Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 16 Bane: Zoro, don't pry into other people's business!

Going out to sea for an adventure sounds like a very interesting thing, but in reality, sailing on the high seas is generally boring and tedious.

The vast blue sea may initially seem awe-inspiring and novel, but if you look at it for several days in a row, you'll quickly get tired of it.

In particular, the waters of the East China Sea are relatively stable, and merchant ships travel on very established routes, rarely encountering any disturbances. In addition, Smoker has been in charge of the East China Sea during this period, which has strengthened the discipline and combat effectiveness of the navy. Furthermore, with Garp, the old man, fishing in the East China Sea, the survival difficulty for pirates in the East China Sea has been further increased. As a result, Bane did not encounter anything new along the way.

On the deck of this merchant ship, Sauron leaned against the mast, holding a wine jug and taking sips every now and then.

Not far away, Bane's actions seemed rather risky. He wasn't on the deck at all, but instead had lowered the anchor to sea level, squatting on it with one hand gripping the chain and the other submerged in the seawater. If you looked closely, you would see that the center of his hand, which was submerged in the seawater, was radiating a dark element that seemed to suck everything in.

Feeling a bit bored, Zoro stood up, walked to the railing, and looked down at Bane, saying, "Why are you being so childish? Playing in the water again?"

"Playing in the water?" Bane glanced at Zoro above with disdain and said, "You bumpkin, you don't know anything. This is my trump card."

So far, Bane hasn't developed any particularly powerful, decisive techniques from the dark elemental power of the Dark-Dark Fruit. He always felt that this dark power wasn't very offensive.

Of course, the bigger reason is that he's bad at the game, so you can't blame the fruit.

Many of the proposed attack methods have not yet been developed due to time constraints and other factors.

In addition, Bane felt that he was likely to be ambushed by Ace and Teach along the way, so he had to be prepared. Therefore, he focused more on developing the devouring power of the Dark-Dark Fruit.

After he obtained the fruit, this characteristic became simple and easy to use: create a dark abyss that can devour everything, swallow all objects tainted by darkness, and then release them all at once when needed. This is a basic operation.

Previously, Bane used this technique to store his belongings. For example, nowadays, when he and Zoro are traveling, they don't need to carry luggage; everything is stored in his dark space.

Two days ago, while he was idly watching the sea from the bow of the ship, a very novel idea suddenly popped into his head: Why don't I put the ocean into my dark space?

Bane did what he wanted to do, so these past few days, whenever he had free time, he spent it "playing in the water" here.

He used the immense attraction of the open dark space to draw in a continuous stream of seawater. When he needed it, he could release all the seawater stored in the dark space at once, creating a massive tsunami to drown his opponents!

Considering that Ace is a user of the Flame-Flame Fruit, and Teach might be a user now too, perhaps this sudden move of his might catch them off guard and really give them a hard time.

"I was originally thinking about how to deal with that sand crocodile if I went to Alabasta, but now that I think about it, this trick is also suitable for that guy," Bane thought to himself.

Seeing that Bane seemed to be daydreaming, Zoro quickly reminded him, "Hey, you need to concentrate! Don't fall into the sea. After all, you're a Devil Fruit user. Aren't you supposed to be able to swim? Don't wait for me to save you!"

"Don't worry, I'm different from others," Bane quickly recovered and replied.

He is indeed different from the Devil Fruit users in this world. Perhaps it is because he ate the Devil Fruit in the Empire, so he received the power of the Devil Fruit, but he did not receive the curse from the sea in the pirate world. After all, no matter how powerful the sea is, it is impossible for it to cross the world curse of Bane, right?

He had tried this over there and had initially guessed that the curse would be lifted once he came to the pirate world. However, it turns out that even after being here for so long, the sea still hasn't cursed him, as if he had never eaten a Devil Fruit.

Therefore, Bane is not afraid of falling into the water at all. In fact, when he was in Loguetown, he even took the opportunity to touch Smoker's Seastone Ten Hands, but there was no reaction.

Therefore, he felt that his method of absorbing the ocean as a killing move would not backfire on him, and might even become an excellent help in dealing with ability users!

"So, I guess I'm now a man who's made a spiritual pact with the ocean," Bane chuckled to himself.

Seeing Bane's confidence, Zoro on deck didn't mention falling into the sea again. Instead, he changed the subject and asked, "Speaking of which, you still haven't told me what your master said to you when you boarded the ship that day?"

Bane gets so angry about this that his teeth ache. He had shown so much genuine emotion back then!

So Bane gritted his teeth and said, "Master said he has connections. If we get into trouble and can't cover it up, we can say we're his disciples and pin the blame on him!"

Zoro was stunned by this and exclaimed in surprise, "I never expected that Master, who always seems so gentle, would be such a tough person in a critical moment! Since he said so, I can rest assured!"

"Yes, feel free to cause trouble under his name," Bane said without hesitation.

After chatting about these topics for a while, Zoro asked again, "When are we going to the Grand Line? I still want to meet the world's greatest swordsman."

"I can't say you're being unrealistic or delusional. Are you planning to take a merchant ship to the Grand Line? That would mean going through the Mary Geoise route, which is troublesome and complicated," Bane patiently explained.

"Of course not, that would be too inconvenient, and stopping and starting would waste too much time. We definitely need to build our own ship and go wherever we want!" Zoro replied immediately.

"So here's the question: can you sail a boat? Do you know the course? Where is the boat?" Bane countered.

Zoro stared blankly for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I can't. What about you? Didn't you fight your way out of the New World all by yourself? You can, right?"

"Well, that's luck. We can't rely on luck every time. So our top priority now is to get a ship and find a good navigator so we can sail the seas as we please!" Bane said with a longing look on his face.

"So what do we do now?" Zoro asked again.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

"As far as I know, there is a famous village on this ship's route called Cocoyasi Village. The oranges from this village are very delicious and sell well in the East Blue. Moreover, there is a pirate group entrenched in the village. It is currently the pirate group with the highest bounty in the East Blue, called the Arlong Pirates." Bane withdrew his hand from the sea and climbed up the deck along the chain.

Zoro lent a hand, pulling Bane back onto the deck as he asked, "So?"

"As the pirates with the highest bounty in the East Blue, I think their pirate ship must be quite good. It is said that this group of pirates came from the Grand Line, so this ship should have also been tested by the Grand Line. I am going to capture this ship!" Bane said matter-of-factly.

As far as I can remember, the Murlocs have always been very good at shipbuilding, and Bane remembers that Aaron's ship was indeed quite big and cool, so it would be perfectly fine to use it!

"So, you're just going to rob pirates, huh?" Zoro rolled his eyes at Bane.

"What you're saying! I'm going to rid the people of a scourge and maintain peace and stability in the East China Sea. It's a just cause, how can you call it robbery?" Bane first 'corrected' Zoro's statement, then explained, "Besides, as far as I know, there's a very skilled navigator in this village, and I'm planning to recruit her!"

"How do you know so much?" Zoro asked curiously.

"I have my own channels, so don't pry into other people's business," Bane said, patting Zoro on the shoulder with a mysterious air.

(End of this chapter)