Chapter 155: Returning To The Nest
“So, is this the reason you’ve been so insistent on provoking Whitebeard?”
“……Yes.”
Kaido stared blankly at the sea surface, answering honestly.
“Eek~ That sounds a bit like dying for face, huh~ Boss Kaido.”
Aoxi said with some disdain.
“It’s not ‘a bit like’—this is exactly dying for face.”
“That’s why he’s ‘suffering alive’ right now.”
Obei’s words were as direct as ever, showing no mercy.
“Pfft~”
“Haha~ That sounds so lame.”
Aoxi glanced at Kaido who was now “flying” in the air and couldn’t help laughing out loud.
The two sisters’ back-and-forth made Kaido feel even more like life was unbearable.
How to put it… Kaido’s current posture was not the Azure Dragon Mythical Beast form he had when he just left Pickle Island, but had reverted to human form.
As for why he’s still flying in human form?
“La, can you let me go now?”
“No, your injuries haven’t been fully healed yet, and it still needs some time.”
“Then, can we change positions?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary. After all, we’ll arrive in a bit.”
“But right now like this…”
“Could you please not be as willful as Aoxi, Captain Kaido?”
La directly interrupted Kaido’s words and continued carrying him by one horn, flying in the sky like dragging a super huge salted fish.
……
Time went back to not long ago. After forcefully throwing those cool words at Whitebeard and leaving dashingly, Kaido passed out directly in the sky due to his severe injuries not long after.
After all, Whitebeard’s strike really didn’t hold back.
Fortunately, La, who had anticipated this, grabbed one of his horns in advance, so Kaido didn’t fall directly into the sea.
After that, La simply continued flying back while dragging him, and also treated his injuries along the way.
The injuries Kaido suffered this time were far from as simple as they appeared on the surface—shattered sternum, internal organ rupture, damaged spine…
This was no longer something that could be healed by sleeping it off with the recovery power of a Mythical Zoan. Even with Kaido’s constitution, it would require surgery and recuperation on a monthly scale.
But fortunately, now there’s La.
Pale golden flames flowed like water from La’s palm along Kaido’s horn all the way to his chest.
These flames weren’t hot; on the contrary, Kaido felt a warm and comfortable sensation like soaking in a hot spring at his burning chest.
The flames containing incredible power repaired Kaido’s damaged body as if time was flowing backward.
“I didn’t expect you to have this trick up your sleeve… La, I feel like you know how to do everything.”
“It’s not that I know everything; I only know what I know.”
“You’re saying those nonsensical things again.”
Feeling his bodily functions rapidly recovering, Kaido stopped struggling and relaxed his limbs, obediently being carried back to Fenrir Island.
……
“Ouch! You guys are finally back!”
At Fenrir Island’s cargo dock, Burufaruto, who had been waiting early, happily waved to the group that hadn’t docked yet.
Kaido, who had strongly demanded that La put him down before arriving, saw Burufaruto waiting here with a full smile on his face and gave up on the idea of causing him trouble.
After all, the leak was an act of God, and leaving him alone to face La was really asking too much.
In short, the magnanimous Governor Kaido generously decided to let go of the ‘minor matter’ of ‘sneaking out alone, getting defeated, and causing the island’s best liquor to be completely lost.’
“Haha~ Burufaruto, you’re here so early…”
And just as he was about to pat Burufaruto’s shoulder to show encouragement…
“Quick, let me see if you got hurt this time?”
Burufaruto passed right by Kaido and went straight to squat in front of Aoxi and Obei.
“Yo~ Uncle, long time no see. Did you miss me?”
“Haha! Of course!”
“Without you brat chattering beside me, I didn’t even have the energy to go out to sea and rob.”
“Quick, tell me what you did this time. I heard from La that you actually fought Whitebeard—nothing happened to you, right?”
“Hey! Speaking of that, I’m not sleepy anymore! Let me tell you…”
The big and small pair walked and chatted, as if forgetting everyone else.
Kaido: “…”
Fine, go ahead. Anyway, there are still others.
“La, you…”
“Big Sister, let’s go too.”
Obei took La’s hand and also left Kaido’s side. She wanted to chat in detail with La about what she saw and heard this time, as well as her confusion about her ability awakening.
Kaido: “…”
“Mr. Kaido, let’s go to the meeting hall. I’ll tell you about the ‘Golden Land.'”
Seeing Kaido’s somewhat desolate back, Emu, who had followed him the longest, spoke up at the right moment.
“And Wright, you come too.”
“Ah, yeah. Okay.”
……
“Smack smack smack~”
“Oh?”
“Smack smack smack~”
“Mm…”
“Smack smack smack~”
“Ah?!”
In the canteen, Aoxi was stuffing food into her mouth while telling Burufaruto everything that happened on this trip.
Although her mouth was stuffed full, making it impossible for Aoxi to say a single word clearly, Burufaruto across from her nodded frequently as if understanding.
Back when he was making a living in the Fish-Man District, it was the same—he would stuff any bit of food he found straight into his mouth, afraid it would be snatched by other Fish-Men.
So he was very familiar with this kind of pronunciation with a mouth full of food.
“You really found the Golden Land?!”
“Shh—!”
Hearing Burufaruto speak so loudly, Aoxi nervously covered his mouth and looked around tensely.
Only after discovering that it wasn’t mealtime and there was no one else in the canteen did she relax.
“Keep your voice down! Sister La said this is confidential and can’t be known by too many people for now.”
Since ancient times, wealth moves hearts. Even the long-tested people ‘ahem~’ have moments when they can’t resist trying a red bean mooncake, let alone pirates.
Who wouldn’t want to try a pure gold-filled mooncake?
So to maintain internal stability, the matter of the Golden Land is strictly forbidden from leaking casually.
Even the navigator and ship doctor who went along this time were directly assigned to Emu as his direct subordinates.
“So that legendary ‘Shandora’ is really full of gold everywhere?”
Burufaruto then leaned his head close and asked quietly.
“Not that exaggerated. Probably about the size of that small room next to our warehouse, enough to fill maybe fifty rooms or so~”
“Gold from fifty-plus rooms?!”
“Isn’t that TM a golden city?!”
“Pretty much. By the way, those guys really gold-plated the surface of an entire city~”
“But since there was too much, we were too lazy to bring it back. Sister La should have a way.”
Transporting gold out of the Sky Island isn’t actually simple—after all, Shandora and Fenrir are separated by the Red Line.
If using ships, the cost would be astronomical.
Moreover, just safely delivering the ship to the Sky Island would require a flying executive to handle it personally. Anyway, it’s impossible to use that Skyward Sea Current as a skyrocketing monkey again.
“La? What could she do?”
“Dunno. Anyway, Sister La said she’ll go there herself later.”
