Shakky stared straight at Chenos.
"Also?" she repeated.
"As far as I know, during Fisher's rampage in Mary Geoise, only one Celestial Dragon died. From that little 'also' of yours, it's pretty clear—that Celestial Dragon was killed by you, little Chenos. Looks like your big brother took the blame for you."
Chenos instinctively covered his forehead.
Only now did he realize it—he had subconsciously assumed that Fisher, like himself, had also killed a Celestial Dragon.
But thinking about it carefully, after Fisher rescued them, the Celestial Dragons had already been surrounded and heavily protected by CP agents and World Government forces. There was no way Fisher could have killed one under those conditions.
Which meant…
Fisher really was taking the fall for him.
That only added another reason to bring Fisher aboard—he couldn't let Fisher shoulder his crime.
"If you're planning to look for Fisher," Shakky continued,
"you'd better hurry. The Navy and the World Government are hunting him worldwide. According to my information, many Fish-Men from Fish-Man Island are preparing to go support him. They don't want a hero who dared challenge the World Government to face the Navy alone."
Chenos looked at Shakky in surprise.
She spent all day running a bar, yet her intelligence network was terrifyingly deep—even Fish-Man Island's movements hadn't escaped her notice.
But then it clicked.
In the original timeline, when Hatchan brought Luffy's crew to Sabaody for coating, the very first person they went to was Shakky.
That alone proved how close her ties with Fish-Man Island were.
With that connection, it wasn't strange at all that she knew Fish-Man Island was mobilizing.
Chenos immediately turned to Tesoro.
"Let's go. We're finding Brother Fisher."
Tesoro didn't hesitate. He stood up at once, ready to move.
But just as they rose to leave, Shakky smiled lazily.
"Fish-Men can swim over to find Fisher. But what about you two?"
"Got a ship?"
Chenos froze.
Then he slapped his own forehead.
Right—he and Tesoro didn't even have a boat.
Even if they wanted to look for Fisher, how were they supposed to get there? Two Devil Fruit users swimming across the sea?
That wouldn't be a rescue mission—that would be feeding time for the fish.
And then an even bigger problem hit him.
Even if they had a ship… neither of them knew how to sail.
Chenos had taken over this body while it was still young—there had never been a chance to learn seamanship. As for Tesoro, he was a singer. You could ask him to sing, sure—but telling him to steer a ship?
He probably wouldn't even know where the helm was.
Seeing both of them fall silent in despair, Shakky laughed.
"I figured as much. Don't worry—I have a friend who's planning to head to Water Seven soon. You can hitch a ride with him."
"Water Seven has plenty of top-tier shipwrights. Sailing to them is as natural as breathing."
Chenos and Tesoro looked at each other—and saw pure excitement in each other's eyes.
"Thank you, Sister Shakky!"
They shouted in unison.
Seeing how urgent they were, Shakky didn't waste time and led them to meet her "friend."
When they finally did, both of them were stunned.
Because Shakky's friend… was actually a king.
A king who had recently come to Sabaody for leisure and was planning to visit Water Seven to see Master Tom's Sea Train under construction.
Once again, the two could only marvel at Shakky's terrifying connections. No wonder she ran an intelligence business.
Water Seven wasn't far from Sabaody—only two or three days by sea.
But for Chenos and Tesoro, it still felt painfully slow.
Fisher was currently being hunted by the Navy. The World Government had mobilized to capture him.
No matter how anxious they felt, there was nothing they could do— even if they somehow spent a full day recruiting crew and acquiring a ship, sailing back to Sabaody would still take several more days.
So they turned anxiety into motivation and trained relentlessly aboard the ship.
The king's vessel was extremely luxurious. Even the tableware was made of gold.
That finally gave Tesoro a chance to properly train his Devil Fruit ability.
And Chenos quickly noticed something—
Tesoro was frighteningly compatible with the Gold-Gold Fruit.
Despite having only just touched gold for the first time, he was already able to freely reshape it into different forms.
He even crafted a life-sized, perfectly detailed solid-gold statue of the king himself.
The king was ecstatic.
As a reward, he gifted Tesoro ten a ton of gold, purely for Devil Fruit training.
Time flew by during training.
Before they realized it, they had arrived at Water Seven.
The moment they laid eyes on it, both Chenos and Tesoro were deeply shaken by its unique, fountain-like structure.
The entire island looked like a massive water fountain. Around it stood several grand gates marked with dock numbers, clearly indicating different shipyards.
They followed the king's ship into Dock One.
After disembarking, they immediately split up.
They had only two objectives in Water Seven:
Recruit a shipwright to join their crew
Buy a pirate ship
They had already agreed aboard the ship—
Chenos would search for crew,
while Tesoro would focus on making enough money to buy a ship.
After agreeing on a meeting place and time, they went their separate ways.
Chenos wandered through Dock One, searching for potential crew candidates.
After circling the dock, he had to admit—many shipwrights here were incredibly skilled.
But…
They weren't suitable.
The reason was simple: they were too weak.
Which made sense.
In the Grand Line, a shipwright with both top-tier craftsmanship and strong combat ability would be a prized asset in any pirate crew—hotly contested everywhere.
This realization made Chenos slightly depressed.
Was he really going to have to settle for just anyone?
He shook his head immediately.
That went against his principles.
Everyone aboard his ship had to be strong enough to help him fight the Celestial Dragons someday—not someone whose safety he'd have to worry about in every battle.
And then—
Someone caught his attention.
"Sir, are you looking to buy a ship? I built an all-steel pirate ship—guaranteed to dominate the seas! Fast enough that even the Marines can't catch you! Ah—wait, you're a Marine? Sorry, forget I said that!"
"Miss, are you looking for a ship? I've got a big one—very comfortable to sit in! Hey—don't leave! I'm not a pervert!"
A man was running around Dock One, enthusiastically pitching his ships to passersby.
And the reason Chenos noticed him…
Was because from this man—
He actually felt a hint of danger.
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