"Did you really have to restart the party after I joined the crew, Captain?" (Mio)
"Hey! Don't say that! We party like this every time a crew member joins! Plus, we left before those big birds you said came, didn't we?" (Cliff)
"Yes, we left just in time to see the first of the bird's rain poop down on the island marking it as theirs once again! And that poop definitely didn't fall on the deck and on us, and we definitely didn't have to scrub the deck clean while you sat on top of the tigress." Mio replied with a deadpan face.
"Don't say it like that! You make it sound like I am a bad captain and I did no work! I cleaned the tigress, didn't I?" Cliff replied.
And he was promptly smacked on the head by Cassy. He got up from his faceplant nursing a lump on his head, "Ouch… why'd you do that Cassy?"
"Because you cleaning the figurehead just so you could lay down and sleep on it was not helping us!"
…
"May it's been 2 months, why have we still not reached Black Drum?" (Cliff)
"Because the winds direction is opposing us. Up until now, the winds have been helping us, always flowing in the direction we were sailing or in a direction that could help us by pushing us forward. Now, the skies are either rather calm or when the winds do blow, they're pushing us back slowing our progress." May said calmly before she showed an irritated expression, "It doesn't help that you insist we stop on many of the islands we see on the way just to fight and explore them!"
"You need the training May. Even though you train daily just like everybody else, doesn't mean you're used to fighting like we are. Plus, we needed to get an idea of how Mio fights." (Cassy)
"I still can't believe she uses metal claws! Who'd have thought she could use those?" Taiga complained.
"Oh, grow up you big baby! Stop whining just because I scratched up your arms!" Mio chimed in.
"I know I need the training! But, seriously why am I the weakest one here?" (May)
"""You lived in a city!""" (Taiga, Cassy, Cliff)
"You didn't have a strict marine for a dad!" (Mio)
"Okay I can understand how having a marine for a father can result in a strong child, what with the training they could provide. But how does not living in the city equate to strength?!" (Mio)
"When you live in a forest, you gotta be strong to survive. Wanna make sure you don't end up as a meal to some strong predator, just gotta be stronger than them and beat the living shit outta them!" Taiga chimed in.
""Yeah!"" Cliff and Cassy nodded along.
"Plus, we had a pretty strong trainer back home. Pretty sure she sailed the seas at some point." Cassy added.
"And I have my devil fruit. And the notes my father and grandfather left." Taiga continued.
"Yeah- wait Aunt Sara sailed the seas?" (Cliff)
"Uh… yeah. How else would she get so strong? Plus, she told me when she gave me her sword." Cassy replied to Cliff's question.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" (Cliff)
"You didn't ask?" (Cassy)
Cliff sagged, "The stories I could've got from her. I missed out on them." He mumbled as a depressed aura began to cover his frame. (You know that purple wavy lines)
"Trarararararararararara… don't worry about those stories now. Let's just make one of our own!"
"Rahahahahahahahaha…" Cliff bounced back; his depression forgotten.
The 3 ladies on the crew just watched on amused.
"Does he not know that our story began the moment he set sail?" (Mio)
"Sigh… he has what I call 'Selective Dumbness'. sometimes he'll be smart, and use his brains. Other times he's a total idiot." (Cassy)
"Yep!" May agreed.
…
"How many islands have we gone to now?" (Cliff)
"5 islands. Bridge island. Centaurea. Torino Kingdom mainland and the 2 islands under it. That's if you count only the main ones. If you wanna add in barren islands or those with no human presence then over a hundred. And we've skipped 2 times as many barren or forested ones." Cassy answered him.
…
"What is on Black Drum anyway?" Cliff asked.
"It's a pirate haven. Largest one out of many in South Blue." Mio answered. "Pirates come here to either hide from the marines or just spend money seeing as their presence is heavily objected to in most islands with human settlements. Marines do not really care for places without a marine base already on it and Black Drum has historically never had one. Marines let the pirates and criminal's pileup here before a routine clean-up is done usually by the Captain in-charge of this sea."
"Oh, when was the last clean-up?" Cassy asked.
"4 years ago. The next one is not due for another 2 years." May answered from behind the helm.
"So, it'll be full of strong pirates?" Taiga asked hopeful for a fight.
"Pirates, yes. Strong, doubtful." Mio replied crushing Taiga's hopes.
"A place like that, it'll be full of pirates right now. We haven't confronted any pirate or marine vessels up till now for a reason. Most of the pirates are holed up in Black Drum and other pirate haven's ever since the new Captain took charge in Baterilla. He started raining fire down the pirates, catching them left and right." May continued.
"So, they holed up. What's stopping the Captain from raiding these places?" Cassy asked.
"Dunno. It's not like the pirates are completely holed up. The come out every once in a while, raid a few islands before racing back." May said.
Mio continued on this thought, "Plus, right now the true southern edge of this sea is chock full of pirates. The Captain has been busy with 'that' in Baterilla. Since he's busy, the pirates have come out in the southern side, not daring to stray too far up north. Up until now we've been in the northern side of South Blue." Everyone noticed the venom in her voice especially in the second sentence.
"What's 'that'?" May asked as the entire crew paid attention to Mio.
"You mean you haven't heard about it?" Mio looked astonished for a few seconds before continuing, "Well, no matter. Roger had been to Baterilla before he was caught by the marines in the Grand-Line. There were some reports of him getting it on with a local gal. They said he got her pregnant. So, the marines decided to kill any new born child up to 1 year old on the island of Baterilla." Mio informed them while having a furious expression on her face.
The mood of the crew plummeted with this information.
"This Captain… he's on the forefront of this operation?" Cliff asked in a carefully calm voice.
"Yeah, and he's a sadistic son of b*tch! He ordered to make the parents watch their child get killed as he sat and laughed watching the genocide." Mio said.
"I see…" that was all Cliff said as he leaned on the railing watching the sun set.
This silence stretched for a few minutes, before Cliff spoke up again.
"Mio…"
"Hmm…" said girl looked towards her captain.
"How strong is this Captain?"
"He's stronger than the last few Captains stationed here. Atleast according to my father. Plus, from what I've heard back on the base in Torino, he's got a devil fruit. Likely a carnivorous zoan since the Commander was talking about his how he straight up mauled some of the pirates he caught." (Mio)
"Mauled? What, like a bear?" Cassy asked.
"Yeah… I mean probably. The Commander didn't really talk much of him and there were no documents about him in the base." Mio said.
"Doesn't matter. He'll die before we move on from South Blue." Cliff said with finality.
…
Finally, after a 3-month voyage from the Torino Kingdom, they spotted Black Drum.
But, the residents of Black Drum also spotted them and started running around getting ready for them.