"Hahaha, let's have a banquet!"
"La la la ♬ ♬ ♬"
"Come on, have a drink, don't be stingy, Hahaha"
"Whoever passes out first today has to scrub the toilets tomorrow!"
"Waaaaah!!!"
In the dead of night, a small Pirate Crew anchored their ship on the open sea, cheering loudly! The noise they made was loud enough to drown out the sound of the waves as they held a brightly lit, traditional sea banquet.
"Whoosh!" A figure shot up from the sea, stepping on the air, and landed on the deck. Before they could even react, an overbearing aura swept across the entire ship from her body. The pirates hadn't even gotten a clear look at the intruder before they all rolled their eyes and passed out.
This figure was naturally Raiden Ei. Ever since leaving Toryu Island, she had been traveling submerged in the sea to avoid attracting the attention of CP. She only emerged to get some fresh air when she encountered this small Pirate Crew.
Raiden Ei smoothed down her seawater-soaked clothes and hair and walked toward the ship's cabin. She needed a bath; wearing these wet clothes was too uncomfortable.
"Phew, I'll take a bath first! I need to hurry to Loguetown and find a log pose or a permanent log pose. The World Government and the Marines must have issued a bounty on me by now. I can't travel openly anymore; I must conceal my appearance to prevent them from finding me again. I don't have Elemental Power to rely on now, so I must be careful about everything."
Half an hour later, after bathing and changing into a fresh set of clothes, Raiden Ei sat down in front of the dining table the pirates had prepared for their banquet. Well... it wasn't exactly a dining table, just the table where they had laid out their cooked meat. There was plenty of meat piled high, along with a fair amount of alcohol, but she only ate the meat, having no intention of tasting the liquor. While her body wouldn't starve if she didn't eat, without Elemental Power sustaining her, her condition would worsen. In no time, she had eaten all the meat intended for the banquet by the dozen pirates, and she still felt somewhat unsatisfied.
She stretched her limbs and, while the pirates were still unconscious, took out the dessert she had packed earlier and began eating. She needed to replenish her energy.
She slowly reviewed the events following her encounter with Sengoku. She had truly been too careless. Knowing that killing a Celestial Dragon would attract an Admiral, she had still been wandering around openly, leading to CP finding her. She hadn't even noticed she was being watched before Sengoku showed up, forcing her to use all her strength to escape.
"But Sengoku must be heavily injured; he shouldn't come looking for trouble anytime soon. The World Government and the Marines will definitely send more people to hunt me down, and they won't be easy characters to deal with. Sigh! I've gotten into big trouble, but at least there was a gain: Conquerors Haki Infusion! I didn't expect Sengoku to have that, too. I must master this skill as soon as possible. That way, I'll have the confidence to defeat a Vice Admiral without using Elemental Power."
Raiden Ei was still a little happy. She had already memorized the feeling Sengoku exhibited when using Conquerors Haki Infusion. She believed she could learn her own version of Conquerors Haki Infusion from it. This would be a trump card for her in dealing with the World Government and the Marines going forward.
As time passed, the pirates on the ship slowly woke up. They looked around in confusion, not knowing what had happened, wondering why they had all passed out on the deck.
"Sigh, why did I fall asleep here?"
"Weren't we just having a banquet?"
"Where's the meat! Who stole and ate all the meat?"
At this moment, Raiden Ei sat at the bow of the ship on the deck, draped in a black cloak that enveloped her entire body. Only half of her beautiful face was visible beneath the hood. If viewed from the outside, one could only see the lower half of her face; the rest was shrouded in shadow.
However, even seeing just the lower half of her face was enough to tell she was a great beauty: fair and smooth skin, a pointed chin, tightly pursed lips, and an exquisite nose—all hallmarks of a great beauty.
The pirates, who were looking around and shouting, also noticed Raiden Ei, this anomaly. They all picked up their weapons and surrounded her. They didn't believe a stranger suddenly appearing on their ship without reason would mean them any good.
"Hey! Bastard, who are you? How did you get on our ship? Were you the one who made us faint just now?"
As one person shouted, others echoed, and the surroundings instantly became noisy.
"Spit it out honestly! Did you also eat the meat on our table?"
Raiden Ei summoned demon blade zanmian in her hand. With a "clanging" sound, the blade, radiating a cold, sharp light, was drawn, complemented by the scabbard's crimson cloud pattern. Instantly, the surrounding noise fell silent.
It wasn't that the pirates didn't want to continue speaking; it was that this person seemed quite ruthless. That sword was clearly a demon blade that had slain hundreds and slaughtered thousands. Just looking at it made their legs feel weak. They immediately huddled together like quails, realizing they had run into a great pirate!
"Quiet now, very good. I ask you, how far is it from here to Loguetown?"
That's right! Raiden Ei had no sense of direction while in the sea; she didn't even know where she was. A pirate who seemed to be the leader trembled as he stepped forward.
"Esteemed one, I am this ship's Navigator. It's not far to Loguetown, only a day's journey."
"One day? If we depart for Loguetown now, when can we arrive?"
"Uh... Esteemed one, sailing at night is too dangerous. It will attract the attention of many sea beasts that are hunting."
"Fine, that means we can arrive tomorrow morning, right? You have all been captured by me now. Set sail for Loguetown immediately. You don't need to worry about the dangers at sea; I will handle them. But I demand you reach Loguetown at the fastest possible speed, or else!"
Before Raiden Ei finished speaking, a slash shot out from the zanmian in her hand. The crimson slash was extremely conspicuous in the dark night, flying straight toward the sea surface. With a "bang," a wave ten meters high rose up, startling the dozen or so pirates, who all stumbled backward, swallowing hard.
"Did you see that? If you fail to meet my requirements, tomorrow morning, I will cleave your ship in half with a single strike."
The pirates all trembled and nodded, "We'll go right away!" They immediately busied themselves with hoisting the sails and setting off.
"That's a relief. I thought I had ended up in some unknown sea region again! We'll reach Loguetown tomorrow. The Marines and the World Government shouldn't catch up that quickly. I hope I can find the log pose soon! Otherwise, I'll have to force my way through the Grand Line."
After ordering (intimidating) the pirates to sail, Raiden Ei paid them no more mind. As long as they did as she commanded, they would be fine; otherwise, they shouldn't blame her for keeping her word. She wanted to use this time to get more rest and training, to become a bit stronger. Otherwise, she would have already used Geppo to head to Loguetown; that would have been even faster, taking only half a day.
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