"The weather is clear! Perfect day to set sail."
Bardock slung his bag over his shoulder and strolled toward Grove 13.
'I wonder if I'll run into Rayleigh today? At this point in time, the Dark King should still be at the tail end of his prime. Wait, Roger had Ace just a year before his death... how come Rayleigh never had any kids?'
When Bardock arrived at Shakky's Rip-off Bar, Shakky and the three sisters were already waiting outside. Rayleigh was still nowhere to be seen. It seemed Bardock and the legendary first mate were fated to miss each other this time around.
"Hey, Bardock! What took you so long? Do you have any sense of urgency?!" Hancock snapped, tapping her foot impatiently.
She hadn't been able to sleep at all last night. Her mind had been racing with terrifying "what-ifs." What if they went all the way to Green Bit and the Tontatta Princess hadn't eaten the Devil Fruit yet? Would they have to wait years for her to find it? Hancock refused to bear the mark of the Celestial Dragons on her flesh for a single second longer than necessary.
Her restless tossing and turning had kept her sisters awake as well; Sandersonia and Marigold were sporting prominent dark circles under their eyes. Shakky, on the other hand, had weathered decades of storms on the Grand Line and looked completely refreshed and full of energy.
"Morning, Bardock," Shakky greeted with a smile. "Want to come in for some breakfast?"
"Ah, sorry, sorry! I slept in a bit," Bardock chuckled sheepishly. "I already ate. Are we heading out right now?"
"Yes. Right now," Hancock demanded.
"Alright then. The Monkey King is ready for launch!"
Bardock climbed aboard his small sloop, secured his luggage, and summoned the Flying Nimbus to gently cradle the hull. He waited quietly while Hancock said her goodbyes.
"Sister, please be careful," Sandersonia said softly. "There has to be more than one way to remove the mark. Just do your best."
"Yeah! Take good care of yourself, big sister!" Marigold sniffled.
"Hancock, if you run into any serious trouble, just come back," Shakky advised, her tone serious. "Old Man Ray might be retired, but he still has plenty of teeth left."
"I understand. Shakky... please take good care of Sandersonia and Marigold while I'm gone. Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
The Monkey King ascended smoothly on its bed of golden clouds, quickly shrinking into a speck in the sky before disappearing from sight.
"What an incredibly convenient ability," Shakky mused, watching them go. She turned to the two younger Gorgon sisters. "Alright, you two. Time for bed. I promised your sister I'd fatten you both up. When she gets back, you're not going to look this frail and exhausted."
"Shakky, we want to get stronger!" Sandersonia protested, clenching her fists.
"If you want to be strong, you need a healthy foundation first. Your bodies are completely drained. You need to repair the damage before you can build on it."
"Then why did big sister recover so fast?" Marigold asked, tilting her head. "She suffered just as much as we did."
Shakky smiled softly. "Because on these seas, some people are simply born with the disposition of the strong. They recover faster, they grow faster, and they refuse to be broken. Hancock is one of those people. But don't sell yourselves short—you two are exceptionally talented as well. If you put in the grueling work, you'll absolutely carve out your own names in this world."
Up in the sky, Bardock piloted the boat in silence while Hancock sat on the opposite end, staring out at the endless expanse of clouds and ocean. The silence stretched on, the atmosphere growing increasingly awkward.
In truth, they had only met yesterday; they were practically strangers. The Hancock in Bardock's memories was the Pirate Empress—arrogant, sharp-tongued, and completely unapproachable. The Hancock sitting in front of him, however, was just a fiercely determined teenage girl who had just barely escaped three years of living hell.
In Hancock's eyes, even though Bardock had accidentally knocked her out with his Haki, he had genuinely saved her and her sisters and brought them to Shakky. She considered him a good, albeit eccentric, person. The only reason she had agreed to travel alone with him was because she was utterly desperate to erase the nightmare of the past three years, and Shakky had vouched for his character.
"We're approaching the Red Line," Bardock announced. "I'm going to start ascending."
At the mention of the Red Line, Hancock involuntarily began to tremble. But she forced herself to keep her eyes open, glaring defiantly at the towering red continent as the Monkey King flew higher and higher until they finally crested the peak.
Bardock deliberately crossed the Red Line far away from Mary Geoise. The Holy Land was still recovering from Fisher Tiger's fiery rampage a few days ago, and Bardock didn't want to risk flying too close and getting detected by the top-tier fighters currently stationed there on high alert.
Squinting through his golden eyes, Bardock could see the distant silhouette of Mary Geoise. Countless plumes of smoke and construction dust were rising from the city. Tiger had really done a number on them.
Once they cleared the continent, Bardock pulled out the Eternal Pose pointing to Dressrosa and immediately initiated a steep dive, leveling the boat out at about a thousand meters above the New World's ocean. Flying at an altitude of ten thousand meters over the Red Line had left him gasping for thin air.
"Hey, Hancock, just sitting here is kind of boring," Bardock said, trying to break the ice. "Want to practice our Conqueror's Haki? If we clash our Haki together, it might help both of us get a better grip on controlling it."
"Won't that drain your focus?" Hancock asked, glancing at him. "You're already burning stamina keeping the boat in the air."
"Don't worry about it! Once my stamina or focus drops to half, I'll just park the boat on the ocean for a bit. My Devil Fruit gives me insane recovery speed. A quick rest and some food, and I'll be back at one hundred percent in no time!"
"Alright, if you say so. Give me a second to focus..." Hancock closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Her eyes snapped open. "Hmph!"
An invisible, suffocating wave of pressure exploded outward from Hancock. Bardock grinned and immediately countered, unleashing his own Conqueror's Haki to meet hers head-on.
Since they were both complete novices, they had no idea how to aim or concentrate their Haki. They could only blast it outward in all directions like a massive shockwave. Fortunately, because they were beginners, the raw intensity wasn't strong enough to physically damage the boat or their surroundings.
It felt like two invisible balloons were being violently smashed together. The air between them warped and vibrated with the pressure. If they had possessed Yonko-level Conqueror's Haki, the sky above them would have instantly split down the middle.
Bardock had awakened his Conqueror's Haki a month ago and had practiced it sporadically, but he had never felt its mechanics as clearly as he did right now. Forced to push against Hancock's pressure, his willpower naturally began to adapt. Slowly, his chaotic, omnidirectional blast began to compress and focus, funneling directly toward the girl sitting across from him. He was actually starting to control it!
'I knew it!' he cheered internally. 'Conqueror's Haki can only truly grow stronger through direct conflict!'
Hancock, however, was starting to struggle. She had only awakened her Haki a few days prior; the fact that she could trigger it on command at all was a testament to her monstrous talent.
Noticing her strain, Bardock dialed back his output, matching her exact intensity. The two sat in silence, continuously clashing their wills as the boat soared through the sky, until Hancock finally signaled for a break.
"Let's eat something," Bardock suggested, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. "I'll lower the boat to the water."
"Good idea. I am feeling a bit hungry."
Meanwhile, cutting through the azure waters of the New World below, a medium-sized pirate ship was on the prowl. It was a standard galleon, capable of holding a crew of around a hundred men. The black sails bearing a grinning Jolly Roger marked it as just another run-of-the-mill pirate crew trying to make a name for themselves in the second half of the Grand Line.
"Captain!" the lookout shouted from the crow's nest. "Ship spotted dead ahead! But... it's strange. It's just a tiny sloop!"
"What?" the captain muttered, pulling out his spyglass. He peered through the lens and burst out laughing. "You're right! It's just a little boat with a teenage boy and a young girl on board! Gyahaha! Looks like a couple of runaway kids playing pirate! Pull alongside them!"
Back on the Monkey King, Bardock was aggressively inhaling a plate of food when he noticed Hancock staring intently at the horizon. He followed her gaze and spotted the approaching galleon.
Without a word, Bardock dropped his fork, ducked into the cabin, and pulled out his newest toy: a top-of-the-line, precision-crafted flintlock rifle. It was the prized weapon of a pirate sniper he had recently cashed in for twelve million Berries. Bardock absolutely loved the gun and had bought a massive stockpile of custom ammunition for it, but he hadn't found a chance to test it out yet.
Bardock knew his raw combat strength was completely average by New World standards, but he wasn't stupid. If he was going to sail these seas, he had multiple backup plans prepared.
His current strategy was "kiting." Using his god-tier dynamic vision to snipe enemies from afar, combined with the Flying Nimbus keeping the boat at the absolute perfect distance—fast enough so the enemy couldn't catch them, but slow enough so they couldn't escape. It was an incredibly obnoxious, hit-and-run tactic.
Of course, if the enemy proved strong enough to block or dodge his bullets effortlessly, Bardock would simply fly away.
"Hold your fire for a second," Bardock told Hancock, racking the bolt of his rifle. "Let me test the waters."
He raised the rifle, peering down the iron sights. Bang!
He fired a shot directly at the enemy captain. Less than a second later, he adjusted his aim and fired again. Bang!
He lowered the gun and watched through his Fiery Golden Eyes. The enemy captain clearly had some skill, but not much. The pirate had managed to narrowly dodge the first bullet, but the second shot tore right through his shoulder. Bardock had actually aimed the second shot at the man's chest, but a hit was a hit. If a single bullet was enough to injure the captain, Bardock was fully confident they could wipe this crew out.
"They're weak," Bardock grinned, resting the rifle on the gunwale. "Let's kite them to death."