As the sun dipped below the horizon, the sea gradually faded into the colors of dusk.
With a heavy grunt, Sunbell hurled the massive anchor overboard. It crashed into the ocean with a tremendous splash, sending waves rippling outward across the darkening water.
High above on the mast, Gaban and Valthior worked together to furl the sails while Roger and Rayleigh carried tables and chairs out from the cabin onto the deck.
Nearby, Spencer, Doringo, and the others hauled out the freshly stocked liquor, food, and all sorts of miscellaneous supplies they had picked up not long ago.
The Oro Jackson slowly lost speed before finally coming to a smooth stop upon the calm sea.
Clearly, the Roger Pirates had once again entered their favorite nightly routine: drinking, eating meat, boasting loudly, and wasting the evening away together.
"Let us give thanks for the blessings of the Goddess of the Sea!" Roger declared solemnly as he sat at the table, putting on an exaggeratedly devout expression.
Rayleigh immediately burst out laughing beside him.
"Shouldn't you be thanking Lord Valthior instead?"
"Hahahaha! The Lord doesn't care about details like that." Roger waved dismissively before looking around at the crew. "Nothing much going on tonight. After we finish drinking, anyone want to team up for some Guan Dan?"¹
However, it was obvious that no one wanted to play cards with a "Gambling Freak" like him.
Of course, Guan Dan was another game Valthior had introduced to the Roger Pirates.
As everyone laughed, drank, and chatted noisily on deck, Shanks and Buggy exchanged a glance. Clearly, the two had already planned this in advance.
Taking advantage of the lively atmosphere, they quietly slipped away from the crowd and sneaked into the ship's cabin.
Not far away, Bullet—who had been arm wrestling Nozdon moments earlier—seemed to notice their movements. His brows furrowed slightly, and his brief distraction immediately cost him the match.
"Switch opponents! Switch opponents! Sunbell, I challenge you next!" Nozdon shouted excitedly.
Bullet didn't argue. He simply took a swig of alcohol, gave up his seat, and quietly stepped away from the crowd. Before long, he too slipped silently into the cabin.
...
Second floor of the cabin: Valthior's Library.
Aside from the storage hold, it was the largest independent room aboard the Oro Jackson. The place was packed with books, manuscripts, and texts gathered from all over the world. Normally, Valthior lived there, spending his days writing literature and conducting archaeological research.
Standing outside the library door, Shanks held two thin steel wires in his hands while Buggy nervously held up an oil lamp nearby.
"You sure you know what you're doing, Shanks?!" Buggy whispered impatiently after watching him fiddle with the lock for ages without success.
"Relax," Shanks muttered quietly. "I learned this from Mr. Spencer. As an intelligence officer, he's supposedly amazing at lockpicking and sneaking around… well, that's what he claims, anyway."
Just then, a soft click echoed from the lock.
Shanks' face lit up immediately.
"See? It worked! Told you I wasn't lying—"
"Oh? And what exactly are you two brats doing here?"
A deep, oppressive voice suddenly came from behind them.
"Breaking into the young master's library in secret… planning to steal something? Maybe I haven't trained you two hard enough lately."
Bullet stepped out slowly from around the corner of the hallway, his gloomy expression making the atmosphere instantly tense.
Shanks and Buggy nearly jumped out of their skin. The two grabbed onto each other in terror as they stared at him. "Why don't you make any noise when you walk!?"
On this ship, the person Shanks and Buggy respected most was naturally Captain Roger. In truth, though, every single crew member looked after them, and the boys got along well with everyone aboard.
But if there was one person they feared above all others, it was definitely Bullet—their former fellow apprentice who was five or six years older than them.
"Former" apprentice, because Bullet was no longer a cabin boy anymore. He had officially become the ship's doctor...
More importantly, he was also the brutal "instructor" responsible for training the two boys every day.
And Bullet was the type who was ruthless toward others and even more ruthless toward himself.
To Shanks and Buggy, the man was basically a demon.
"Well?" Bullet stepped forward, radiating pressure. "Explain yourselves."
He didn't actually think the two kids had bad intentions. At most, they were probably trying to stir up trouble again.
Shanks still looked like he wanted to struggle and make excuses, but Buggy surrendered immediately.
"It wasn't my idea!" he blurted out like beans spilling from a jar. "I tried to stop Shanks from the beginning, but he insisted on reading Brother Valthior's logbook! I got curious too, and… and that's why we came!"
"Logbook?" Curiosity flickered in Bullet's eyes as well.
The logbook written by the Young Master... this... was indeed hard to resist.
"…That's private, isn't it?" Bullet finally said after a long pause, forcibly suppressing his own curiosity. His voice remained stern, though noticeably less certain than before.
"Of course not!" Shanks shot back immediately. "This is the Oro Jackson's logbook, not Brother Valthior's personal diary. Don't mix the two up! Captain Roger and Mr. Rayleigh look through it all the time too. Every time I asked to read it before, they'd always say a mere apprentice pirate wasn't ready yet, so naturally I got curious... Aren't you curious too, Big Bu?"
"I told you not to call me 'Big Bu'!"
Bullet smacked Shanks on the head with a fist hard enough to leave a visible dent in the straw hat he was wearing.
Ironically, Roger himself rarely wore the hat in everyday life. Only when the sun at sea became unbearably intense would he remember it existed. Most of the time, the legendary straw hat passed freely between crew members; even Valthior occasionally borrowed it while fishing to block the sunlight.
But usually, Shanks was the apprentice responsible for maintaining the hat, so he was the member most frequently seen wearing it.
The logbook written by the Young Master wasn't personal privacy, and Bullet was a full-fledged crew member now—surely he was qualified to read it?
After finding himself a perfectly reasonable excuse, Bullet coughed awkwardly into his fist and said in a deliberately casual tone,
"Ahem… Fine then. Let's take a look. I'm curious about the Roger Pirates' past journeys too."
"Exactly!" Shanks grinned brightly. "I just want to know what everyone was doing back when I was too little to remember anything. I want to see what kind of amazing adventures the crew had…"
"Next time, just come find me directly," Bullet lectured him sternly. "Picking locks isn't a good habit. I actually have the key to the young master's room."
That was perfectly normal. Bullet regularly cleaned the library and helped organize Valthior's books, so naturally he had a key.
With Bullet's tacit approval, the three of them quickly slipped into the library together.
After extinguishing the oil lamp, Shanks gently tugged on one of the hanging lanterns inside the room. Something within stirred awake, and moments later a soft glow gradually spread throughout the library, illuminating the shelves and tables in warm light.
Because the room housed countless rare books and valuable knowledge, open flames were strictly forbidden here. Instead, the lamps contained special luminous insects Roger and the others had captured from various islands—something similar to fireflies, except far brighter. Some wealthy nobles even used the creatures for lighting in their homes.
"It's over here!" Buggy was the first to find the logbook. He picked it up and gestured to the others.
Since it wasn't considered a high-priority secret, it had been left sitting on the desk, making it easy to find.
"Hurry up and open it!" Shanks immediately crowded closer.
The first entry read:
July 12th, Year 1484 of the Sea Circle Calendar.
The tragedy at God Valley has come to an end. Roger finally woke from his coma, and I successfully joined the Roger Pirates under the identity of a scholar.
I have a feeling the journey ahead will be an extraordinary one.
Together, we will surely write a legendary story upon these seas.
Oh, and one more thing worth mentioning: Figarland Garling's child is aboard the ship as well. His name is Shanks, and he's quite an adorable little fellow. We all took turns flicking his—
...
Buggy stopped reading there. Barely holding back laughter, he slowly turned to look at the petrified Shanks beside him. His eyes drifted downward toward Shanks' pants before he finally muttered:
"…You're tainted now, Shanks."
"Hahahahaha!"
Even Bullet burst into laughter. Reaching out, he rubbed Shanks' straw hat with amusement.
"Looks like everyone really doted on you back then."
As for Shanks' true origins, thanks to Valthior, the truth had never been hidden from him in the first place, so he wasn't particularly shocked by any of this.
Red-faced and furious from embarrassment, Shanks immediately snatched the logbook back.
"Read the important parts already! Stop focusing on weird details! If you guys keep laughing, I'm seriously going to get mad!"
Flipping forward several pages, he began reading aloud again himself.
...
August 16th.
Roger dragged out all the alcohol aboard the ship today. Honestly, it tasted terrible, but I still drank with them anyway. Perhaps this is simply part of experiencing pirate life.
August 17th.
Drank alcohol.
August 18th.
Drank alcohol.
August 19th.
Valthior, oh Valthior, how could you sink to such depravity? Have you forgotten why you joined the Roger Pirates in the first place? It was to uncover the truth of the Void Century and restore the glory of your ancestors through exploration of the world! How can you spend every day drowning yourself in liquor?! Starting today, I quit drinking!
August 20th.
Drank alcohol.
...
Buggy immediately snatched the logbook away again and flipped back to the cover, utterly baffled.
"We definitely grabbed the logbook and not Brother Valthior's personal diary, right?" he asked suspiciously. "Why are all the entries about drinking?! What about fighting giant whales? What about adventures with island-swallowing monsters? Don't tell me they made all that stuff up just to fool us?!"
...
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