บท 9: Silverhaired Pirates

We spent the last two days training our asses off to prepare for the 340 million berry pirate. By fighting against me so many times, Lillian had awakened a basic form of armament haki. It wasn't strong enough to hurt me, and she couldn't control it on command either, but it was a huge leap in such a short span of time. I realized that she could be a serious contender for the title of strongest swordsman. Or swordswoman, in her case.

"Wait, wait, wait, no! Eden are we hunting down Alger Silverhair?"

"Yup," I answered, packing up my stuff. "We're gonna go after them."

"Isn't he like a 300 million bounty? That's way too dangerous! He's a supernova! I know you're strong, but he's... something else."

"I know it won't be easy," I replied. "But he's the closest pirate to us, and it's an opportunity we can't pass up. It'll be good training, and we'll get a ship, too."

"Yeah, I know... It's fine, I guess. But are you gonna fight their top strongest at the same time? Or are you planning on leaving the second one to me?"

"Only if you can handle it."

"Yeah, I don't think I can do that. I can handle a few million bounties at best. Are you sure you wanna do this?"

"You gotta dream big, Lillian," I replied, grabbing her arm and pulling her along. To be honest, I was quite nervous myself, but I had also taught myself a couple more tricks to use. I couldn't quite see myself losing against someone like him, especially if he had been inflating his bounty. I couldn't always fight weaklings that couldn't even hurt me.

"Yeah, I know. I just don't want you to die."

"I'm not stupid enough to attack them head-on. Don't worry about that. But there's an attack that I'd really want to try. And someone of his caliber is perfect."

She sighed. "Well, let's go then. Where's he last seen?"

"He was attacking some island not too far from here. He'll probably arrive in your village within a weak, seeing how he's moving. This means that if we don't hunt him down or if the navy doesn't send their men, then your village will probably be destroyed for good."

"Ah... Right, we don't have a choice, huh?"

"Exactly."

We headed back to the village, informing the villagers about what we were going to do. They were all skeptical at first, but I reassured them that I could do it.

"I'll go work on my haki training again," Lillian said. "If I don't master it by the time we see them, I'll be of no use."

"You're already strong, Lillian. From what I could see, you're already stronger than the 37 million-berry pirate captain. The blue-something pirates or whatever they were called."

"Are you sure?" she said, seemingly surprised by the fact that she was better than a pirate. "I just hid, though. You took care of him."

"Haki like yours usually take years to learn," I replied. "You got the basics down in a week. That's gotta be a world record or something, so believe in your strength."

She smiled. "Yeah, thanks, Eden."

***

After a few discussions with Lillian and the townsfolk, we decided to wait it out. If we were to leave the village in search of the Silverhair Pirates, there was a chance that they could attack the village while we were out. Lillian suggested that we use a transponder snail to contact the navy, but I didn't want to involve them.

"This is so annoying," I muttered under my breath as I looked around the town. "Are they really going to attack this place?"

"It's been a few days already," Lillian said. "The navy hasn't show any signs either."

"I doubt the navy cares about a village like this. We don't bring them enough money for them to care. They're just greedy like that."

She sighed. "I'll go train again, then. You can go do whatever."

"I'll join you. I can help you out with your haki."

"Alright."

We went to the fields, and we immediately began our usual routine. I dodged all of her attacks, waiting for her to use her haki. Eventually, she was able to get me with her sword, but as she couldn't coat her sword in armament yet, she still couldn't hurt me.

"You've improved a lot," I said, smiling. "You're actually incredibly fast. Your power is the only thing lacking, but that comes with time and weight training."

"Thank you," she bowed. "I'll keep getting stronger."

I nodded. "I believe in you."

Just as we were about to take a break, we heard a voice. A huge ship appeared in the distance, followed by another behind it. They were approaching the coastline, and as they came closer, I noticed the flag. It was a jolly roger with silver hair and a silver beard, just like what the newspaper showed.

"Silverhair pirates," I muttered. "They're here earlier than we anticipated."