Wilson and Bob soon began punching the shit of each other as I watched while drinking and cheering from the side. Unfortunately, the racket they've been causing had alerted Byron and Elly, so the duo climbed up from the lower deck and stopped the fight to my utter disappointment.

With nothing else to keep me entertained, I put away the whisky bottle with a sigh and began doing practice sword swings, causing me to lose track of time until I was interrupted by Elly hours later, informing me that Laffite had returned.

"Thanks, Elly," I said as I took the glass of water, she offered me with a smile and made my way to Laffite, who was already surrounded by Wilson and Byron as they bombarded him with questions.

"Give the man some space, will you?" I said as I held Byron and Wilson's heads and knocked them against each other, causing Byron to rub his head while grunting in pain and Wilson to snort as if he didn't feel anything.

"Good job out there, Laffite," I remarked while punching him lightly on the shoulder, causing him to nod at me with a smile. "So, what's the situation here?" I asked a second later.

"It's like you said, captain. This country is allied to the Happo navy, a pirate fleet lead by one don Chinjao," Laffite stated with a serious voice. "The forces of this country are split into two divisions, The Happo navy I've mentioned earlier, and the Niho navy, who are the official army of the country," Laffite explained.

"The Happo navy fleet deals with pirate threats and covert missions against other countries across the blues and the grand line," he added while twirling his red cane.

"The Niho navy act as peacekeeping forces during times of peace and act as the vanguard for Kano country at times of war, but most of them are nothing but glorified decorations in the streets, thanks to the long period of peace," Laffite concluded while waving his hand derisively.

"I see. What about that guy I told you to investigate then?" I asked after a second of thought.

"He is called Obbi bull killer because he allegedly killed a bull with his bare hands," Laffite said with a mocking chuckle. "He's an officer of the Niho navy and is tasked with keeping the peace at this area," he added.

"That said, he's nothing but a local bully who tries to intimidate people and then extort them for protection money or something like that later," Laffite explained further, with even more disdain in his voice.

"I, unfortunately, can't take him out without some suspicion being cast our way because of his position, especially since we just arrived here. An officer of the country dying the same day would set a lot of red flags," Laffite concluded while shaking his head apologetically at me.

"don't worry about it. That only means we'll have to deal with the bastard later," I said while shaking my head with an assuring smile. "What about his dirt? Did you manage to dig any?" I asked.

"He's as corrupt as they come, but we can't use it against him as his immediate superiors are just dirty," Laffite explained with a sigh. "We'll have to find someone with authority over the entire country if we wanted to do that," He concluded.

"But I did find out something interesting," Laffite said, sounding as if he just remembered something. "A foreign assassin had arrived at this island a while ago and came into contact with Obbi immediately," He explained.

"That could be useful in the long run, but at any rate, it looks like we'll have to ignore Obbi or whatever his name is for the meantime," I stated with a serious voice. "If he proves to be too much of a nuisance, then I have my ways to deal with him," I concluded with a grin.

I then proceeded to ask Laffite about the customs and laws of Kano country so we don't step on anyone's toes until I can come in contact with Don Chinjao.

It's not like I was afraid of anyone here, but dealing with the old geezer would be more trouble than it's worth, and if I play my cards right, I could get my hands on a reliable way to train Haki and possibly gain a strong ally. I'm not letting all of that go to waste so I can deal with one shit-eating bastard who thinks too highly of himself, but I digress.

When Laffite was finally finished explaining the dos and donts of this island, it was already late in the evening, so I called it a day after instructing my companions to wake me up for the last lookout shift.

I was woken up by bob, who told me it was time for my shift and that there was freshly cooked breakfast waiting for me at the table before taking his leave, heading to his room for some well-deserved rest.

I watched as Bob left my room and removed myself from my bed while yawning blearily, standing up and retrieving my breakfast as I made my way to the black pearl's upper deck.

I quickly devoured the meal, occupying my favorite spot on the ship's bow immediately after emptying my plate, leaning on the railing as I took out my whisky bottle while humming a song to pass the time.

Two hours quickly passed peacefully with nothing unexpected happening, and my companions were all awake as they went around their business on the ship.

Looking at this scene, I quickly informed my crew of where I'll be if they needed me and then jumped off the ship to begin exploring the area because I've been dying of boredom lately, and I couldn't wait any longer.

Surprisingly, the civilians seemed to recognize me even here as I was approached by several fans, asking for autographs on shells of recording snails and even posters of me, which I did not know existed until now.

'Someone is making money out of this,' I thought with a mental scowl as I signed the poster, which had a picture of me playing my guitar. 'I'm going to find out who, and then I'm going to take every single Berry they made because of me,' I concluded, fully intent on going through with my conclusion.

Walking through the busy docks, I notice how similar this country is to ancient china from my past life. Even the ships anchored at the harbor look like those weird river ships that you can find in Chinese historical dramas.

How do those ships sail through the sea even when they are designed to traverse through rivers? I have no idea, and I don't care enough to waste my time trying to find out.

I quickly find myself outside the docks, walking through the streets that were filled with Chinese-looking architecture. There are all kinds of stereotypes and cliches that you would find in the city from Wuxia novels. Tea houses, auctions, gambling dens, and even stalls that sell uncut rocks, which might have precious stones in them.

I ignore those as I've had my fill of them by just reading cultivation novels in my past life, and just the idea of participating in such activities makes me cringe.

That said, however, I took it upon myself to stop at every stall, selling food and places that sold alcohol. The food was what you would expect from such a Wuxia-themed country with rice, fish, and other types of seafood as the most popular dishes served here, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The alcohol, however, was a bit more diverse. Besides the traditional spirits made from rice, honey, grapes, and hawthorn, there were some western drinks like whisky as well.

I kept strolling through the streets of the city, which is the capital of the country, named Kano, which could be translated to country of flowers, while occasionally stopping to chat with some fans, asking for an autograph, and sometimes stoping to ask for directions or recommendations for interesting places to visit.

The sky darkened before I knew it as the time quickly passed while I was exploring the city, so I decided to make my way back to the ship. But it seems that I was too absorbed in my fun and didn't bother to memorize the way back, causing me to end up in an abandoned-looking part of the town with no signs of life after taking a wrong turn.

'Crap, I actually gone and gotten myself lost,' I thought with a sigh as I palmed my face. 'Might as well Geppo my way upwards to find the docks. I'm sure the city would be beautiful to see from above as well,' I concluded with an eager smile.

I was about to launch myself into the air with a geppo step when I heard the chime of a bell from my side, diverting my attention to it as I turned to see what was causing the sound and find nothing.

I tilted my head in confusion at the empty, motionless structures in front of me, wondering what could have been the source of the sound. But my wonderings were interrupted as my senses flared at a whistling sound from behind me.

I quickly unsheathed Satori and turned around to deflect two arrows while avoiding the third as it looked different from the first two, with a fire at its tip and a small pouch attached to it.

I looked in the direction the arrows came from, trying to spot my attacker, but I could only see their shadow on the rooftop of a building, as they disappeared into the darkness.

I heard a hissing sound from behind me, and turned around just in time to cross my arms in front of my face, and activate Tekkai as the last arrow, which I had decided to avoid, somehow came spinning at me, and exploded right in front of my face.

...

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