Chapter 177: Gift
On the deck of the Oro Jackson, the two little ones with red hair and Red Nose were looking at their own sniper fiddling with the firearm in his hand with faces full of novelty.
Swish—
Click!
Swish—
Click!
The cylinder was constantly flung out, spun, then flung back… every step accompanied by the clacking sound of the mechanical structure operating, quite fascinating.
“Hahaha! What a cool pistol~ Peteru!”
“Let me play with it too.”
The two little ones who had been staring were just about to open their mouths when Captain Roger first asked for it from the other party.
“Here. But be careful handling it, Captain Roger.”
“This new-style revolver pistol isn’t easy to buy on the market. I was lucky to get my hands on this one.”
The somewhat portly sniper Peteru, wearing a noble hat, reluctantly handed the revolver pistol in his hand to Roger.
“Got it, got it~”
“Hmm~ Such a bright silver sheen! It suits you quite well, Rayleigh.”
Roger took the revolver, admiring it carefully in his hand while clicking his tongue in wonder.
“How about it, you get one too later?”
“Haha, if there’s a chance.”
Rayleigh glanced at the pistol gleaming silver under the sun and liked it very much.
The whole gun looked both exquisite and simple, without the intricate decorative gold patterns like some nobles’ flintlock guns; the lines of the entire gun appeared very clean and neat.
The gun body and barrel were also spotlessly clean, with a square mark visible on the end of the grip only when turned to a specific angle.
“Beasts Heavy Industry…”
“Copyright owned, counterfeits will be pursued.”
“Beasts…”
Bang!
Roger tried firing a shot, directly hitting a seabird in the distance.
“Oh~ Quite a nice feel, and no smoke, no strong gunpowder smell either.”
“Truly an elegant and considerate lady…”
Swish—
Mimicking Peteru by flinging out the cylinder, Roger took out the spent casings and examined the cylindrical structure so different from traditional lead bullets, as well as the tiny engraving at the base.
“Alright, decided!”
“I’ll get one just like this later as my sidearm.”
“Hmm… for the name, let’s call it ‘An’!”
Having made this decision, Roger returned the gun to Peteru under the gaze of the two little ones, then spoke of the main matter:
“Speaking of which, the date Big Mom wrote on the invitation is coming up soon. It’s about time for you all to set off, right?”
“Yeah.”
Rayleigh nodded:
“When the time comes, Captain, you can drop us off directly in the outer sea area of Totland. I’ll see if I can hitch a ride on someone else’s ship.”
After all, the Roger Pirates only had the Oro Jackson as their ship; they couldn’t just boldly sail it into someone else’s core territory, or it would be declaring war.
“Yeah.”
“Then have fun.”
Roger nodded, then shouted to the somewhat dozing helmsman:
“Rowen, turn the ship around! We’re heading to Totland!”
“Huh? …Ah, oh.”
…
Fenrir Island—
“Sister La, when are we setting off?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
In the backyard, La was steaming rice.
On the harvested rice field, an artificial dirt stove had a huge black pot set on it, filled with clean white rice grains.
The glistening rice grains were like tiny shattered pearls, emanating a hazy white glow.
Even covered with a lid, the rich grain fragrance made the nearby Aoxi feel a bit dizzy.
After all, having been specially favored by the Sun God since the rice era, the quality of this rice naturally surpassed ordinary goods.
“Smells so good~”
“Sister La, are we having rice tonight?”
Aoxi squatted by the stove, watching the flames igniting spontaneously under the pot, her head antenna swaying left and right with the bubbling sounds from inside the pot.
“That’s right. There’s still a lot of rice left from the harvest before the new year, so I figured to eat it up while it’s fresh.”
“But isn’t this a bit too much? We three probably can’t finish such a huge pot, right?”
Aoxi looked at the pot over two meters wide and patted her little belly.
Can’t eat it all, no way we can eat it all~
“Didn’t say you have to finish it all.”
La explained:
“Aren’t we going to Big Mom’s Founding Ceremony?”
“I heard she loves sweets a lot, so I thought of making the rest into rice pudding as a souvenir.”
La still held a bit of interest in this trip to Whole Cake Island.
The Navy team had Zephyr, the Whitebeard Pirates had Teach; La was looking forward to seeing if the queen of Whole Cake Island also had gems of similar quality under her command.
“Hmm~ Souvenir…”
Aoxi nodded thoughtfully. If the “Sister Linlin” Kaido mentioned was as huge as him, then this huge pot of rice turned into pudding would probably just be snacks.
“By the way, what’s the real gift money we’re handing over this time?”
“Nothing much, just one cubic meter of gold.”
“Oh~”
Kaido’s gesture this time was undeniably grand; one cubic meter of gold weighed about nineteen tons, a huge sum for any faction.
But he just waved his hand and gave it out.
Though it might be partly to show off, it also showed he still remembered the care from “Sister Linlin” who looked after him back on Rocks’ ship.
Or perhaps it was prepaid compensation for beating up the other party’s son.
But Aoxi just went “oh” after hearing it, without much reaction.
After all, just one cubic meter? Compared to the gold they now had, it was merely the tip of a hair on nine oxen~
Having seen an entire Golden City, she was no longer interested in this kind of “small change.”
But if it were fifty thousand Belly kind of “huge sum,” she’d still happily compete fiercely with the likes of Obei.
…
Of course, not just Beasts Pirates and Roger Pirates.
As the Whole Cake Island Founding Ceremony approached, the entire New World and even the Grand Line began to take action.
On the Moby Dick, Whitebeard was watching his sons arguing red-faced over snatching spots to attend.
They weren’t interested in the Founding Ceremony itself; they learned from Whitebeard that Beasts Pirates people would be there too, so they were fighting to go settle the score.
After all, that recent humiliation was really hard for these proud young lads of the Whitebeard Pirates to swallow.
“Gurahaha! Waidi Bei, you take Marco, Jozu, and Vista with you on this trip.”
Seeing his sons’ stubborn eyes, Whitebeard ultimately agreed to their request.
This time was on Big Mom’s turf after all; that woman probably wouldn’t let things get too big at such an important occasion for her.
…
Ten thousand meters above the sea surface in high altitude, Shiki was interestedly looking at the invitation in his hand.
By now, his Pirate Crew had recovered from the big battle earlier this year, with even more ships in the fleet than back then.
“Xi hahaha! Building a country, huh? That woman Linlin really isn’t one to be trifled with.”
Since the Flying Pirates’ whereabouts were hard to track, the invitation reached them a bit later than other factions, but there was still enough time.
“Hainar, you go on this trip.”
“Check out that woman Linlin’s details for me.”
“Got it, Captain.”
…
Underworld—
As regular guests at Big Mom’s Tea Party before, these bosses controlling various resources in the world’s dark side were naturally very familiar with this.
“Boss, the ship is ready.”
“Mm, got it.”
“And the young master?”
“Young Master is already on board, waiting for you.”
…
“President, we’re about to reach Totland Sea Area.”
“Good, we should be among the earliest to arrive this time.”
A large bird wearing a tall top hat, looking like a giant albatross, was speaking human words, instructing his assistant on this mission.
“Have your men go ashore, bring the picture Den Den Mushi, and spread out—don’t miss any detail of the ceremony!”
“And the people from all the factions coming to the ceremony—don’t miss them either!”
“This Founding Ceremony will be my first big news since becoming president!”
“Yahaha!”
“Don’t worry, President.”
