"Well, it's about time we get going, old man," I said with a smile as I stood in front of Crocus, my back facing the black Pearl as my companions began preparing for departure.
"I'll get to the Florian Triangle as soon as possible to free Humming Brook and send him your way as soon as possible," I added in a confident tone. "So rest assured and wait for your friend here," I concluded in an assuring voice, waving my hand to the side.
"I'll do that," Crocus said with a smile. "But before you go..." he added, passing me a yellow stack of three papers, causing me to grin as I took it from his hand.
"Doc, Law, come here," I said as I turned to look at the two doctors, gesturing for them to come close. "You guys finally got a bounty!" I added after noticing their curious expressions as they approached me.
"Death Surgeon, Law. Wanted dead or alive. Bounty: 32,000,000 Berry," I remarked while pointing at Law, who merely shrugged his shoulders and returned to the ship without even bothering to take a look at his wanted posture.
Law's wanted posture had a picture of him peacefully sleeping as he leaned on a tree somewhere, hugging his sword between his left arm and left shoulder, with Bepo sitting, not far away.
"What's with that reaction?" Lucky Roux said from the side while watching Law shrug off his bounty as if it was nothing. "I remember getting my first bounty..." he added with a happy smile.
"I kept partying for two days in celebration!" Lucky Roux added, a sentimental expression on his face, which only looked weird as he kept biting on a piece of meat in his hand.
"That's just the way he is," I replied with a smile, shaking my head. "Anyway, moving on," I added as I moved on to the next wanted posture, turning to look at Doc.
"Death God, Doc Q. Wanted dead or alive. Bounty: 45,000,000 Berry," I remarked while pointing towards Doc, who smiled, making his way towards me to get a better look at his wanted posture.
Doc's wanted posture had a picture of him from when he was still sick. He was riding on Stronger's back while leaning on the horse's back with a tired expression as he patted its mane.
"Too bad the picture is old," Doc said with a smile. "I think I look way more handsome now that I'm cured," he added as he took the posture, giving it a closer look.
Doc wasn't lying; he indeed looked much better now that his sickness was almost gone. His pale, sickly complexion had already disapeared, replaced by a healthy tanned one. His wilting, ashy blonde hair regained some color as well.
That, coupled with the fact he got rid of the long thick coat, replacing it with decent clothes made him look much better than the moving corpse he used to look like before.
"I can't argue with that," I replied with a shrug of my shoulders. "I'm sure they'll get a better picture of you next time, so make sure to wreak as much havoc as you can the next time we get the chance to go wild," I added with a laugh.
"Will do, captain," Doc said with a grin as he turned around and returned to the ship, and I nodded, turning around as I felt someone tugging on my clothes.
And finally, my won bounty, was still the same, the only difference being the increase from 99 million to 125 million.
"What... what about me, captain?" Bepo asked as he let go of my clothes when I turned around to face him. "Did I get a bounty? I mean," he asked again with a hopeful expression.
"No such luck, I'm afraid," I said as I patted Bepo's head. "Maybe next time, eh?" I added while waving my hand to the side.
"I'm sorry I didn't get a bounty!" Bepo immediately apologized, his face turning downcast as he bowed his head.
"There's no need to apologize. I'm sure you'll get one next time," I said with a sigh, scratching my head.
"I'm sorry for apologizing so much!" Bepo apologized again, his face turning even more downcast as he bowed his head even lower.
"You know what? Just forget about it," I said with twitching eyes as I turned to face Crocus. "Anyway, we've wasted enough time," I said with a sigh.
"I'll be seeing you later, old man," I concluded, getting a smiling nod from Crocus as I made my way to the ship and watched as Lucky Roux and several of my crewmates said their goodbyes to Crocus as well.
Once everyone was ready to go, we quickly set sail and departed just in time to see Laboon emerge from beneath the water one last time, sadly wailing (Get it? Cause he's a whale) one last time as he glared at the red line.
...
"I must say, this is quite the ship you have, Johnny," Lucky Roux said with a smile as he stood next to me on the black Pearl's bow.
"Isn't she?" I remarked with a fond smile, my hand on the railing. "We were lucky to meet old Jim, the shipwright who built her, when we did," I added, not bothering to hide how much pride I had in my ship.
It had been several weeks since we departed the twin capes, and I would say we were only a week away from Alabsta, give or take a couple of days.
Lucky Roux proved that his gigantic gut wasn't for show, as he quickly ate through most of our food supply, but luckily he was considerate enough to help us restock by hunting giant sea monsters every day.
At any rate, the trip had been exciting, to say the least, so far. The grand line had finally begun showing its true colors with its iconic crazy weather.
Typhoons, with scorching winds, heat waves one hour, and a snowstorm the next, literal holes in the sea, were some of the crazy phenomena we came across during this trip.
But at least it took away from the dullness of the trip, so I wasn't complaining, and neither was Laffite, who steered us through these natural catastrophes with a maniacal grin splitting his face.
He seemed to enjoy the challenge, and not only that, he was learning from the experience as well, and it showed. Laffite's performance was truly excellent as he steered us through this crazy weather despite encountering them for the first time.
And his performance would only get better whenever we run into similar bullshit grand line storms, making his progress visible even to me, who only knew the basics of navigation, but I digress.
I haven't been idle either as I focused solely on training my Observation Haki through the manual Chinjao gave me, along with the darkroom I had built inside the Black Pearl.
I reckon I had already reached as far as training could get me, and I only needed one push to awaken my Observation Haki, so there was nothing more for me to do.