish, you can do whatever you want with it," the man said helplessly.
"Can you tell me the way to the fish shop?" Leo asked.
"Don't bother, no one in this village can buy your fish," the man said.
Leo gestured at the basket over his head. "We have other fish to sell."
"Oh," he sounded in realization. "Follow me. I will take you there."
Leo and Bolt followed the man. When they reached near the Partys Bar they turned left. When Leo saw the bar, he almost wanted to rush into it but somehow he controlled himself. Anyway, they were going to come here after selling the fish, he just have to wait for a little while.
Leo observed inside the bar with his senses. The bar was empty except for its owner Makino who was arranging the shelf behind the counter. She is a twenty-year-old young woman with brown eyes and dark green hair that goes up to just above her shoulders. She wore a yellow kerchief, an orange blouse with black sleeves and a long light blue skirt, and orange sneakers with white soles.
As they walked, more and more people joined behind them because of the Redsilver. They were making a lot of commotion.
"It's the Redsilver!"
"Have you ever seen such a big one?"
"I didn't even know Redsilver could get so big."
"It might be even older than me," the old man said.
"What?!" The crowd was shocked hearing this.
Bolt and Leo were also shocked because the old man seemed in his eighties.
Many in the crowd advised them to hide the fish. But Leo and Bolt just shrugged it off.
"Someone call the mayor. Bandits might come anytime," the middle-aged woman in the crowd said worriedly.
Hearing her a young man went to call the mayor.
Many kids who didn't understand anything were also following them because the crowd means something fun to watch.
Almost every girl in the crowd was stealing glances at Bolt with a blushing face. For them, Bolt was far more interesting than some fish.
Seeing even a small-sized Redsilver gave people bragging rights, let alone such a big one. So you can imagine how rapidly the news of big Redsilver could've spread in the village.
Even Makino had arrived after she heard about the Redsilver.
Fish store UO. It was a store where Luffy used to buy fish when he was little.
Gyoru, the store owner, and his wife, Chicken, were working in their store. When they saw the crowd approaching they were puzzled. "Ah. What happened?"
But when Gyoru saw the fish on Bolt's shoulder he was stunned to his core. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed and ran to Bolt.
Leo looked at Gyoru. He was an average-sized middle-aged man with black hair, a widow's peak. He has small round eyes, thick eyebrows, and stubble on his chin. He wore a yellow shirt with a black apron over it and a pink rope tied around his head.
"How did you catch this?" he asked, and without waiting for a reply he continued. "You must have used your lifetime's Luck. The Redsilver can never be caught by just wanting, without extraordinary luck you can only dream about it. This one is the biggest I have ever seen, by its size I can speculate that this one is at least three hundred years old."
"Three hundred years old?" Crowd gasped. "How can a fish be this old?"
Bolt and Leo were stunned hearing its age.
Gyoru continued. "Older the Redsilver greater its effect. Only a pinch of this one might be enough to make immune to any disease."
Seeing Gyoru's expression Leo knew that if someone didn't stop him he might continue talking about the Redsilver for the whole day. Leo didn't have time for this, he wanted to go to the Partys Bar as soon as possible.
Leo put down the basket filled with fish in front of Chicken who just came near them.
Chicken is a normal-sized, although a bit chubby woman, with dark curly hair and a round face with some wrinkles on it. She wore a dark-colored apron over a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
"I want to sell these fish," Leo said to her.
She took a look inside the basket, all the fish were usual ones. She gestured at Leo and said, "Come with me."
While Leo went to the store, Gyoru continued his info-dumping on people.
"It is said that Redsilver's meat can be preserved for almost ten years if it is kept completely covered with its scales."
"Ten years?!" The crowd was shocked. "How can the meat last so long, is that even possible?" To them, it felt like Gyoru was talking complete nonsense.
Just then the Mayor, Woop Slap, approached the crowd. He is a short, wiry, bespectacled man with something of the cleft chin. He wore lightweight tropical clothing, along with a striped hat.
When he looked at the Redsilver he was shocked. "How can a Redsilver be this big?" He thought inwardly. Just after he became even more shocked seeing how openly bolt was carrying it. "What are you all doing? Why didn't you tell him to hide the fish?" He yelled at the crowd angrily.
"Mayor, we told him but he isn't listening to anyone," the middle-aged man in the crowd said while pointing at Bolt.
Leo returned to Bolt's side after selling the fish.
Mayor looked at the boys. "You should've listened to them. Now it's too late, bandits might have already got the news of it," he said helplessly.
Leo looked at the mayor, Makino, Gyoru, Chicken, and others in the crowd who were shown once or twice in the anime. He was amazed by the system at how it brought characters drawn by the 'Eiichiro Oda' to life.
He felt elated by just standing among them. He could finally confirm that he was here where it all started, the place where the story of the One Piece began. He was at the beginning.
"It wouldn't be bad to leave our name at this beginning," Leo thought inwardly. He looked at everyone's expression, he could see how much they were inwardly wishing to have even a little bit of the Redsilver. Leo decided to grant their wish. Just a small part of the fish was enough for the whole village.
"What?! Bandit might have already got the news of it. What should we do?" Leo yelled in panic.
"What's wrong with him?" Bolt thought inwardly. He didn't understand what Leo was thinking but decided to act along with him. His expression also turned to panic.
At Leo's yell crowd thought, "What a late reaction? It's been ages since we were telling you about the bandits, but now you are panicking."
"There is nothing we can do now, bandits might come anytime," Mayor said sadly.
Hearing this Leo's expression looked as if he lost all his hope. Then suddenly his expression turned firm. "No. I can't accept this. We worked so hard to catch this fish. It took us almost half an hour to catch it. I can't let our hard work get snatched by the bandits."
The crowd felt strange hearing this, they thought, "Why is he focusing on the hard work instead of the Redsilver? And half an hour time to catch the fish can even be called hard work?"
"I am Leo, and he is Bolt." He introduced themselves with a resolute expression. "We invite you all to the Partys Bar to taste this fish," Leo said while looking at Makino.
"What?!" The crowd was shocked hearing this.
"What?!" Bolt was also shocked, but he didn't show it. He was dreaming about earning money, but Leo brought a twist into his dream. As Leo said so openly he didn't argue with him.
"Boy, do you know what you are saying?" Mayor said.
"Do you know how much you can sell this for?" Gyoru said.
"I understand what you are trying to say, but everything is useless if it is got taken by the bandits," Leo replied.
"But do you really want to share with us, instead of eating all of it by yourselves?" Mayor asked in hesitation. He very much liked the idea of tasting this fish, but the fish was too precious. It was the treasure among treasures.
"If the rumors are true. As Gyoru-san said, just a pinch of its meat is enough to make immune to any disease. So why should we waste it by eating more than that? It is better for everyone to take the benefit of it," Leo explained.
Finally, it was decided that everyone would get a pinch of Redsilver's meat. Everyone was overjoyed at this. They didn't even dare to eat the Redsilver's meat in their dreams, but now today they were actually going to eat it. Many in the crowd left hurriedly to bring their family members.
"Makino-san can you prepare the fish?" Leo asked.
Makino felt a little odd about Leo knowing her name, but she did not think much into it. Makino hesitated about preparing the fish, after all, this Redfish was too precious. She pointed at Gyoru and his wife and said, "If they helped me, I can."
Gyoru calmly accepted her request. But inside he was jumping in joy, he was getting the chance to handle such treasured fish, he could brag about this for his whole life.
Gyoru and Chicken closed their store and headed to Party's Bar with Makino, discussing how they were going to deal with the fish.
Behind them was Bolt carrying the Redsilver on his shoulder. Girls already pushed aside Leo from Bolt's side. Now they were surrounding Bolt, competing with each other to get the chance to talk to him.
Boys in the crowd behind them were looking at Bolt with jealousy.
Leo was at the end, walking along with the mayor, making casual conversation. Leo wanted to ask him about Luffy, to find out the stories of him that weren't shown in the anime. But he controlled himself, as suddenly asking about Luffy wouldn't look good.
In just a short time they reached the Partys Bar. Bolt went with Makino to the kitchen attached to the bar on the backside.
Everyone else packed themselves inside the bar. There was a festive atmosphere inside. The elderly were sitting and young men were standing. Children running. Everyone chatting happily, discussing whether the rumors about the fish are real. Some were predicting how it would taste.
Leo was standing outside, taking a close look at the building.
It was a two-story wooden building with a slanted roof. On the right side of the building was a large wooden bucket under the tap. It is where the bandit, Higuma, pressed little Luffy under his feet.
On the front of the building, there was an arched wooden board with 'PARTYS BAR' on it. On the right supporting pole was a red-white lifebuoy and on the left was a metal plate with 'BAR' engraved on it. On both sides of the door, there were two wooden cuboidal in which flower plants were happily swaying by the air. From the front glass windows, he could easily see everything inside.
Leo walked to the swinging door. A little girl and a little boy were hanging by holding onto the door, expectantly looked at him to push the door. Leo smiled at them, then pushed the door and went inside with the laughter of kids echoing in his ears.
Inside was brightened by the light entering the hall from several windows. Hall was packed with people. Leo walked to the counter. The large supporting pillars on both sides of it had meatal helms fixed on them. The shelf behind the counter had wine bottles, plates, wine glasses, and large beer glasses in it. Each side of the shelf had a flower pot with beautiful flowers inside.
Mayor was sitting on the round wooden stool in front of the counter, it was the exact stool where Shanks once sat on it. Mayor kept the stools beside him empty for Leo and Bolt.
Leo looked at the legendary stool, this was the stool, where while sitting on it Luffy ate the 'Gomu Gomu no Mi'. Leo felt he might ruin it by sitting on it, but after some hesitation, he sat on it. He thought it would be better if he occupied it than someone else. Bolt entered from the back door and sat on the empty stool. Three of them talked about some random things.
Just then a sound of someone falling came from the door. The little girl who was swinging on the door fell with it. She started crying. Her mother approached and gently lifted her. "I told you not to play with the door. See what happened, the door is broken. Makino is going to be angry at you." Hearing this girls cried even loudly.
Just then the old man came out of nowhere and started repairing the door. In just a short time he was finished.
He was a carpenter, Minatomo, an old man with tanned skin, dark gray hair, and a stern look on his face. He also had a scar on his left cheek. He wore a blue shirt and had a rope tied around his forehead.
He was the one who repaired the door kicked off its hinges by the bandit, Higuma. This was the bandit who smashed the bottle of sake over Shanks.
"Thank god, Minatomo-san was here," the little girl's mother said. "Thank Minatomo-san for fixing the door," she said to her daughter.
The girl bowed a little and thanked him, "Thank you."
"Hmph. I don't like when someone breaks the door," he said a little angrily.
The old man's scary face made the little girl cry again. The girl hugged her mother and cried loudly.
"Minatomo-san is short-tempered as ever. He didn't even spare a little girl," someone in the bar said.
Everyone started laughing at this.
After some time Makino, Gyoru, and his wife entered with the prepared dish. Only a small portion of the Redsilver was used to make the dish, this was enough for the whole village.
The rest of the fish was nicely cut into cubes by Gyoru. After covering it with the scales it was stored in the wooden box.
Everyone got just a little more than a pinch, this was more than enough for them. Redsilver's meat was so soft that as soon as they put it on their tongue it melted immediately. But the taste was very horrible, it tasted like bitter medicine. As for the effect of making immune, nobody felt anything different. There was no way to prove if it worked or not.
After this everyone wholeheartedly thanked Leo and Bolt, then left.
Somehow even until now, not a single bandit arrived.
Now only the mayor, Makino, Leo, and Bolt were inside the bar.
"Makino-san, do you know the way to the Dadan Family mountain bandits," Leo asked.
Mayor frowned hearing this. "Why do you want to know?"
"We have something to do there," Leo answered vaguely.
"It is better to keep distance from them. They aren't some good people," Mayor warned them seriously. He was worried about them.
Leo and Bolt just shrugged at his warning.
Makino smiled at this. "Don't listen to the Mayor. Everyone in the Dadan Family is a good person. I personally know, Curly Dadan, the boss of the Dadan Family. Just mention her my name everything will be okay."
"How can the bandits be called good people?" Mayor started lecturing them. But three of them just ignored him.
"Wait for a minute." She said to them and went out.
After some time she returned with a bag and gave it to Bolt.
"What is this?" Bolt asked.
"There are some clothes and some Redsilver's meat in it. Three kids are living with the Dadan family, give the clothes to them, and the Redsilver's meat to everyone," Makino explained.
"Okay." Bolt nodded at her.
"This is better, now we have some reason to visit the Dadan Family," Leo thought inwardly.
"As for the way. You have seen the mountain behind our town, right?" Makino said.
Leo and Bolt nodded at her.
"That's the Mt. Corvo. When you reach its base you can easily spot a mountain path, that one will directly lead you to the Dadan Family. Don't wander from the path. That is the only safest route there." She warned them with a serious expression.
"Oh. That's how it is." Leo thought inwardly in realization. Now he understood how Makino and the Mayor reached to Dadan Family without getting eaten by something from the forest.
Even until now, no bandits came. Makino and the mayor were surprised and happy at this.
Bolt and Leo hid the wooden box containing Redsilver's meat somewhere in the town. Only four of them knew about it.
Leo told them, if any bandit came after they left, tell them that we have taken everything with us. The mayor and Makino agreed to this.
Around 5 PM they left for Mt. Corvo.
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