Chapter 331: Purpose

Chapter 331: Chapter 331: Purpose

Chapter 331: Purpose

Axel removed his hand.

That simple action was enough to acknowledge the Sea King’s surrender.

The invisible restraints running through its enormous body disappeared almost immediately.

Yet the creature did not attack.

It had accepted the terms of the battle.

To go back on its word after losing would have been beneath it.

The Sea King flexed its massive body experimentally before asking,

"What do you intend to do now?"

Its huge blue eye shifted toward Axel.

"And how should I address you?"

"Master?"

"Young Master?"

"Something else?"

Axel looked mildly surprised.

"You’ve adapted to your new position pretty quickly."

He had read plenty about Sea Kings before, but books could only tell him so much.

This was the first time he had actually held a conversation with one.

Their intelligence and personalities were more interesting than he had expected.

"As for what to call me..."

Axel thought for a moment.

"It doesn’t matter."

He waved a hand casually.

"Call me whatever you want."

Then he looked down toward the tiny ship floating in the distance.

"But first, take me back over there."

The Sea King paused.

"You can call me whatever you want?"

Its voice carried a trace of dissatisfaction.

"I do have a name, you know."

Axel glanced at it.

"Then I’ll call you Big Shark for now."

"Big Shark...?"

The Sea King muttered the name to itself.

It clearly had objections.

But since Axel had not asked for its actual name, and it had already surrendered, it decided not to argue.

Big Shark slowly turned.

Far away, Axel’s ship looked like nothing more than a black speck floating on the surface.

Moving close to something so tiny required surprising care.

For a creature of its size, approaching the vessel was like asking a giant to handle a teaspoon without crushing it.

Fortunately, Big Shark possessed excellent control over its body.

It carefully moved beside the ship.

Axel stepped through the air and landed lightly on the deck.

The instant he returned, Vivi and the others crowded around him.

Vivi spoke first.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

She was still struggling to understand what she had just witnessed.

Axel had actually subdued that enormous Sea King.

A creature so huge that its back resembled an island had lowered its head to him.

Vivi had been too far away to hear Axel’s voice clearly, but the Sea King’s voice was another matter entirely. Every word it spoke rolled across the sea like thunder.

From its responses alone, she had pieced together most of their conversation.

She stared at Axel suspiciously.

"Actually..."

Her eyes narrowed.

"I’m starting to think you deliberately brought us here because you wanted to find something like that."

Axel blinked.

Then he struck his right fist lightly into his left palm.

"Oh?"

He put on an exaggerated look of surprise.

"When did you become so clever?"

"You even figured out that I caused all of this."

Vivi’s forehead twitched.

She pressed a hand against it.

Calm down.

She had dealt with him long enough to recognize the trap.

Getting angry would only entertain him.

She refused to give him the satisfaction.

Chopper had no such experience.

His fur practically stood on end.

"You despicable bastard!"

He pointed angrily toward the bloodstained sea.

"We nearly got eaten!"

Axel sighed.

"You really can’t take a joke."

Chopper’s face turned red.

"A JOKE?!"

Even Wapol, who had learned better than to openly complain, was staring at Axel with an ingratiating smile while almost certainly cursing him internally.

Axel knew that if he kept teasing them without explaining anything, the mood aboard the ship would only get worse.

So he stopped playing around.

"We’re going to Alabasta."

Vivi immediately became serious.

"To save Vivi’s country."

He looked around the deck.

"But before we can do that, we’re missing something important."

Chopper’s anger faded slightly.

After surviving the Sea Kings together, he had grown much closer to Vivi, enough that the thought of helping her country immediately caught his attention.

He frowned and began thinking.

Vivi answered almost at once.

"A Log Pose."

Axel nodded.

"Exactly."

He rested against the railing.

"This is the Grand Line."

"Without a Log Pose, knowing where an island is located is almost impossible."

He looked toward the horizon.

"We can know which general direction we’re moving, but that doesn’t tell us which route leads to Alabasta."

"If we rely entirely on luck..."

Axel paused.

"Our odds of finding it are probably one in several million."

That was hardly an exaggeration.

If anything, reality might be worse.

The Grand Line contained countless islands and countless possible routes.

Even if Axel fixed their direction perfectly, there was no guarantee that one random path through that enormous sea would take them anywhere near Alabasta.

Vivi fell silent.

She could not argue.

Part of the problem was hers.

Because of her undercover work and the need to avoid Baroque Works, the Log Pose she had originally brought from Alabasta was gone.

If she still had it, none of this would be necessary.

Chopper crossed his arms.

"Then where are we supposed to find another one?"

He glanced suspiciously toward Big Shark.

"Don’t tell me Sea Kings carry Log Poses."

Axel laughed.

"Of course not."

Chopper huffed.

"But there is one place where we can definitely find one."

Vivi’s eyes widened.

She understood before he finished.

"The Marines."

Axel looked at her.

"You want the Sea King to find a Marine base?"

Vivi continued.

Axel nodded.

"Exactly."

She remembered what he had done back on Drum Island.

Axel had already demonstrated that he could communicate with animals by manipulating signals they could perceive.

That explained why he had deliberately entered the Calm Belt.

And why he had gone out of his way to subdue something that knew these waters better than any human navigator ever could.

Axel looked toward the enormous creature beside the ship.

"We don’t know where the nearest Marine facility is."

"But the creatures living in these waters?"

"They’ve been here far longer than we have."

Vivi had to admit the logic made sense.

Still...

She looked toward Big Shark’s enormous body.

"There’s something I don’t understand."

Axel waited.

"Why did you have to choose one that huge?"

Vivi pointed toward the creature.

"Wouldn’t a normal Sea King have been enough?"

Axel shook his head.

"No."

Vivi stared.

"Why?"

Axel answered without hesitation.

"It wouldn’t have been cool enough."

Silence.

Vivi’s mouth opened.

Nothing came out.

Chopper froze.

Karoo’s beak slowly dropped open.

Even Wapol stared.

They had almost died.

They had entered the Calm Belt without propulsion.

They had been surrounded by Sea Kings.

They had watched those creatures tear one another apart.

They had nearly been swallowed along with the sea itself.

All because Axel had wanted a bigger one.

Because it looked cooler.

Wapol swallowed.

Lunatic.

There was no other word for it.

The man holding him prisoner was completely insane.

Then again, Wapol could almost understand the reasoning.

A gigantic Sea King was certainly more impressive than a small one.

The problem was that Axel had apparently considered everyone else’s lives acceptable collateral for style.

That was where Wapol took issue.

The great Wapol’s life was extremely valuable.

Axel ignored the strange expressions around him.

He turned and entered the cabin.

A moment later, he returned carrying a sheet of paper.

He unfolded it.

There was only one simple image drawn on it.

A seagull.

The symbol of the Marines.

Axel held it toward Big Shark.

"Take us somewhere that uses this symbol."

Big Shark lowered its enormous head to inspect the drawing.

"Oh."

"I’ve seen that before."

Vivi looked up.

Big Shark continued.

"Things carrying that mark pass through my territory fairly often."

Its massive eye narrowed in thought.

"I usually leave them alone."

Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"They taste like seawater."

Axel paused.

Marines crossing the Calm Belt often used ships lined with Sea Stone.

That explained it.

But Big Shark’s answer revealed another potential problem.

If Axel simply asked for something carrying the Marine symbol, the Sea King might lead them directly to a passing warship.

That was not what he wanted.

He added,

"Not a ship."

Big Shark looked at him.

"I need a place on land."

"A place with walls."

"Fortifications."

"A fortress."

Big Shark considered that.

Then nodded confidently.

"No problem."

"Leave it to me."

The Sea King had no doubts about finding such a place.

Its territory covered an enormous stretch of ocean.

Most days, once it had eaten its fill, there was little to do except wander, rest, and observe whatever passed nearby.

It knew these waters extremely well.

And even if it did not personally know the exact location, it could always ask the countless creatures inhabiting the surrounding sea.

Besides, this was the first task its new master had given it.

Failing immediately would be embarrassing.

Big Shark slowly submerged.

The ocean rose around the ship.

Then its enormous back surfaced beneath them once more.

The vessel was lifted gently from the water and settled atop the Sea King.

Vivi gripped the railing as she looked down.

Their ship was no longer truly sailing.

They were riding a Sea King.

Chopper stared over the edge in amazement.

Karoo cautiously did the same.

Even Wapol looked impressed.

Big Shark began moving.

Its enormous body carried the vessel across the Calm Belt with ease.

Vivi, however, was still thinking about Axel’s instructions.

After a moment, she looked at him.

"I still think something you said just now sounds dangerous."

Axel glanced over.

"Which part?"

Vivi sighed.

"The part about finding a fortress."

....

https://discord.gg/KvMN2CFsMR

[If you don’t want to wait for the next update, read 50 Chapters ahead on P@treon.]

[[email protected]/FanficLord03].