Noon, sowhere in the East Blue.
The azure sky rged with the deep sea. The sea breeze blew, raising waves on the blue surface, creating a magnificent, sprawling picture.
Two three-masted ships sailed side-by-side on this blue canvas. One was the pirate ship of the Red Hair Pirates. The other was an ownerless vessel the Canaan survivors had picked up from the ruins of the Jacob Kingdom's port. After hearing that Yelena wanted to move them away from the island, they had no objections. All two hundred or so of them obediently boarded the ship, following the Red Hair Pirates to find a suitable place to live.
"What?"
"You're only ten years old?!"
On the deck of the Red Force, a voice filled with disbelief rang out, carried far by the sea breeze.
Louis slowly turned his head and casually replied, "Yes, that's right."
Around him, the mbers of the Red Hair Pirates looked at Louis's two-ter-tall fra, the corners of their mouths twitching. "What kind of kid grows to be two ters tall at ten?"
Even Shanks was montarily stunned. It was only after carefully looking at Louis's slightly rounded face that he laughed awkwardly. "Haha..."
"I also thought you were just a little younger than Yelena..."
Not far away, Yelena and Uta also shot Louis a strange look. Yelena had just learned that Louis, who was far stronger than her, was nearly five years younger. Uta, on the other hand, was surprised to find that Louis was around her own age, only a year or two apart.
Then, Shanks couldn't help but complain, "You're only ten, why did they let you co out? They didn't even have soone accompany you?"
To this, Louis gave Shanks a look of disdain. "I'm out here to train and get stronger. If an adult ca with , wouldn't it just be a vacation?"
"..."
Shanks was speechless. He then felt incredibly fortunate for having dissuaded Louis from entering the New World. Even if Louis's strength was barely enough to survive in the New World, with his ten-year-old mindset, there was no telling what kind of person he'd be corrupted into.
After a mont, Shanks laughed awkwardly. "In that case, for the two years that Yelena is receiving treatnt, you two should stay on our ship!"
Shanks wasn't trying to turn Louis into a good person. He just hoped that Louis wouldn't be exposed to the treacherous world too early and be corrupted into a cold-blooded monster like Charlotte Linlin or Kaido of the Beasts, who treated human lives like grass. If Louis were caught by those monsters in the New World, at his young age, he would be molded into whatever they wanted him to be.
Therefore, Shanks planned to broaden Louis's worldview, to help him form his own ideas, and to make his mind and will strong enough. That way, when he sailed the seas, he wouldn't be so easily corrupted and beco another piece of trash who acts only on desire.
However, after hearing Shanks's words, Louis's expression changed.
"Two years?" He instinctively looked at Hongo, who was processing various dicines off to the side. At the sa ti, Yelena also looked over, a blank expression on her face.
Hongo paused what he was doing and said with a solemn expression, "Yes. Given Yelena's condition, surgery is no longer an option. We can only proceed with conservative dicinal treatnt. And I'll need your help during this period."
Louis glanced at Yelena, then pressed, "Are you sure she can be cured?" If not, then Louis would have to make other plans, like going to Drum Kingdom to find Dr. Kureha.
"Of course," Hongo said. He explained that the conservative treatnt was to ensure Yelena wouldn't be left with any after-effects or weaknesses.
Yelena let out a sigh of relief. She didn't doubt Hongo's words. She understood her own condition; not long ago, she could have died at any mont. To be cured was already incredibly lucky; a longer treatnt ti was reasonable.
It's just...
"I'm sorry, this will delay you for so ti," Yelena said to Louis, her expression tinged with guilt.
But Louis just waved his hand. "It's no trouble. It's only a year or two."
Back on Baal, he had heard his clansn say that the Lunarians were planning to wait a century or two on the sky island and in the Calm Belt to repopulate before launching their counter-attack. What was a year or two? Louis could afford to wait. Besides, it wasn't as if he couldn't grow stronger in the East Blue; he would just have less experience fighting against powerful opponents.
Soon, Yelena seed to think of sothing and asked Hongo, "During the treatnt, can I still train?"
Hongo thought for a mont and then gave a conservative suggestion. "You should wait for the next six months. You can use the ti to think about how to apply your Devil Fruit ability."
"..."
Yelena's expression dimd, and she nodded reluctantly. After boarding the ship, she had heard from Shanks that the sea was full of powerful people, and one couldn't survive without great strength. Even he couldn't claim to be at the absolute peak. Because in the seas near the end of the world, there were many monsters with the destructive power of natural disasters.
These words had left a deep impression on Yelena. Her intuition was very sharp; the seemingly kind and sunny Shanks gave her a sense of pressure as heavy as a mountain range. He was a powerhouse she could not hope to match.
Beings even stronger than Shanks...
Yelena couldn't even imagine what kind of incredible power that would be. It made a question rise in her heart: "Can such beings... still be considered human?"
This topic was quickly moved on from.
Driven by the rather novel style of the Red Hair Pirates, the idle crew mbers started clamoring for Uta to sing a song to welco Louis and Yelena.
"Uta, sing us a song!"
"We haven't heard Uta's singing in days!"
"It's perfect for welcoming Louis and Yelena!"
As they spoke, the highly motivated crew mbers enthusiastically began pushing wooden crates from all over, starting to build a stage. Their movents were so practiced it made Louis's jaw drop. It was clear they had done this many tis before.
Lucky Roux, the chubby man in green, took a bite from the large shank of at in his hand, then looked at the bewildered Yelena with a hearty smile.
"Uta is the most outstanding musician in the Red Hair Pirates!"
"Her singing voice is worth ten billion Berries!"
"..." Yelena still didn't understand. She didn't even know what a musician was. In the first dozen or so years of her life, she had never heard of such things.
Just then, Yasopp, who was pushing a wooden crate, paused and retorted at Lucky Roux, "You idiot, how can you asure Uta-chan's singing voice in Berries!"
At that mont, Yelena, her face full of confusion, interrupted them. "Um..."
"What's a musician? And what is singing?"
"..." The crew froze, looking at each other in stunned silence.
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