We had been driving in the direction the Log Port took us for a week and we were constantly surprised by storms.
Jack had trouble keeping the ship on our course and we sailed often in the wrong path. We actually escaped from a very strong current and we saw a small boat drifting toward us on the starboard side.
Jack: There's a nutshell heading our way, Captain!
Dia: Let's see if anyone is in it!
Jack: Aye, Captain!
Jack sailed the ship to the small boat and it hit our ship and Lenny jumped down to see if anyone was on it because the boat was covered with a tarp and we couldn't see any passengers.
Lenny lifted the tarp and a 40-year-old woman in a black coat lay unconscious on the ground.
Lenny: What should I do with her, Captain?
Dia: Bring her on board, when she wakes up we will listen to her story.
Lenny: Aye, captain!
Lenny brought the older woman on board and she was then examined by Cornelius.
Cornelius: I think she's been adrift at sea for quite a while, she's severely malnourished and has an infected wound on her leg from a sword. I recommend that she first rest here for 2-3 days when she wakes up and she definitely needs to eat something.
Dia: Got it, I'll stay here and wait until she wakes up again.
Cornelius left the room and I took a closer look at the woman. She had long black curly hair and her nose looked like the nose of a witch. She wore a black dress and wore gold rings around her wrists. Her build was very feminine, a narrow waist and her breasts were about size D. I saw in her hand a piece of paper which she was holding tightly in her hands and as I was about to take it, she suddenly opened her green eyes.
Woman: Keep your hands away from the paper! Who are you anyway and where am I here?
Dia: My name is Dia and we found you unconscious on a boat. You are here on our pirate ship and I am the captain of the crew.
Woman: You are pirates?...?
My name is Madam Biburu and thank you for saving me. Excuse me, can I see your fingernails for a second?
Dia: Why do you want to see my fingernails?
Biburo: That's a tick of mine, your fingernails are really beautiful, but they're a little too long, do you mind if I shorten them for you?
Dia: Don't force yourself.
The woman grabbed my hand and her fingers turned into a nail dart which she then used to grind my fingernails and the dust from my fingernails which she caught with her other hand began to glitter.
Biburo: You should keep this nail dust, if you heat it up, you can make a paper out of it and this paper will then be connected to you and your life. I call it Vivre Card, accept it as a small thank you for saving me. The paper in my hand belongs to my son, sorry if I was a little unkind to you earlier, but this paper is all I have left of him and is the only way to save him.
The woman started crying and pressed herself against my body.
Dia: What happened to your son?
Biburo: It's been 10 years since I last saw him. At that time we both had just arrived in the Water Lily Kingdom and were actually just passing through, but everything changed that day.
You must know in the Water Lily Kingdom there is an old custom that is if the old king dies and his devil fruit is eaten by someone else, then that person is chosen as the new king of the land and my son saw the devil fruit lying in my shopping basket and without to think about it, he ate it, because he had never seen a fruit like that before and that's where our nightmare began. When the people of the land saw his transformation, my son was taken away from me and I was banished from the kingdom for trying to free him.
They put me in a boat and let me drift out to the sea and after three weeks I stranded in another island and over the last ten years, I tried to collect enough money with my Vivre Cards in the second half of the Grand Line to hire some mercenaries, who should free my son out of this kingdom.
But the mercenaries betrayed me and they tried to kill me, I barely managed to escape on a boat and now I'm broke again and without any support. I miss my son so much and he certainly misses me too. I'm such a bad mother, this is all my fault.
Madam Biburo cried her eyes out and then Oliver and Coni came running into the room.
Oliver: Don't worry, we'll save your son and take you to another island together with him, right Captain?
Dia: Were you two secretly listening to us?
Coni: We were curious and Oliver persuaded me, so let us help Madam Biburo, please?
Coni and Oliver put on their puppy eyes and looked at me.
Dia: We have to ask the others first, I can't decide this on my own, after all we will then become the enemies of an entire kingdom. And we wouldn't do it for free either, I want the exclusive sales rights to your Vivre Cards and I get 50% of all revenue.
Biburo: Would you really help me? Thank you, thank you, the children's fingernails are far too long, but that can wait until later.
Dia: You shouldn't thank me yet, we have to convince the others to help you first.
I first gave Madam Biburo something to eat and after it I told my Crew about Madam Biburo's story, I let them vote for whether we will help Madam Biburo or not and everyone voted to help her.
Biburo: Thank you for wanting to help me, can I please see your log port? I want to see if it faces the same direction as my son's Vivre Card.
Jack took out the log port and gave it to Madam Biburo. She then placed her son's Vivre Card on her hand and it moved in the same direction in that our log port was pointing to.
Biburo: He points to the Water Lily Kingdom, then we only have one problem.
Oliver: And what is this problem?
Biburo: The Water Lily Kingdom is an island full of bounty hunters and you are pirates.
Dia: I don't think that makes a big difference for us.
Biburo: No, there are very notorious bounty hunters on the island who have already defeated pirates with bounties over 50,000,000 bellies.
Wallace: And how are we supposed to get past them without being noticed?
Biburo: There is a port where a smuggler named Hoper can smuggle us into the country for a fee of 10,000 bellies. I am in contact with him for months now, but due to the betrayal of the mercenaries I no longer have the opportunity to contact him. We agreed to meet in three days on the sea south of the island.
But I have no idea how long it will take us to get to the island and I don't have any money left to pay Hoper.
Dia: Don't worry about the money, it's not a problem for me. Jack, set our sails as fast as you can towards the Water Lily Kingdom.
Jack: Aye, aye!
We had problems with the weather over the next 2 days and luckily we finally arrived in front of the island on the morning of the third day and waited on the southern edge of the island, which looked like a gigantic water lily from the distance, for the smuggler who was supposed to pick us up here.
Wallace: Captain! There's a boat coming towards us!
The boat rowed up to our ship and a man about 1.70 m tall greeted us, he wore lily pads as clothing and had short white dreadlocks, he wore a hat made of seaweed and had a water bubble pipe in his mouth from which soap bubbles sometimes shot out.
Hoper: Are you the troop I'm supposed to smuggle into the country?
Biburo: That's us, it's nice to meet you, I'm Madam Biburo, we've already spoken to each other.
Hoper: Missy, we have to be quick. I'm only doing you this favor because my father was the old king and I can understand your suffering. Give me 10,000 per person and then go into the barrels on my boat.
Lenny: I'm afraid I won't fit in one of the barrels, so I'll guard the ship with Jack, Oliver and Coni.
Dia: No, Oliver is coming with us, he can be helpful with his devil power and gain some experience with it.
Oliver: Yay, I can come with you!
Coni: But you have to promise me that you will come back to me unharmed and you have to bring me a souvenir.
Oliver: Promise and now let's go!
I gave Hoper the money and we climbed into the empty barrels on his boat. Hoper then drove to the edge of the island and used a long paddle to steer the boat into a hidden swamp path. We had now arrived in a mangrove swamp that was growing on the island's lily pad and after half an hour Hoper stopped the boat briefly.
Hoper: Fiskus, what are you old watchdog doing here alone at this hour?
Fiskus: I just wanted to look at your cargo, was the frog catch successful today?
Hoper: It's difficult at the moment, the frogs don't bite on my dragonfly baits. This is definitely because of this fine pee Rosedon, he does something with the water here that kills the most animals.
Fiskus: I know, but we can't prove anything against him and he's the richest man in the country. My boss would fire me straight away if he even found out that I was talking to you about something like this.
I'll let you pass today without checking your boat, you've always been sincere and you're a nice guy, so just move on before I change my mind or my boss shows up here and you will owe me a favor for this. On Sunday I'll come by your place with Crysia, my daughter has always wanted to go on a boat trip.
Hoper: How old is she now?
Fiskus: She turned five this year and she is so cute! We'll see you on Sunday and polish your boat beforehand, so she'll remember the trip for a long time.
Hoper: It'll be done. Fiskus, I'll also give you a discount because we've known each other for so long.
He said goodbye and after 10 minutes we arrived at a small hut on the edge of the swamp.
Hoper: We're at our destination! Quickly come out of the barrels and go into my hut, there are some clothes there for you to wear. If you all wear your current clothes you will attract too much attention, I'll tie the boat up and come in after it, too.
We went into the hut and changed our clothes and were now wearing clothes similar to Hoper's, consisting of lily pads tied into coats and a pair of lily pad shoes. Hoper entered the hut and waited until we had all changed our clothes.
Hoper: I can't help you from here on out, take this with you.
Hoper handed me a can of cream.
Dia: What is the cream for?
Hoper: I forgot that you're not from here. You have to rub the cream onto your lily pad shoes so that they don't stick to the glue of the big water lily. The water lily ground of the island has a strong glue-like substance on It's surface that you can't remove even with all your strength, so I don't recommend you to go on the water lily without the cream on your shoes. A few pirates have already lost their lives because they didn't know about this.
Dia: Thanks for the info, we will try to avoid something like that.
Bibul: Follow me, I know the way to the city and Hoper, thank you for your help.
Hoper: If I can help your son with this, then I'm happy to do that. I couldn't help my father back then and with the city destroying my father's life and driving him into suicide, I didn't have much left that will bound me with the city and I can't stand this lily drugged people in the city either.