386. Fast Forward

The year has changed and The Clown Pirates finally return to Grandline. They go to New World immediately and only stop on Sabaody & Fishman Island to coat their ship after passing through Calm Belt. They just prefer sailing through Calm Belt than Reverse Mountain now because it's shorter.

The crew goes to their main base immediately after arriving in New World. There are some businesses they need to handle there, after all. Although there are only some, those businesses are important.

It only takes 4 days for them to finish anyway, so they can resume their adventure immediately. There are still some known islands they haven't visited. The routes to those islands are very dangerous though, so they will need time to reach and explore all of them.

However, the routes aren't as dangerous as they thought. Well, it would be tough for them 1 year ago, but it's not the case now. Not only they have improved a lot in their break, but their ship also become much better after it gets many improvements.

Sailing on New World is a piece of cake for them now. Many crews can sail the New World's dangerous areas, but no one can do it as easily as Clown Pirates. Even Whitebeard & Big Mom will need a lot more effort than Clown Pirates.

"Damn, the ways to these islands have become boring," says Enel while controlling the ship through a raging storm.

"We can use a normal ship if you want to make it harder," says Cricket.

"Ugh, I'm good, I'm loyal to this ship," says Enel while looking away.

"Even if we use a normal ship, it will still feel boring because our skills have become a lot better. Also, this ship is just safer now, but it doesn't mean this ship becomes easier to control. You are just used to this ship very well. Your teammates still can't control this ship as well as you, so it's a matter of skill," says Buggy while lying on the upper deck railing.

Enel becomes smug after hearing Buggy's words and says, "Hehe, as I thought, it is me, not the ship."

Jude can only shake her head while watching them. She knows that Enel is very skillful, but Buggy praised him too much. Jude knows well that Buggy just wants Enel to shut up and work properly.

Anyway, the crew visited 13 uninhabited islands on this journey. All those islands are near the end of New World's Log Pose. The sea around them is very violent, and that's why no one lives on those islands anymore.

Yeah, there were people who live on those islands in the past, during the Void Century. There are traces of civilizations on those islands and they look very old. The Clown Pirates don't have an Archeologist in their crew, so the best they could know is that the ruins looked old.

They don't want to think much about those ancient civilizations though. Their focus is just on the exploration and the treasures they can get. Ruins often mean treasures, after all, and there's no pirate who hates treasures.

They also collected many strange and unique items that they've never seen. Even if they aren't Archeologists, Clown Pirates' scientists are always curious about things they don't know. So they collected those items to be learned without knowing anything about those things.

It takes 9 months for Clown Pirates to explore those 13 islands. So with this, they've finished exploring New World. There might be more islands in New World they haven't visited, but at least they've visited all islands pointed by Log Pose in the whole Grandline now.

They are the first known crew in history to ever do that. Even Roger Pirates and Whitebeard Pirates haven't visited every island pointed out by Log Pose. But Clown Pirates have visited every island pointed by Log Pose in Paradise and New World.

Their next agenda is to explore Calm Belt. No one has done it before even though there are people who tried it. At the very least, they never heard of anyone who succeeded to explore Calm Belt. It's either no one really succeeded, or there's no record of it.

It doesn't matter though, they want to do it, so they will do it for their own satisfaction. They don't do it to compete with others, they are just very curious and like to visit new places and experience new things. They just like adventure more than achievements.

But for now, they are returning to their main base to rest. They need to make preparations to explore Calm Belt too because it might be the hardest sea to explore. Nothing is known about Calm Belt except that there's no wind & current there, and it is filled with massive & strong Seakings.

They don't even know how to find islands in Calm Belt. There is no trustworthy map of Calm Belt, so it's a blind exploration. The only good thing is normal compass works there. So navigating will be easier than it is in Grandline where only Log Pose works.

The crew reaches their main base a few days after leaving the last island on this journey. They sailed slowly because they weren't in a rush. But some people aren't happy because they have waited for the crew in the main base for quite a long time.

"Oh, you guys are here," says Buggy nonchalantly while cleaning his red nose by rubbing it using a towel like a ball.

"Is that it? We haven't met for a long time, but you just greet us like that?" asks Alan in protest.

The ones who have waited for them are their apprentices who have made their own crew. These youngsters have finally arrived in Clownland after almost 3 years since they part ways with the crew. So it's almost 2 years since they started sailing as a crew.

They've made names for themselves in the last 2 years and even called the best rookie crew by most people. The Clown Pirates always get informed about them, so the crew always knew where the youngsters were.

Their crew, The Legend Pirates have the highest total bounty among all rookie pirate crews in Grandline. Even just the 4 apprentices have a total bounty of 1,929 Million Belly. That's already higher that any rookie pirate crew even when their other members' bounties haven't been counted yet.

'Captain Acidic' Alan: 642 million

Jack 'The Destroyer': 544 million

'Guardian Beast' Yamato: 398 million

'Evil Princess' Elen: 345 million

The 4 of them already have bounties of the same levels as many veteran pirates. Well, they really stand out and their statuses as Clown Pirates' apprentices make them bigger threats to the World Government, that's why they can get such high bounties.

"What do you expect from a greeting? I'm hugging you while crying then we talk about what we've done when we were far apart? Hell naw, I won't do it," says Buggy.

"You can at least give a warmer welcome," says Yamato while pouting.

"Then how about a spar? I'm sure we'll get warmer immediately," says Buggy while smirking.

The youngsters flinch when they hear Buggy's suggestion. Luckily, Mantis comes to save them by slapping Buggy's head from behind.

"Don't tease the kids too much," says Mantis.

"Mantis-san!" says Elen excitedly as she runs to hug Mantis.

"Come on! Don't call us kids! We are adults now," says Alan in protest.

"Hah, you'll always be kids in my eyes. Let's go to a good place to talk. I'm sure you have some stories to tell," says Mantis while taking Elen & Yamato away, leaving Buggy who is still rubbing his head because it still hurts.

Buggy then stands and says, "Well, it's good to see you again. Welcome back!"

______________________________________________

You can read up to 35+35 chapters ahead of my fanfics and more pictures on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

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