Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Even the night sky was beautiful. He had forgotten how marvelous the moon was. How extraordinary the stars were. The sky felt so warm and colorful. He wished he could have shared it with the rest. Tell them that it wasn't that far from their imagination. But he knew he couldn't do it now, so he would experience even more things first before he would be on the way to tell them.

"Captain!" Caribou yelled out from the deck

"What is it?" Snow asked as he scratched the chin of the green lizard that he had taken away from Coribou. "Did we reach the land?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were already a famous pirate?" Caribou quickly climbed to the crow's nest and showed a wanted poster that the news coo had brought with the newspaper. "Dead or alive, Snow, the Gravedigger, 20 million berries."

Snow looked at the face of a young man with blonde hair that had fallen over his grey eyes. Snow didn't even know when the Marines had taken his picture. But he probably should have expected that beating up a hundred marines wouldn't go unnoticed by the World Government, but why was it only 20 million? Luffy's first bounty was 30 million. Snow couldn't fall behind too much from the rubber guy.

"You are amazing, boss. Even without a crew, you already got such a high bounty," Caribou sounded genuinely impressed. "What kind of evil thing did you do? Did you kill a noble? Kidnapped a princess?"

"Call me captain," Snow kicked Caribou out of his crow's nest. "And all you need to know is in my epitaph."

"The Gravedigger?" Caribou read it out before starting to sweat profusely.

"Be careful around me, Caribou," Snow smirked at Caribou's expression. "Or I might decide to bury you in the sea."

"Yes, captain."

It was easy to deal with someone like Caribou. All he could understand was strength and fear. By showing that he could kill him at any time, Caribou was deeply afraid of Snow, but at the same time, he respected Snow's strength. It was effortless to read Caribou's emotions, and he needed a crew to navigate the sea, so Snow was thankful that someone who could be so easily controlled showed up on his ship.

"Big bro," Coribou ran up to Caribou. "I see lights. We near the land."

As Coribou pointed at the sky where the stars shone, Snow almost fell off the crow's nest. But then he saw land not far from them. It was quite a big island, occupying the entire horizon before him. He could see the tall shadows from the mountains and light coming from the town. It was impressive, and he was still far from the island.

"Is that the Dual Kingdom?" Snow asked as he jumped out of the crow's nest and took his umbrella.

"Uh, I don't know, captain," Caribou was nervous as he replied. "We've never been to other islands apart from our homeland."

"Well, it doesn't matter," Snow smiled as he was excited to see a new island and a town. "We going to land here."

"Uh, captain?" Caribou got Snow's attention as he continued to sweat even more. "How do we land this ship?"

"Beats me," Snow replied calmly and continued to watch as the ship neared the island.

As they neared the island, Caribou started panicking. Firstly, he tried to lower the anchor but failed to tie it to the ship before dropping it down, so it fell off with the chain into the bottom of the sea. Then he tried to lower the sails but got tied up with the ropes as he didn't know how it worked. On the other hand, Coribou just sat here, not knowing what his brother was trying to do.

"We going to crash!" Caribou cried out as we neared the port, and they weren't slowing down.

"Stop your crying," Snow said, as he put on his black gloves and tied his umbrella on his back. "Follow my lead."

There wasn't much steering done as one side of the ship scrapped the dock while the other pushed a smaller ship, probably destroying it. The people in the harbor screamed in terror as a massive navy ship crashed through the port. Snow grabbed both Caribou and Coribou as the ship hit the land and jumped out.

Snow landed on his feet and caught the lizard as it fell from his shoulder. Caribou was dizzy and could barely stand from the shock, while Coribou seemed fine as the jump didn't face him. Seeing that the harbor was in full panic as half of the navy ship was on the land, Snow dragged the brothers and left the harbor as quickly as possible. It was a Marine ship, so the Marines should deal with it.

"What did I tell you? It was a smooth landing," Snow said as he and the brothers mixed in with the rest of the populace fleeing the harbor. Just in time to see dozens of Marines running in to see what was happening.

"Sorry, captain, I think I am going to puke," Caribou said as he tried to walk, but his legs were trembling too much. "I should have listened to grandma and never left home."

"Big bro, look how tall these buildings are," Coribou didn't seem to notice how his brother was feeling as he looked around excitedly.

To Snow, they acted like children who had left their home for the first time. But he guessed he wasn't that different from them as it was his first island aside from his home that he had visited in this world. He was curious about what he could see here. What kind of people lived here? How the buildings were built? How did the streets look?

"Hey! Watch where you are going," A group of people walked past them, hitting Coribou with their shoulders before turning around and yelling at him.

"Sorry about that," Snow knew where this was going, but to be safe, he still tried to be polite. "He is a big guy, and I know he uses too much space. We will be more careful next time."

"Sorry isn't enough," The tallest and most muscular guy in the group said as he stabbed Snow with his finger. "My shoulder is in pain now. How are you going to compensate me?"

"How about I don't break your face and stick it in your ass?" Snow asked with a polite smile, grabbing the guy's finger. "Will that be enough?"

"You think you a tough guy, huh?" The other group members quickly joined their leader, trying to look intimidating.

"At least tougher than you," Snow broke the leader's finger with an audible crunch before grabbing his face and throwing him at the other guys. "Caribou, eat them."

"Huh? What?" Caribou looked at Snow with a puzzled look, and Snow facepalmed himself.

"Use your power and swallow them," Snow explained to him.

"I can do that?" Caribou asked.

"Didn't you try to do it to me when we first met?"

"I was trying to restrict your movements."

"Well, I am telling you, by using your swamp-swamp devil fruit powers, you can swallow things, even living beings."

"Keheheheh," Caribou understood. Then they turned to the group that was harassing them, but they were already gone.

"Big bro, I am real sorry," Coribou, who was the reason for their situation, looked at them with pleading eyes. "I am real hungry."

Snow sighed as Coribou's stomach started letting out gruesome sounds. He was their captain now, so he guessed it was his job to provide them with food. And he, too, wanted to find something good, preferably something sweet to eat. After all, all he had recently was canned food that was blander than paper. The thought of an apple pie or chocolate cake made him salivate.

…

The tiramisu was terrific; the chocolate goodness was something Snow had wanted since he was reborn in this world, and the wait was worth it. He didn't expect the family restaurant to be this good, especially with their desserts. The apple pie was filling and sweet, and the hint of cinnamon with the apples was the perfect combination.

And, of course, to end the perfect dinner, he had bananas covered in chocolate and blueberry tarts. After all, he did feel bad eating a whole cake and pie. He needed to balance it with some fruits. But he couldn't refuse a smoothie or two for a drink. It was essential to be hydrated. The last time he had such a good meal was when his mother was still alive and made him sweets.

While Snow enjoyed his meal, Coribou ate a whole roasted chicken by pulling it apart. There were potatoes as a side dish, but the big guy hadn't touched them yet as he was too busy eating his chicken. Caribou seemed to be the normal of the three as he had a steak. And he ate it usually with a fork and knife. Snow thought that Caribou didn't like it as he ate slowly.

"How is the meal, good sirs?" The waiter asked with a polite smile. "Do you want anything else?"

"Nah, I am good," Snow replied, finishing the last of his smoothies. "You guys?"

"Keheheheh, I am satisfied with the meal," Caribou answered, cleaning his mouth with a napkin.

"It was real good," Coribou said as he started to eat the bones.

"You heard them. Please send our compliments to the chef," Snow said with a satisfied smile.

"It is good to hear. It will be 10 thousand berries," The waiter said politely, knowing he would get a fantastic tip.

"Of course," Snow smiled back. "Caribou pay up."

"Keheh?" Caribou started to laugh but stopped midway as he turned to his captain. "Uh, captain. I don't have any money."

"Oh, is that so," Snow started to sweat as he had not a penny on him. "Coribou, would you mind paying the bill?"

"Sorry, cap, real sorry," Coribou inverted his pocked, showing he had nothing to pay. "I don't have money, real sorry."

"Is everything alright, sirs?" The waiter asked with a strained smile as he heard them speaking.

"Of course," Snow and Caribou stood up, understanding their situation. "There is no problem at all, and I will pay you personally with a 50 percent tip for the excellent services. But first isn't that Germa 66."

"Where," The waiter turned to the empty corner where Snow pointed.

Snow and Caribou were already running for the exit when he turned back. Crashing through the doors, they heard the waiter and the restaurant boss yelling behind them. Snow and Caribou didn't turn back as they ran for their lives and stopped when they were over the next street. With a sigh, Snow looked around and found he had forgotten something.

"Where is your brother, Caribou?" Snow asked as he hoped that Caribou would know.

"He isn't here?" Caribou started to sweat as he looked around, not finding his brother.

With a defeated sigh, Snow returned to the restaurant, with Caribou following close behind. As Snow expected, Coribou was finishing his potatoes in the restaurant and hadn't moved from his seat, even with the waiter yelling at him and the old boss beating him with a pan. Snow, as captain, decided to sacrifice his dignity for his crewmate and walked up to the Coribou.

Seeing Snow, the boss started berating him about how they were good-for-nothing scoundrels and started hitting Snow with a pan over his head. Snow took it as if it was his fault and dragged Coribou from the restaurant. The whole way to the exit, the boss never stopped hitting and scolding him. In comparison, Coribou had no idea what was happening and enjoyed the last of his potatoes.

"And I better don't see you here ever again!" The boss slammed the doors of his restaurant after they left.

It was the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to Snow in both of his lives. And there he thought he would be a feared pirate known throughout the world, but instead, he was a rascal to dined and dashed. He had only started his journey, and his reputation was already ruined. Now, when people look at him, they will all see a poor bastard who couldn't afford to pay for his food and instead dined and dashed.

He could already hear the whole restaurant laughing at him. They now definitely knew who he was, as they saw him return to get Coribou back. After walking some distance, Snow squatted down and started drawing circles out of depression with his finger on the ground. But soon, he fell into a coughing fit so painful that he had to lean on the wall.

Cleaning his mouth, he found even more blood on his hand than usual. He had no time to get depressed as he was close to dying, and each day, it would get even worse. Taking out his smoking pipe from his pocket and mixing herbs, he lit it up with matches. After taking a few puffs, his pain alleviated, and he felt better.

"Are you alright, captain?" Caribou asked, not knowing how to act as his captain showed weakness.

"I'm fine," Snow replied before taking more puffs of his smoke. "Anyway, we have work to do. While we ate, I overheard that the auction will happen tomorrow in the palace of King Chap."

"So, we strike tomorrow, keheheheh," Caribou said, excited about it.

"You idiot, why would we do that tomorrow when we can do it tonight," Snow smacked Caribou in the head, and even though his fist went through him, the message was still delivered. "All the things King Chap wants to auction off should already be inside his palace. The security will be tighter tomorrow, while nobody would expect anyone to rob them tonight."

"Keheheh, excellent plan, captain," Caribou was more than satisfied with the plan.

Once the sun rises, Snow will be rich. He will never experience the humiliation he had experienced today. And most importantly, he will rob that bastard King Chap. He will have to ensure he doesn't leave a penny to him. And with Caribou's ability to swallow everything, it would be extremely helpful. Caribou was like his personal storage.

A.N. As always, If you want more, up to seven advanced chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852. And if you have any requests for stories, I will only take them on my pa treon.