บท 16: Chapter 16
Chapter 16
After the debacle with Cavendish and his crew, Snow was still forced to stay on this island for a day or two before his log pose could reset. The situation was quite awkward with Cavendish. He seemed to have finally accepted that he was bringing danger to the people who followed him, but hatred towards Snow didn't disappear.
Snow wanted to leave as soon as possible. The heat was killing him, and he couldn't wait for a cooler island. There was nothing but bamboo trees and pandas here. At least the pandas were cute and completely unafraid of humans. So, Snow spent his time petting them while hiding under bamboo shadows from the scorching sun.
Law seemed to be fine and was just swinging his sword around, cutting bamboo. It was probably training, but Snow was too lazy to watch for more than a minute. He thought it could be a good opportunity to see if he could learn observation haki, but every time he got up, he would suddenly miss the feeling of lying under a shadow.
But he couldn't just lie down forever and do nothing. When the sun set and the air got cooler, Snow did some maintenance on their ship. He continued his work from before he went into the Grandline and strengthened the frame of the ship with liquor iron. He only used enough of it so the ship wouldn't suddenly gain too much weight and could still be balanced yet also be more sturdy.
"Neigh!"
"Yes, I agree, even nights are hot and humid," Snow patted Farul, Cavendish's horse, as he replied.
After seeing that Snow wasn't his master's enemy, Farul got on well with Snow. Where Snow came from, there weren't many animals, only dogs and cats that people adopted. But they were the first to die, sadly. And Snow learned not to get attached to them very quickly. Still, he liked animals for the most part, especially cute and silly animals like pandas.
Sadly, the ship wasn't big enough to accommodate a panda. With Cavendish and the horse, it was already getting a bit crammed inside. For a submarine, it was quite spacious, but it was still a submarine. So, some sacrifices, especially for living quarters, had to be made for the ship to be able to get under the water.
"No," Law simply said when Snow asked about changing ships for something bigger. "Even if you are the captain, I will never abandon this ship. So, if you don't like it, you can find another ship to use and leave mine alone."
That was as far as Snow went with the idea. Maybe he could find a way to make Law happy and still get a bigger ship. He also wanted a bigger crew. As with everyone he had now, Snow didn't think he could cause too much trouble to the World Government. And once they got into the New World, it would be quite hard to establish themselves with the already existing structure.
He was mostly afraid of Kaido, though. Since Snow had a Mythical Zoan devil fruit powers Kaido will probably want to get him to his crew. And he wouldn't be surprised that Big Mom might want to take him, too. Then there was Blackbeard. He might also want his devil fruit powers. So, he probably won't be able to rest even for a moment once they enter the New World; they need to prepare for it before it is too late.
"How is the log pose?" Snow asked his navigator as he entered the ship.
"Still not pointing away from this island."
"Well, at least your cousins aren't hostile."
"For the last time, I have nothing to do with them." Bepo seemed to take Snow's teasing a bit hard, and that only made Snow make fun of him even more.
"Oh, come on," Snow pointed at one of the pandas eating a bamboo. "Take away the black spots, and you have a second you. All round and fluffy."
"Argh!" Snow felt good that Bepo wasn't afraid of him anymore and could show his emotions without worry; it seemed that the crew was getting around him and readily accepting that he was part of it, too. The last thing he wanted was to divide the crew. Individually, they weren't anything special, but as a group, they worked very nicely, so if Snow somehow took their teamwork away, he might think it would be better to leave them.
But he couldn't. He needed Law. If Marco can't help him with his knowledge or his flames, he might have no choice but to find Vegapunk as his last resort. Snow was sure that, however, his body was wrecked, Law and Vegapunk, working together, would be able to save him. The idea of taking Vegapunk to join his crew and have all the secrets that Vegapunk had was nice, too.
With him, Snow could fuck the World Government quite a bit. But that was for later, much later. He first would need to survive and get to him before he could think of how to get him to join the crew. He only started this journey, and he already had too much to dream about. It was nice to be able to hope once again. To look for the future.
"I have you know that I do not belong with disgusting people like you," Snow heard Cavendish arguing.
"Kehehehe." Of course, Caribou's creepy smile was causing trouble. "Cut me as much as you want; it will do nothing to me. Kehehehe."
Snow just threw his umbrella like a spear at Caribou and splattered him all over the ship. Sometimes, he couldn't be bothered to even listen to him. It was way easier just to shut him up and get to peaceful silence. And it wasn't like Caribou would get hurt, either. So, it was a win-win scenario as far as Snow was concerned.
…
"The wind is picking up," The helmsman, Hakugan, reported from below the deck. "It is getting harder to control the ship."
Snow looked out into the distance as dark clouds gathered and neared towards them. He caught Bepo's foot as the polar bear found an opportunity to strike since they were sparring. Bepo still had a habit of yelling out before attacking, so it would never catch Snow by surprise. Snow wanted to beat that habit out of Bepo, but it didn't seem he would have time to do it right now.
"We are not going underwater," Law said as Snow and the rest of the crew looked at the dark skies. "I will not have a horse shit in my ship."
"Farul is a fabulous and well-behaved horse of the noble lineage," Cavendish defended his companion.
"Heigh!" Farul lifted his head and strode around Law proudly.
"I have clean the shit he left on the deck five times by now," With Law's powers, it only took a twist of his wrist to clean it, so Snow left it to him. "I will not let an animal stink up my ship. Either he swims, or we are going through the storm."
"How bad can it be?" Snow asked as they neared the storm. "I am sure we will pass through it in an hour or two."
Snow had to agree with Law on this. He didn't like how smelly Farul could make his surroundings, especially since his senses were enchanted due to his devil fruit powers. And he was quite curious to see what it felt like to be in a storm like this. On his home island, it would always rain, but the wind barely picked up. So, he had never seen a storm before in this world.
"You idiot!" Ikkaku, the crew's lovely seamstress, yelled at Snow. "You jinxed us."
"What are you?" Snow asked, not taking her outrage seriously. "A little girl?"
But Snow's smile quickly disappeared as he was hit by an ice pellet the size of his fist in the head, knocking him to the ground. And after that one, it became a hail of ice pellets that rained on them. It was only a matter of time before the hail would start damaging the ship if they didn't escape to safety. So, even if Law didn't like it, they were forced to get inside and get the ship underwater.
Snow scratched the bump in his head before Farul licked the wound, soaking Snow's hair and covering it with saliva. Snow couldn't even say a thing as everyone turned to glare at him as if it was his fault. Snow only dismissed them as he took a towel to clean his hair. The ship soon descended below the water and the sound of ice hitting the ship disappeared.
"Bepo, are we still going the right way?" Law was the first to break the silence.
"Yes," The polar bear replied after taking a look at the log pose.
"You are leaving with your horse on the next island, and if I even smell anything funny, I will have horse meat for dinner," Law warned Cavendish before he went to his cabin.
"Don't worry; horse meat isn't that good. I'm sure he was joking," Snow said to the now-scared horse as he also left for his cabin.
He had filled his curiosity with the first ice block hitting him. Snow had no more inclination to see a storm ever again. As bad as the sun was treating him, it had never targeted him before. So, he will keep looking for sunny days and spend the storms under the water where it can't hurt him.
…
Just as suddenly as the hail began, it ended. Still, if they believed Cavendish's word for it, it would be nothing but a normal occurrence in Grandline. Luckily, the hail didn't last long enough for Farul to need to relieve himself. Even though Snow said it was a joke, he was inclined to believe that Law would gut the horse from the way he glared at it.
"Verdantia?" Sachi said as he looked out through a scope at the island, they were approaching.
"Does it ring any bells?" Snow asked Cavendish since he was born in Grandline.
"I have been taught everything there is to teach about the known kingdoms of the world, but I have never heard or seen Verdantia," Cavendish could have said no, but Snow was already used to his speeches that would describe him to be better than anyone else. "It is probably some small island with a fisherman town. The people living in it will probably be some peasants that know nothing of the outside world."
"It doesn't look small to me," Snow replied as he could already see quite a big town. "Welcome to Evergreen Harbor."
Under the sign with the island's name, there was the name of the town. It looked quite big, with various docks, but to his surprise, he didn't pick up any Marine ships. Only merchant, luxury, and fishing boats were there. As they were about to land, Snow noticed that the people weren't afraid that a pirate ship was approaching either.
The dock workers didn't seem bothered by Snow and his crew as they walked around. They didn't even seem bothered by Caribou as he laughed creepily next to Snow. The climate was cooler than that of the previous island but not so cold that people would wear overcoats, gloves, and scarves.
"I changed my mind; I think I would like to leave at the other island," Cavendish said as they caught a few eyes looking at them. "Why are their faces so blank? I am not scared or anything, but it isn't just me, right? It isn't just me who thinks so, right?"
"I think the princeling is scared, kehehe," Caribou said, even though he didn't look any better. "Maybe he should stay in the ship. I would gladly take him back."
"Calm down, you idiots." Snow rolled his eyes and tried to hide his discomfort, too. "They are just normal people working. So, what if they are a bit pale even though they are working directly under the sun? Or that their faces are clean and smooth without any blemishes, even though they are clearly not very prosperous, as their clothes seem to have some holes and tears in them. Yeah, no, let's go back."
"We need fresh water, or have you forgotten that a certain horse drank almost a week's worth of water in a day?" Law was the only one with reason and cold nerves who didn't seem bothered by the surroundings. "Even if they are a bit weird, what can be the worst that they can do to us, the pirates? It is just a town."
Snow had to catch Law as he almost fell into a massive hole before them. Even he was disturbed that there was a hole in the middle of the street that seemed to be bottomless. Snow turned back and saw that fifty or so people who were working in the docks were now staring at them with bleak faces and hollow eyes. They weren't blinking either; they just stared, and then they started to smile all at once like they were happy to see them.
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