As they sailed closer to Ballywood Kingdom, the crew was in a dilemma. According to the locals at a few of the small islands they stopped at nearby, there was a heavy marine presence on the kingdom mainland.

Even now they were docked at a small fishing village on a small island located near the outskirts of the territory controlled by Ballywood Kingdom. They sat in a small bar drinking some rum discussing their options.

"We need a shipwright? Sailing further without one is out of the question!" Cassy spoke.

"Never said we were going to Cassy. I know we need a shipwright!" Cliff answered.

"We still need to get into the mainland undetected. All the shipwrights here want to use cheap wood to make it. No way am I going to let them use some cheap backwater wood for our ship!" May chipped in.

James and Joshua seemed to just look at the back and forth while just drinking their glasses. Taiga on the other hand seemed to have no care for anything but the rum.

"Just how did the sea king even damage Adam Wood? Isn't it supposed to be the best wood there is?" Mio asked.

"It is." an unknown voice answered, "But the railings around your ship and the top layer of the deck is not made of Adam Wood."

The group as a whole looked towards the voice to see a man standing there. He was about 5 ft tall had black hair tied back like a ponytail. He also had a full beard that it looked like he kept trimmed to be about 5 inches long. His eyes matched his hairs' colour. He wore a simple white shirt with sleeves folded up to the elbow, khaki coloured capris and tan sandals but before all this was noticed, they noticed something else.

He was… drenched.

"And you are?" Cassy asked him.

"The name's Mark. I'm a shipwright from the mainland."

"And what are you doing here?" (Cassy)

"I swam here."

"Why?" (Cassy)

"Because I do not want to do what the marines want us shipwrights to do."

"And what are the marines making you do?" (Cliff)

"They want us to make a ship for a Celestial Dragon."

"Are all your answer this blunt and lame?" May chipped in.

"Yes."

"Wait a minute, you say you swam here? 80 miles from the mainland?" James and Joshua asked in unison.

"Yes."

"Okay! We have to set priorities on which question to ask first!" Cliff said which got a smile from Cassy.

"You swam here nonstop or did you make stops along the way?" Cliff asked Mark very seriously.

THWAPP

Cassy face-palmed while the rest of the crew chuckled.

"I swam non-stop." Mark answered.

"Second, why here? Why come to us?" Cliff asked.

"I came to ask for your help." (Mark)

"You need our help? And what are you willing to pay us for this help?" Cliff asked in a very careless tone, drunk for all he cares.

"Help me get my family out of the mainland, and I will repair your ship using Adam Wood and become your shipwright." Mark said.

Suddenly all movement stopped and silence spread in the room.

"And why would you need help getting your family out of the mainland?" Taiga finally asked.

"Because the Celestial Dragon is staying in the Kings Castle and has made any ingoing and outgoing ship traffic illegal for as long as he is on the island." (Mark)

"If a Celestial Dragon is on the island, then so is a Vice-Admiral. We can not contend with a Vice-Admiral in any way, shape or form as we are now. Heck! We couldn't even get close to the island with a Vice-Admiral on it." Cliff now spoke in a very serious tone.

Seeing the crew now look apprehensive, Mark added, "I have the Adam Wood with me. I can start the repairs now. And I know a way to make sure you can land on the island but beyond that I can't help anymore." This time there was a hint of desperation in his voice.

At this Cliff looked into Mark's eyes and maintained eye contact. This continued for a few minutes before Cliff broke the silence, "Alright. I give you my word that once you have completed the repairs on our ship, joined our crew and led us the mainland safely, I and my crew WILL bring your family out of the mainland safely."

Hearing this Mark nodded and turned around, and started to walk.

"Where ya going?" May asked.

"To inspect the rest of your ship! I only did a surface inspection when I got here first!" Mark answered back.

"Wait! I'm coming!" May cried before she ran after him.

…

…

…

3 days later, as the sun set, the crew stood in front of their ship now made completely from Adam Wood.

"By the way how'd you get Adam Wood here?" James asked Mark.

"The marines were making all shipwrights give up their stashes of Adam Wood. I tied mine to my back and jumped into the sea." Mark answered.

Before the crew could give any reaction, Mark started to walk towards the ship.

"Alright!" Cliff said. "Everybody onto the Roaring Tigress!"

This caused the entire crew to follow with Cliff getting on the ship last.

…

Under the moonlight, a pirate ship docked on Southern most edge of Ballywood Kingdom's mainland. This place was where huge towering cliffs met the sea.

Mark made the crew anchor at a certain point very close to a cliff. He shined his burning wooden torch towards the cliff for a few moments before he pointed towards it.

There the crew spotted a pathway cut through the rock going all the way up to top of the cliff.

The crew got off the ship and started to walk along the pathway.

"So why here?" Mio asked.

"No marine has step foot here until now. They do not know about the existence of this and other such paths. They are concentrated around the main city." Mark answered.

"And let me guess, your family lives right in the centre of the city?" Joshua said.

"Yes." Mark replied.

Cliff hearing this sighed, "This is going to be tough as hell, ain't it?"

"Yeah." Cassy answered him, watching as the crew started to talk all the while looping mark into the conversation.

…

It took them a few hours to get close to the city.

The city was built on a small hill that was surrounded by 4 larger hills around it.

The crew stood on the peak of the southern hill looking down into the city below.

"How did a kingdom even flourish on the Red Line?" May asked.

For a few moments no answer came then the entire crew looked to Mark.

"Do not look at me, I don't know. I am a shipwright not a historian." (Mark)

"Of course! This he doesn't know! Ask him random trivia and he's got all the answers, but this he doesn't know!" Cliff exclaimed, his hands in the air.

"ANYWAY," Cassy cut in, "Taiga, turn into a tiger and get close to the point in city wall that Mark mentioned. Find out the security around it, patrol schedule and what not."

"Yeah alright." He said before transforming and leaping off.

"He's lucky there are dense forests near the city. If it was like the cliffs, we wouldn't even have any cover." James said.

"How high are the mountains further north of here for there to be water all year round. They must be seriously tall." Joshua said.

"They are." Mio cut in. "West Blue has the highest mountains in any of the 4 blues obviously not counting the Grand-Line. From what I know, even the smallest of mountains in West Blue is 5 km high."

"5KM's?! You mean we're atleast 5 km's high right now?" Joshua, James and Cliff exclaimed.

"No, you idiots! We're on the hills! The mountains are miles north of us!" Mio yelled back at them.

"EH?" (The Trio)

"Mountains are much steeper than what we just climbed. Plus, they're a lot higher than this."

Just as this conversation was going on, another too was being had.

"The shipbuilding industry is near the coast, right?" May asked Mark.

"Indeed. There are a total of 5 water channels through which you can go from the capital to the coastal ship-building town. It is just 5 km away from here."

"So, why do you live in the capital if your livelihood is in that town?" Cassy asked.

"My parents have retired from building ships and were about to buy a home in the capital from their savings. They had come here to look at the available houses just as the Celestial Dragon arrived. They are stuck there now." Mark replied.

"Stuck? Do the marines not even allow people to leave the city?" May asked.

"No. they came once and got all shipwrights living in the city to get to coastal town. The Celestial Dragon's ship was badly damaged and we were to not rest until it was done being repaired." (Mark)

"Did you actually work there?" Cliff asked having heard of this conversation.

"For about 2 weeks. We get very little time to rest and very little food." (Mark)

"You don't look uh-?" Cliff started.

"I don't look starved because I escaped to the forests. It took me a week to get back to the city and find my parents. Another 2 weeks to plan an escape and get to the cliff. I had plenty of time to eat." (Mark)

The conversation then died down, as the group sat waiting for Taiga to return which he did just as the sun rose.

"How'd it go?" Cliff asked him.

"Perfect, that particular hole in the city walls got no security. No patrols anywhere near it. Perfect place to enter unnoticed." Taiga said.

"Right, we'll enter at night then."

…