Half a month later.
On the sea, huge dark clouds rolled in, and from time to time, thunderbolts flashed within them. Below the thunder, gusts of wind and heavy rain swept through.
Between the dark clouds and the sea...
"There's a seagull? So big!"
Pearl looked at the huge seagull that was swept in and shouted exaggeratedly.
Bang!
A hammer hit Pearl's head, causing him to fall to the ground.
"You want to fly into the storm with the seagull, huh? Hurry up and furl the sails for me!"
Renedia yelled angrily at Pearl and then looked at the other pirates, saying, "Speed up, didn't you eat enough? Should I let you dive into the sea to catch Sea Beasts to eat? Gin! Stop running back and forth, or you'll turn into a black-skinned monkey!"
The people on the deck were pacing back and forth, pulling ropes and maneuvering the rudder, in coordination with the control room, very busy.
There were less than three hundred active crew members on the entire ship, while the rest were lying heavily injured. This number was only about one-third of the Death Star's standard, barely enough to control the ship. If it were in the East Sea, it would be fine, but on the Grand Line, it showed its disadvantage.
"That's enough, Reti."
At this moment, a voice came from the second-floor balcony. Lily was standing there, letting the gale blow her golden hair. She looked up at the sky and said, "It's already normal."
Saying this, she walked into the Captain's room, and Renedia followed her.
Inside the Captain's room, Sage was lounging with his legs propped up on the table, one hand tapping rhythmically on the armrest of the chair, humming the old tune 'Binke's Fine Wine'. Seeing the two, he smiled and said:
"What do you think about getting a dance troupe? It would be quite something to watch music and dance performances, right? There's a lot of room for improvement here, Reti?"
"It can be modified!" Renedia shouted and then said, "Speaking of which, you are the Captain! Is it really okay for you not to handle anything?"
"Isn't that what a Captain is for? To take care of the big picture and make plans. Otherwise, what are you all for?" Sage laughed.
At this time, Marika came up with food from downstairs, "Have something to eat, Reti, there's your favorite strawberries."
"Oh!"
Renedia's eyes lit up as she took the strawberry cake from Marika's hand and sat down on the sofa in front of the desk to eat.
"Thank you."
Lily took the dessert from Marika's hand, sat on the other side, and said, "Sage, we've been sailing for more than half a month. According to the Sea Map markings, we're almost there."
From the battle with the warship until now, more than half a month had passed, and they had been sailing according to the direction of the Eternal Pose.
However, on the Grand Line, besides the unknown dangers of the islands, the ocean itself was quite dangerous...
At least for them, it was.
At the very beginning of their voyage, they encountered a massive gale that they would never find in the East Sea, which tilted the ship dangerously. Luckily, the Death Star's Power System was effective enough to stabilize it, so Renedia didn't have to take action.
As soon as they endured the gale, an extremely cold snowstorm came, almost freezing a thin layer of ice on the sea surface. The crew had just put on thick clothes and shoveled the snow off the deck when the weather turned hot again, making them sweat.
The weather was so variable that it required constant attention to make timely responses.
Even Lily suffered once. She was so focused on monitoring the weather that she forgot to check the course. After half a day, she realized the Eternal Pose and the ship were going in completely opposite directions, and they had to turn around.
As a result, Lily handed the five Eternal Poses pointing to Alabasta to the crew in the control room, asking them to keep an eye on them at all times just in case.
After this mishap, she realized that the Grand Line indeed couldn't be judged by common sense.
At first, she thought it was Sage's bad luck causing trouble...
But it wasn't entirely the case, except for the other climates, when it came to storms...
Lily continued, "Your storm has returned to its normal intensity. We should have entered the tropical desert climate of Alabasta."
"What do you mean by my storm?"
Sage, just about to pick up the special cocktail Marika had set down, twitched his eye at her words, "The Grand Line is inherently strange, with its changing climate. I didn't cause it. I may be unlucky, but don't make it sound like storms are born because of me."
"Eh? But it would be cool if it were like that, like being the 'Child of the Storm'. Just right for testing the ship I built at all times!" Renedia looked up and said.
"Wipe your mouth! It's all covered in cream!" Sage said, exasperated.
To this, Lily remained noncommittal.
There were islands along the sailing route, but they hadn't found signs of habitation, and with injured crew aboard, staying long wasn't advisable, so they kept sailing.
Apart from the variable climates, the storms during Sage's voyages were quite powerful too. It wasn't that they never saw the sun, just that it was rare compared to the cloudy weather.
This powerful storm would turn to normal intensity upon reaching an island. At first, Lily didn't notice, but later she gradually did.
The islands, along with their surrounding seas, actually had a stable season. Once within its seas, the climate became stable and didn't change as much as at other times.
Lily had been observing the weather outside not for anything else, just to see when the storm would weaken. Once it weakened, the crew wouldn't be as busy.