33 Chapter 32

During the night in Sixis, Rowan's crew could be seen sitting around the campfire in the forest.

"*Munch* *Munch*" Dan was busy munching down the food cooked by Carmen, since he finally got to satiate his hunger after being stranded in the island for 2 days.

Meanwhile, the other crew members seem to be in a deep thought.

"So you say that there's no one else but you here?" Rowan asked Dan.

"Yes. There is no source of food either. The sea is blocked by the rough currents, and sometimes, those stormy weather would sip into the island and run a havoc. I suspect that's the only reason as to why Bald Cypress tree is the only kind we are able to see here. After arriving, I have been roaming around this island for the past 2 days, in search for a food or other people, but to no avail."

Carina was getting all giddy herself. "Imagine how many pirates ended up shipwrecked here! This means, there may be some treasures left for us to take!"

"I refuse to believe that such island that harbours lives such as Bald Cypress, exist without the any edible kind!" Carmen declared as she swiped her hand from left to right, which was holding a yellow fan whose edge was covered by a white fur. Dan shrugged in response to Carmen's outburst, since she may be right.

Rowan cracked his neck as he stood up; it seemed that they are very eager to explore the island.

"Alright then. I will hand out this Emergency Fire Cracker to two of you, since you two seems so eager to explore this island. I will stay here with Dan to protect the ship, and if I sight any signal, I will come immediately." Rowan brought out the red sticks from Prominence, and handed out to Carina and Carmen. "Remember though, that you guys only get until the morning. We will have to leave right after."

Hurriedly, they snatched the sticks and anxiously ran into the dark forest.

"Are they not scared?" Dan asked in curiosity, after he saw the two running.

Rowan shook his head in disagreement. "You won't believe what we did just before arriving here. So while we wait, let me summarize what happened, so that you have an idea what to expect from now on, after we get out of this island.

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The sun began to rise again, although Sixis didn't receive much of its sunlight due to the stormy weather. Rowan and Dan were patiently waiting for Carina and Carmen to return.

"Oh, here she comes." Rowan said, as he sighted Carina running, with a sac full of something. Dan squinted his eyes in attempt to follow Rowan's gaze, but saw nothing. "Oh, something on the back? She did find something, it seems."

Carina soon stepped onto Prominence, and slammed the sac down from her back onto the floor. Wiping the sweat on her forehead, Carina grinned as she pat the sac on the floor.

"Rowan, do you see this? Hehe, I robbed from the dead!" Inside of sac was full of gold coins, Belis, jewelry, and other accessories all mixed together. Seeing this, Rowan and Dan's jaws opened wide.

"Sometimes, I wonder if you are a human, Carina." Rowan shook his head. It was as if she had a sixth sense for anything related to becoming rich—not that he minded. He was very glad to have her on his ship. With her, they will never run out of money.

Suddenly, they saw part of the forest afar blasting in fire, and the fire began to spread all around the forest at a rapid pace.

"Huh?!! What's going on? Did Carmen fire a signal towards a tree? How did the forest catch on a large flame just like that?!" Dan shouted in shock as he witnessed this scene.

Rowan too was shocked. The forest fire! This wasn't good; the smoke produced from the fire of this scale will be viewable, even if the island is unapproachable due to its stormy weather.

"Wait here. I will quickly go and get Carmen. Better hope that she's alive-" Rowan didn't get to finish his words, as a small vortex of fire was flying towards them. "Quick, get the ship on the move, I don't have a way to deflect a fire as huge as that!"

They hurriedly removed the anchor from the ground, and unable to wait any longer, Rowan used 'bounce' on Prominence to propel it forward, narrowly dodging the fire.

"Haa, haa, what's that?" Dan sweated profusely as he panted, intently watching the fire vortex that seemed to hover on the air.

Suddenly, the fire vortex started to swirl, before forming a shape of a human; Carmen appeared out of nowhere! She was seen dishevelled, with her spiky hair undone, and her face in a daze.

"What's this??!!" Carmen shouted in confusion, before realizing that she was on the air. "Ahhhhh!!" She began to fall towards the sea, but Rowan managed to catch her just before she fell in the water, by bouncing on the air.

Landing back on a ship, Rowan stared at Sixis, where the whole island was burning, before looking back at Carmen.

Carina, with shocked eyes, approached Carmen, who seemed to have calmed down. "This has to be the work of devil fruit."

Carmen looked around as she realized that she was back on the ship. "Wha- what was that?! I discovered a novel fruit while on my pursuit. After testing for any possible toxins and ensuring that it's free of bacteria or any other harmful factors, I took a slice and tried it for myself, only to taste the worst flavor I've ever tasted, before finding everything around me on fire!"

Rowan went in the cabin and grabbed the devil fruit encyclopedia. Opening the book, he scanned through the pages at a quick pace.

'Devil fruit that grants an ability to manipulate fire? Isn't that just... broken?' Rowan thought as he stopped at a particular page.

"Is it this one?" Rowan pointed at the fruit in the picture, which read: Flame Flame fruit, Logia type. Carmen squinted her eyes towards the picture, before nodding.

"Yes, it's this one! No wonder I didn't recognize, it was devil fruit after all!" Carmen exclaimed as she stared at her hand, which turned into fire at her will. "Ah, is this the fate? The Fiery Carmen, to become the manifestation of fire itself!"

Watching Carmen make a dramatic pose with her eyes closed, everyone sweatdropped.

"Well, I hope you learn to control it fast. We can't have you burn the ship like you did to that island..." Rowan said while shifting his gaze towards Sixis, which looked like an absolute hell; the whole island was on fire!! "But I really got to say, devil fruits sure are random. They keep on popping out of nowhere; I'm glad that you're safe, Carmen."

With all crew members aboard, they decided to leave immediately, as the humongous amount of smoke that was being produced started to make them feel uneasy.

"Whoever is to be shipwrecked on Sixis from now on, I pity your soul. How will you survive even a day in a condition like that?" Dan shook his head as Prominence began to sail through the storm. Of course, with Rowan's ability, it was a breeze. Although the harsh winds and waves kept on crashing against Prominence, the ship received no damage at all.

"So this is the ability of your infamous Bounce Bounce fruit." Dan said as he saw Rowan placing his palm on the deck.

Carina, sitting down on the rocking chair, heard the statement. "Rowan manages to apply this fruit power in almost all the situation somehow; I don't even know if the limit for this fruit exists."

While they were chattering, Prominence finally emerged from the chaotic sea and re-entered the usual calm sea of the East Blue.

"Alright, everyone." Rowan clapped his hands together, earning the attentions from the others. "We currently have over 25 million Beli at least. When we reach the Logue town, everything must be as quick as possible. I'll distribute 1 million Beli to each of you. Carina, navigating tools, Carmen, cooking tools, and Dan, necessary medical equipments."

Dan quirked his eyebrow at this. "Medical? *Sigh* Don't tell me that you recruited me because of this."

"No, that's not it, Dan." Rowan shook his head, before explaining with his index finger pointing up. "While we are on an adventure, what if someone becomes sick or injured? Our adventure will have to halt. Since you have the most medical knowledge among us, I'm leaving this task to you."

"Ugh, fine." Although unconvinced, Dan nodded in an agreement.

"As for me, I will probably have to stay hidden on Prominence. At this point, my face is too well known, especially in the Logue town, and only you guys, who aren't known yet, can afford to roam freely. One issue is, the jolly roger on the sail. Although the marines won't recognize this jolly roger, they will definitely check up. If things go bad, I will hold them off, but make sure not to take too long—huh?" Rowan abruptly stopped as he saw a small boat sailing in their direction.

Following his suit, the other crew members attempted to follow where Rowan was looking, but sighted nothing.

"What?" Carina asked in curiosity. "A marine?"

Rowan shook his head. "No, a small boat. Whoever is on that thing is either blind or just dumb, alright. Who the heck approaches Sixis on a small boat?!" The other crew mates didn't seem to buy his words. After all, who would do that?

Yet, soon enough, they too saw the small boat near, which had the black-haired man, who was wearing a green vest with opened midriff, a necklace consisting of red beads, and an orange hat with two blue smiling faces as decorations, snoring.

"Dude, wake up! Are you planning to die?!!" Dan shouted hurriedly. "Who the hell drifts to Sixis due to sleeping in the middle of the ocean, within a puny boat?!!"

Hearing Dan's shout, the bubble on the man's nose popped. "Hmm?" Stretching his body and yawning, the man rubbed his eyes before looking at Dan.

"Huh, where am I?" The man said casually, without a hint of panic in his voice. "Hahahaha! This is awesome, I think I teleported while sleeping!"

'Wow. This man is insane.' Rowan thought as he stepped next to Dan and leaned on the rail. "Well, if you go any further, you might teleport into the afterlife."

"Is that so? Thanks!" The man expressed his gratitude with a carefree expression. With a grin on his face, the man lifted up a paddle from his boat and easily changed the direction of his boat, coming side to side with Prominence. "So hey, where are you guys heading now?"

Rowan shrugged. "Logue town." He thought it would be alright to tell the man. After all, fooling someone at the current moment won't be possible, especially when the ship was already heading straight towards the Logue town—unless that someone has a brain made out of rubber.

The man stared at the jolly roger on the sail of Prominence intently. "I see, so you're pirates too eh? Well, nice to meet ya. I'm Ace, the future pirate king! Wanna join my crew?" Ace said while stretching his hand out, on the small boat.

""""No thanks."""" Rowan's crew all answered synchronously, causing Ace to fall back comically.

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[Logue town]

"Captain Smoker, we report an emergency! The Demon of the East Blue, Grimheart Rowan, has resurfaced! A big clash happened between the Demon and the Wimpy fleet, which ended in the utter destruction of the latter! We lost a track of him after Sohelm island, but recently sighted large smoke arising from Sixis; we suspect that the Demon is heading towards Logue town! I repeat, this is an emergency! Tighten the security, and check all visitors thoroughly! Ensure that he doesn't escape to the Grand Line!" The voice from Den Den Mushi boomed, within the room covered by the white walls.

Smoker was sitting on a chair with two cigars on his mouth, as the veins popped out of his forehead after receiving such news.

"...Roger." Hanging up the call, Smoker puffed out the smokes as he stood up from his seat. Grabbing his Seastone-tipped jitte and placing it on his back, Smoker exited his room.

"Station additional marines near the harbour, and have them check ins and outs of every parked or incoming ships. If anything considered as suspicious is found, report immediately. Double the number of patrolling guards and lookouts. Place the bounty of the Demon around the town, as much as possible. All these tasks are to be done at an utmost priority over anything else." Smoker ordered to the lieutenant standing next to him.

"Yes sir!" The lieutenant saluted stoically as Smoker passed by him and exited the marine base.

'Bounce Bounce fruit... no matter, my smoke will prevail.' Smoker thought with a confidence as he strolled around the town, looking out for any suspicious movement.