“Boom!”
Kuro was instantly sent flying, crashing heavily into the ship’s hull.
A massive hole was smashed into the wood as he fell straight into the depths of the cabin.
After a few moments, Kuro swayed as he walked back out onto the deck.
Blood was already streaming down his cheek from his forehead, staining his collar.
He understood now that Moge had no intention of killing him; otherwise, that single blow would have easily finished him off.
Adjusting his glasses with the palm of his hand, he asked bluntly, “How do you know the Silent Step?
And what exactly do you want from me?”
Preserving his life before discussing anything else was Kuro’s only priority right now.
Moge shrugged casually.
“Your Silent Step is too crude.
It’s very similar to the Marines’ Soru, but it isn’t nearly as perfect.
I learned it just by watching you do it once.
Is it really that hard?” Pausing for a moment, he extended his hand, offering the invitation again.
“As for what I want, I’m inviting you to join my crew.”
Kuro’s face darkened, his tone firm.
“I don’t want to be a pirate anymore.
I just want to live a normal life, far away from all this fighting and killing.”
Moge let out a scoff, his tone full of disdain.
“You don’t have enough strength, so how can you expect to have a truly peaceful life?
Even if you fake your death and spend years lurking in some wealthy family to seize their fortune, so what?
You’ll just fail in the end.
You might as well follow me; at least you’ll live a better life.”
“What?!” Kuro’s expression changed drastically as he stared at Moge in disbelief, cold sweat breaking out on his neck.
“How do you know about my plan?”
He whipped his head around to glare fiercely at Jango.
“Did you leak my plan to them?!”
“Don’t blame him,” Moge waved his hand, stepping between them.
“He didn’t leak anything to me.
I guessed it.
Whether you want to believe it or not, I don’t care, but I can tell you for sure that your little plan will never have a perfect ending.
Now, I’m asking you one last time: are you getting on my ship or not?”
Kuro’s expression shifted uncertainly.
He thought to himself that perhaps Moge was right.
A pirate could never truly have a quiet life unless they were strong enough to demand it.
Moreover, Moge was incredibly powerful.
With this guy’s protection, he could completely escape the pursuit of the Marines and bounty hunters, never having to live in fear again.
More importantly, he knew that if he didn’t agree right now, Moge would likely kill him on the spot.
He had a strong intuition that Moge was telling the truth; even if he insisted on carrying out his retirement plan, it would definitely fail in a few years.
If Moge could hear his thoughts, he would certainly find Kuro’s intuition incredibly accurate.
After all, in the original timeline, his plan to fake his death was eventually crushed by Straw Hat Luffy, ending in a miserable defeat.
After a long moment of silence, Kuro said in a heavy voice, “Fine, I’ll join your crew.
But I want your promise that you won’t treat me as cannon fodder.
What I want is absolute safety.”
Moge nodded with satisfaction and said solemnly, “That’s a given.
Once you’re on my ship, you’re my comrade.
As the captain, it’s my duty to protect your safety.”
He then turned to look at the rest of the Black Cat Pirates.
“Of course, if any of you want to follow me as well, you’re welcome to join.
But the Grand Line is far more cruel than the East Blue.
Whether you come along or stay behind is entirely your choice.”
After Moge finished speaking, Kuro turned and walked toward his old crew to talk with them.
After all, these were people who had followed him for years; though he had decided to leave, he still had to arrange things for them and say his goodbyes.
Carina leaned in close to Moge and whispered, “Hey, Moge, are you really letting this guy on the ship?
I feel like he’s way too gloomy and doesn’t seem very reliable.”
Moge smiled and patted her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him.
Besides, this guy is a real talent.
He’s incredibly smart and will be a great help to us in the future.”
Carina curled her lip, giving up on the argument.
“Fine, fine.
You’re the captain, so listening to you is the right call anyway.” In any case, she just needed to trust Moge; everything else didn’t matter to her.
Not long after, Kuro walked back over and said with a calm expression, “Let’s go, Captain.
None of them are willing to come along.
They just want to stay in the East Blue since it’s much safer here.
I’ve already said my goodbyes.”
Moge grinned, a hint of approval in his eyes.
“Not bad.
You’re stepping into the role of a comrade pretty quickly.
Well then, let’s go.”
Moge led Kuro back to the Voyager.
As soon as they stepped on deck, he introduced him to Toniel.
“Toniel, this is Kuro.
He’ll be our comrade from now on.
He’s a very smart guy, so he’s going to be our ship’s strategist.”
Toniel hurried forward to greet him.
“I’m Toniel, the ship’s cook.
Please look after me.”
Carina also waved from the side, offering a casual greeting.
Once the introductions were finished, Moge called out, “Alright, let’s get ready to set sail!”
However, Kuro looked around the deck of the Voyager, his brow furrowing slightly as he turned to Moge.
“Captain Moge, since I’ve joined your pirate crew, I have a question.
Why doesn’t our crew have a name or a Jolly Roger?”
As soon as those words came out, a trace of embarrassment flashed across Moge’s face.
He laughed sheepishly, “Haha, well, we haven’t been at sea for very long, so we haven’t had time to prepare those things.
And to be honest, none of the three of us know how to draw a decent pirate flag, so we’ve just been putting it off.”
He paused, his eyes lighting up as he suggested, “Since you’re here now, why don’t we decide on a name and a Jolly Roger right now?
Come on, everyone tell me what you think.”
Carina was the first to raise her hand, saying excitedly, “Yes, yes!
We really need a name, otherwise we won’t even know what to say when people ask who we are.
Hey, how about the Treasure Pirates?
It sounds like we have tons of gold and silver.
How great is that?”
Moge didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
He reached out and gently flicked her forehead.
“You little money-grubber, can’t you have some real ambition?
Even if you love treasure, you can’t name our pirate crew something so blunt!”
Carina clutched her forehead and pouted defiantly, though she didn’t argue back.
Toniel thought about it for a moment and suggested seriously, “I think we could call ourselves the Brave Pirates.
We’re all brave people who want to become stronger and venture across the great seas.
That name has a lot of momentum.”
Everyone then turned to look at Kuro, but he just stood quietly to the side, his gaze fixed on Moge without speaking.
Based on his observations, this captain seemed casual but was actually very thoughtful.
Moge had likely already picked out a name for the pirate crew and was just waiting for everyone else to speak first.
Carina and Toniel quickly realized this as well and turned their eyes to Moge.
Moge smiled, lit a cigarette, and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.
“I do have an idea.
Listen and see if you like it.
The Stellar Pirates.”
He paused, explaining his thoughts slowly.
“My idea is that each of us is like a shining star in the sky, each with our own unique light.
In the future, our journey across the sea will be like the stars—brilliant, dazzling, and eternal.”
Kuro pushed up his glasses with his palm and nodded.
“A good name.
The meaning is excellent; it fits a team and carries great expectations for the future.”
There wasn’t much of a choice; since the captain had already decided on a name, he had to praise it even if it wasn’t perfect, right?
Carina and Toniel also nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, that works really well.”
Seeing that no one had any objections, Moge made the final decision.
“Then it’s settled!
From now on, we are the Stellar Pirates!
I hope each of us can be as dazzling as the stars in the sky, leaving our own brilliance on this sea.
Our crew will be like stardust, forever bright!”
“Awesome!”
Carina and Toniel cheered in unison, and even the usually composed Kuro allowed the corners of his mouth to turn up into a small smile.