Chapter 17 - Introduction to the Hunt

Shanks Pov:  I woke up to the sound of birds cawing at one another. It was a whole group that seemed to be arguing about something. All I could understand was that the majority were not happy with the purple looking one who seemed depressed. I ignored the birds and their bird politics as I focused ahead. I saw the archipelago  with bubbles floating which brought a smile to my face. It's been about a week since we left Ruskaina and I was already getting tired of the sea. The constant weather changes were also not helping in that department. That's one thing I dread about navigating the new world. Luckily, I'm not a hopeless case since I did learn some navigation and while Rayleigh was no navigation expert, the books he bought immensely helped me level up my navigation skills. I rummaged through my backpack to look for this world's version of binoculars. I looked through them to grove 13 and all I saw was pirate ship after pirate. I put the binoculars away before I jumped down to the deck and walked to the captain's door. I knocked three times before I said " We're here, sensei. I'll go  on ahead and dock us  in grove 14 as grove 13 seems to be at full at the moment''. All I got was a grunt of approval which wasn't surprising. Rayleigh had a bottle of wine every time I saw during the whole sailing. I just went to the wheel and directed the sip in the direction of grove 14. Rayleigh got out of his room the moment I docked us on an empty spot in grove 14. We got all the things we needed and left. We walked to shakky's bar. As we walked from grove 14 to grove 13, we passed by a lot of pirates which made sense as the seas were crawling with pirates as the age of pirates had just started. And it's probably gonna get worse from here on out . I honestly feel bad for the powerless as they will have to suffer the consequences of captain Rogers last words. But this really paints a picture of the effect fame and infamy have on not only pirates but civilians in this world. As I thought about that, I stepped to the right and a second later two bodies flew past me. I paid them no mind like Rayleigh as we walked to the bar's doors. *Ding*, the bell on the door rang ,to signal our entrance into the bar. We stepped into the bar only to be met with a large crowd that stopped what we were doing the moment we stepped in. The whole bar was so quiet you could hear the clock on the tick by the second. Rayleigh took a sip from his flask. I observed everybody with nobody standing out. They were all weak and none of them showed signs of even being aware of the basics of haki. I sighed and lifted my right foot to take a step. The moment my foot landed on the floor, two people passed out and as I walked to the counter,all the people started to pass out. By the time I sat on the bar stool, none of them were awake. I let out a disappointed sigh as Rayleigh suddenly let out a humorous laugh. " wahahahahaha. That was a good show. Although it seems like your control is slipping again. Curious , the way your conquerors haki is simply curious". I ignored his statement about my control slipping as I turned to shakky who watched all this in silent amusement . I just sighed at her amused face as I stated my order ," one bottle of West Blue brew, please".  She chuckled  before she moved to get my order after I handed her the stack of cash berries. I turned around and looked at the pirates with a disappointed frown that quickly left my face after a moment. I was hoping at least someone would put up some resistance as that would be a good sign of potential to learn haki. Seems like not everybody is that talented though,or maybe I'm just built differently. Not like it matters in the long run . I'll get some other chances to find strong people who can join my crew,I can just feel it. I turned around as shakky put the bottle in front of me and I wasted no time in taking some sips like a starved man who found a five star meal after a long time. Rayleigh logged all the wine that was left after months of us sipping on crates of them while eating sea king meat. I put down the bottle of wine as it was now empty. I took a moment to enjoy the taste before I heard shakky ask, " So how was the training? Did he win the bet Ray?". Rayleigh took a sip from his flask once more before he said, " Winning would be an understatement. The brat completely destroyed the bet. To put it simply,his talent is unlike anything or anyone I've ever seen. Even Roger wasn't as talented as him. Now that I think about it, nobody in our generation ,even Rocks and that Kaido brat had as much talent as him".  Silence ensued for a minute after Rayleigh's bold remark that took some time to settle in Shakky's mind who looked shaken up evidenced by her wide-eyed stare and her shaking hands. I ignored her shock as I said, " Can you get me another bottle of this wine. In fact, bring out all the stash you have. I'll buy it for you since I'm setting sail today." She looked at me blankly before she just sighed and disappeared into the back. I looked at Rayleigh who was calmly sipping wine from his flask as I asked ,"  Now why did you go and tell her that? Now she'll have expectations for me and you know I hate having expectations weighing above me". And I wasn't lying. Having heavy expectations was not something I had a good history with as I hated people having expectations and standards for me in their mind. At first it was manageable  when I was teen and important people acted and said they had expectations for me. It was slightly stressful but it wasn't something I couldn't handle. But later on as I grew up and matured , I started to hate it. Anyway, I focused my attention back on Rayleigh who waved his hand carelessly and said, " Don't sweat ,disciple of mine. Besides,this is a payback for learning haki too quickly. I had to swim back here from the calm belt the day you learnt and mastered the advanced forms of armament haki. I knew I should have listened to my instincts when you proposed that bet. Coating your ship was mental torture." A sweatdrop formed on my head  as my mouth twitched. I knew the man was petty but this was next level pettiness.