"Four Seas Alliance?"
The thin young man blinked his eyes, looking confused.
Rowan patted him on the shoulder, signaling, "Shall we talk over there?"
The thin young man hesitated, pointing to his stall, "But I still need to sell books..."
Rowan said, "I'll buy them all, how about that?"
"No way!"
The thin young man's tone suddenly became excited, stammering, "These were all left by my teacher, I... I don't want to sell them, but, everyone's out of food, I..."
The young man seemed very unaccustomed to talking so much to others at once, waving his hands and feet, his face turning red.
Clearly, he didn't want to sell those books at all, but he had to because of the food shortage.
Rowan moved his fingers, using lines of sand to help the thin young man tidy up his stall, and then put the package on the young man's back.
"Come with me, I'll take care of the food."
With that said, Rowan turned and left.
The thin young man looked at Rowan's back, hesitated again and again, and thought that the other party had promised to solve the food problem, so he gritted his teeth and followed Rowan's footsteps.
...
The three walked together to the seaside not far from the market.
There weren't many people here, making it relatively easy to talk.
Rowan was chatting with the thin young man, but Crocodile noticed that the mysterious tall, thin black figure had appeared on the roof in the distance for the third time.
That person leaned against the roof beam, arms crossed in front of his chest, seemingly observing when Rowan and Crocodile would notice his existence.
I've already seen you!
Crocodile sighed inwardly, his gaze turning to Rowan.
Rowan chose to ignore it as always.
At this moment, he was chatting happily with the young man.
Most of the Skypiea people are simple and hospitable, and Rowan gave the young man a very friendly feeling, so the young man gradually lowered his guard.
"My name is Habu, I'm not a meteorologist, my teacher is."
Habu introduced his background to the two people from the Blue Sea.
"My teacher and I usually live on a small island. My teacher is responsible for studying the weather and writing books. I'm mainly responsible for taking care of him, occasionally reading books, and taking notes in them."
"I didn't mean to write on the books!"
Habu emphasized, "It's just that sometimes my teacher writes too fast and forgets what he's written, so I have to mark it clearly so that my teacher can understand."
Rowan asked, "Where's your teacher?"
"He disappeared four years ago."
Habu scratched his head, recalling, "That night, he suddenly asked me several questions from the book. I remember I had clearly marked them, but my teacher said I hadn't, so I told him what I remembered marking."
"The teacher nodded, saying that he was leaving everything to me and that he was going to investigate some things. Then he disappeared the next day."
Hearing this, Rowan and Crocodile exchanged glances.
Crocodile: "Why are you looking at me?"
Rowan: "Well, I just felt like we should react a little at this time."
"Boring, I'm not interested!" Crocodile snorted, turning his head to the side.
On the other side, Habu seemed to suddenly think of something, "Oh, right, right, many of the books my teacher left behind weren't finished. After thinking about it, I thought my teacher had forgotten again, so I helped him finish them!"
As soon as these words came out, both Rowan and Crocodile couldn't help but narrow their eyes slightly.
"Helped him finish them" - those were just a few words, but they were not simple.
Crocodile had glanced through Habu's book earlier and knew that it was indeed very complex meteorological knowledge.
Being able to complete a meteorological work of this level meant that Habu's attainments in meteorology were definitely no less than those of the "teacher" he spoke of!
But the young man, who wasn't good at interacting with people, didn't seem to realize this.
"By the way, you two gentlemen from the Blue Sea, have you met my teacher?"
As Habu spoke, he took out a portrait. It showed a small old woman, hunchbacked, with a kind smile on her face.
Rowan and Crocodile both shook their heads, they had never seen that person.
"Ah, where did my teacher go!"
Habu lowered his arms, sighing, "I've asked all over Skypiea, even Bika, but there are no clues about my teacher."
"Maybe she went to the Blue Sea?"
Habu speculated to himself, "But the Blue Sea is so big, there are so many people, I can't ask them all..."
Rowan continued to flip through Habu's book, explaining the Four Seas Alliance to Habu with a smile as he flipped through it.
Crocodile had heard those words many times, the meaning was roughly the same, so he didn't bother to listen again.
But Habu was hearing such an idea for the first time.
He didn't care about the huge commercial benefits that the fixed sea routes would bring after the Four Seas Alliance was established, but focused on the level of information exchange.
"If I can travel freely on the sea, will I be able to find my teacher soon?"
Habu's eyes began to shine.
"I haven't read my teacher's new books for a long time, so I can only write them myself, but reading my own books is so boring..."
Such an astonishing fact was stated so lightly by Habu, making Crocodile slightly surprised.
He chuckled a few times and suddenly asked Habu, "Are books useful?"
"Huh?"
Habu was stunned.
Crocodile pointed to Habu's stomach, "That's just useless paper, even if you've read and written so many books, when you're hungry, you still can't exchange them for half a fish, can you?"
Hearing this, Habu scratched his head, not knowing how to answer for a moment.
However, just as Crocodile thought Habu was speechless, Habu suddenly said:
"No, that's not right."
"What's not right?"
"My teacher said that books can fill you up," Habu said seriously.
Crocodile laughed, "How do you eat them?"
"Here," Habu pointed to his head, "My teacher said that books can fill this up."
Crocodile paused, not asking any more questions, because it was no longer necessary.
After all, they weren't even talking about the same thing!
Rowan chuckled softly, "Books, whether they contain knowledge or culture, are ultimately just a combination of paper, ink, and thread."
"Cannonballs can shatter book covers, flames can burn pages, but that only destroys the carrier."
Rowan closed the book, handed it back to Habu, and then grinned:
"Food can sustain your body."
"And what books carry is the soul."
"Only when the soul and body come together is there a 'person'."
...
The conversation continued.
Habu was very interested in the Four Seas Alliance, because it sounded like it could help him find his teacher as soon as possible.
"If Skypiea can really be connected to the Blue Sea, that would be really exciting!"
But Habu also needed Rowan's help with something, which was to get enough food first.
Not for himself, but for the children left in his tent.
Rowan was wondering how to catch fish.
Crocodile's eyes moved slightly, turning to look at the roof in the distance.
The black figure from before was still watching them!
Is he observing?
Yes, he's observing.
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