Chapter 18 Leaving Fish-man Island

Two days later, Paul and his crew arrived at the palace. There they saw the royal family and another unfamiliar yet familiar face standing by them.

Shirahoshi came running up to Paul: " Paul-sama, are you done with everything. Come and meet Jinbe-sama."

During the past two days, Shirahoshi was having the time of her life as she was free from her room and was allowed to roam outside the palace. She was with Sera and Robin this whole time as they shopped and looked around the kingdom. Paul was also trying out the several cuisines that was around the kingdom and got to try out several fish dishes and other types of sea food that he has never known about. Paul had already obtained the log pose necessary to travels across the second half of the grandline, The New World, so he used the remaining time to enjoy the kingdom. The islanders were also very friendly with them as they were close to the royal kingdom.

When Paul saw Jinbe he was was pretty excited and was thinking of ways to recruit him, but at the moment, his strength was probably almost on par with Jinbe whose strength is on par with a commander of a yonko.

Paul walked forwards as King Neptune introduced Jinbe. " Paul, this a Jinbe, he used to be a general of our kingdom Jinbe. Now he is a pirate/ Shichibukai of the World Government."

Paul nodded and reached his hands towards Jinbe, " Hello, I am Paul of the Chaos Pirates. This is Daz, Sera, and Robin."

Jinbe nodded and and shook Paul's hand, " I have heard many stories about you Paul and your pirate crew. You caused quite a commotion at Sabaody, humiliating the celestial dragons."

Paul laughed, " It wasn't really my fault or intention haha." Though Paul knew full well of what he was doing.

Sera: "..."

Daz: "...."

Robin: "...."

Jinbe: " hahaha you must be quite strong to survive an assault of an Admiral."

Paul: " Haha, I got lucky."

Paul was trying his best to sound noble and humble to create a good impression on Jinbe. Once Paul gets on a yonko level then he will try and recruit Jinbe.

Paul's plan did work out as planned. Through this brief conversation, Jinbe had gotten a good sense of Paul's character, unyielding yet humble. He was also quite smart and thoughtful as he heard of the conversation that King Neptune told him about when talking about the state of their country and what should be said.

Paul: " I also heard about you Jinbe, First son of the Sea. I wonder what you think about the state of Fish-man Island and about what I said."

Seeing the situation turn serious, Jinbe said, " Hmm, indeed you are quite right about the inside threat of the World Government. The arrogance of the World Nobles has no morals and can indeed be a threat against Shirahoshi if they found out about her power. With our current strength it will be hard to protect her."

Paul looked at Shirahoshi and said, " With her beauty too the world nobles will also not hold back in attaining her and use her as a trophy."

When Paul said this, tension began rising in the palace as everybody knew that Paul was right. They will never allow Shirahoshi to become a slave or be used like a weapon.

King Neptune: " You are indeed correct. We do not yet have the strength to deter the world government if they wish to take Shirahoshi."

Jinbe: " I agree."

Paul saw their serious expression and tried to unease the tension in the room, " Well that is just food for thought, if anything does happen though, call on me and we will come running straight away. No matter how far we are."

King Neptune and Jinbe looked at each other and nodded, " Then we will rely on you whenever that time comes." " Now with all the matters that should be said done, lets have a feast before you go Paul."

Paul: " haha yes that will be wonderful."

For the rest of the day, there was a feast with everyone as they partied and bonded together. Jinbe and Paul exchanged long distance den den mushi so that they can contact one another. Paul also wanted one connected with the Ryugu Kingdom but decided not to because if the world government found out about their contact then it could cause problems down the line.

The next day came and Paul and his crew was beginning to set out.

Everyone gathered for their departure and Shirahoshi ran up crying, " Paul and everyone, can't you guys stay a little bit longer, I want to play some more."

Paul and everyone laughed, Paul came forwards, " Haha Shirahoshi, we can't this time. How about this, Once we all get strong enough, I will come back again and take you to the surface and show you the biggest forest in the world. One where you will have to take a long time to walk around and see the wonderful sceneries."

Shirahoshi quickly dried her eyes as he heard it, " Really? You will really take me? Promise?"

As she said this, she stuck out her pinky. Everyone saw it and smiled, they stuck out their pinky and touched it with Shirahoshi's, " We the Chaos pirates promise. If we are unable to fulfill this promise let this promise be passed onto another so that Shirahoshi can see the world full of wonders."

Shirahoshi became slightly overjoyed, but also sad at the last words. She understood the last meaning of those words, after all, she knew that the surface world could also be extremely dangerous. But hearing those words were enough for her. " Paul and everyone, I will become stronger, so that next time, I will be able to protect everyone."

Sera: " haha, we will also become stronger so that Shirahoshi won't have to worry about us."

Shirahoshi: " haha, let's become stronger together,"

With that being said, Paul began moving the ship with everyone cheering for them and sending them off.

Jinbe watched as Paul and his crew began to ascend to the surface, " He will become a great ally for our kingdom."

King Neptune: " Yes, hopefully there won't come a time where we need help."

Directing the ship to the surface, Paul began thinking about his future plans. Right now he needs to focus on strength and gaining more crew members. It will be hard to dominate the sea with only just four main members and a few others. The commanders behind the yonko are too much for the four of them to handle so he will need to be on the look out. He also wants to go explore uncharted islands that Luffy and his crew haven't been to and wants to see more of this world and the type of creatures that it may hold. Furthermore, now that he has a strength that can keep rising, he wants to fight some legendary and ancient beasts like dragons or dinosaurs, something more adventurous haha.

Deep in his thoughts, Sera came from behind and said, " We're almost there, do you have any plans in the New World?"

Paul looked at her, " Hmmm adventure and training? haha. What about you got anything you want to do?"

Sera: " After training more, I want to face Bartholomew Kuma, I also want to find one of my best friends that was also sent flying by him."

Paul: " hmm I see, after arriving on a safe island, we can come together and discuss a few future plans."

'woosh' soon after, the ship came flying out of the water and Paul released the water that shielded the ship. What they saw immediately was harsh weather and dark clouds.

Paul: " Everyone, don't relax just yet, the weather in the New World is a lot harsher, the the first half."

Nodding all of their heads, they all immediately went into position to help direction the ship and prepare to fend off anything that might harm the ship. Paul focused his powers as he controlled and directed his ship to a direction of one of the needles. What is the best way to train and get stronger? Well that is to fight stronger opponents. Therefore, Paul went towards the island that was shaking the most.

Steering towards that direction, the weather also began to let up. Paul sailed a little bit slower so that his crew can continue their training. Other than spending time relaxing, the crew spend most of the time trying to increase their strength.

Both Daz and Sera were muscle heads likes Zoro so they spent most of the time trying to increase their physical strength so that they can exert more power when they fight. Robin focused more on developing her devil fruit and how to increase their numbers and combine them to become stronger.

Two days later, Paul saw a faint image of an island far ahead of them.

Paul: " We are close to arriving on an island, prepare yourselves."

Getting closer and closer to the island, it looked really strange as one half of fill with bright light and the other half was pitch black. It was like the sun had shown on one half of the island and only that half.

They soon dock their ship and the four left the boat with the kung-fu dugong animals guarding the ship.