At night, Chu Yang was training alone on the deck. After a while, a figure emerged from the cabin and came to his side.
"Why didn't you accept Brother Tiger's invitation?" Jinbe asked, looking at Chu Yang with confusion. He had thought that after going through so many battles together, they had already become true companions.
Chu Yang stopped his movements and slowly sat down. "If it were the Tiger who planned to travel the world freely like before, I would have joined him without hesitation. But now, all of his energy is devoted to freeing slaves. That's his ideal—not mine."
Jinbe fell silent. Indeed, as Chu Yang said, everyone had different ideals. Using one's own ideals to bind another person's freedom—no matter how noble or just those ideals might be—was that really right?
After a long moment of thought, Jinbe let out a deep sigh toward the sky, his face full of regret. In his eyes, Chu Yang was a junior with limitless potential. For someone like that to leave the Sun Pirates was truly a pity.
Still filled with regret, Jinbe sat down heavily on the deck and asked, "Then is your ideal the same as Brother Tiger's used to be—traveling the world?"
"More or less," Chu Yang replied with a smile. "I want to go around, see different places, fight strong opponents to temper myself, and take in the scenery of the world. Since I've come to this world, I can't just let the Navy chase me around like a dog the whole time, right?"
Jinbe reminded him, "With what you've shown before, you've probably already caught the Navy's attention. Once you leave the ship, you'll still be hunted."
"Then let them hunt me," Chu Yang answered firmly. "At least I'll be free to decide where I want to go."
Jinbe sighed. "You really are starting to look like a true pirate."
"I already am…" Chu Yang said softly. He then patted Jinbe on the shoulder and smiled. "Don't be so down. I'm not leaving immediately—I'll stay for a while longer."
A rare smile appeared on Jinbe's face.
Chu Yang looked at the moon hanging high over the horizon and began thinking about what the Magic-version of himself had said back in the Soul Palace.
In the pirate world, there were many people proficient in Haki, but those who possessed Conqueror's Haki were extremely rare. At present, only a little over a dozen were known. Aside from Boa Hancock, who had yet to fully mature, and the already deceased Pirate King Roger and Kozuki Oden, almost all of the rest were legendary pirates with enormous reputations.
The Navy also had powerhouses who possessed Conqueror's Haki, but Chu Yang—once a slave of the Celestial Dragons and now sailing with pirates—would never be able to join the Navy.
So if his Haki was to advance further, he would have to find a way among the pirates.
On the pirate side, there were only a few viable candidates.
First were the Four Emperors.
At the current point in the timeline, Kaido had been entrenched in Wano for nearly twelve years. The underground weapons trade was booming, with even the World Government involved—his influence was overwhelming.
"Big Mom," Charlotte Linlin, had firmly established her power base around Totto Land. As her number of children grew, so did the number of pirate crews under her banner, and her Totto Land was steadily taking shape.
It was precisely this year that calls for both of them to become "Emperors of the Sea" were growing louder and louder.
Eventually, they would form a three-way balance with the world's strongest man, Whitebeard.
As for Red-Haired Shanks, while already famous at this time, his momentum was still far weaker compared to the other three.
The Four Emperors' final balance would not fully form for another six years.
After careful consideration, Chu Yang decided to give up on learning Conqueror's Haki from Kaido or Big Mom.
Leaving aside the fact that both of them were located deep in the latter half of the Grand Line, their personalities alone clashed completely with Chu Yang's.
Both were more than a little unhinged—and Chu Yang hated dealing with unstable lunatics.
The Whitebeard Pirates were actually a good option, but that meant calling someone "Dad." Just imagining himself calling Whitebeard "Old Man" made Chu Yang shudder.
Although he greatly admired Whitebeard, acknowledging him as a father was out of the question.
Among the Four Emperors, Shanks currently had the weakest overall strength and the lowest barrier to joining.
The problem was that Chu Yang couldn't be sure what level Shanks's Conqueror's Haki had reached at this stage. After all, it was still a full six years before Shanks would become an Emperor.
The Dark King, Silvers Rayleigh, was another possibility. He was relatively easy to locate, living on the Sabaody Archipelago.
But as a pirate who had lived in seclusion for many years, the odds of Rayleigh coming out of retirement to teach Chu Yang were not high.
The so-called protagonist's halo wasn't something everyone had.
As for others like Donquixote Doflamingo or the Happo Navy's Chinjao, those were options of last resort among last resorts.
After going through them all, Shanks still seemed the most reliable.
At that thought, Chu Yang suddenly jolted.
This year wasn't just the year Kaido and Big Mom were rising—it was also the year Shanks met Luffy in Foosha Village.
The Gomu Gomu no Mi.
After awakening, its true name would be revealed as the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika.
Shanks had stolen the Gomu Gomu no Mi from Who's-Who, originally intending to give it to Ace, Roger's unborn son. Instead, it was accidentally eaten by Luffy.
If someone claimed Shanks knew absolutely nothing about the fruit's secret, Chu Yang wouldn't believe it.
For a pirate of Shanks's level, stealing a Devil Fruit from the World Government wasn't strange.
What was strange was that he just happened to bring that fruit to Foosha Village, where Ace was.
Clearly, Shanks had hoped Ace would become the child of destiny—but fate chose Luffy instead. And Shanks, seeing Roger's shadow in Luffy, chose to respect fate's decision and bet everything on him.
Right now, if Chu Yang were willing to pay the price and bear Shanks's fury, he could turn the wheel of fate and send it spinning toward an unknown future.
The protagonist didn't have to be Luffy.
It could be anyone—including Chu Yang himself.
Was Chu Yang willing?
Of course not.
The success rate was too low, and the price too terrifying.
Was it really that easy to pull tricks right under Shanks's nose?
Not to mention Shanks's own Observation Haki, Usopp's father Yasopp possessed top-tier Observation Haki as well. Before Chu Yang could even get close to the fruit, he would probably be shot through the head.
Luffy had only succeeded because he was young and harmless, lowering everyone's guard. Chu Yang clearly wasn't someone who could make the entire Red-Haired Pirates relax their vigilance—even if he somehow managed to join them.
The only outcome Chu Yang could realistically influence…
Was probably stopping Luffy from eating the Gomu Gomu no Mi.
But what would be the point of that?
The next day, Chu Yang went to Fisher Tiger and told him of his plan to go to the East Blue.
Tiger was surprised. He had imagined Chu Yang disembarking anywhere along the Grand Line—but never the East Blue.
Still, after the surprise, Tiger respected Chu Yang's decision and decided to have the Sun Pirates escort him all the way there.
From their current position, the fastest route to the East Blue was to force their way straight through the Calm Belt.
(End of Chapter)