Smooth Sailing Chapter 18: Gold Island 1 (Patreon)

Chapter 18: Gold Island 1

Turns out, the weather was pretty bad for us! Apparently, even storms in the East Blue could put the ones back on Earth to shame.

We all survived, though! Not a single Iron Mace Pirate was lost to the cruel sea! Praise the rope, for it is good!

So, after several hours sailing through the storm, we finally exited it and found ourselves in a calmer stretch of ocean. And, somehow, the Lovey Dovey and Big Top had managed to stay relatively close to each other.

“We got blown badly off course,” Buggy informed me with a grunt once we’d emerged from the storm, the dark clouds to our backs. He sounded weary, and even his Transceiver Snail facsimile looked wet and bedraggled.

“Sure did,” I agreed, wringing a ton of moisture out of my coat. “Where are we?”

“If my calculations and maps are correct, we’ve ended up near Gold Island,” he replied.

“Isn’t that fairly close to the Calm Belt?” I asked, mind flickering back to my own map of the East Blue.

“Sure is. Island is one of a couple that borders it,” Buggy confirmed. “Normally, there’s no reason to go there. However, we’re going to take a quick stop at the island, just to make sure the Straw Hat bastard isn’t there – and to check our ships over.”

“You think he’d visit the place to search for some gold?” I wondered.

“Everyone knows the gold mines there ran dry decades ago,” the clown-themed pirate huffed. “It’s more likely he’d try and visit it to try and find Woonan’s treasure.”

“Make sense,” I said, nodding at his logic.

Woonan, also known as the “Golden Flame Pirate”, was an East Blue legend who’d gained an absurd amount of fame for his audacious thefts all around the world. He’d stolen from everyone and anyone: royalty, merchants, pirates, even the Marines!

Nothing and nobody was safe from his sticky fingers. And he never got caught, leading to his massive wealth remaining hidden and unclaimed to this day. Before Roger, Woonan had been the man whose treasure had been the envy of the world.

Except it was all a lie. I knew, thanks to my meta-knowledge, that Woonan had actually given up the treasure he’d stolen near the end of his life, returning it to some, donating the rest to the needy. A very Robin Hood-esque figure, though nobody actually knew that, since he did his charity work in secret.

‘Which is strange, because if all the stuff Woonan stole was returned, surely somebody would have mentioned it or noticed?’ I thought to myself. ‘And some of the things he stole were kinda hard to miss, like paintings, vases, and such. Whomever he donated to would also make a stir. One orphanage or charity getting a bucket load of gold would raise eyebrows. Dozens across the East Blue and the rest of the world? That’d be a story Big News Morgan would immediately latch onto!’

“So, Gold Island it is, then,” I said to Buggy, feeling curious about the truth of the matter. I was going to investigate the island and the rumors of the treasure while I was there!

We chatted a bit more about logistics, how the raid on the warehouses went, and some other stuff, before hanging up and leaving us to sail towards our destination alongside him.

“Did I hear mention of Straw Hat?” Jango asked, my newest crew member joining me up on the quarterdeck when I was done with my co-captain meeting.

“Yup. Buggy and I are hunting him,” I replied. “Why? Got beef with the kid, too?”

“Damn straight I do!” he declared. “Beat me up and ruined a multi-year long scheme! We’d be rich now if he hadn’t interfered! …Or maybe we’d be dead. Dunno. Seeing how Captain Kuro turned on us at the end, there… I can’t help but wonder if his plan was always to eliminate us in order to tie up loose ends.”

The hypnotist huffed and shook his head. “Well, if I get the chance, I won’t say no to a bit of revenge on Straw Hat and that long-nosed sniper!”

“Then stick with us, pal!” I said, throwing an arm around his shoulder. “Oh, and uh, sorry for punching your friend back on Mirror Ball.”

“He was a good dance partner, but he was a Marine… it’d never work out,” Jango sighed.

“Mm. Anyways, before I forget, allow me to tell you the rules for this crew of ours,” I said, my grin turning a touch sharp, and my grip on him tightened so he couldn’t squirm away.

He began to sweat a little as I informed the hypnotist about the rules of the BATTLE, and what I’d do to him if I ever caught him abusing his hypnosis on the crew – or anyone else.

“…and that’s all for now. Keep your nose clean and we won’t have a problem. Got it?”

“Y-yeah! Don’t worry, I got it, Captain Alvida!” Jango stammered, head bobbing up and down so fast it was a blur.

“Great! Now go help Pep with checking on the conditions of the boat. I want to know what is wrong with this thing before we have to pay a shipwright to patch it up!”

He scurried away, helping my Lookout with the all-important task of making sure the Lovey Dovey wasn’t taking on water – or about to. This left me with a moment to take in the sight of our destination.

Gold Island was a rather large patch of solid land with some odd-looking geographical features. There was a very round mound that stood on one end of the island, and on the opposite side there was a giant cylindrical mountain, not unlike the mountains of Drum Kingdom.

As for the biome of Gold Island, it was a hot, tropical jungle. Monkeys and birds of paradise abounded, and they were the largest animals that dwelt upon it. Aside from humans, of course.

In the movie, Gold Island had been abandoned, not a single living person on the island. The map that supposedly led to the treasure had been stolen back and forth for years. Here in this universe, though, the island was still sparsely populated.

The former gold-mining settlements had been mostly abandoned, but a collection of souls remained, either too stubborn to leave, or trying to profit off of Woonan’s legend. And yes, that is basically what happened.

Gold Island turned into a tourist trap, luring pirates and treasure seekers to it in the hopes of tricking people out of their money with fake maps, a museum dedicated to the famous pirate, and the like. Considering the island was where Woonan had been born, it managed to draw in plenty of curious and gullible souls who didn’t know better, or just wanted to have fun.

Approaching the island, it wasn’t hard to miss the presence of a small town built up near a bay. It was also quite easy to see it was currently being visited by several seafaring vessels, including a pirate ship.

“Anyone recognize which crew that flag belongs to?” Medaka wondered as she squinted at it.

“A Jolly Roger with a red-maned lion as the main feature… gotta be the Eldoraggo Pirates,” Jango told her, looking up from his work.

“Eldoraggo’s got a ten million beri bounty!” Moodie exclaimed, terror coloring her voice. “We can’t fight him!”

“We totally could! Ganzack was eight million and we kicked his ass!” Medaka said, pumping a fist.

“And Buggy’s bounty is fifteen million,” Eliza reminded the ship’s doctor.

“Bounties don’t always accurately describe power level,” I warned them. “I was laid out by a no-name, no-bounty schmuck, and Jango here is definitely more powerful than his bounty may suggest.”

“Awww, thanks, captain!” Jango said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly at the praise.

“So, what good are bounties, then?” Medaka asked.

“They tell you how much the World Government hates you and wants you gone,” I replied bluntly.

Seeing that bring down the mood a bit, I clapped my hands. “Now, back to the matter at hand! Eldoraggo. He’s a tough bastard, and has a Devil Fruit, but as long as we don’t pick a fight with him we should be fine. We just need to get supplies and repairs before moving on.”

“He’s probably here for the treasure,” Pop pointed out.

“And? Nobody has found it for decades, I don’t think a gold-obsessed pirate is gonna find it when everyone else has failed,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

“But what if we did, though?” Medaka asked eagerly.

She wasn’t the only one. Several other members, looked like they wanted to go do a little exploring on the island for the legendary treasure. Only Moodie looked uncertain. Which was fair, she was still reeling a bit from everything.

I put a hand on my hip and looked over my crew with a cocked eyebrow. “Explain.”

“I mean, this is the island’s whole thing, right? Looking for treasure. And we’re pirates, yeah? So let’s go and do a bit of exploring!” the red-head suggested.

“It would be nice to have a bit of fun after escaping the Marines,” Eliza suggested. “And I mean, we’ll probably have to stick around for a while.”

As she said that, there was a cracking sound, and a piece of railing broke off and fell into the water.

“Fair enough,” I nodded, before turning to Hep. “Alright, bring us into the docks as far from Eldoraggo’s ship as you can. Then, we can spend the day seeing the sights. And, yes, do some treasure hunting later on.”

That earned me a whoop of joy from the crew, though Moodie did not join in, looking more than a little put-off by everything.

‘Oh, right. Shit, I completely forgot that we basically re-kidnapped her on Mirror Ball Island,’ I thought with a guilty wince. ‘I mean, it was to save her life, but still!’

If she had found a job at Funky Town’s hospital – as unlikely as that was – then that was a betrayal of what I’d promised. Not to mention, she had to see Fullbody again, adding insult to injury.

I made a mental note to talk to her as soon as possible, but was distracted by an elderly woman calling out to us.

“Ahoy, there!” she shouted, voice surprisingly strong despite looking to be close to eighty or so. “Docking fees are ten thousand beri per vessel a day!”

“That’s damn robbery,” Hep grumbled.

“Compared to what we paid in Frauce it’s damn cheap,” I retorted, tossing the old lady a bundle of cash. “Got any recommendations for food or sights to see around here, Granny?”

“You want food, there’s an oden stall at the end of the dock,” she replied, pointing towards a tiny boat that also doubled as a noodle shop. “As for sights, we have guided tours of Woonan’s palace, the old mines, and a gift shop!”

I chuckled at the latter bit, but nodded. She then waved and headed off to greet Buggy and get money off the clown.

“Okay, folks, we’re gonna do it this way!” I said aloud. “We’re gonna do split into groups of three for now. Hep, Pep, and Pop, you’re one team. Jodie, Eliza, and Medaka are another. And lastly, Jango and Moodie are with me.”

Once everyone nodded at me in understanding, I went on. “Now, we’ll rotate through. No more than two groups on the island at a time! For now, mine will stick around on the Lovey Dovey. The rest of you can go and have fun.”

Jango looked a bit disappointed to not being able to go out with the rest but didn’t protest, and got to work securing some mooring while the rest eagerly disembarked. While that was happening I cornered Moodie on the quarterdeck.

“Sorry about yanking you around back in Funky Town,” I told her. “We were in kinda a hurry, so I never got to hear what the result was.”

Moodie bit her lip before replying. “You were right,” she muttered despondently. “I went to the hospital, but when they called my references back in Frauce, they found out about what Fullbody did and immediately denied my application right then and there!”

I winced. Just because I knew it’d happen didn’t make it any better. But Moodie wasn’t done, and she began to rant angrily. “And then that, that fils de pute has the gall to show his face and try to act like a damned hero, but not even recognize me?!”

Another wince. Yeah, not even remembering the face of the woman whose life you ruined was kinda a dick move, not gonna lie.

Moodie laughed a little, her voice tinged with a hint of fury and madness. “Seeing you lay him out in a single punch was, was, was-!”

She got so heated up she couldn’t finish, and instead gave up and grabbed my face, pulling me in towards her own. Eyes wide, all I could do was stand there and let her give me a deep French (or Frauce) Kiss.

On the deck, Jango whistled, and I idly flipped him off. When Moodie was done showing me her appreciation, she pulled back with a wet pop, blushing heavily as she panted a little.

“Well, glad to see you aren’t too upset,” I replied as dryly as I could muster, earning a giggle.

She then turned to the island, mood dampening a bit. “I’m still… processing things. Sailing through a giant storm while fleeing from Marines is a bit new to me.”

“Fair,” I shrugged.

Moodie went from law abiding citizen to a pirate in the course of a day, it was no wonder she was still reeling a little. Hopeful she’d recover soon.

“Hey, Captain Alvida!” a voice called out, and I looked over towards the Big Top. On the deck, Mohji was waving at me.

“Yeah?” I called back.

“Captain Buggy wanted us to go over what we managed to grab from Mirror Ball! Can you come on over?”

“Ah, right, almost forgot,” I muttered. “Come on you two. Let’s see what sort of loot we acquired.”

The Big Top was close enough to the Lovey Dovey that I wasn’t worried about leaving the latter alone while onboard the former, and Jango and Moodie followed me onto our allies’ ship.

The deck was currently strewn with all sorts of crates stamped with the Doskoi Panda logo. Several were already pried open and pirates were going through everything, sorting them and cataloguing the take.

“A lot more than I expected,” I commented, looking over the deck. “And you’re a lot more careful with recording everything, too.”

“How can we know what we got and what everyone is owed if we don’t carefully check everything?” Buggy asked rhetorically, a clipboard in one hand, pen in the other. His head was disconnected from his neck and floating over the shoulders of his crew, watching them work as well as scrutinizing the contents of the creates.

“Good point,” I said, picking up a t-shirt from a pile. “Looks like it’s mostly clothing.”

“So far, yeah,” Buggy agreed. “But we did break open a crate full of Panda-branded Pocky earlier.”

“Ooo! Tasty!” I said. Then, I rubbed my hands together. “How can I help?”

“Pop a few lids, see what’s inside,” Buggy replied.

I nodded and walked over to a large crate, ripping the top clean off. Within was a large number of boots and other kinds of footwear.

Jango and Moodie helped me record everything we found, and shortly before noon, all of the loot was unloaded and sorted.

We ended up with a lot of clothes, which would be divided up amongst the two crews. I personally grabbed a purple and white panda spotted top which looked nice, and then there was a nice pair of heels.

Jango and Moodie took their own choices as well. Our newest crew member got himself some stuff, going for a pair of wraparound shades sort of like Helmeppo’s future eyewear, a pair of black leather pants with red tassels on the sides, and a purple beanie. He kept the shirt from his earlier disguise, though.

Moodie’s choice for an outfit was a bit more subdued: a red tube top and matching skirt while donning a white doctor’s coat over it all. She also took a pair of black high heels you could use as a stabbing weapon!

When the rest of the Iron Mace Pirates returned, they’d get their own chance to rummage through the fine piles of loot.

Aside from that, the Iron Mace Pirates ended with a crate of kitchen appliances (we kept a toaster oven and mini-fridge for the Lovey Dovey), three crates of snacks (Panda Pocky, some sort of shrimp-flavored potato chips, and low sodium mini-pretzels), a crate of gardening supplies (which Jodie would likely want), and two containers full of books, which was actually the best part of the smash and grab operation, at least to me.

‘Let’s see… history books, guides to other islands, including some in the Grand Line, comics, and plenty of examples of what this world has to offer in terms of fiction. Yes, this will definitely help me get up to speed,’ I thought gleefully, already flipping through the pages of a book on the history of the World Government’s involvement in the East Blue.

One of the biggest issues I was facing as a newcomer in this world is that there are some things I don’t know that the people here would take for granted. I know quite a bit of meta-knowledge that sort of helped me, but things like ‘what is the name of the common tongue,’ ‘why do we use Kanji for some things but Latinized words for others,’ ‘what are the names of the Founding Twenty,’ and the like are unknown to me.

People born here would probably know the answers to those questions, since even without standardized education for the majority of inhabitants, there seemed to be a high literacy rate.

The more I knew, the better, since I didn’t know what would come in handy. I didn’t want to stand out for not knowing something the real Alvida would have, and that was why I was glad to have some books to read.

It wasn’t exactly a massive haul – Buggy had to cut the looting short when Captain Hina showed up to ruin the party – but it was pretty decent for BATTLE’s first official bit of piracy.

Because of the high resale value for Doskoi Panda merch, what wasn’t claimed would be easily sold at a profit, netting us a decent amount of cash. We’d even be able to sell some of our stockpile to the people of this island if we wanted. There weren’t a lot of inhabitants, but given how rarely big-time merchants visited this out of the way place, some branded merch would look rather appealing.

Later, the P Brothers (name pending) returned with lunch, laden with takeout bowls of oden. Our meal was very noodle heavy, but very good, and I considered trying to poach the old man who made them as a cook.

His name was ‘Ganzo,’ and he had a grandson called Tobio… in the movie. Did he have any other family left in this world? He still had the part boat, part restaurant, but with the island slightly more inhabited than what I was familiar with, anything was possible.

‘Wonder if Ganzo knows the secret about Woonan already?’ I wondered as I slurped up noodles. I’d have to ask sometime.

My trio switched with the three siblings after lunch, and when I left the Lovey Dovey to explore the island, I made sure to bring my club with me. Not gonna make this mistake again!

We went into town, though there wasn’t much there. A museum, an inn, a post office, and a couple of houses that doubled as storefronts for a variety of things, but not much else.

“Place has seen better days,” Jango commented, glancing around. “And I’m not just talking about the fact the mine dried up.”

“Probably had a lot of tourism stolen by Loguetown,” I guessed as we walked through the streets.

“Because of Gold Roger?” Moodie asked, and I nodded.

“Because of Gold Roger.”

Loguetown was a large town, almost a city, and had a lot more to do and see than the execution site of the Pirate King, after all.

“I wonder where JEM is?” I mused aloud a little bit later, and Jango and Moodie shot me a confused look.

“Jodie, Eliza, Medaka,” I replied to their unasked question. “And we’d be JAM! Jango, Alvida, Moodie!”

“Great, our captain has Dad Jokes on the brain,” Moodie sighed.

“Could be worse,” Jango stated.

“How?”

“Not sure, but I can probably think of something.”

I stuck my tongue out at my subordinates before turning to the museum. It was the biggest building in town, having been partly made from the Woonan’s own flagship, the Golden Flames.

The entry fee was steep, five thousand beri a person, but stepping inside, I could tell it was worth it. The interior was filled with all sorts of relics that had once belonged to Woonan and his crew.

“Is that a Meito?” I asked in disbelief, staring at a cutlass sealed behind a glass case.

It looked truly elegant, with a golden half-basket guard and a faint reddish flame mark along the fuller.

“The Fool’s Gold, a Grade Blade cutlass. Only a replica, though. It would be foolish to leave such a precious blade out in the open.”

“Oh, hey, Buggy,” I said, greeting my co-captain with a nod. “Didn’t think you were one for history. Or knowledgeable about swords.”

“I learned to appreciate a lot of things thanks to my old crew,” Buggy replied, the clown standing next to me as he looked at the weapon. He then shot me a look. “Though I could say the same about you.”

“Fair,” I snorted. “And really, my interest in history lies more along the lines of how cool some things are. Like old swords. Or treasure!”

“True, that is the best part of finding ancient societies. All the loot they left behind!” he laughed.

“Hey, since we’re here, I gotta ask: did you ever try to find Woonan’s treasure?” I wondered, and Buggy frowned.

“Of course I did! What sorta treasure loving pirate would I be if I hadn’t? But unfortunately, the whole damn thing was a wild goose chase! Couldn’t find a single trace of even a single nugget! After a month I had to give up. Crew was getting bored and rowdy,” Buggy grumbled.

“Mm. I bet Woonan didn’t even bury his gold on this island. Too obvious, ya know?” I hummed.

“I thought that too, but there’s a lot of evidence for it,” Buggy replied. “There’s evidence of him digging out new tunnels in the mines, and also receipts of bringing in materials that could be used to make traps. And why would he do that if not to hide something?”

“As a prank?” I guessed. Buggy stared at me for a moment before shaking his head.

“What? It’s what I’d do! Make a bunch of fake traps and treasures while having spent all of the real loot to make said traps and fake treasures,” I replied. “It’d be the ultimate final joke!”

“And people say clowns are evil,” he muttered under his breath before moving on to another part of the museum.

Chuckling to myself at Buggy’s words, I wandered over to a section that had a couple of old pictures of the guy. He was certainly a handsome fellow. And not absurdly proportioned like a lot of big names.

“Not bad,” I hummed, eyeing Woonan’s final bounty poster. Quarter of a billion beri was not a bad price for the head of a guy from the East Blue who stole more gold than even God had!

Then something else caught my eye. Hanging on the wall near the collection of bounty posters was a rather beautiful looking map. It was locked up tight behind some glass, but it was easy to tell that this was an authentic artifact from the weathering and fraying along the edges.

“Huh, that’s…” I blinked, looking closer at the map as the sight of it tickled something in the back of my head. This was the treasure map from the movie! The one that contained the riddle about the whale’s tail pointing to the supposed treasure!

“We sell copies at the gift shop,” a middle-aged custodian commented as he walked past.

That might make a fun souvenir. And maybe later, I’d go see if Woonan’s ‘treasure’ was still in the same place as it was in the movie.

‘I hope the others are having fun, too,’ I thought. This was a nice little break. We deserved the chance to relax and not fight some crazy pirate or Marines.

111 &&& 111

“Wow!” Medaka said excitedly, bouncing on her feet as she looked at the palace.

Woonan had some nice taste! The place had three stories and was made of lovely white stone, with a trio of three towers topped with domes, one significantly smaller than the others, and decorated with blue and red triangle patterns on the sides.

The style was also unlike anything the red-head had seen before! Sure, she’d only seen a couple different islands since leaving home, but architecturally they were fairly similar. This, though? It evoked a sense of exoticism, of something taken away from another place and planted here.

Though Medaka didn’t know why Eliza had snickered when she saw the two domes. Or why Jodie had giggled and gotten a blush on her face when Eliza had nudged her and whispered something about boobs.

‘Grownups are weird,’ she thought to herself, and instead focused on listening to the tour guide as he led them across the stone bridge to the palace.

“…and Woonan’s castle was built using Shibari temples as an inspiration. Although some rumors claim he constructed the palace brick by brick using materials from an actual Shibari temple, stealing the entire structure and bringing it back here!” the guide, a bald elderly man with some thick and muscular legs and a very nice moustache said, finishing up his explanation.

Their tour guide had also been the guy who’d made them lunch. His oden had been really tasty! Shame he had to do two jobs to make a living, but he seemed happy enough. Maybe being a tour guide was like a part-time thing?

“How could somebody steal an entire building?” Medaka asked, raising her hand.

“Surprisingly easily, when you have a fleet of ships as large as Woonan’s,” the guide chuckled. “But if the rumors are true, he likely demolished it, then took the rubble back here before putting it all together.”

“That’s so cool! I wanna do that, do!” Medaka declared. She’d need to find a really cool building first, though… and her own island… and a bunch of ships…

The old tour guide laughed at that and patted her head. It bumped against her helmet – after the events on Mirror Ball she wasn’t going to leave her armor behind ever again! – but it still felt nice.

“Excellent dream, kid! Never give up on it!” he told her, before turning back to the entrance to the palace. “Now, let’s go on in and take a look at the unique furniture, taken from all across the globe during Woonan’s adventures!”

‘So glad we went on this tour!’ Medaka thought happily as she followed the man around through the interior of the former pirate’s home.

Although one of the other members of the tour group, a big guy with red, mane-like hair and gold armor didn’t look nearly as excited, tapping his foot impatiently. His friends seemed nervous about that, too. Well, three of them did. A guy with a pink shirt, a guy with sunglasses, and a guy with pink hair and a black jacket. The other large guy (but not as big as the gold-wearing one) with a big sword and green, feathered hood just seemed bored.

“Not a lot of gold on display,” Eliza commented as they wandered through the halls.

“The gold Woonan collected over his life was never actually left out in the open. It was all secreted away in a hidden location, that remains unfound to this very day!” the guide explained. “For décor, Woonan used other valuable objects, such as fine artwork and master crafted furniture. Take this vase, for instance! It is a genuine Ting vase from the Ting Dynasty of Kano Country in the West Blue!”

“Ooo! Pretty!” Medaka gushed, admiring the large vase with blue glazed dragons all over it.

“Hnnn!” the larger red-head grunted. “Is this it?”

Medaka wondered what his problem was. This was all very nice!

“D-don’t worry, captain!” Pink Shirt hastily tried to reassure him. “I’m sure we’ll find something soon!”

“Yeah! There has to be some clue around here somewhere!” Sunglasses guy exclaimed.

“Yup, yup!” Pink Hair declared.

The lion-like man grumbled about wasting time, but he didn’t stomp off. He looked close to his breaking point, though.

‘Is he a treasure seeker, too?’ Medaka mused as she tilted her head to the side while she watched the quintet.

Admittedly, she’d also had the idea to look around the island trying to find some trace of Woonan’s famous gold, but gotten distracted by the museum first, and then the tour of the palace.

“That was fun!” Medaka said as she skipped out of Woonan’s castle.

“Better than I thought,” Eliza commented. “The collection of various outfits from across the world the man collected in his lifetime was impressive. I’ve never seen some of the styles outside of fashion books and magazines!”

“It was interesting,” Jodie agreed, smiling slightly. “I personally liked the artwork. I think one of them was a genuine Vander Glow!”

As the trio made their way across the stone bridge, they heard something that caused them to stop and turn around.

“I’ve waited long enough!” the red-maned man snarled loudly. “Where is all the gold?!”

“Sorry, folks, but I don’t know what to tell ya,” the tour guide said with a shrug. He was surprisingly calm for a man being cornered by five people, one of whom being extremely tall. “You think we’d be living here on this island if we had any inkling of where the treasure is?”

The other group from the tour earlier were now crowding around the old man, menacingly looming over the old man.

“You think we believe that?” Pink Shirt uttered with a scoff.

“You better fess up, now!” Pink Hair demanded, pointing a gun at the man’s chest.

“Talk, old man!” Sunglasses snarled, backing up his buddies.

“It’s true, though!” the guide stated, now getting a little nervous. “Nobody knows where Woonan’s gold is! He hid it too well!”

“Enough!” the golden-armored guy shouted. “Tell me where Woonan’s gold is!”

He grabbed the tour guide by the shirt and hoisted him up into the air, threatening him with his gold-plated nails. “And make it snappy!”

“Yeah! You don’t want to make the boss angry!” the guy with black hair in a pink cowboy outfit warned.

“You wouldn’t like Captain Eldraggo when he’s angry!” the dude with pink hair and a black jacket claimed.

“So just give up the gold, old-timer!” the final member of the trio, who had purple hair and round sunglasses, demanded.

Medaka was momentarily reminded of the P Brothers as this trio said their thing, before shaking her head. This wasn’t the time to get distracted!

She started to take a step towards the big pirate, but was grabbed by the scruff of the neck by Eliza, who dragged her away behind a tree on the other side of the ravine.

“Hey, what gives?!” Medaka demanded, flailing helplessly.

“That’s my line!” the seamstress hissed. “What were you thinking, trying to charge at them?!”

“I was gonna save the tour guide!” Medaka protested

“There’s five of them, and three of us,” Jodie added. “To say nothing of that man with the sword… or the big fellow with all that gold on his armor.”

“And you don’t even have your weapon,” Eliza pointed out, bonking Medaka on her helmet. “None of us do!”

“Then what do we do?!” the red-head asked.

“We want to deal with these guys, we’ll have to get the captain,” Jodie stated. “She’s the only one who can help!”

“Grrr! Fine!” Medaka pouted. Eliza nodded and let her go, but before they could make their escape, the huge pirate got fed up with the old man’s excuses.

“UGH! Whatever! I’ll just have to start digging for it myself!” Eldraggo declared, and opened his mouth.

Medaka was confused by that, until light started to gather inside of it, and a low, shrill shrieking noise battered her ear drums.

With a roar, a blast of sonic energy lashed out from his wide-open jaws and slammed into the side of the palace, tearing a massive chunk out of it as an explosion rocked the structure.

Medaka screamed and ducked down, while Eliza and Jodie clapped their hands over their ears as the howl Eldraggo unleashed rattled their bodies and pulverized stone.

“Gol-ho-ho-hoh!” Eldraggo laughed. “I’ll find Woonan’s treasure, even if I have to destroy the entire island to do so!”

‘I have to go get Captain Alvida! We need her help!’ Medaka thought desperately as she crawled away from the area. ‘Hang on, old man!’