That night, at the residence on Jewel Ice Mountain, Badak and the others held a farewell banquet for Moria.
The battle had lasted most of the day, leaving both Badak and Moria heavily exhausted. Once the banquet began, they immediately started eating heartily.
Back when he read the comics, Badak remembered Akainu and Aokiji fighting continuously for 11 days, or Whitebeard and Roger battling for three days and nights. Yet here he was, having fought for less than a single day, feeling completely drained. He now seriously suspected Akainu and Aokiji had been slacking off—how could Logia users possibly fight nonstop for 11 days?
As they ate, Moria suddenly said, "Badak, come with me to the Grand Line!"
Badak swallowed his food before refusing, "No, I have my own plans. Besides, you're a pirate, and I'm a traveling adventurer. It wouldn't be appropriate for us to travel together."
"Kishishishi, Badak, do you think I don't know? Nico Robin is a high-priority target of the World Government. How long do you think you can keep up this 'traveling adventurer' act?"
Moria wasn't angered by the rejection. "I think you'll become a pirate sooner or later anyway. Why not raise the pirate flag now and—"
"Just eat your food!" Badak cut him off, tossing him a giant meat skewer.
Moria shrugged, took a big bite, and dropped the subject. In his eyes, Badak and his crew would inevitably be wanted sooner or later.
The banquet ended early. Once Moria had eaten his fill, he left with Absalom under the cover of night. He had originally planned to depart during the day, but the battle had dragged on. Now, setting off at night, he aimed to return to his ship quickly, pick up Hogback, and head straight for the Grand Line.
The next day, the weather was splendid—clear skies and bright sunshine. Badak, for once, slept in and didn't wake until the sun was high.
After a quick meal, he headed to the glacier where the treasure was buried. Daz Bones was already there, cutting through the ice.
Drawing White Iron from his waist, Badak steadied his mind, entering a peculiar state of absolute calm. He focused and slashed at the glacier—a Flying Slash shot forth, slicing through the ice as if it were tofu, leaving a deep gash.
"Success."
Through his Observation Haki, Badak sensed the slash had reached the treasure's chamber. A sense of accomplishment welled up inside him. After two and a half months, he had progressed from barely scratching the glacier's surface with his sword to now cleaving through dozens of meters of ice with a single Flying Slash.According to the original schedule, it would take about another week, but after yesterday's big battle, Badak's strength had improved slightly. Testing it today confirmed this, and he even had some energy to spare.
"Swordsmanship has reached the training goal, so let's move on to other projects. Next is figuring out how to combine the Six Styles and the Eight Impact Fist. Then there's improving the use of the Somersault Cloud in combat."
This time, being able to defeat Moria was largely due to the Somersault Cloud's effectiveness. Otherwise, Moria's constant switching would have been really troublesome.
"Right, I need a large-scale destructive skill. The ones I have now aren't enough."
With a goal in mind, Badak immersed himself in training once more.
Time flew by, and another half-month passed—it was time for Badak and his crew to leave.
At the residence on Jewel Ice Mountain, Badak's team gathered together.
"Badak, where to next? We've already been to many places in the West Blue once," Robin asked, sounding somewhat downcast lately, often lost in thought.
"Next? First, we'll return to the Kingdom of Ilusia, then tour the West Blue again. Sai hasn't had the chance to explore yet! After that, we'll head to the first half of the Grand Line to search for the City of Gold..."
Badak laid out the itinerary one item at a time.
"The City of Gold! That's great, Captain Badak! We must find it and clear Roland's name!"
"Yes, Captain! We'll find the City of Gold and let everyone know Roland wasn't a liar!"
At the mention of the City of Gold, Leo and Mansherry were eager to set off immediately, find it the next second, and tell everyone on the seas that Roland wasn't a liar.
"No problem. I know the secret of the City of Gold—we'll definitely find it."
Badak was very interested in Sky Island. It was a must-visit spot for all predecessors who had crossed into this world. Many even turned it into their base. The Dials from Sky Island were also fascinating.
"Once we reach the first half of the Grand Line, besides searching for the City of Gold, we can explore and even cross the Calm Belt to enter the East Blue and South Blue. That should keep us sailing for a long time."
"The East Blue and South Blue... anything fun there?"
Perona knew nothing about the seas beyond the West Blue. Even though she attended Robin's general knowledge lessons, she barely remembered anything.
"The East Blue is the Pirate King's hometown, and the South Blue is the Pirate King's wife's hometown."
Badak knew how to pique interest. Sure enough, as soon as he said this, everyone turned to him.
"The Pirate King's wife?"
"The Pirate King actually had a wife?!"
"His wife was from the South Blue?!"
"How do you know the Pirate King's wife was from the South Blue?"
"Hold on! The Pirate King not only had a wife but also a son!"
Badak briefly explained the story of Portgas D. Rouge and what the Marines had done in the South Blue.
"That's too much! How could the Marines do such a thing?"
"Sniff... she was so strong."
"Incredible. Roger was no real man."
"So where did the Pirate King's son end up?"
"The Pirate King's son? He'll appear sooner or later. When someone named Portgas D. [something] emerges on the seas, that'll be him.""Little master, there's more to this chapter. Please click next page to continue reading, it gets even more exciting later!"
Badak didn't reveal all of Ace's background, but he made sure everyone remembered the Portgas surname.
After the meeting concluded, Badak asked Robin to stay while the others went to prepare ingredients for a farewell feast with Chin Jao.
"You've been preoccupied, Robin. Can't you share it with us?"
Badak looked into Robin's eyes. She'd often been lost in her own world recently, her face always carrying an expression of unspoken words.
"Badak... can we not go to the Grand Line?"
Robin lowered her head, avoiding Badak's gaze.
"Are you worried about the World Government? Did you hear what Moria said last time?"
Seeing Robin nod, Badak smiled. "Do you know what's most important at sea? It's mobility."
"Right now, there are many in the Marines who could defeat us, but only Borsalino could actually catch us on the open sea."
"Marines of Borsalino's caliber won't be deployed immediately. And even if we encounter him, we're not afraid. Aside from you, none of us have bounties yet. I'll hold him off if needed—he's famously lazy and hates doing extra work."
"We'll go to the City of Gold first. There's another Poneglyph there. We'll stay for a while, then head to the South Blue and East Blue..."
"A Poneglyph?"
Robin had initially been inclined to avoid the Grand Line, but hearing about the Poneglyph, she could no longer remain indifferent.
"Yes, I know the locations of several Poneglyphs, all in the Grand Line. To be honest, I understand the World Government's strength better than you do. Precisely because I understand, I want to go to the Grand Line sooner. In the West Blue, I've nearly reached my limit—further growth would take time. But in the Grand Line, I can still learn new abilities. After all... I have friends there too."
"Friends? You've never mentioned that before."
Robin was already convinced, but now grew curious about Badak's friends.
"Hahaha! You'll find out when the time comes!"
Badak laughed, deliberately keeping it a mystery.