novelnext Chapter 116 Seeking Help
Chapter 116 Seeking Help
Bai Yu's words were like sharp knives, tearing away the self-deceiving facade of those pirates. Some blushed and wanted to refute, but opened their mouths and couldn't utter a single word. What Bai Yu said were facts they dared not admit.
They were not defeated by fate, but by their own cowardice and lack of ambition.
Many people covered their faces and sobbed in suppressed anger after hearing Bai Yu's words. Some pounded the ground and cursed themselves for being useless. Others watched Bai Yu and his group leave with a hint of confusion in their eyes for the first time. Perhaps they were really wrong.
Bai Yu withdrew his gaze, no longer looking at them, and turned to the group, saying, "Let's go, don't let these people delay our journey."
Rangiku chuckled, sheathed her Zanpakuto, and dusted off her hands: "It should have been done a long time ago. Wasting time talking to these pessimists is such a waste of time."
Robin gently took Connor's hand, a red leaf falling into her hair. She glanced back at the pirates sprawled on the ground and whispered, "Shiraha is so gentle. I thought they were going to die."
"Robin!"
"Hmm, what's wrong, Bai Yu?"
"I'm not some heartless killer."
The group continued deeper into the town. The autumn wind was still blowing, but the resentful and numb gazes that fell on them eventually turned into complex envy. They envied their steadfastness, their courage, and that even as they walked through the thorns of the Grand Line, they never lost sight of their original aspirations.
As Bai Yu and his companions wound their way along the stone path past two dilapidated taverns, the autumnal atmosphere ahead suddenly faded. The sea breeze, carrying salty, damp air, crashed against them, mingling with the rough sounds of wood being chiseled.
On the mudflats by the sea stands a crooked wooden house, the other half of its foundation sunk into the sand, revealing wooden beams eroded white by the sea wind. In the open space in front of the house are piles of rusted surveying anchors. A man with a distinctive chestnut-shaped head is squatting beside a wooden stump, using a file to polish a thick iron cable. His knuckles are covered with sand and rust. This man is Montblanc Coulicue, a descendant of Noland.
He looked up at the sound of footsteps, his gaze sweeping over Bai Yu and his group with the wariness typical of pirates. It only lessened after passing over the Zanpakuto on Unohana Retsu's wrist and finally settling on Bai Yu's calm expression. He asked in a gruff voice, "The idlers of Demon Valley Town wouldn't come to this mudflat. Did you come here specifically to find me?"
Bai Yu stopped in his tracks, and Kanna behind him curiously tugged at Bai Yu's trouser leg, staring at the chestnut-shaped hairstyle on Kulikai's head.
Bai Yu looked up at the surging sea behind the wooden house, his voice steady yet clear: "We're looking for rice because of the legend of Montblanc Noland from 400 years ago, for the Sky Island."
The moment the words "sky island" were uttered, Kulikai's file slammed onto the wooden block with a clang, and the iron chain rolled into the sand, splashing up fine sand.
He abruptly stood up, his back ramrod straight. The numbness and exhaustion in his eyes were instantly washed away by surging emotions. His hand, gripping the file, turned white at the knuckles from the force, and even trembled slightly. He stared intently at Bai Yu: "What did you say? Say it again!"
"We believe Nolando wasn't lying. The other half of Jaya Island is indeed above the sea of clouds at an altitude of 10,000 meters. We're going to the Sky Island."
Bai Yu repeated, his gaze open and honest, without a trace of insincerity.
"I know you are a descendant of Noland, and that you have been guarding this sea all these years, searching for evidence of the Golden City and the Sky Island. That's why I came to find you, hoping to use Noland's clues to reach that sky."
Kulikai stared blankly at Bai Yu, his Adam's apple bobbing a few times. Suddenly, he raised his hand and wiped his face. His hands were covered with thick calluses, and his fingertips had fine lines left from years of diving. When he wiped his eyes, he wiped away some of the moisture.
Four hundred years have passed. From Noland being branded a "big liar" and sent to the execution ground, to his father guarding this sea until his death, to himself risking his life to dive and explore, wearing out dozens of diving masks, and being ridiculed by all the pirates in Mock Town as a madman and a fool clinging to a lie, he has heard too much mockery and seen too much contempt, but he has never heard anyone say so confidently that Noland did not lie.
"Finally... finally someone believes..."
Kulikai's voice was hoarse, as if he had finally found an outlet for the pent-up frustration of four hundred years. He then suddenly looked up, his eyes burning with intense light.
"Are you really going? Or are you just messing with me?"
"Of course it's true."
Matsumoto Rangiku stepped forward slowly: "Our ship is anchored in the harbor, the Dawn, which is strong enough to withstand the storms at sea. We just need a way to reach the Sky Island."
Kulikai nodded fiercely, turned around and kicked open the door of the wooden house, pulled out a yellowed nautical chart and slammed it on the wooden table. The edges of the chart were worn, and it was densely marked with red ink the direction of the ocean currents near Jaya Island, as well as several circled ocean current nodes emitting white water vapor.
"I believe you. There is a way, only one: use the Sky Current!"
He pointed to a red circle on the nautical chart and tapped it heavily with his fingertip: "This is it, a vertically upward ultra-high pressure ocean current that can push a ship directly up to 10,000 meters in the air, through the sea of clouds to the White Sea, and then up to the White Sea of the Sky Island!"
As he spoke, he reached into a pile of metal buckets and pulled out a glass jar filled with murky seawater and a few bubbly crystals. "This current doesn't happen all the time. It's high-pressure water vapor erupting from underwater volcanic fissures. Once it's gathered enough power, it will surge into the sky. It takes anywhere from half a day to four or five days. I've been watching it for years and figured out its pattern. You're lucky. In five days, it will be the next time this surging current erupts!"
Rangiku leaned closer to examine the nautical chart, her fingertip pointing to the vertical red mark. She raised an eyebrow and said, "Was it pushed ten thousand meters by the ocean current? If the ship couldn't withstand it, wouldn't it just fall apart?"
"Therefore, it needs to be renovated!"
Kulikai patted his chest, his eyes brimming with confidence: "Besides diving and exploration, my specialty is shipbuilding and ship modification. The brothers of the Saruyama Alliance are nearby, and their ship modification skills are among the best in the first half of the Grand Line!"
As he spoke, he whistled, and immediately several ape cries came from the woods at the end of the mudflat. Several ape-men carrying axes and full of energy jumped out and bowed to Kulikai. They were members of the Ape Mountain Alliance.
As the group arrived at the dock, they saw the Dawn.
"The Dawn looks sturdy, but the keel and hull must be reinforced. The sails need to be replaced with thick canvas to protect against high-pressure airflow, and the bottom of the ship needs to be nailed with anti-collision iron plates. Otherwise, if it gets scraped by a reef in the current, it will be a big hole."
Kulikai walked up to Bai Yu, patted him on the shoulder, his excitement still lingering, but now tinged with seriousness: "I'll help you modify the ship. I have the materials, and all the brothers from Yuanshan will be on board. Within three days, I guarantee the Dawn will be modified to withstand the Sky-Piercing Current! But let me make this clear: this journey will be fraught with peril. Have you thought it through?"
Bai Yu looked towards the harbor, where the mast of the Dawn was faintly visible in the autumn mist.
Bai Yu turned around, met Kulikai's gaze, nodded slightly, and said in a resolute voice, "I've already thought it through."
"Good!" Kulikai laughed loudly, slapping the wooden table as he shouted.
"Brothers, grab your weapons! Come with me to the harbor to modify the boat. Let's show these punks what the Saruyama Alliance is all about!"