The first half of the Grand Line.
The sun shone brightly, the sea breeze blowing.
The massive pirate ship flying the Beasts' skull flag was slowly sailing across the sea.
On the deck, three deck chairs were lined up in a row.
Kaido, Noro, and Stussy lay comfortably on the beach chairs, soaking up the sun, occasionally sipping juice.
King stayed in the crow's nest, monitoring the sea, Queen was doing experiments, and Englar was steering the ship.
Matty had eaten the Cheer-Cheer Fruit Noro had given her, and was familiarizing herself with its power, her brother Englar being her test subject.
Matty waved a flag, and Englar steered the ship with even more vigor.
And Kaido, Noro, and Stussy, as the captain, vice-captain, and vice-captain's secretary/treasurer, didn't have to work.
Having Stussy as the treasurer had a comical feel, like letting a monkey guard a peach orchard. But they had plenty of money, they weren't afraid of Stussy spending it.
Kaido sucked on the juice by his mouth, asking casually, "Noro, are we going to Fish-Man Island next to get the ship coated?"
Although he was the captain, he habitually asked Noro. Using his brain wasn't his strong suit, he'd leave it to the vice-captain.
Noro stretched, shaking his head slightly, "Too troublesome. Our ship is so big, it'll take a long time just to coat it."
Hearing this, Kaido understood, "Still going to drag the ship over the Red Line like last time?"
Noro smiled, "Yeah."
Waiting for the coating was too passive. Why choose the troublesome method when there was an easy one?
Noro had a complete plan. First, they'd go to the New World to recruit crew members.
Money, they had now.
Weapons, with money they could get weapons, and they had Queen researching weapons.
Combat power, although Kaido hadn't reached his peak, Oden hadn't either.
Now everything was ready, they just needed to recruit people.
With so much money, recruiting people was easy. In this era of rising powers, many people couldn't even afford to eat.
After recruiting people, they'd train them for a year or two. With the Cheer-Cheer Fruit assisting training, their effort level would be close to the effort king's two hundred times.
And during this time, he, Kaido, and King needed to improve their strength as soon as possible.
With Kaido, the gold-medal teacher, strength improvement wasn't too much of a worry.
A sly glint flashed in Kaido's eyes, "Then you're pulling it this time. I pulled it last time."
So that's what it looked like when someone was speechless.
What kind of captain was so petty?!
At this moment, King spread his wings, flying down from the crow's nest, handing Noro the newspaper in his hand.
Noro had specifically instructed King to buy the newspaper every day, so they could better understand the current situation of the sea.
Noro took the newspaper, flipping through it.
"Great Pirate Roger Destroys ××× Country's Army, Marine Hero Garp Leads Troops in Pursuit, Pushing Him to the Brink, But He Barely Escapes!"
"Great Pirate Whitebeard Defeats ××× Great Pirate, The Battle Shatters Islands."
"Flying Great Pirate Shiki the Golden Lion Becomes Increasingly Rampant, Robbing Celestial Tribute from Multiple Allied Nations, The World Government Strongly Condemns It."
...
Reading through the articles, almost all of them were news about these three great pirate crews.
Occasionally, there were news about Charlotte Linlin, Wang Zhi, World Destroyer Byrnndi World, the Happo Navy's Chinjao, and some others.
"So we've really come to an amazing era..." Noro said, closing the newspaper, his mood slightly complicated.
Rising powers, heroes of the world like carps crossing the river!
No wonder they were called the Three Legendary Pirates, the other pirates were completely overshadowed by these three pirate crews.
Only the madman Byrnndi World, relying on his unrestrained destruction, could squeeze out a little presence.
Kaido leaned over, looking at the closed newspaper, raising the corners of his mouth arrogantly, "One day, our Beasts Pirates will also be famous throughout the sea!"
Noro looked at Kaido's confident appearance, smiling as he said, "That's right, the name of our Beasts Pirates will eventually resound throughout the entire sea!"
He was going to push Kaido to the throne of Pirate King, even King of the World.
But for now, they had to take it one step at a time. First, they needed to find a springboard, expand their power, then invade Wano Country.
Noro thought in his mind, which countries or islands hadn't been claimed by these great pirates yet?
He wasn't going to the New World to fight these legendary pirates, he needed time to develop peacefully.
Soon, Noro thought of an excellent place: Baltigo.
The place where Franky was blown away later, the birthplace of Vegapunk, the island still had the world's greatest brain's research facility, perfectly preserved.
Although Queen had worked with Vegapunk, the difference between them was huge.
Franky had spent two years there, picking up Vegapunk's scraps, and had grown to that level. Queen could go there and focus on his technology.
Moreover, it was covered in snow year-round, the climate was extremely cold. As the saying went, "Desperate times call for desperate measures," the recruited crew members wouldn't have weak fighting power.
King, from the crow's nest, flew down again, reporting, "Mr. Kaido, Mr. Noro, a pirate ship has been spotted ahead, the Blood Blade Pirates, the captain has a bounty of 180 million."
See, that was professionalism!
King didn't need to be asked what pirate crew it was, what the captain's bounty was. He reported everything at once.
Just small fries, Kaido got up, opening his dragon mouth, wanting to blast them with Dragon Breath.
Noro picked up a juice from the table, shoving it directly into Kaido's mouth, extinguishing the flames that had just begun to form.
"Noro, what are you doing?" Kaido swallowed the juice, puzzled.
Noro lay back on the deck chair, saying lazily, "You're the captain, don't always think about doing everything yourself, okay?"
"Uh..."
Kaido pondered, "I guess that makes sense."
Noro smiled, "This kind of small fry, just let King handle it."
Kaido agreed, lying back down, "That's right, King, it's up to you."
"Yes, Mr. Kaido."
King had just spread his wings when Noro stopped him, then shouted to Englar, who was steering the ship:
"Englar, bring the ship closer. You two siblings go with King."
Calm waters don't make good sailors. If they needed him and Kaido to deal with this level of threat, what did they need these crew members for? Moreover, fighting was the best training!
"Yes, Vice-Captain!" Englar replied loudly, steering the "Azure Dragon" closer quickly.
The "Azure Dragon" wanted to get closer, but the opposing pirate crew didn't think so. Cannons spat fire, a barrage of cannonballs attacking.
King spread his wings, the flames on his back rising, a fire dragon baring its fangs and claws, pouncing on the cannonballs.
The cannonballs touched the fire dragon, exploding one by one in the air, sparks flying, shrapnel scattering.
Noro sneered, "The enemy not only doesn't surrender, but dares to retaliate."
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