48 Sabaody Archipelago

When Ashen was close to the ship, he couldn't remain conscious anymore and lost all his power and came crashing down into the ship before he fell to the sea with Shanks.

"Ashen!" Calvin quickly dropped Beckman and went down to rescue him and brought him back to the ship.

"He lost so much blood!" Shanks pointed out while looking at his wound.

"Boss!" Everyone went rushing to him except Ken who kept steering the ship in the opposite direction of Water 7.

"Move closer to our ship!" Shanks told him.

"Okay!" Ken quickly turned the ship and sailed towards the Red Hair Pirates ship, when they got close, Shanks immediately called one of his crew members to come over.

"Hongo, can you fix him?" Shanks asked his ship doctor.

"His injury is serious, but it's not too late…Let's carry him inside first!"

In the meanwhile, the three marine ships that were chasing them changed their course to Water 7.

"Kuzan-san are we just going to let them get away?"

"Going after them now is just going to cause unnecessary casualties, it's not only the captains but they also have some dangerous individuals in their crews" Kuzan stated while turning back "We still don't have a lot of information about their abilities so it's better to leave it as it is"

"…But once they enter the New World it would be difficult to catch them"

"We can't do anything about that, we should report to HQ about what happened here… Bring the Den Den Mushi"

…

[Sengoku's office, Marine Ford]

"Kuzan, what happened?" Sengoku asked with anticipation.

"Sorry Sengoku-san, but they got away…"

"What?!...Sigh, even you couldn't capture them" Sengoku said, he looked angry and annoyed at same time "I'll call you later" he said then closed the Den Den Mushi.

"How could he let them escape so easily?…That fool" said an incredibly tall, light-skinned man with a square shaped face and a short black hair. He's wearing a white marine cap under a dark gray hood. He's Vice Admiral Sakazuki, he was sitting close to Sengoku's desk "Who the hell are they anyway?".

"Akagami used to be an apprentice on Roger's ship, nothing is known about his origins though" Sengoku stated looking at some documents "As for Ashen, he's a nobody from East Blue" he said before he grabbed a document with his picture on it.

"His hometown is in Cozia island in East Blue, his family consist of a single father and three siblings beside him. The most notable thing is his younger brother who joined the marine ranks two years ago"

"Kowaine…rookies these days… shikashi, what a weird family they have…A pirate older brother and a marine younger brother" said Vice Admiral Borsalino while trimming his fingernails, he was sitting on the opposite direction of Sakazuki.

"I don't know why he's calling himself Ashen, but he's real name is Atilla Ra, there was an incident three years back where the ship he was traveling on was raided by pirates and got sunk...he disappeared for a year after that before he suddenly became a pirate" Sengoku added before he sighed loudly and sat on his chair again.

"Any case… I'll catch these goddamn brats if they ever show themselves again!" Sakazuki declared with his arms and legs crossed.

"For now, we'll increase their bounties respectively"

…

[Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 27]

One Week Later,

Ashen has been sleeping inside of the ship for the past week. His condition wasn't serious anymore and he finally woke up this day.

"aghh?!...what happened?" I slowly opened my eyes and tried to get up while holding my stomach from pain. When I looked down, I saw myself wrapped in bandages and laying on a bed.

"You're finally awake!" I heard a feminine voice beside me.

"Amber? What are you doing here?"

"I was taking care of you while you were unconscious…I'll prepare something for you to eat, just stay their" she said and quickly left.

I was still a bit dizzy and weak "I guess I need more time to fully recover…"

A few minutes later, she came back with some food and a hot soup. I immediately stuffed myself with the food since I was very hungry from not eating anything for the past week.

After I finished, I got up from the bed and went outside. I stood on the ship's deck and breathed some fresh air.

"Oh! You're up, man you had us worried" Urouge approached me with his usual smile "Calvin and the others are out, they'll be back later" He informed me.

"Ah…but what happened while I was unconscious?"

"One of the red hair guy crewmembers treated your injuries"

"Shanks?"

"Yes, we got separated after that and didn't see them again when we entered the Florian Triangle"

"I see…Which area are we at?" I asked while walking away.

"What do you mean?" he looked confused.

"We're in Sabaody Archipelago, right?"

"Yes, right! This is Grove 27"

"Are you leaving already? shouldn't you be resting more?" Amber said as she left the captain's quarter and approached me.

"I'm fine…I'm going for a walk, want to tag along?" she seemed a bit surprised about me saying that.

"I guess there isn't much to do on the ship" she said scratching the back of her head while walking next to me.

"Urouge, make sure to give a good beating to anyone who comes close to the ship!"

"No worries captain!"

…

"This is Grove 13…" I was looking around the busy streets.

"Do you have some business here?" Amber asked.

"Not really just looking around"

'If my memory doesn't fail me, I think this is the place where Shakky's bar is located, I plan to go visit in a bit, I might just meet the legendary Rayleigh after all'

After that we strolled around for a while. We came across, a clothing shop where Amber decided to buy some new clothes, we also went to eat in a restaurant before I decided to go find Shakky's bar.

"Shakky's Rip-off Bar…Doesn't sound like a place where you would have a quick drink" Amber looked at the huge sign on top.

"Let's go"

The bell door sound was heard when I opened the door before a relatively slim women with a short black hair turned around to greet us while she was holding a cigarette on her right hand.

"Welcome…"