It took us almost half an hour of consecutive Geppo steps to reach the small island. Elly grew tired half the way through, so I had to carry her on my back after she insisted that I do it myself while Kozue had Bryon take her with him by gripping her hands with one of his talons as he flew.

"You keep telling me not to treat you like a child, but you keep acting like one," I said with an amused smile as Elly let go of my neck and got off my back.

Elly merely snorted with a pout without replying as the rest of my companions began landing on the island's shores.

"Alright, this island is deserted and far away from prying eyes," I remarked with a smile. "You can go wild here, so go ahead and show us what you can do," I added while looking at Byron, who nodded and launched himself into the air.

"This feels like it's the easiest ability I can perform," Byron said with a frown, seemingly concentrating. "Here goes nothing," he remarked as he floated in the air without moving, flapping his wings once and sending a rain of black feathers towards the ground.

The black feathers ignited mid-flight with red flames, but they didn't lose their black colour, creating a fascinating scene of black and red feathers raining down on the ground.

"These things are really sharp," I said as I kneeled in front of a hole in the ground, taking out a black feather that promptly turned into ash and dissipated as soon as I took it out.

"What more can you do, Byron?" After taking the time to inspect several more feathers, I asked as the others did the same while murmuring and whistling in appreciation.

"I can do this," Bryon said as he frowned again in concentration. After several seconds of concentration, he opened his mouth, revealing a ball of flame that moved forward and began expanding until it was the size of a large boulder.

Byron then released the fireball into the water, creating a massive splash seven or eight meters tall. "That looks like it's powerful enough to sink a ship," I remarked with a smirk, causing the others to nod.

"Anything else you can do in this form, Byron? I asked the still flying Byron with a smile.

"There are other abilities, but I can't perform them yet, not unless I improve my control," Byron said while shaking his head. "This is the last ability I can perform in this form," he added as he began flying towards the water again, opening his mouth and unleashing a red fiery beam that split the water in half as he passed above it while releasing the beam.

"That's fine. You can take your time in mastering your new abilities," I remarked with a consoling smile. "Why don't you revert to your human form and see if you can do something with it too," I added, causing Byron to nod as he came back and landed in front of me.

"There are two things I can do in human form," Byron explained as he opened raised his hand and opened it wide. "I can create and control fire," he added as a baseball-sized fireball formed inside his hand.

"I can also imbue my fire into weapons and exert more control over them," Byron concluded as he held his axe, causing its blade to light up in flame.

"And you can't use these two abilities in your hybrid form?" I asked in confusion while watching the flaming axe in Byron's hands.

"It's possible, but the flames would be too powerful for me to control in that form," he explained while shaking his head.

"That's fine. You can take your time in mastering those new abilities of yours," I remarked with a smile. "There's no rush, after all," I added as I patted him on the shoulder.

"Now, how about you turn into your crow form?" I asked with an expectant smirk.

"Will do, captain," Byron replied as he handed his axes to Wilson, transformed into his hybrid form, and flew high into the air.

"This should be far enough," Byron murmured to himself as he came to a stop mid-air, closing his eyes in concentration.

Flame came gushing out of Byron's body, covering him in a black and red feather-like fiery hue that began expanding rapidly until it was the same size as the black pearl.

The fiery hue then slowly began gaining solidity, morphing into the form of a giant crow that was as big as our ship, with red glowing lines intertwining all over his body and red eyes that looked like they were made of fire.

"This from has the same abilities my Hybrid form has in addition to several more," Byron spoke in a deep rumbling voice, spewing fire from his mouth as he did.

"The only one I can use in this from is this," Byron said as he turned around to face the water, flapping his wings twice and creating a massive wave with the air pressure alone, followed by four fiery tornados produced from his wings.

"Rehahahahaha, that old coot, Chinjao, would definitely get a heart attack when I tell him about the abilities of the fruit he gave away," I exclaimed, cackling like a maniac as I did.

"Anyway, I'm going to head back to the ship," I said after several seconds of laughing. "I'm going to stay in the ship for the rest of the day, so you guys can do whatever you want for the rest of the day," I added with a smile, launching myself into the air to leave.

-0-

It's already nighttime, and I'm currently alone on the ship, doing practice swings with my sword.

Everyone else had taken the chance to go out into the city; taking advantage of that; I decided to stay on the ship for the rest of the day.

Even Bob, who usually stayed on the ship, lazing around doing nothing productive or fun other than cooking, had gone out, saying he wanted to meet an old friend. I did not know who that old friend of his was, and I didn't bother asking since he didn't elaborate further himself.

Elly and Byron decided to stay on the little island, with Byron saying that he'd stay there to practice his new abilities, and Elly stayed there to explore as it was her first time there.

Wilson followed me back to the ship when I left the island and then went into the city, saying that he wanted to try all types of alcohol Kano country had to offer.

Being his dependable self, Laffite also returned to the ship with Wilson and me and made his way to the city, saying that he wanted to come in contact with the underworld here to see if he could dig up any helpful information.

Kozue, of course, was no exception, as she left into the city as well, saying that she needed to do some shopping for both equipment and some new clothes.

After another hour of swinging my sword, I stopped, putting Satori back into its sheath to greet Bob, the first to come back.

"I'm back, captain," Bob said as he made his way into the ship's deck, twirling his mustache as he did.

"Oh, welcome back! How did that meeting of yours go?" I greeted him with a smile while nodding my head at him.

"It went well," Bob replied with a sigh while shaking his head. "Is something wrong?" I asked after hearing his hesitant tone and noticing his hesitant body language.

"We need to talk, but not right now," Bob replied with a blank expression. "I need some time to think about something first," he added, heaving another sigh as he turned around and went to the kitchen.

The rest then came back, one after another. The second to come back was Kozue, carrying several bags as she made her way into the ship, simply greeting me and going to her room.

Elly and Byron came back next as they landed on the ship, looking very exhausted, with several scratches on their faces and bodies.

Wilson also came back soon after with a bottle of rice sake in one hand and a bag filled with other types of alcohol in the other as he made his into the ship's deck while sipping from the bottle in his hand in a leisurely manner.

Laffite was the last to come back, bringing news of a marine battleship that will cross into west blue with Hina's replacement, along with the marine's salaries, other assorted necessities and supplies, and a marine vice admiral guarding it to boot.

...

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