After leaving Egghead Island behind, the Black Star seemed to have sailed directly into a hornet's nest, constantly being harassed by various pirate crews who appeared from seemingly nowhere.
These pirates were clearly backed by powerful organizations. Although they were obviously intimidated by Jerry and his crew's reputation, they all understood that if they didn't attack now, they would never have another opportunity to claim the legendary treasure.
"These flies are getting really annoying," Cavendish complained, lounging back in his deck chair and casually waving his hand. Several bolts of crackling lightning shot forth, directly striking the pirate ships that were foolishly charging toward them, clearing away the obstacles in an instant with spectacular explosions.
Brook calmly sipped the milk from his glass, completely unfazed by the violence. "At least there are fewer of them now than before, yohohoho."
"Oh yeah! Of course they're not completely suicidal," Skull chimed in with a laugh, setting down the intelligence reports he'd been reviewing.
"The pirates we've encountered over the past two days include forces connected to several emperors of the underworld, plus some completely unknown groups," Deuce observed thoughtfully, looking through the information he and Skull had compiled together. "But overall, they're more of a nuisance than a genuine threat."
Carina looked up at Carrot, who was moving around the deck with a telescope in hand, scanning the horizon for threats. "I think someone must be leaking our whereabouts," she said with obvious suspicion. "Otherwise, the ocean is so vast that it would be impossible for all these different forces to intercept us by pure coincidence."
"The Revolutionary Army?" Ace guessed calmly, picking his nose with characteristic casualness.
Deuce shook his head with certainty. "Can't be them. Giving away our position wouldn't benefit the Revolutionary Army in any way. I think the most likely culprit is the World Government. They have CP organization members who've been infiltrating various criminal organizations for years. They have both the motivation and the capability to orchestrate something like this."
As he spoke, Deuce picked up a piece of fruit from the nearby table and turned to throw it at Jerry, who was concentrating intently on watching his fishing line for any sign of movement. "Hey, look out for the banana!"
Jerry seemed to have developed supernatural peripheral vision. Without even turning his head, he reached out and caught the banana that had been aimed at the back of his skull. He peeled it efficiently and swallowed it in one bite, then turned around with mild curiosity. "What's that about?"
"Have you been rejecting all the calls from that old spider?" Deuce asked with meaningful emphasis.
Jerry glanced over at Kotatsu, who was currently sleeping peacefully in a sunny spot on the deck, and shrugged with obvious evasion. "I haven't been rejecting anything. I haven't even been answering the calls. This is entirely Kotatsu's fault for poor signal management."
"You're the one who told Kotatsu to pretend the signal was bad!" Skull exposed him mercilessly.
Jerry continued his shameless blame-shifting with the expression of someone completely immune to criticism. "Hey, it's perfectly normal to have poor signal reception in the vast waters of the New World, right? This kind of communication infrastructure should obviously be handled by the relevant departments of the World Government."
He waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. As long as we don't reach any agreement, that old spider won't dare act recklessly against our friends."
Jerry's expression grew more serious. "Besides, we can't just dance to whatever tune he plays. We need to maintain the initiative in this situation."
Hearing this strategic assessment, everyone looked at him with renewed curiosity. Deuce asked directly, "So how exactly do we take the initiative?"
Jerry smiled with mysterious confidence. "Guess!"
Everyone was immediately annoyed and responded in perfect unison: "Get lost!"
"Well, since we've determined that someone is probably secretly leaking our whereabouts to attract troublemakers and slow down our progress," Jerry concluded with renewed focus, "let's try a different approach for now."
He called Carrot back from her lookout duties and maneuvered the Black Nova to dive beneath the ocean's surface, clearly attempting to avoid unnecessary confrontations by traveling underwater.
At noon that day, the sky was brilliantly clear and the air felt refreshingly clean. Under the warm sunshine, the sea surface gleamed like molten gold while gentle ocean breezes created the perfect atmosphere for relaxation.
The Black Nova emerged from the depths and floated peacefully on the calm waters.
"Is it lunchtime yet?" someone called out hopefully.
"Yes, Big Brother Ace!" Carrot replied with enthusiasm. "Big Brother Jerry said that if we stayed underwater too long, he might turn into a merman, so he decided we should surface during meal times to see proper sunlight."
"Oh yeah! To put it bluntly, it's because he wants to fish on the surface instead of underwater," Skull added with knowing amusement.
Everyone was chatting casually as they made their way toward the dining room one by one. However, Deuce paused to scan the surrounding waters carefully, his eyes searching the distant horizon. "Think anyone's going to show up and attack us while we're eating?" he wondered aloud.
"Hey, Deuce, stop being so pessimistic!" Ace protested, raising his hand to slap Deuce on the shoulder before running ahead. "Can't you let me eat in peace for once?"
A few minutes later, in the dining room, Carrot was enthusiastically enjoying her delicious meal when she glanced up with sudden realization.
"Eh? Isn't Big Brother Jerry coming to eat?"
Carina waved her hand dismissively in response. "Don't bother worrying about him. He's completely obsessed with fishing right now and keeps insisting he needs to catch something before he'll consider eating."
When the crew heard this explanation, no one seemed particularly surprised, since this had become a fairly common occurrence during their voyages.
On deck, Jerry stared at his motionless fishing float with the intense focus of a marble sculpture, his body perfectly still as he waited for any sign of aquatic life.
Suddenly, a sharp light flashed in his eyes and his right hand gripped the fishing rod more tightly as he muttered to himself, "Let me see what kind of fish has the audacity to mess with my bait."
Before he finished speaking, Jerry suddenly jerked the fishing rod upward, drawing a perfect arc toward the deck behind him.
A dark shadow broke through the water's surface, following his fishing line's trajectory, and crashed onto the deck with a heavy thud that echoed across the ship.
Jerry looked down at the bizarre creature before him—something with an enormously oversized head and a disproportionately small body. He remained silent for several seconds before speaking hesitantly. "Is this some kind of big-head carp that's native to these waters? I wonder if Ace would be willing to eat it?"
"Bastard! You're the big-head fish! Your whole family are big-heads!" the strange creature shouted furiously, covering his massive cranium as he rolled over in obvious pain.
He struggled continuously but couldn't free himself from the fishing line that had somehow become wrapped around his entire body.
"Oh, so you're a big-headed person?" Jerry observed with characteristic calm, facing the stranger's angry glare without concern. "I didn't realize you not only have an oversized head, but also oversized courage packed into that tiny body of yours."
"If you mention my big head one more time, I'll fight you!" the large-headed man threatened, somersaulting repeatedly as he tried to right himself, but his efforts proved completely futile.
The commotion quickly attracted attention from everyone in the dining room, and within seconds Deuce and the others filed out to investigate.
Ace emerged holding portions of food in both hands, chewing enthusiastically as he asked through a mouthful, "Jerry, what's going on out here?"
"Oh, this big-headed fellow just swam over disguised as some kind of large fish, apparently trying to sabotage the Black Nova," Jerry explained briefly and clearly, then turned his attention back to his captive. Ignoring the man's increasingly furious expression, he asked with genuine curiosity:
"Alright, Big Head, tell me something—where exactly do you get the nerve to provoke us and actually dream of drilling holes through our ship?"
"Damn bratty pirates!" the big-headed man declared with a fearless expression, glaring defiantly at the assembled crew. "The title of Pirate King belongs to my boss! I'm just here to teach you kids a lesson on his behalf! If you know what's good for you, hand over that Laugh Tale pointer right now!"
Deuce and the others exchanged meaningful glances before Jerry's curious voice cut through their silent communication. "So tell me, Big Head—who exactly is this boss of yours?"
"Hmph!" The big-headed man snorted first with obvious pride, then his eyes flashed with genuine reverence as he spoke with solemn conviction. "Of course my boss is Red-Haired Shanks, one of the Four Emperors!"
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