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Chapter 42: Fire Of Survival

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"Seizon No Honō (生存の炎)." Yovan muttered, a spark speaking of hope and persistence emerging in his eyes.

"That's... That's the perfect name actually," Iceburg who just joined them said as he eyed the ship, "Fire Of Survival... The fire in darkness that can never go out. It suits it too well."

Hell, Iceburg could almost swear he saw the golden color in the crow's eyes move like the motion of flames, "This is my greatest creation to date... Treat it well please."

Creating such a phenomenal work of art went a long way to take a lot off Iceburg's eyes, but it was certainly not enough to give him peace of mind, knowing that someone has the key to a weapon of mass destruction. 

"I will... No, we will." Yovan nodded as he side glanced at his crew, smiling at their reaction. Laffitte looked like he just met his first love as he jumped right onto the ship, and just lied there, doing nothing but just be on it.

Bege's reaction on the other hand was a bit special, "It's exquisite, elegant beyond belief, clean, lovely, dark... It's everything I ever desired... I think I'm hard."

Maybe he didn't realize he was speaking loudly because his words certainly drew some disturbed looks from the members of Galley-La Company.

Speaking of which, Yovan eyed them all before performing a light bow, "Thank you for your hard work, and for making my vision come true."

"Pahahahaahahaha, don't worry about it! Working on this was an honor, really!" The blonde foreman laughed loudly with pride as he slapped Yovan on the back.

It was a nice gesture, but it almost tossed Yovan to the ground. Luckily, he regained his stability very quickly, murmuring, "Well, that hurt a lot."

"Paulie!! Just what the hell are you doi..." Just when Iceburg wanted to reprimand him, Yovan interjected.

"Don't mind it. I'm just too weak physically." Yovan shook his head as he started making his way to the ship, just wanting to touch it out of curiosity.

"Huh? Then how are you going to protect the ship from other pirates that will surely go after it." Another foreman questioned with a frown.

Other workers also shared a similar questioning look. They didn't want the ship they worked so hard to create, likely their greatest creation ever to just be taken by someone else.

"Who knows." Yovan didn't answer but merely mounted the ship, tracing his fingers along with its form, made of the most valuable wood in the world.

It felt smooth, too smooth because it has yet to taste the brutality of the sea. One could say it's inexperienced, needing to go out into the sea to sharpen its claws.

Iceburg followed after Yovan as the latter approached the Ship's figurehead. He lightly jump and stood on top of the crow's head, eyeing its eyes, 'It's weird... It definitely needs to lay its eyes upon the sea.'

The fire of survival wasn't burning as much as he'd like it to, but it should with time. Queen Anne's Revenge was so fearsome because of all that it went through, its history.

As far as he remembers, there were skulls on it, and it was bathed in the blood of its Captain's enemies. Its exterior was slightly worn out, stressing all the battles it survived.

"But it's perfect as a starting point," Yovan remarked with a smile before turning his attention to Iceburg.

"When are you leaving?" Iceburg asked.

"Now," Yovan responded as he dismounted the crow's head.

"Wait, really?" Iceburg doubted with confusion, "What about all of your stuff in your previous ship?"

"The old ship is already empty. Don't ask how, we have our ways... You can have it." Yovan slightly stretched, feeling pretty good despite his constantly dwindling physical state.

"Oh?" Iceburg arched his brows with disapproval, "Does your old ship really mean nothing to you?"

"It's soulless, nameless, and I hold no sentiment towards it." Yovan nodded before eyeing two other individuals boarding the ship.

If Iceburg felt anything about Yovan's words, he showed none of it. Instead, he explained, "you've already met them. Kalifa, my assistant. She will be staying with you to make sure you keep your promise.

And this is Kaku. He will follow along to keep eye on the ship. He's a very talented shipwright, so trust him to take care of it in case anything goes wrong."

Yovan did agree to two of Iceburg's underlings going with him, but he certainly didn't expect him to send Kalifa since she's his personal assistant.

'Unless he suspects she's responsible for the stolen blueprints for one reason or another. He's distancing himself from suspicious people, likely those who joined his company after he was handed the blueprints.'

Yovan's deep thinking didn't stop him from keeping a straight face as he nodded at Kalifa though she completely ignored him, acting like she was dissatisfied... Yeah, she was acting.

The reality of the matter is that the CP9 wanted this to happen, someone to join the Stranger pirates to investigate if they somehow acquired the blueprints because they're the most prominent individuals to visit Water 7 in a while.

And they also realized that Iceburg is suspecting a few people, but it didn't matter because he's kind of irrelevant at this point.

However, just in case, Rob Lucci and Blueno will remain working in the company for a short period to make sure they aren't being played.

While he should be afraid or at least nervous about the new dangerous company, Yovan was thinking differently, 'It's too bad that it wasn't the Robby guy who came along.'

He doesn't remember his exact name, but he was very familiar. He remembers him to be a very strong person from the whatever organization.

So to make it clearer, a person with a normal memory would remember him to be Rob Lucci, basically the strongest person in CP9. 

He is not only the strongest, but he's also the most dangerous because of his trained mind and unnatural talent.

Yet Yovan wanted someone like that with him as if he wanted the World government to keep an eye on him. Whatever he was planning, it was a dangerous road to take.

"Helllo Boss!! My new boss!" While Kalifa was acting dissatisfied, Kaku was dancing and singing around the ship, taking in its grand presence.

"Thank you, and I'll keep my promise," Yovan said to Iceburg as the latter was leaving the ship, and soon, Bege let all of his subordinates out, all more than seventy of them.

Yet despite that, the Ship would still be able to handle so many more, about four hundred more.

Such a large ship naturally requires many people to control, so Yovan was glad Bege had so many underlings.

And well, Yovan found a new sweet spot, always sitting on the dark crow's head while painting things. Now, one might think he's slacking off, but he usually sits there because he's exhausted.

Every day at dawn, he would head to a special isolated chamber only for him and transform into his crow form. What follows is creating feathers and manipulating them until he's on the verge of unconsciousness.

That's another reason why he never shows his face anymore as he carved himself a wooden mask which he keeps on at all times, his state was atrocious made obvious by his physical stats.

[Physique: 32(248)/∞]

[Endurance: 583/∞]

[Agility: 48(324)/∞]

His limits were still increasing, especially his endurance and other stats, but his physique, agility, and even age were diminishing.

Yet he didn't stop but continued to break his limits to master his Devil Fruit as soon as possible while thinking of other ways he could use it.

Even his clothes were a bit heavy, hiding his skin, something noted by Kalifa as she just observed him from afar for the past few days, but finally, it was time to talk.

"Why are you hiding your face? It's certainly not to hide your identity because the others aren't hiding their faces, making it easy to find out who you are by association, so why?" She calmly questioned as she stood not far from him.

"Because I'm ugly," Yovan responded with a bit of amusement in his eyes because what he said was true. At the moment, he is not only ugly but also horrifying.

"You can just say you don't want to tell me." Kalifa made sure not to push it too much because in Yovan's wanted poster, he looked quite handsome with shining golden hair. 

It was, however, a very old wanted poster as his features have yet to be updated because he kept his face hidden most of the time. 

Now, Kalifa can see his grey eyes, having very little association with his once golden hair. He was at least not balding as his hair was holding strong.

"Dalifa, was it?" Yovan commented before swiftly adding, "Are you like useful in any way? Like, do you see any way you can help? Perhaps no? What do assistants do anyway?"

Misspelling her name was one thing, but talking to her like that? Kalifa felt like killing him right there and then.