Chapter 375: Alabasta, Bell the Falcon
Sailing is a very interesting thing, sailing across the sea and sailing between the waves...
Zhang Da was also full of energy and faced the strong wind: "Fighting against the sky is fun!"
"You still have a lot of fun there when you have time. Come and help pull the sail!" Perona pulled a rope with great effort. She didn't like working, but as long as she pulled Uncle Long out to work together, she wouldn't have to practice martial arts, so she made the choice easily.
But now she felt a little regretful. It was not an easy task for Perona to adjust the sail in such a strong wind. She was almost hanging on the cable and looked like she would be blown away at any time.
“Here it comes.” Zhang Daye grabbed the rope with one hand and Perona with the other, pulling both her and the sail together. “Hey, watch your ponytail, it’s hitting me in the face!”
"Who told you to hold me up like this?" Perona grabbed her pink ponytail that was fluttering in the wind and said unhappily, "Put me down now."
Except for Tom who had the sudden idea of flying a kite, everyone did their job. The Amber was moving against the wind amid the noise. It was not moving directly against the wind but moving at an angle to the wind direction, moving in a zigzag shape. Although the speed was a bit slow, it was still moving forward and it took quite a while to leave the headwind area.
Jackie Chan couldn't hold on any longer. He lay on the deck and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. "This is too exaggerated. I thought we were hit by a typhoon."
"The Grand Route is like this. There are many extreme weather conditions. You just have to get used to it..." Ye Yan lay next to Jackie Chan, raised a hand to block the sun, and asked, "What is that, a kite?"
Jackie Chan took a look and said, "It looks like it, and it's a kite in the shape of Tom. It's well made."
"I have a bad feeling." Ye Yan felt that things were not simple. After noticing that the 'kite' was getting bigger and bigger, he rolled away from the spot and said, "Get out of here!"
"Wow! What bad luck!" Jackie Chan reacted quickly, jumping up and running away.
Bang! There was a cat-shaped hole in the deck, and from the hole came the clanking sounds of various objects being knocked over.
A few seconds later, Tom poked his head out of the hole in front of everyone, with a bucket on his head.
Zhang Da also reached out to help Tom take off the bucket, and asked helplessly: "What are you playing at?"
Tom gave an apologetic smile, and Zhang Da suddenly sensed something and stepped back.
A large triangular kite fell headfirst, and the sharp corner hit Tom on the head.
Tom fell down again with the kite, and the cabin shook again. Several illusory little kites circled and flew around the hole in the deck.
There is no need to explain this now, everyone knows what Tom was playing before. He was probably flying a kite and was blown away by the strong wind, and then fell from a height that ordinary people could hardly imagine, but he was still alive and kicking.
"Boss, Teacher Tom has been badly hurt by you." Rui Mengmeng was the first to criticize Zhang Daye for his behavior of betraying his teammates.
This was a bit dishonest, so Zhang Da said shamelessly: "Look at it from a bright side, I may have learned the art of observation. Tom will be happy for me if he knows it."
A shadow of Tom wearing a halo floated up from the cave, gave a thumbs up to show his agreement with Zhang Daye's words, and then floated away.
"Don't die!" Zhang Da also grabbed Tom's soul and drilled into the cat-shaped hole. He pressed the soul into Tom's body and grabbed Tom's shoulders and shook him hard.
Tom woke up dazed, then said hello to Zhang Daye as if nothing had happened and started to clean up the utility room that he had messed up.
Zhang Da also felt that it would be okay for him to ignore Tom. Maybe after he went out for a while and found that there was no God, he would float back. Even if he couldn't come back for a while, he still had nine numbered souls in his body as backup.
Tom was safe and sound, except for a big hole in the deck and a mess in the utility room, which could be repaired and cleaned up slowly.
The others left without any worries, some trained, some played, some ate and drank, and only the injured Amber remained in the world.
…
In the next few days, everyone experienced a series of bad weather. When Zhang Da saw a sea monster that looked like a lucky cat on the sea, he knew that Alabasta was very close.
The huge sea cat raised its right paw and looked at the Amber with a cute face, as if saying hello.
Altria swallowed and the sword in her hand was ready to move.
Tom, who normally would have taken out his knife and fork and started drooling, hugged Altria's legs instead, not wanting her to do anything.
Altria asked in confusion: "Tom? It's a sea beast I've never seen before. It looks delicious."
Tom showed a pitiful expression, and Xia Lulu also stood in front of Altria: "Tom probably wants to say that we don't want to eat cats? In fact, I also feel a little weird when talking about eating sea cats."
Altria looked at Tom inquiringly, and seeing him nodding, she had to put away her sword with regret: "Forget it, I'll catch something else to eat next time."
The world is big, but the chef is the biggest. At least in this case, Altria is a wise king who is very good at listening to advice.
"There's a lot of fog ahead..." Wendy said in confusion, "This doesn't feel like foggy weather. It feels more like steam. How strange."
"Don't rush in. I'll go take a look underwater." Shark Chili was cautious about the situation with unknown causes.
After a while, Shark Chili poked his head out of the water again and said, "It's so hot. There's an underwater volcano below. The steam coming out of the boiling seawater is there. Wendy's feeling is right. It's not fog at all."
"Volcanoes again? I seem to have a special connection with volcanoes lately." Zhang Da also thought of the several active volcanoes in the small garden.
"I think it's better to go around it. Undersea volcanoes sound very dangerous." Jackie Chan thought it should be safer.
"I second the motion. I don't want to go through the experience of being forcibly sent to the island by volcanoes, ocean currents, or something like that again." Ye Yan still remembered the last time when he was on the Rare Beast Island and his boat was suddenly sent into the sky. If he hadn't been lucky and had tricked the Chaos Beast, there's no telling what would have happened to the boat.
Talking about that incident, those who had experienced it all felt very sympathetic and immediately voted in favor.
The Amber began to turn, made a big circle, and continued sailing for some distance before finally seeing the port city of Alabasta, Nahana.
Rui Mengmeng heard the noise from afar and said, "The port seems to be quite lively?"
"I'll go take a look!" Perona excitedly let her spirit float out to investigate, and her body fell limply into Wendy's arms.
Reconnaissance means that I can go out and play, and practice Kung Fu can be postponed. During this time, I don’t have to listen to Uncle Long’s nagging. It’s great to have the ability to use for reconnaissance!
"Hahahahaha~" Perona floated back after a long while, "I'm back!"
Zhang Da also saw through her little thoughts and nodded, "Well, you came back just in time. The Amber is about to dock."
Perona was unconvinced and said, "What does that look mean? I came back so late because I went out to help others!"
"Oh?" Zhang Da also asked, "How do you help others?"
"There's a group of pirates causing trouble at the port, and the soldiers of this country are fighting them, so I'm here to help!" Perona put her hands on her hips and turned her face away, snorting, "Is there anything wrong with that?"
Zhang Da never tried to save face in front of a tsundere, and said straightforwardly: "No, no, I was wrong, you did a great job, you are worthy of being the ghost princess!"
"Hmph!" Perona folded her arms, indicating that she didn't want to talk to Zhang Daye, who had wrongly accused someone, but her expression had obviously become much happier.
Zhang Da also thought about it and said, "How about doubling my pocket money later?"
Perona lost her composure in a second: "You said it, don't go back on your word!"
"Let Wendy and Xia Lulu testify for you."
Perona nodded happily.
Xia Lulu sighed like a little adult: "It seems so easy to bribe Perona."
Wendy smiled helplessly.
…
"Bah!"
A loud and powerful cry sounded from the sky, and the soldiers who had just been fighting hard with the pirates raised their heads.
I saw a huge falcon circling and descending from the sky, and transformed into a tall young man. He was wearing a white robe, a long sword on his waist, a lavender scarf decorated with a black four-pointed star, and his face had tear-like facial patterns. He was one of the two guardians of Alabasta, Bell the Falcon.
"Lord Bell!" When the soldiers saw Bell, they all came forward with reverence on their faces. This lord was known as the strongest warrior in the Kingdom of Alabasta and was one of the people they most admired.
"I rushed here from the capital as soon as I received the alarm about the port attack." Bell looked around and said, "I didn't expect it to be over already. Thank you for your hard work."
The soldiers looked at each other, and finally a team leader stepped forward with some shame and said: "No, Lord Bell, in fact, most of the pirates were not defeated by us."
"Hmm?" Bell frowned slightly, "Is it Crocodile again?"
This happened more than once . After the pirates landed, they put the soldiers of the King's Army in a tough battle. Then Crocodile descended from the sky and killed all the pirates with a wave of his hand.
Sometimes, even if Bell arrives at the scene as quickly as possible, he still won't be able to defeat all the enemies before Crocodile.
This led to the situation that although the residents of Nahana were grateful to the King's Army who tried their best to protect them, they admired Crocodile even more because he always appeared like a hero and easily defeated the enemies.
What's worse is that in order to highlight the correctness of the Seven Warlords system, the World Government always instructs news agencies to exaggerate Crocodile's deeds, causing residents in other parts of Alabasta to gradually begin to worship Crocodile.
Bell is treated as a hero even though he is a pirate, and the people he should be protecting are always better protected by Crocodile. Bell feels deeply ashamed of this.
But every time he reported the matter, King Cobra didn't care. He was a king who was a little too broad-minded, and always said, "As long as the people are not harmed, it doesn't matter who repelled the pirates."
Bell deeply admired such a king, but always felt that something was wrong.
Limited by his vision and political level, Bell couldn't figure it out at all, and could only quietly increase his training in private. He thought that as a fighter, he just needed to become stronger, right?
Until a few days ago, Alabasta received a contact from the navy saying that a large number of Baroque Works agents had been captured. According to the interrogation results, the mastermind behind Baroque Works was very likely still hiding in Alabasta, so they hoped to send a lieutenant general to Alabasta for a secret investigation.
Later, when I contacted the lieutenant general, it was clear from the other party's words that he was suspicious of Crocodile!
Crocodile wanted to usurp the throne and build a so-called utopia? This would make sense for him to keep gaining popularity among the people !
Bell suddenly realized what was going on and was so angry that he immediately wanted to lead a team to capture Crocodile.
It's a pity that neither the navy nor the king have definite evidence. If they rashly take action against the Seven Warlords of the Sea, it would be tantamount to provoking the World Government. Therefore, they cannot act rashly. They can only investigate secretly and exchange information after the vice admiral arrives to determine further actions.
Now the Vice Admiral has quietly led his men to the capital, and is conducting an investigation together with the Jackal Jaga. Bell, who is not very good at this, has no choice but to contribute in other areas.
For example, when you hear about a pirate attack somewhere, you should rush there immediately and not let Crocodile gain more reputation.
But, was Crocodile still the first to win today? Bell was a little unwilling.
However, the soldier's next answer made him feel a lot more relieved.
"No, Master Bell, Crocodile did not show up today." The soldier said, "It's these pirates who suddenly became...very depressed, even to the point where they were completely unable to resist."
Bell asked, "Depressed? What do you mean?"
The soldier didn't know how to describe it, so he just knelt on the ground, lowered his head and supported himself with his hands: "I have been as humble as a grain of sand in this life... If there is an afterlife, let me be a stink bug..."
Bell was confused. What was this doing?
The controlled pirates gnashed their teeth, while the other soldiers of the King's Army either snickered or admired his courage.
After personally recreating the scene for Bell, the honest soldier stood up and said with a red face: "It feels about the same. The pirates suddenly became like this. The reason is probably..."
"Ah, that's it!" The soldier pointed at a little ghost not far away, "It became like that after being hit by the ghosts."
"Ghost?" Bell approached the negative ghost and observed it curiously. The translucent white body, long tongue, and thick red lips made it look inexplicably cute.
"Be careful, Lord Bell!" the soldier warned, "If you accidentally touch it..."
"It doesn't matter. Since it only attacks pirates and ignores you, it probably has no ill intentions towards us." For some reason, Bell always felt that this ghost looked familiar.
