Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, five days had passed.
Over these past few days, Dar felt a bit depressed.
Ever since the three of them got dead drunk that day, Bullet and Hawkeye had been acting as if they were stimulated, spending every day in the training room going at it hard.
Dar tried calling them out for a drink several times, but was turned away every time.
Bored out of his mind, he simply ran onto the deck of the mystic gold, picked up a fishing rod, and started fishing leisurely.
In the past, he mostly stayed in the cabin; apart from sparring, he rarely stepped foot on the deck.
Looking up now, the blue sea was broken by the bow into streaks of white waves, with sunlight spilling onto it, shimmering as if covered in a layer of crushed gold.
In the distance, the sea and sky merged into a line, and the breeze carried a faint salty taste of seawater, making one feel refreshed and expanding one’s horizons.
“When I have some free time, I’ll renovate the deck properly and add more recreational facilities.
Playing outside in the breeze during the day and returning to the cabin to sleep and rest at night—that’s what you call a perfect life.”
Just as Dar was calculating this in his mind, his eyes suddenly lit up.
Angela’s phantom slowly appeared, her voice soft:
“Master, Mr.
Shiki has woken up.”
“Oh?
Finally awake.”
Dar tossed the fishing rod aside and turned to walk briskly towards the medical room.
Inside the medical room.
Golden Lion Shiki, who had just woken up, felt an indescribable sense of ease and comfort throughout his body, and the dullness and sluggishness in his head from the past were gone.
He hadn’t experienced this kind of refreshing feeling for too long, and for a moment, he was even a little dazed.
Wait…
His pupils suddenly constricted.
His own feet…
they actually had sensation?
Golden Lion sat up abruptly, looking down at his legs in disbelief.
They were a pair of mechanical prosthetic legs with smooth lines and a faint metallic luster, moving flexibly and freely, not at all like external objects.
“These prosthetic legs of yours are made of vibranium.
They can absorb and store energy, and have many functions; you’ll find out slowly in the future.”
Dar walked in slowly from outside the door, speaking in a calm tone.
Golden Lion raised his head, looking at the young man who had defeated him with his own hands, his eyes complex and unfathomable.
He snorted coldly and said toughly: “I don’t need things like this.
My two named swords are enough.”
Dar raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly:
“Is that so?
Then you don’t need to have the ship’s wheel on your head removed either?”
“What?!”
Golden Lion’s expression changed drastically, and he instinctively raised his hand to touch the top of his head.
The spot where the ship’s wheel had been stuck was now smooth and flat, without even a scar!
He looked at Dar in astonishment and asked, losing his voice:
“Does your ship…
have an Ope-Ope no Mi user?”
In his understanding, only the legendary Ope-Ope no Mi could achieve this.
He had also once searched the seas for traces of the Ope-Ope no Mi, but there had never been any news.
Dar shook his head with a smile:
“That’s not important.
What’s important is that I helped you remove the ship’s wheel and spent a lot of money to replace it with a vibranium prosthetic.
You might not have heard of it, but vibranium is an extremely rare, non-renewable resource; every bit used is a bit less.”
Golden Lion’s eyes darkened, and he immediately understood the other party’s meaning.
He burst into laughter, his tone full of undisguised mockery:
“Kid, you don’t think a single game is enough to make me willingly become your crew member, do you?”
“Don’t be too naive!”
“You brat who doesn’t even have Conqueror’s Haki!”
Facing Golden Lion’s mockery, there wasn’t a hint of anger on Dar’s face.
This reaction was already within his expectations.
Someone like Golden Lion, who had once started his own business as a boss and was very successful, how could he be willing to be a mere employee for someone else?
Dar spoke calmly:
“Shiki, I never thought about making you my subordinate.”
“My idea is—cooperation.”
“Cooperation?”
Golden Lion was taken aback, his brows furrowed, “What kind of cooperation?”
The corners of Dar’s mouth curled up slightly, smiling openly and confidently:
“Very simple.
Be my First Mate, and I’ll pay you a salary.”
Golden Lion was instantly furious:
“Are you playing with me?
Isn’t that still being your subordinate?!”
Dar laughed loudly:
“Don’t get excited, I’m just joking with you.”
He restrained his smile, his expression becoming serious:
“My pirate crew doesn’t have that many broken rules.
Whoever is strongest becomes the Captain.
Bullet, Mihawk, they are all the same.”
“I plan to pull the monsters of this vast sea onto my ship one by one.
Think about it—as long as you can defeat me, this whole ship of monsters, and this mystic gold, will all be yours.”
Golden Lion narrowed his eyes slightly, calculating quickly in his mind.
This kid certainly has a good plan.
But these words really struck a chord with him.
If he refused directly, it would make him seem unconfident about beating this brat.
After a moment of silence, Golden Lion suddenly laughed loudly, his spirit soaring:
“Interesting!
I agree, I’ll be your First Mate!”
“But you better be careful, I’m much stronger now that I’ve recovered to my peak!”
Dar smiled confidently:
“I won’t be standing still.
Besides, with those two lunatics Bullet and Mihawk around, it won’t be that easy for you to sit firmly in the position of First Mate.”
“Hahaha, you don’t need to worry about that!”
Successfully recruiting Golden Lion, Dar was in a great mood and patted him on the shoulder:
“Let’s go, to the training room to call out those two guys who have trained themselves crazy.
Today, we’re having a banquet!”
…..