After we landed on the sea again, we docked the ship near one of the two light houses.
"Twine cap…"
'This should be the place where Crocus lives.
Once we disembarked and left, we heard two loud crash sounds consecutively.
"*BOOOM*…*BOOOM*" they were two ships who just landed on the sea.
"Looks like everyone has made it" The two ships also approached the light house slowly.
"What now?" Calvin asked. I brought out my log pose and threw it to Ken.
"What's this?" he asked with a curious face.
"It's a log pose, you will need it"
"A log pose?"
"It's a specially designed compass that can record levels of magnetism." I said to him then added "normal compasses don't work in the grand line. This is the only way to navigate this sea."
"I didn't think it was such an important item…" Diana commented while checking the log pose. I ignored her and continued my explanation.
"We will need to stay here for a while until the log pose records the magnetic field of the next island."
"Which island?" he asked.
"There are seven, it's up to us to choose which one…"
"You came prepared with a lot of knowledge young man." A deep voice that sounded like an old man came from behind. When I looked behind, I saw a stocky muscular man who had an appearance based of a flower.
"What rare sight, it's not every day that three pirate ships enter the grand line at the same time" he said while observing everyone then proceeded to introduce himself "I'm Crocus, the overseer of the Twin Cape lighthouse"
"I'm Ashen the captain and this is my crew mates." I introduced myself and the crew, then after that, the other two ships docked, and two familiar faces appeared.
It was Seth and Aela and their crew behind them.
'Looks like we'll be seeing each other for a while longer'
"What a troublesome bunch is gathered here" Crocus then proceeded to explain to the other ones how log pose works and how to navigate the grand line.
"…"
"Now once you chose one of the seven routes you will be bind to it until you reach the end of paradise where Saboady Archipelago exist, unless you have an eternal pose which always point to a specific island." he explained.
"So that means we can't go back to the previous island." Ken stated.
"You are right you can only record the magnetic fields of the next island"
"Do you have a map?" I asked Crocus. After that he went inside the light house for a moment then came back with a map in his hand.
He placed the map on a table, and everyone gathered around it.
'We have two choices, we could either go the straw hats route or a completely new one.' But when I thought about it, it didn't really matter as we are twenty years before the original story so the only advantage, I have is knowing the name of the locations and their environments.
'Besides, the beauty of one piece is going on an adventure to the unknown' I looked at the map with a smile 'Where is the fun if I already know what awaits me?'
I looked at the map carefully before choosing.
"We'll take the far-left route!" I declared.
"I'll take the middle one!" Seth declared.
"What about you?" Crocus asked Aela.
"There are two routes that intersect with another route eventually, so that leaves me with the third one from the right" she said pointing on the map and her crew members nodded in agreement.
"It's settled then, you have to wait for a few days until your log pose records the location of the next island" Crocus said to us.
After that everyone went to attend their business.
"Captain!" Ken called me.
"Ken, what's up?"
"I wanted to talk to you about something…" He looked hesitant but he quickly made up his mind and started speaking.
"It's about me and crew, you said I will sail with you until you enter the grand line and find a new navigator…" he said.
"So?"
"I wonder if it's time for me to leave?"
"What do you want to do?" I asked him while looking straight into his eyes.
"Huh? what do you mean?"
"Do you want to stay? Because I already decided to keep you with us" I said to him with a smile, he looked surprised.
"But you said-"
"I changed my mind, it's not every that you find someone you could trust and I also like you so there is no need for me to find someone else" I said to him 'I also don't want a psychopath on my ship, as much as much as Laffitte is good but I don't think we'll get along'
"Besides we are already in the grand line there is no way back your stuck with us" I walked Infront of him.
"I would like to welcome again. You're now officially a member of Ashen Pirates" I reached for a handshake.
Ken replied with a smile then shook my hand excitedly.
"It's always fun having you around old man!" Calvin appeared out of nowhere and congratulated him.
"Thank you!" he thanked us sincerely then he went back to the ship with a log pose and a map.
"You made the right choice" Calvin stated.
"Yeah… want to go a few rounds?" It became a habit to spare with each other, although I don't use my devil fruit power, but Calvin is still a formidable opponent and a good sparring partner.
"Sure!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
A week later,
Nothing much happened in these past days, I spent most of my time sparring with Calvin, training, and trying to come up with new techniques for my devil fruit power.
I managed to come up with a few moves, the first thing I managed to do is fly using my fire power by turning my lower body into thermals just like smoker, but it was useless since the second thing that I managed to do is combine Geppo and Soru which allowed me to fly at a superhuman speed.
It was much faster, more efficient and had less stamina consumption than using DF power to fly.
We also got to meet Laboon and know about her story. She was a humongous a whale that looked intimidating at first, but she was a friendly creature with sad backstory.
Today was the day we finally set sail on the grand line. Our destination is one of the first seven islands in paradise Kita Island.
"Crocus thank you for everything, we will be leave now" I thanked him.
"Don't mention it!" he casually replied.
"Let's go guys!" I ordered everyone.
"Roger that!"
"Aye aye, captain!"
We immediately boarded the ship and lowered the sails. we were the last ones to leave after Seth and Aela who left earlier this day.
Ken held the log pos in one hand and steered the ship with the other one, we were sailing in the direction where the needle pointed.
"KEN STAY ALET! THE WEATHER HERE IS UNPREDICTABLE" I warned him so he would be more careful.
After sailing for a while, the weather suddenly changed from sunny to tempestuous with a huge storm heading our way.
"SHIT! How did the weather change so drastically in less than a minute" Diana said in shock.
"Brace Yourselves!" Ken started turning the wheel and rotating the ship away from the storm.
"*SPLASH*-*SPLASH*" The ship was fighting the strong rogue waves that are unusually large and unpredictable.
After a few minutes of struggle and thanks to Ken skills we were able to survive and escape the storm.
"This is way dangerous than I anticipated" I stated.
"The bigger the risk the greater the reward" Calvin said while lighting a cigarette.
"You're right, it's already decided since the first day we started in this path"