By now, Bai Chuan, Shanks, and Buggy had all been put on this country's wanted list. After all, they had killed one of the nation's commanders. At this point, they were basically public enemies.
Even Bai Chuan hadn't expected his first bounty notice to come not from the Navy, but from some small island nation. As a transmigrator, he felt like he'd lost a bit of face.
Still, the reward was generous. A full fifty million beli. Looks like this country really did have money.
Ten days had passed since Akda's death. It would take at least another half a month to cross the border. Because they were wanted, they didn't dare travel between cities anymore. One wrong move could cause a huge uproar, so they could only take detours.
But detours didn't just waste time. Sometimes they were dangerous too.
While passing through a forest, the four of them ran into a black bear over five meters tall. Calling it a "monster" wouldn't have been an exaggeration.
Buggy and Katherine Lin were so scared they panicked, but Bai Chuan and Shanks didn't even change expression. Bai Chuan simply tossed it to Shanks as practice. After a bit of struggling, the result was still decent. Shanks won without a scratch.
So that night, they had black bear for dinner.
It tasted terrible, though.
To be honest, Bai Chuan could never quite figure Buggy out. By rights, Buggy had sailed with Roger for so long and gone through all kinds of hardships. And yet when small trouble showed up, he still made a huge fuss.
Even after encountering Sea Kings several times, Buggy still felt fear every time they showed up again.
"Buggy, seriously. You're both apprentice crew. How can the gap between you and Shanks be this huge?"
It was already evening after the bear meat. The four decided to rest on the spot. They lay down around the campfire, and Bai Chuan felt he should have a little heart-to-heart with Buggy, give him a push.
"Hmph. Maybe I just wasn't born to get stronger."
Buggy turned his back. A moment later, his muffled voice came through.
"Why are you stabbing your own sore spot?" Buggy was annoyed too. When Bai Chuan first came aboard, Buggy was still evenly matched with Shanks. But in just a few months, the distance had widened this much. And of all things, Bai Chuan had to bring up strength.
"Buggy, you can't keep going like this. What are you going to do when you leave the ship someday? Without some strength, you can't even protect yourself." Bai Chuan spoke earnestly, almost like he was lecturing.
As a member of the Roger Pirates, Bai Chuan felt he had to think about the crew's future. Buggy was basically the most miserable of their combat crew. All he dared do was hide in the East Blue hunting treasure. If he hadn't run into Luffy, Buggy probably wouldn't have come back to the Grand Line in his entire life.
Sure, later on he became one of the Seven Warlords because of sheer luck, but that was only treating the symptoms, not the cause. If the Warlord system ever got abolished, Buggy would be in real trouble.
"Don't worry. I'm not leaving the Captain."
Hearing that, Bai Chuan sighed.
Whether you leave or not isn't something you get to decide.
Bai Chuan wanted to say more, but then he suddenly heard Buggy snoring. Bai Chuan felt Buggy was doing it on purpose. How could someone fall asleep that fast? He wasn't Garp, Luffy, or Ace.
"Seriously. You're hopeless."
Bai Chuan kicked Buggy hard.
"Wasting my feelings. Whatever. I'm sleeping."
Bai Chuan turned over, ready to sleep.
What Bai Chuan didn't know was that the moment he said "sleep," Buggy suddenly opened his eyes. There was a firm, determined light in them.
But it only lasted a moment before it disappeared again.
Was he really hopeless?
Still, Bai Chuan's words had planted a seed in Buggy's heart. At the right moment, that seed might sprout. Or it might rot there forever.
While Bai Chuan and Buggy were talking, Shanks, lying off to the side, hadn't fallen asleep either. He had heard every single word.
His gaze grew deep, as if he was thinking about something. Maybe he was thinking about how to train Buggy later.
As for Katherine Lin, who wasn't even part of their crew, she slept without a care in the world.
No one knew who had given her such a sense of safety out in the wild. She even wore a smile, sleeping soundly.
Early the next morning, Bai Chuan woke up first. The other three were still sleeping peacefully. Luckily, there was no one nearby. Otherwise, taking advantage of them would have been easy.
"Hey, hey. Wake up. Time to move out."
For some reason, whenever Bai Chuan said this, it always felt like he was escorting prisoners to the execution ground. Maybe he was used to it by now.
Because waking them up every day had become routine. Bai Chuan was basically their nanny now. He had to wake them up and cook for them too.
Thankfully, Bai Chuan was a transmigrator with a good temper. If it were someone else… who knows what would've happened.
"Mmm. What time is it now?"
As expected, the first one awake was Katherine Lin, and the first thing she said was exactly the same as yesterday morning.
"It's morning." By "morning," he meant morning. As for the exact time, Bai Chuan had no idea. He couldn't tell time by the sun.
Then Buggy and Shanks woke up one after another.
"Why does it always feel like I barely closed my eyes before I had to wake up?" Buggy rubbed his eyes and complained.
"If you die, you'll keep your eyes closed for a long time. How about it? Want to try?"
"No!" Buggy shook his head instantly and snapped awake on the spot.
He was confused. Why was Bai Chuan so aggressive first thing in the morning? I haven't even done anything lately.
Buggy didn't know what he'd done wrong, but for the sake of his own safety, he decided to be careful today.
"So what are we eating this morning?"
"Nothing but the leftover meat from yesterday," Bai Chuan said. Lately, Bai Chuan felt his appetite had gone down. Maybe it was because there hadn't been any fighting these past few days, and his stamina stayed full.
"Huh? We're eating that again? It tastes awful!"
"Then endure it," Bai Chuan said to Shanks.
Shanks immediately behaved. Who cared if it tasted good or not? As long as it was food, it was fine.
"Hey." Shanks pulled Buggy aside and whispered. "What's up with Bai Chuan? Did he eat gunpowder? Why is he snapping at everyone?"
"No idea." Buggy lowered his voice too. "Maybe that came."
"That?" Shanks looked blank. "Which 'that'?"
"You know. That."
"Which one is 'that'?"
"That is that."
"Oh." Shanks suddenly looked like he understood. "Then… does that happen to men too?"
"Probably." Buggy nodded seriously. "Otherwise why would Bai Chuan be like this?"
"Oh, so that's how it is."
/-\
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