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

Chapter 28 Bane: I will lead you to conquer another world!

After crossing Upside Down, Bane did not see the giant whale Laboon, and went to the lighthouse at Twin Points, only to find it empty.

It's estimated that Dr. Crocus, the ship's doctor for Pirate King Roger, has probably gone to play inside Laboon's body. Considering that he doesn't have any important business looking for him and doesn't know when he will return, Bane didn't linger here and quickly arrived at Whiskey Peak, as indicated by the Log Pose.

Whiskey Peak is a starting point for those entering the Grand Line. After the Great Pirate Era began, the number of pirates surged, and new pirates from all over the world wanted to rush into the Grand Line. Often, their first stop was here.

As a result, a large group of bounty hunters naturally gathered here, using Whiskey Peak as their base to hunt down pirates from all over the world in various ways.

They may have used some despicable methods, or perhaps they weren't exactly good people, but from a factual standpoint, they did make outstanding contributions to the safety of the people on the various islands within the Grand Line.

Meanwhile, in a tavern in Bounty Town on Whiskey Peak, Bane and Zoro were launching a frenzied attack on the food on the table, with a large stack of empty plates already piled up in front of them.

Nami, meanwhile, sipped her fruit wine, looking at the two men with a hint of helplessness.

Because Zoro is very competitive, he wants to compete with Bane in everything, but so far, apart from swordsmanship, he has had a hard time beating Bane in other areas.

For example, Bane is eating this food without any problem, but Zoro is already blushing.

It was obvious that he was almost full.

Worried that Zoro might eat himself to death, Nami pushed the plates of roasted sea monster meat in front of Zoro toward Bane, saying, "That's enough, that's enough. Stop eating. Is this fun?"

Zoro watched as Bane devoured another plate of roasted meat in just a few seconds, and finally sighed helplessly, saying, "You're a monster. How does your stomach even digest that?"

Then, he stopped arguing with Bane, picked up the wine on the table and took a few sips to calm himself down.

Bane devoured a piece of meat bigger than Nami's head in two bites, then reached out and asked the owner for ten more servings of grilled meat before saying, "I'm exceptionally gifted; you can't compare."

Instead of continuing the topic, Nami took out a sea chart of the Grand Line, which she had bought casually in town earlier. Perhaps because this was the first stop on the Grand Line, there were quite a few people selling these sea charts.

"Back at Twin Capes, there were seven routes to choose from, but our logbook is from Whiskey Peak, so we ended up here. From now on, we can only follow this route, going from island to island until we reach the Sabaody Archipelago," Nami said, pointing to the nautical chart.

"Can't we change course midway?" Zoro asked casually.

"No, like now, we need to stay on Whiskey Peak for three days to let the Log Pose store the magnetic field of the next island, which is Little Garden, and then," Nami explained to Zoro.

After she finished speaking, Bane said, "Actually, it's not impossible to change the course. I know of two methods. One is to buy a permanent record post for another island, and then you can follow the direction of the post to that island. The second is that sea trains have already been opened on many islands. We can abandon the ship, take the sea train, and go to other islands to start over."

"But there's no need for that," Nami continued. "Didn't you say before that you were going to Alabasta? And Little Garden was also one of your destinations. You said there were many ancient creatures there, like dinosaurs and such, and you wanted to try whether the food there could make you grow faster."

"That's right, I'm going to the Little Garden to eat dinosaurs!" Bane immediately nodded in affirmation.

He had even planned that if dinosaurs and other ancient creatures were helpful to his physical development, he would stay there longer and try to eat them to extinction.

Once I've improved my strength further, I'll go to Alabasta and take down Crocodile. His Sand-Sand Fruit is pretty good. Now that I have the Dark-Dark Fruit, I can consider stealing the Sand-Sand Fruit then.

But who should receive this Devil Fruit power? There are still too few members in my team!

We've talked a few times before. Zoro isn't actually opposed to the power of Devil Fruits, but he's currently more focused on swordsmanship and doesn't want to be distracted. Bane estimates that Zoro won't consider becoming a Devil Fruit user until he becomes the world's greatest swordsman or encounters some unavoidable event.

As for Nami, she has absolutely no intention of becoming a Devil Fruit user, at least not now. She loves swimming and is quite skilled at it. She also aspires to map nautical charts and feels that if she becomes unable to swim, her dream will be shattered, so she has no plans to become a Devil Fruit user.

"What are you thinking about?" Nami asked curiously when she saw Bane suddenly stop talking.

Zoro drank his wine and looked at Bane.

"I'm thinking that we need to recruit some sailors to help us sail the ship and handle some miscellaneous tasks. That's easy to do; we can do it here. But later on, we also need some real talent to expand our team," Bane said.

"The second point is difficult. Not everyone is like Nami and me, going with the flow," Zoro said after taking a sip of his drink.

When he says "going with the flow," he doesn't mean he has no ambitions. Zoro aspires to be the world's greatest swordsman, and Nami also has her own dreams.

Zoro's "going with the flow" is actually "ambition".

It's no exaggeration to say that their current three-person team is a team without ambition. Although each member has their own goals, they lack a unified vision.

Just like how most pirate crews want to become the Pirate King, the Navy wants to pacify the four seas and maintain justice, and the Revolutionary Army wants to overthrow the world government and create a new order, etc.

The three of them got together, but they didn't have any big plans!

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

And it is precisely because there is no such general direction that when you want to recruit some talents, you don't know how to even begin. This is the terrible thing about having no guiding principles.

You can't exactly tell someone, "Hey, come with me to surf the sea!"

"As long as it doesn't involve pirates joining us, I don't care." After thinking for a moment, Nami gave her minimum requirement.

As I said before, this girl now hates all pirates fairly and justly.

So when Bane said he was going to Alabasta to take down Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Zoro said he didn't care and would do whatever Bane said, but Nami fully supported him, even though she was a little scared!

After taking another swig of wine, Zoro said, "So if you want to expand our core membership, you first need to determine a general direction. That way, when you invite others, you can more effectively persuade them. And all this time, I've never formally asked you, Bane, as our captain, what are your plans for the future?"

"Yes, if even you, the captain, don't have a direction, then even with me, the best navigator, we'll still get lost at sea!" Nami patted her chest and looked at Bane as she spoke.

Bane was silent for a moment, then looked at Zoro and Nami and said, "To be honest, I want to become the King of the World and lead you to conquer another world!"

Zoro, Nami?

What the hell are you talking about?

Seeing that these two guys treated him like a fool for telling the truth, Bane was speechless. He shook his head and said, "My current goal is to become a world-class powerhouse. My next goal is to gain power and influence, so I need to build a team that I can trust. You two are the core members of this team."

"Do you want to build your own power and influence, or do you want to join the Navy, like you joked before?" Zoro asked after thinking for a moment.

"Joining the Navy is pretty good, isn't it? Just thinking about people calling me Captain Nami makes me feel a little excited, hahaha." Nami's eyes lit up when she heard this.

She didn't like the Navy much before, mainly because of scoundrels like Captain Rat. But after meeting Smoker and Tashigi, she realized that the Navy wasn't hopeless. Every group has its bastards, and she didn't need to be so harsh on herself, judging an entire group based on one person.

(End of this chapter)