A week later.
Under a slightly gloomy sky, Bellamy sat on a pile of corpses, casually flicking the ash from his cigarette.
"More and more people are finding their way here. It's time to leave."
During this period, a large number of bounty hunters and pirates had poured into the New World in waves. Their location inevitably led to encounters with some lucky, or rather, unlucky individuals. This reef island was still within the Marines' sphere of influence, so Bellamy had remained on high alert. His Observation Haki had been active almost constantly. It was powerful enough to cover a medium-sized town; the fate of those who found their way here was predictable.
The nearby waters were littered with the wreckage of ships. In just one short week, who knows how much more blood Bellamy had on his hands.
"Yo, Captain!"
"The engine modification is complete!"
After working through the nights, Franky had finally finished modifying the cola-powered engine. After a few test runs, he immediately found Bellamy to report the good news.
"Take me to see it."
Bellamy didn't actually know much about mechanics. It was just the responsibility of a captain that made him habitually want to take a look. Franky led him to the engine room below deck. The moment they entered, a distinct smell of oil and gas hit them.
"She's a beautiful big girl," Franky said, patting a huge machine as he explained its functions to Bellamy one by one. About half an hour later, Bellamy finally had a rudimentary understanding of the cola engine.
"I see. Let's leave it at that."
He didn't understand some of the technical jargon, but as long as it worked, that was enough.
"Go and get ready. We're setting sail soon."
As for their next destination, even Bellamy wasn't entirely sure. He planned to rendezvous with the Heart Pirates on the open sea first and discuss their next course of action. He already had a plan on how to attack Dressrosa, and Law would play a very important role in it. Bellamy's plan was extremely aggressive and risky; the slightest misstep could lead to their demise. But he believed that Law would not refuse. Because this was the best plan Bellamy could come up with so far.
"All hands, hoist the sails and set course!"
Hearing the captain's command, Ross quickly ran to the deck and got busy.
"Finally leaving."
They had been stuck in this bird-dropping-covered place for a week and had had enough. As pirates, they couldn't help but feel a certain yearning for the New World. After all, in the legends passed down from person to person, the New World was a pirate's paradise. In their spare time, Ross and the others would quietly discuss what the cities of the New World were like. Was life for pirates in the New World really as good as the legends said?
Bellamy just secretly shook his head at these naive thoughts, not wanting to shatter their dreams. They would soon understand after landing on the first island: a pirate's paradise was, in fact, a weakling's hell. Chaos was the fundamental tone of the New World.
If you were to make a map of the Four Emperors' territories, you would easily see that their domains were not four separate blocks in the east, south, west, and north. Instead, they were intertwined in a bizarre state of "you are in me, and I am in you." For example, Whitebeard's largest territory was in a region at the very end of the New World. But Fish-Man Island was at the starting point, and the large area in between was Kaido's territory. And within Kaido's territory, there were also many of Big Mom's territories. Shanks's influence was the smallest among the Four Emperors, but even his outermost territory was interspersed within the domains of the other emperors.
The overlapping territories of the Four Emperors meant that friction in these waters almost never ceased.
After a long whistle, the Redwood Treasure Ship, with its sails fully unfurled, set off towards an unknown sea. About a few thousand nautical miles from here, there was a famous place called the Sea of Fire. He had just spoken with Law again and had arranged to meet there.
Not long after the Bellamy Pirates left, a bounty hunter soon discovered the tracks they had left behind. A few days later, a massive warship, fully loaded with soldiers, arrived at the location.
"We're still a step too late."
Garp looked at the pile of bones on the reef island and couldn't help but sigh. Chasing pirates was like this. Sometimes you would just randomly run into them on the sea, but most of the time, you wouldn't even see a shadow. Especially someone like Bellamy, who had no fixed base. Trying to catch him on the open sea was harder than climbing to the sky.
"Damn it! We came here as fast as we could!" Tashigi stood by, grinding her teeth. The moment she heard news of Bellamy, she had followed Garp from Headquarters, without any delay on the way. But they were still too late. From the traces left here, it was clear that Bellamy had been gone for several days. In this vast ocean, where were they supposed to find him?
"Let's go back, little Tashigi."
Garp had encountered situations like this countless times in his life; he was used to it. "You have to be patient. We'll catch him one day."
"Are we just going to let him run free?" Tashigi was still unwilling to give up. She wanted to continue deeper into the New World and try to pursue him.
Garp shook his head at her. "Calm down. This is the New World." They had been on an emergency mission and had only come with one ship. They didn't even have enough supplies to chase a pirate in the New World.
"Let's go back. There will be other chances."
Actually, in the past, Garp wouldn't have given up so easily either. He would have definitely continued the pursuit for a while. But the recent news from the intelligence department had left him deeply unsettled.
"Fire Fist" Ace had joined the Whitebeard Pirates and become the 2nd Division Commander. When Garp got this news, he had almost smashed Sengoku's office to pieces. Then, not long after, news of Luffy setting sail also reached his ears.
Monkey D. Luffy had formed the Straw Hat Pirates and set out on an adventure, his current whereabouts unknown. When Garp received this news, he was completely stunned. Ace was one thing; at least he was doing well and had established himself in the New World. But that brat Luffy had just gone and disappeared on him; now he couldn't even be found.
Having been at sea his whole life, the old man knew all too well what "disappeared at sea" meant. After getting this news, Garp seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. Sengoku, who was beside him, couldn't bear to watch and advised him to go back and rest for a while.
Under these circumstances, that he could still muster the spirit to come and pursue Bellamy was a testament to his title as the Hero of the Marines.