"If I hadn't run out of steam because I didn't eat enough, let me tell you, I could have flattened them all by myself!"
After their safe escape, Rune didn't forget to brag. In reality, he had been stalled by Zephyr's desperate struggle and had to be wary of Tsuru's abilities, making it very difficult to extract himself.
Zephyr had relied on his exquisite Haki and Marine Rokushiki, combined with moves that enhanced his strength similar to Rune's 'Muscle Release', to actually shake him.
The key was that Tsuru and Zephyr also possessed Armament Haki and Observation Haki; those sent to capture them were all top-tier powerhouses!
"Stop bragging. If I hadn't held back Garp, you would have been beaten back into the sea long ago!"
Roger still had some strength left, but he had been beaten into a pulp. Hearing Rune's shameless boasting, he raised a weak fist and swung it toward his face.
Rune, who had no strength left, wanted to hit Roger back but couldn't even lift his hand.
The two bickered and soon fainted from exhaustion, falling unconscious.
"There's a famous doctor at Twin Capes. Anyone entering the Grand Line from the four seas via Reverse Mountain, whether good or bad, will receive medical help within his capabilities if they're injured... Hey... are you two still alive?"
Seeing no movement from the two, Rayleigh stepped forward to check. Finding they still had pulses, he sat on the deck alone to rest for a while and sheathed his sword.
After an unknown amount of time, the small boat began to rock violently.
He woke up with a start and looked at the weather outside the cabin; a storm had arrived, and the small boat was tossing in the heavy rain.
Stepping out of the cabin, Rayleigh stood at the front of the vessel, looking up at the behemoth ahead.
The towering Red Line stood against the sky, and the turbulent currents of Reverse Mountain's upstream flow dragged the boat toward the canal like a giant beast.
"This is bad...!" Although his sailing experience wasn't great, he could sense the immediate crisis.
If the boat were dragged by the rushing currents into the jagged rocks of the Red Line and destroyed, he, Roger, and Rune would all be finished!
Rayleigh exhausted his last bit of strength to run to the helm and steer the small boat through the Reverse Mountain canal. Finally, he docked the boat at the coast of the Twin Capes Lighthouse. Like Roger and Rune, he ran out of strength and fell unconscious.
Having experienced such an intense battle for the first time, he truly couldn't hold on any longer.
At the Twin Capes Lighthouse in the early morning, the keeper noticed movement on the coast and used a powerful searchlight to illuminate the shore.
"A boat?"
The Twin Capes keeper wore a floral shirt, shorts, and high-top shoes, with a cockscomb-like hair decoration on his head.
After yesterday's battle, Rayleigh's boat was covered in bullet holes and shrapnel from cannonballs on the cabin walls.
Overall, it was extremely damaged.
The keeper was named Crocus. He came from the lighthouse to the shore, holding an oil lamp to inspect the small houseboat docked there.
The outer deck was covered in debris left over from explosions, and the gunwale on the side facing the shore was full of cracks.
He climbed onto the small boat and held up his lamp to check the canvas used for predicting wind direction. Finding it was just a plain white cloth, he lowered his guard slightly.
Coming to the cabin door, he looked inside through the porthole and saw three men: two lying together and one leaning behind the door with a sword; none of them were moving.
As Crocus stepped forward to open the cabin door and check the situation, he felt a sticky sensation under his feet.
He looked down and saw thick blood coagulated in the gap under the cabin door.
"Injured people...!" Crocus, who had studied medicine since childhood, immediately realized someone was hurt. Ignoring everything else, he shoved the cabin door open and walked in.
The motionless Rayleigh slumped into the corner behind the door due to his intrusion.
Opening the cabin door, he saw several men who looked like they had been through a fierce battle, lying inside with severe injuries.
He checked each of them, found they still had pulses, and quickly ran back to the lighthouse to get medical equipment to treat them.
This was the first time he had seen people so severely injured; he couldn't help but admire their tenacious vitality.
After providing medical aid, Crocus left the boat with his medical kit, not caring whether they would be grateful when they woke up.
Living in this world, the most important thing was to be true to oneself and do things that left one with a clear conscience and no regrets.
He had no interest in being a wandering healer; he simply provided help when he encountered someone by chance, seeking no reward.
"Hah~!" After returning to the lighthouse, Crocus went straight to bed, stretched, and went back to sleep... At dawn, the Loguetown Marine rescue team towed four heavily damaged small warships back from the sea.
Zephyr lay on a rescue stretcher and was carried into the Loguetown Hospital by Marine Soldiers.
Sengoku and Garp were covered in bruises and cuts. Garp stood on the pier with a bandage wrapped around his face, his nose bridge having been punched crooked.
The only one not wounded was Tsuru, though she was also wrapped in bandages due to torn muscle tissue.
"I will report to headquarters and give them a reasonable bounty amount. Let them get caught up in the infighting between pirates."
Sengoku gently touched his swollen eye socket, the pain making him hiss, and added:
"I need military merits to climb the ranks! I can't stay at this rank and fool around with you forever!"
"Then let's hold the meeting here! I'm going out to sea to hunt them down." Garp felt a bit unwilling, but since Roger and the others were determined, he would let them be.
From now on, besides carrying the burden of 'Justice', he had another goal in his heart: to capture Roger and his crew on the great seas!
"Zephyr is quite badly hurt. That hothead pushed himself too hard against Rune!"
Tsuru's gun was broken in two. She stood on the pier looking somewhat disheveled, watching the dawn on the sea horizon:
"With Roger and Rune's strength, they'll surely make a name for themselves among pirates soon, won't they?"
Sengoku walked toward the Marine Base in town and said, "Garp, four warships were destroyed. This time, even you won't be able to suppress the situation!"
"I just didn't want him to become a pirate! I never intended to make things easy for that guy!" Garp roared:
"Why do you always think I'm favoring them?! If you keep being so prejudiced against me, watch out or I'll take you down, Sengoku!"
"Then bring it on! Let's have another fight! You hot-blooded brute!" Hearing Garp's words, Sengoku's anger flared, and his usual serious demeanor vanished instantly.
Morning, Twin Capes Lighthouse coast.
Inside Rayleigh's small boat, Roger woke up on the cabin floor with his whole body aching, blearily opening his eyes.
"Ugh... it hurts..." Roger's expression was miserable to the extreme; the pain all over his body made him very uncomfortable.
Just as he was about to touch the swollen areas, he realized his entire body was wrapped in bandages.
"Who did this? Bandaged me up?" Roger looked over in confusion. Rune, who was snoring loudly in his sleep nearby, was the same—covered in bandages.
"Is it Rayleigh? What a great guy!" Thinking Rayleigh had done it, Roger slapped Rune:
"Wake up, Rune. Why are you still sleeping?"
Rune was woken up by Roger as usual. Just as he tried to sit up abruptly, the pain throughout his body made him groan.
"So much pain! Is it time to eat?"
"Pain my ass! I had two more teeth knocked out than you did!"
Hearing this, Rune was immediately displeased. He endured the pain to stand up, his face pale as he pointed to his mouth.
"Nonsense! I'm clearly the one who had more teeth knocked out!"
Two grown men with missing teeth were competing over this in the cabin.
When Rayleigh returned from the lighthouse after thanking Crocus for the rescue, he saw the two of them each pointing at their own teeth and comparing, as if it were something glorious.
"What are you doing?" As usual, he looked at the two of them as if they were idiots.
Seeing Rayleigh, Roger quickly shut his mouth and gave Rune a disdainful glare.
Rune also froze on the spot, closed his mouth, adjusted his image, and pretended to be busy.
(¯―¯٥)... Rayleigh stared at the two speechlessly, feeling a great deal of pressure.
They were indeed capable hands in battle, but in daily life, they felt like two big trouble-makers.
"Oh, right, thank you, Rayleigh! For bandaging our wounds!" Roger thanked him loudly.
"I wasn't the one who bandaged you!" Rayleigh stood outside the cabin, pointing at the lighthouse in the distance:
"It was the lighthouse keeper here who bandaged you and me."
"Then... then we must go and thank him properly!" Rune covered his mouth and stood up to walk out of the cabin.
"Are we already at Twin Capes?!" Roger was startled and also stood up to walk out.
"That's right, we've entered the Grand Line." Rayleigh responded to Roger's question:
"If we want to set sail now, we face several problems."
Rune's gaze was locked onto the ten-thousand-meter-high Red Line before him. He couldn't see the top, and it truly shocked his heart.
This was the first time he had seen the Red Line, a terrifying red wall that was more than just a spectacle.
Roger, on the other hand, looked at the distant lighthouse, laughing and waving to Crocus on the lighthouse, shouting:
"Thank you for treating us! What's your name! Do you want to come with us and overturn the world!"
"Hahaha!" Crocus chuckled but didn't respond directly. Many people had invited him, and he always brushed it off as a joke.
"You two, listen to me!" Seeing the two acting so carelessly and not realizing their current situation, Rayleigh grabbed them both by the collar.
Rune and Roger opened their gap-toothed mouths and stared at Rayleigh in shock. They were about the same height, both a good head taller than Rayleigh.
"Listen! First, the weather in the Grand Line is extremely strange and unpredictable! We now need a navigator partner who can observe the weather!" Rayleigh suggested to Roger and Rune:
"Otherwise, before we can overturn the world, we'll be feeding the sea kings!"
"No!" Roger refused with an unwilling face: "We have to find a musician first! How can we be pirates without a joyful banquet?"
"You're both wrong!" Rune immediately retorted: "The next partner we recruit must be a chef! My stomach can't be empty!"
"A musician! I'm the Captain! I have the final say!" Roger roared at Rune.
"You can't eat music! It must be a chef!!" Rune was equally dismissive, pressing his forehead against Roger's in a contest of wills.
"You want to fight, Rune?!"
"If we fight, we fight! If I win, we recruit a chef first!"
"Fine! If I win, we have to go find a musician! We need to have a banquet!"
"How can you have a banquet without a chef!"
"It's no good without a musician either!"
Amidst their arguing, they raised their fists and punched each other's faces, blow for blow, neither backing down!
Rayleigh's face turned livid with anger, his blood pressure soaring instantly. He abruptly gave each of them a punch:
"You two idiots! That's enough!!!"
With large bumps on their heads, the two sat on the deck with their arms crossed, their faces full of stubbornness.
"First, we must find a navigator. My navigation skills are only enough for the four seas; in the first half of the Grand Line, we won't move an inch without a navigator."
"Oh..."
"Hmph..."
Rayleigh looked at the two stubborn mules impatiently and continued:
"Secondly, the boat. I checked it after I woke up this morning, and the situation is a bit unstable. It might not last much longer!"