Arceus's Pirate Journey

Chapter 344: Chapter 343: Big Bro, When Are You Going to Evolve?

Unless it’s a robot like a Peacekeeper, which has stored all pirate information in its mechanical chip, otherwise even the Navy has to slowly search through the Wanted Posters when they encounter pirates.

Pirates are not dictionaries; those unknown pirates sometimes can’t be found at all, except for those long-established Great Pirates and the recent Super Rookies. No one can always be called by name.

However, pirates don’t only gain fame when they reach the Shampodi Islands. Besides those who reside within the Grand Line, more pirates come from the Four Seas, after all, the Grand Line is somewhat negligible in comparison to the Four Seas in terms of size.

Many pirates already gained some fame before entering the Grand Line.

Although Morgans’ newspaper often exaggerates facts and contains a lot of fictional elements, the essence of events is undoubtedly true, such as the incident announced in the West Kael Kingdom.

The range and details have their issues, but that place was indeed partly destroyed by the Hundred Beasts.

Thus, reading the newspaper is the best way for pirates to understand external events, and Morgans has strong independence, so some news the World Government wants to suppress will also be reported by him.

The moving headquarters and his reputation in the news industry make it difficult for the World Government to do anything about him. The World Economic News Agency is rooted all over the world; if Morgans were assassinated, the subsequent impact would be even more troublesome.

If even the newspaper boss were silenced, the impact would be very troublesome. Morgans doesn’t report everything; sometimes the World Government also uses his News Bird group, resulting in such a stalemate situation.

The Mandfeish found it interesting because, in front of them, there was a pirate ship shaped like a park cruise ship with a duck head.

Their Pirate Flag is quite special. Unlike usual Pirate Flags, it almost lacks any pirate elements, with a duck head wearing a chef’s hat and a crossed set of knife and fork behind.

However, due to the prevalence of pirate culture, any flag with crossed objects behind an emblem, whether on a black background or not, is defaulted as a Pirate Flag here, so Mandfeish confidently assumed it was a pirate ship.

”...Found it, Brother Mandfeish, the Chef Pirates, the Captain is Red-footed Zeff, a newcomer from the East Sea, and the bounty... Twenty million, quite a decent rookie, considering he’s from the East Sea.”

Since Roger’s death, no formidable pirate has appeared in the East Sea during this period, mainly because there’s one Garp who often goes home strolling. Although Luffy hasn’t been born yet, it doesn’t affect his periodic return to his hometown.

A max-level account roaming in a novice village, the pirates he encountered were mostly nipped in the bud.

”The latest news on the newspaper is just from not long ago; they should have just entered the Grand Line, but we are quite far away, already not far from Inverted Mountain.”

”Chef Pirates, an interesting name. Their Captain won’t be a chef, will he?”

”Uh... Boss, you guessed right, he really is a chef.”

The captains of some pirate ships have multiple roles, like Sniper, Musician, Navigator. The Chef Pirates are one of the few where the Captain also serves as the cook.

And Red-footed Zeff’s title comes from his exceptional Kicking Skills, with the blood of his enemies turning his boots red, hence earning him this title.

However, now he’s not the owner of the Sea Restaurant yet. Although his dream is to find the legendary All Blue, a magical sea where all the fishes of the Four Seas live, even his subordinates don’t believe in it.

He’s living an ordinary pirate life, robbing passing ships, but Zeff only takes money and never touches water or food.

Mandfeish is interested in him not because he attempted to rob Mandfeish’s ship. That interesting duck-head ship is one reason, and there’s another; Zeff is currently fighting some sea monsters.

And Mandfeish is very familiar with those monsters, the blue forms of Gyarados distributed in the Four Seas. Many years have passed, and these Gyarados are perhaps the nth generation evolved from Magikarp.

Their breeding speed is quite fast; even the gigantic Magikarps near Wano Kuni have several generations of offspring. Due to the danger of the Sea, Magikarps have adapted to their local environment, even evolving habits like schooling.

Although they are not tasty, some large Sea Beasts still use them for calcium, as bones are also a form of food for those Sea Beasts.

For better survival, these Magikarp descendants have even started to huddle for warmth like Wishiwashi, a lifestyle that results in another scenario.

That is, after evolving, Gyarados don’t just leave the Magikarp groups but lead their groups in the Sea, like a lion leading a pride.

Usually, when a Magikarp evolves, brain changes cause them to become easily angered, but the Gyarados evolved in these seas, although equally irritable, still possess some rationality.

”Brother Mandfeish, that’s Gyarados, right? When will you evolve for us to see?”

”Yes, yes, Lord Arceus gave you power a long time ago, when will you evolve?”

”Shut up! Am I not always training diligently?! Who’s coming for sparring today?!”

Listening to his subordinates’ jokes, Mandfeish pretends to be angry, but no one is afraid; they know Mandfeish is just putting on an act.

Regarding evolution, Mandfeish is quite helpless; he feels the power, but something still seems to be missing.

”By the way, boss, should we help that ship?”

”Why help them? If he can reach the New World, I wouldn’t mind recruiting him, but now I’m not interested. Little ones, we’re heading back!”

The expansion of the Hundred Beasts isn’t done by Kaidou alone; the ones recognized by the officers can recruit under their banner, but a report must be made to Ghost Island afterward.

Mandfeish’s ship begins to set sail back, while the Chef Pirates’ experience isn’t as pleasant.

Not long ago, they charged into the Grand Line with high confidence, heading towards that so-called dream, but shortly after their arrival, reality hit them hard.

While fishing, someone caught a Magikarp, broke their knife on its scales, and couldn’t cook it, so they threw it back into the Sea. After that, they were attacked by ”Sea Monsters” from the New World.

It’s the revengeful nature of Gyarados. If you catch a Magikarp from a group without Gyarados, it’s fine; if it’s from a group with Gyarados, this is usually the outcome.

Zeff’s luck wasn’t completely out; at least the Gyarados’s Level wasn’t high, still predominantly engaging in physical fights...