Chapter 112: Dragoon Squadron?
Early morning on the third day, at the dock on the west side of Fenrir Island.
The sky on the horizon was just barely brightening, and the earliest batch of vendors hadn’t set up their stalls yet.
“Ha~ Ah~~”
A listless Aoxi was rubbing her eyes, her whole demeanor completely that of someone who hadn’t woken up yet.
And in front of her, Sister La was half-bent over, doing the final adjustments to her outfit.
“Sister La, is it really necessary to drag me up this early?”
“Ah~~ I’m so sleepy~”
“After all, this is considered a confidential mission, so it needs to be a bit more secretive.”
“Lift your neck a bit.”
Hearing this, Aoxi obediently tilted her head back and continued asking:
“Has Wright and them arrived? I’m not the first one here, am I?”
Fixing the originally crooked buttons and folding down the half-upright collar, Sister La pacified Aoxi’s wildly disheveled hair while answering:
“Wright and them arrived long ago; they’re in the cabin inventorying supplies right now.”
“According to his intention, if not for worrying you really couldn’t get up, they had planned to set off in the middle of the night.”
“Hehe~”
Hearing that she was the one holding things back, Aoxi stuck out her tongue embarrassedly.
“Alright.”
Tightening Aoxi’s shoelaces, and after finally getting the little one in front of her dressed properly, Sister La straightened up and gave her final instructions:
“Though I agreed to let you go on this action, you must listen to Wright and them on the road.”
“Although your strength surpasses theirs, every trade has its mastery; they have more experience with matters at sea.”
Reaching out to pat the other’s little head, Sister La instructed in a gentle yet serious tone:
“Got it?”
“Mmm~ Got it, I know!”
Aoxi shook her head, messing up the hair that had just been combed neatly, and a stubborn red cowlick stood up again.
“By the way, who knows where that Obei has been these past few days; she didn’t even come to see me off.”
“Does she even have her second sister in her eyes anymore!”
Ever since Obei took over the research department, she was either mixing with the original weapon maintenance pirates within the organization or holed up in bookstores in the market streets all day.
As a result, Aoxi had been monopolizing the entire big quilt by herself these past few days, all alone.
Though it was refreshing at first—rolling around on the bed without anyone to mind her—Aoxi later found herself unaccustomed to not having anything to hug while sleeping.
“Sister La, I’m not badmouthing her, but if Obei dares ignore me today, she’ll dare ignore you tomorrow!”
“We can’t let her keep going like this; we must take advantage of my absence to properly educate her!”
Finally catching an opportunity, Aoxi began fiercely badmouthing Obei behind her back.
This was the unbreakable bond between the two; you could always safely entrust your front to Aoxi!
“Obei is already on the ship.”
Listening to Aoxi’s words full of selfish motives, Sister La neither confirmed nor denied it, merely pointing to the small boat behind her.
“Ah?!”
Aoxi was completely dumbfounded; she hadn’t heard that her cheap little sister, whom she hadn’t seen for days, was coming along too…
“Because that log seems to record some interesting hot weapons.”
Sister La explained.
“Obei has already read all the books on weapons on the island these past few days, so she’s taking this chance to examine those weapons of different styles.”
“Oh, oh, so that’s how it is~ Haha~”
But compared to why Obei was on the ship, Aoxi was actually more concerned whether her earlier wave of backstabbing had been overheard.
That little girl was quite the grudge-holder, after all!
Waving goodbye to Sister La, Aoxi turned and entered the cabin with a uneasy heart.
……
“There are still some disputes about the route right now; you can chat a bit longer.” Just as she entered the cabin, Wright’s voice came over.
He was sitting on a wine barrel right now, gesturing over the sea chart with Wright and another navigator.
Meanwhile, Obei was sitting alone in the corner, flipping through the navigational log of their destination that Sister La had translated.
She was reading very intently; even hearing Aoxi come in, she didn’t look up, as if there was something extremely captivating on it.
Aoxi quietly glanced at Obei and breathed a slight sigh of relief upon seeing her absorbed in study.
“Route? What route?”
With her unease slightly eased, Aoxi’s first words exposed her complete ignorance of navigation knowledge.
“This voyage is unlike before; it requires crossing more than half of the Grand Line, so the stopover islands along the way and resupply must be carefully planned.”
“There’s also the issue of the recording pointers; our destination is in the first half of the Grand Line, and we don’t have the relevant recording pointers on hand, so we need to purchase them elsewhere.”
“Oh, oh.”
Aoxi nodded as if she understood, though previously she had only been responsible for boarding the ship and getting off at the destination.
Now she realized there were so many things to watch out for during sea voyages.
“By the way, what controversy were you talking about earlier?”
“Ah, it’s like this.”
Wright stood up to explain at this point:
“My opinion and the navigator’s is to take the conventional route. First get coated, pass through Fish-Man Island under the Red Line, then start from Sabaody Archipelago and go in reverse to reach our destination, Gaya Island.”
“Mm~” Aoxi nodded pretentiously.
“And you, Wright? What’s your idea?”
Wright looked at the sea chart in front of him, his gaze sweeping over that continuous route before finally settling on the Red Line spanning the center.
“This route is too risky; not to mention Fish-Man Island is now Whitebeard’s territory—whether he’d let us pass so easily.”
“Just Sabaody alone is a key focus of the Navy, and it’s quite close to Navy Headquarters; once we stir up trouble, it’ll be very problematic.”
Sabaody at this time hadn’t yet undergone the impact of the Great Pirate Era, with most of its areas still under the control of the Navy and World Government.
After all, it was almost the essential path to enter the “New World,” and many Celestial Dragons’ first stop when “descending to the lower realm” for play was often there; the Navy and World Government couldn’t possibly neglect it.
Those Celestial Dragons were trouble-making machines, wreaking havoc wherever they went.
For high-risk people like Wright and Aoxi, it was basically a duel the moment their lines of sight met.
“Oh~ So that’s how it is.”
This time Aoxi really understood; though she was somewhat interested in the so-called “Fish-Man Island” and wanted to see if the people there all had half-fish heads like Burufaruto…
『But safety is still the most important, after all; Sister La said this is a secret action, so better not stir up trouble.』
“So what’s your plan, Wright?”
“My method is simple: sail to the base of the Red Line first, then I’ll just fly you all over.”
“Ooh~ Indeed very simple.”
Aoxi clapped her palm, thinking this plan was quite good.
Meanwhile, Wright and the navigator nearby were already screaming shrilly in their hearts.
『Where is it simple?! That’s the Red Line!』
“Th-that, Miss Aoxi. Just to ask, do you know how high the Red Line is?”
“No idea?”
Aoxi looked completely baffled; it wasn’t like the human-mountain-separating, auto-exploding-at-ten-meters Mount Everest—why would she know.
Wright had an “as expected” expression.
“Let me tell you, the Red Line is over ten thousand meters high; if you accidentally fall, then…”
“Pa!”
As a demonstration, a fly was mercilessly swatted onto the table by Wright, turning two-dimensional from then on.
“Eww~ So gross!”
Aoxi disgustedly stepped back two paces, shielding Wright behind her amid his hurt look.
“Cough! A-anyway, it’s extremely dangerous.”
Wright dry-coughed, saying awkwardly.
Wright, however, remained unconcerned.
“Fish-Man Island ten thousand meters underwater is equally dangerous; coating isn’t 100% reliable.”
If the coating broke midway during descent, as an ability user, he wouldn’t even be able to save others—flapping twice before dying would be impressive.
“Anyway, it’s decided.”
No more wasting time, Wright directly used his executive power to settle the matter.
Wright and the others were helpless; glancing at Obei in the corner who had no intention of getting involved, they could only turn their gazes to Aoxi, who was secretly tugging at Wright’s feathers from behind, hoping this executive would say something.
“Hehe~”
Under everyone’s gaze, Aoxi sheepishly withdrew her not-so-clean little hand.
“Oh come on~ Don’t worry. Boss Kaido flew me over once before; not much danger, and the process was quite fun~”
『Plus the chance to ride on this guy.』
『Hmph~ For dragging this young master into work these past days, this time obediently be my under-mount steed~』
『Kiekiekiekie!』
Imagining that wonderful scene, Aoxi couldn’t help humming lightly~
“The horse-taming man, mighty and majestic~ The galloping steed…”
Humming a tune no one else understood, Aoxi left the cabin with hands behind her back, swaying side to side.
