Chapter 175: Dragon Raises Head
The first month after the New Year always slips away quietly before people notice.
It’s already the second day of February now.
Though it’s Dragon Raises Head on the second day of the second month, it means nothing here.
After all, this world’s calendar isn’t the lunar calendar, and the starry sky overhead is vastly different from Earth’s. You can’t see the Horn Mansion rising in the east, so there’s no such thing as Dragon Raises Head.
However, as a substitute, our Aoxi is smiling and tilting her head up to greet everyone she meets today… This has left the pirate crew members utterly confused, with many guessing if she slept awkwardly and got a crick in her neck last night.
“Hey Aoxi, what’s up with you today? Is your neck uncomfortable?”
Burufaruto watched Aoxi bobbing her head up and down like a roly-poly toy and asked with some concern.
He was currently teaching a group of children Fish-Man Karate.
“It’s nothing, today’s a special day. I’m sharing some good luck with you all.”
“By the way, who are these children?”
Little Brat Aoxi clasped her small hands behind her back and asked in an old-mannered tone, looking just like a superior leader on an inspection tour.
The children she referred to appeared somewhat discrepant in age; the older ones were around fifteen or sixteen, while the younger ones were about her size.
At a glance, all these children looked a bit skinny, clearly not getting enough nutrition usually.
However, what Aoxi wanted to ask about obviously wasn’t that. Compared to their age and nutritional status, this group’s appearance was far more striking.
They were a group of Fish-Men, genuine Fish-Man Island Fish-Men at that.
“Them…”
Burufaruto crossed his arms, looking at those Fish-Man children whose movements were somewhat deformed but who persisted diligently without stopping, and said with a smile:
“Didn’t I go back to Fish-Man Island before? These children are the ones I brought back from Fish-Man District.”
“They’re all orphans, with no one to rely on. I plan to teach them Fish-Man Karate so they can make a living here in the future.”
“I’ve already discussed this with Sister La, and she agreed to allocate some funds specifically for this.”
Looking at these skinny but stubbornly determined Fish-Man brats, Burufaruto seemed to see his former self.
Now that he’s made some name for himself in the New World, he wanted to pull these children out.
After all, staying in a place like Fish-Man District, even if they were lucky enough not to starve to death, they’d eventually be corrupted by that rotten environment.
It’s too hard for a child to escape there on their own power.
“So that day you were sneaking around to find Sister La for this?”
Reminded by Burufaruto, Aoxi recalled that this guy had indeed lingered awkwardly outside Sister La’s office for a while back then.
No helping it; if he went to Boss Kaido, he might not agree.
Spending money specifically to raise children? It didn’t sound like something a pirate crew should do.
This kind of long-term, high-cost investment with unknown returns didn’t match the pirate style of quick and easy actions at all.
After all, pirate crew members could be recruited anytime, right?
Why spend money raising their own when ready-made combat power was available? It didn’t make sense no matter how you looked at it.
At least from a pirate’s perspective, that was true.
But from Sister La’s standpoint, she had no reason to refuse the proposal.
In fact, when she was initially planning the internal department divisions of the pirate crew, she had deliberately set aside an Education Department for this purpose.
The Beasts Pirates were currently developing from an ordinary pirate crew into a national-level armed faction, so having their own talent cultivation system was crucial.
The existence of a talent nurturing department could ensure that a faction’s middle management received constant replenishment, and these homegrown talents had clear advantages in quality and loyalty compared to external recruits.
……
“Yeah, I was even trembling back then, afraid she wouldn’t agree… I didn’t expect Sister La to approve right away.”
“And with a wave of her hand, she made a rough guy like me, who barely knows any characters, the Minister of Education.”
Burufaruto smiled bitterly, not expecting the paper ball he tossed back then to hit him right between the eyes at this moment.
“But luckily, she found someone from the internal affairs group to be my first mate, saying they’d teach these kids to read and write together. This is really…”
Since they’d decided to cultivate their own talent, they naturally couldn’t neglect any aspect—both hands must grab, both hands must be strong.
“Heh~ Sister La isn’t as short-sighted as others.”
“Besides, even I can see the many benefits of this. Only a muscle-brained brute like Boss Kaido would find it troublesome and refuse.”
After these months of sparring, Aoxi had completely equated Kaido with muscle brute in her mind; once battle started, he went berserk and ignored everything.
Though Sister La said he was actually rough but meticulous, she hadn’t felt it at all. Lately, she’d only seen that wolf fang club thicker than her own people.
And just as Aoxi pursed her lips, preparing to continue tilting her head up and leave, that familiar laughter rang out again.
“Uro-ro-ro-ro! Little Brat Aoxi, I’ve been looking for you!”
“Looking for me for what? Sparring again?”
“Not sparring for now. After fighting you so long, even I’ve gotten a bit bored.”
“Heh~ same here. I’ve been bored for ages.”
Aoxi rolled her eyes.
After all, it wasn’t about grinding achievements; fighting the same BOSS over and over so many times, she was sick of it.
Now they didn’t even need Observation Haki; as soon as either raised a hand, they knew the other’s next move—the patterns were memorized.
“Alright, enough chit-chat.”
“I’m here to notify you that the old woman’s birthday is coming up soon. You can start preparing to set off.”
“Which old woman? What birthday?”
Aoxi didn’t react for a moment.
“That old woman Charlotte Linlin. Didn’t I say she put Whole Cake Island’s Founding Ceremony on the same day as her birthday?”
“Her birthday is only half a month away now. You can prepare to head to Totoo Land.”
“Huh? Going now? Isn’t that too early?”
Aoxi asked puzzledly. After all, judging by the sea chart, they could fly there in ten-odd minutes; no need to set off a full half month early.
“Not early. Though Sister La is taking you two, you can’t go without other escorts, and you still need to prepare gifts.”
This time, Aoxi had indeed oversimplified it. For such a major event as Whole Cake Island’s Founding Ceremony, no faction would just send one or two people empty-handed.
Though Big Mom was a pirate and didn’t have as many formalities as proper kingdoms, the basic delegation setup and gifts still needed proper arrangement.
Plus, they had to contact Whole Cake Island in advance before departure to arrange docking spots and accommodations.
“You can’t fly straight there this time. You have to properly bring your entourage and enter Whole Cake Island by ship.”
“Eh~ so troublesome~”
Hearing there was so much to do, Aoxi somewhat didn’t want to go.
“You don’t need to worry about these; your sister has already arranged everything. Just follow behind her.”
“Oh~”
Aoxi nodded.
“But if Sister La has already arranged everything, why are you looking for me? Just to tell me?”
“Heh heh~ of course not. I’m looking for you to give you a task.”
Kaido suddenly grinned mysteriously, then pulled Aoxi aside and started whispering something to her.
