Chapter 92: Return to the Pirate World
In the vast white sea of clouds, everything was lifeless and still, as if all things were frozen in a state of complete motionlessness.
Just then, a door suddenly appeared in this sea of clouds, still on that same small boat.
The moment this door opened a crack, the entire world seemed to come alive—wind stirred the sea of clouds, and the small boat swayed a few times.
It was Bane returning, holding Fubuki in his arms with Zoro and Dr. Genus tucked under each armpit!
As soon as he stepped onto the boat, sweat poured down his head.
"Damn it, no matter how strong I get, does opening doors always have to be like this?" Bane cursed irritably.
Before I got stronger, opening a door nearly killed me. Now that I'm stronger, opening a door still nearly kills me. What's the point of getting stronger then?
He'd originally thought about whether he could use this door-opening as a trump card, but now it seemed the feasibility was low—at least for now.
As Bane pondered this, Zoro and the others also 'came to life.' Fubuki realized she was currently being held by Bane and her face immediately flushed red, while Zoro said in exasperation: "Can't you find a less embarrassing position to bring me through worlds?"
After breaking free from under Bane's armpit, Zoro looked around at their surroundings, his eyes showing a hint of joy: "Still the same place, and not much time has even passed!"
Of course, Bane and Zoro had made some arrangements before leaving. For instance, there were still fruits they'd placed on this small boat. If a really long time had passed, the fruit should have started rotting by now, but it hadn't—the fruit showed no changes at all.
Bane quickly bent down to feel the teacup on the small table. Good heavens, the tea was still warm!
"Maybe using this door-opening as a trump card isn't very feasible, but exploiting time bugs is completely doable!" Bane thought to himself.
"So this is another world?" Fubuki stood at the edge of the small boat, looking at the misty scenery with wonder, even wanting to reach out and grab the clouds.
"Why make such a big fuss? Look how composed Dr. Genus is—not saying a word. You can tell he's a steady person who can accomplish great things!" After glancing at Fubuki, Bane praised Dr. Genus extensively.
But looking more carefully, the doctor's face was completely red. Where was he choosing not to speak? He clearly couldn't speak!
"Doctor? Doctor, what's wrong with you!?" Bane quickly stepped forward to support Dr. Genus, who was about to topple headfirst into the sea of clouds, asking with concern.
My warship still depends on you—you can't have problems now!
"Oxygen... I need oxygen... lack of oxygen..." Dr. Genus managed to say with great effort.
It wasn't just oxygen deficiency—he was also experiencing altitude sickness. This was over ten thousand meters above sea level!
Bane and Zoro were physically robust, and Fubuki was now both a Logia-type user and a psychic, so her adaptability was extremely strong—they showed no abnormalities.
But although the doctor was healthy with no problems, suddenly finding himself over ten thousand meters above sea level in an instant—well, that feeling was indescribable!
Fortunately, before Bane's group had ascended to Sky Island, they'd prepared a bunch of oxygen tanks. After all, Bane wasn't sure whether Nami and the other crew members with less outstanding abilities could handle it. Later, facts proved that although Nami had no problems and quickly adapted, several of their subordinates did suffer from oxygen deficiency and relied on oxygen tanks to survive until they gradually adapted to the environment.
Bane immediately retrieved an oxygen tank from his dark space, quickly opened it, and shoved it into the doctor's mouth.
Dr. Genus took several deep breaths of oxygen before finally recovering.
The first thing this guy said was: "How crude is this oxygen tank? It has no technical content whatsoever, and the oxygen concentration inside is completely substandard. Otherwise, those few breaths should have made me pass out..."
Hearing this, Bane's face twitched several times. There was no helping it—compared to that world, many technologies here were indeed somewhat awkward, especially in terms of widespread adoption.
"Well, just make do with it for now. Once you're familiar with the situation here, you can make your own," Bane consoled the doctor.
They didn't linger long in this sea of clouds. Although only an instant might have passed in this world, three months had already gone by for Bane and Zoro. They were now eager to return to their ship!
In Cloud Village, Nami and Issho were following Wiper around their village's small market.
Although they didn't know when those two guys Bane and Zoro would return, Nami and Issho had already started preparing supplies for departure.
The Shandians of Cloud Village had given them many gifts, but Nami and Issho weren't really planning to take everything for free—they were prepared to pay for some additional items, especially Sky Island specialties like various shells.
"Issho, do you want this?" Nami took a Cloud Dial from a small vendor and waved it at Issho.
"As I cannot see, I'll trouble Miss Nami to introduce it to me," Issho said with a smile.
"It's a Cloud Dial—it can spray clouds from inside," Nami explained.
"What would I need this for?" Issho hesitated and asked.
"To ride the clouds! With your abilities plus this Cloud Dial, how cool would it be when you want to fly in the future!" Nami enthused.
Hearing this, Issho thought it made sense and agreed: "Very well, then I'll trouble you."
Before they'd finished this transaction, Issho suddenly seemed to sense something, his face showing a smile: "It seems Bane and Zoro have returned... Hmm? There are two unfamiliar presences with them."
"So soon?" Nami said in surprise: "When Bane left earlier, he looked like he was making final arrangements. I thought they'd be gone for a long time, but they left in the morning and are back before afternoon?"
Before Nami had even finished speaking, a flash of lightning suddenly streaked by, and Zoro's figure emerged directly from the lightning, placing a hand on Nami's shoulder: "I heard you talking bad about Bane right away."
"Ah!" Nami seemed startled and jumped aside, then her surprise instantly turned to delight as she said happily: "Zoro, you really became a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user!"
"Of course." Zoro said smugly.
Actually, before leaving, although his relationship with Nami was also close, they didn't have that much to talk about—he was immersed in training all day. But now, seeing Nami made him feel happy and warm, like seeing family.
"The Rumble-Rumble Fruit's abilities are invincible even without much development. Combined with your talent in swordsmanship, it seems this sea will soon welcome a new strongman" Issho also sighed sincerely.
This was actually one of the reasons why Zoro had immediately chosen the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. He didn't want to disperse too much energy into developing Devil Fruit abilities—his pursuit was still swordsmanship. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit was simply too powerful; even if he didn't spend much effort developing the ability, just mastering a few basic techniques would already provide him with strong support.
So Zoro's current training arrangement was to focus primarily on swordsmanship, with ability development secondary—just providing auxiliary support for his swordsmanship. The rest could wait until his swordsmanship matured, then he could gradually shift some focus to fruit ability development.
After chatting with Issho and Nami for a few moments, Zoro seemed to remember something and said: "We brought back two people from this trip, and Bane plans to have them join our crew."
"You found two more people in just half a day? Your efficiency is way too high!" Nami said in amazement.
She naturally knew that if they were just looking for ordinary crew members, Zoro wouldn't specifically mention it, so the newcomers should be treated as 'companions'—which was what surprised Nami.
After all, she knew very well that Bane had high standards for companions. They had to be either technical talents, gifted individuals worth cultivating, or people with already formidable strength like Issho.
Ordinary people, he wouldn't even look at.
Yet in half a day, he'd found two at once?
Hearing this, Zoro's expression also became somewhat strange, but after thinking for a long time and not knowing how to explain, he simply said: "I can't really explain the specifics. You can ask Bane about it later—he'll be here soon."
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