Chapter 16 Twin Gorges

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sunny and sunny

The endless blue sea sparkles under the sunlight.

Seagulls were flying freely in the sky, and a group of pink dolphins were not afraid of strangers at all. They were jumping happily around the boat, which was very cute.

Uncle Fate was lying in a rocking chair, basking in the sun leisurely, Bia was running around and interacting with the dolphins, Gel was still sitting on the side of the boat fishing, and Weevil was thinking about turning the dolphins into food, but fortunately Gel stopped him in time.

"Wang Wang!"

A Da and A Er also wanted to learn the dolphins' graceful swimming posture, but unfortunately their aptitude was too poor and their learning was nothing like that. Instead, it looked more like a dog crawl.

It is very convenient to rely on sea beasts to pull the boat. Not only is it fast, but you don't have to consider wind direction or reefs. You just need to determine the direction. It turns out that intelligent unmanned driving is the future.

Because they were in a hurry, they did not stop at all. Even though they rushed as fast as they could, it only took Gel and his crew 4 days to reach the entrance to the Grand Line - the Twin Capes.

"Hmm? Is it going to rain?"

Uncle Fate, who was basking in the sun, found that the sunlight on the deck suddenly disappeared. He took off his sunglasses and looked at the sky in confusion, but saw that the sky was still clear and there were no dark clouds.

"Wow wow wow! What is this? Ah! It's a big whale!"

Biya looked up at the huge whale that suddenly emerged from the bottom of the sea and took a few steps back in fear.

Weibull ran to the side of the ship and said excitedly:

"Wow, brother! Come and see! What a big fish! This big fish can be eaten for several meals!"

"Brother! Come and see quickly!"

Gel was a little speechless. Such a huge whale was almost right in front of his face. He could see it everywhere, but he still cooperated:

"I saw it, I saw it."

"It's so big!"

I have to say, although it is not even half the size of an adult island whale, its length of hundreds of meters is also exaggerated.

"Is it Labu? It's an island whale unique to the West Sea. It's really spectacular when you see it up close."

When Gel walked to the bow, he saw that the head of the huge whale in front of him was covered with scars.

Lab did not see the small boat beside it. It began to dive on its own and then suddenly crashed into the red soil continent. After a series of earthquakes, Lab surfaced again and raised its head to the sky, letting out a heart-wrenching cry. There were several new bright red wounds on its head.

Seeing this scene, Geer couldn't help but sigh that many times animals' feelings towards humans are often purer and more loyal, and they can keep a promise for a lifetime and will never waver. This is the case with Lab, Hachiko, and the group of furry creatures.

Thinking about the touching story of Lab and the Rumba Pirates, Gol began to hum the song "Binks' Wine" softly.

“Yo-ho-ho~ Yo-ho-ho~”

"Binkes wine is sent to you, like the sea breeze, riding the wind and waves at will. Under the clear sky, my favorite flag is flying. Let's look into the distance together. How much I yearn for that picture. In the sky, birds are circling and chasing the sunset. Leaving the familiar port, what I miss most is my hometown..."

Upon hearing the long-awaited song, Lab stopped hitting the red earth continent and looked towards the source of the sound with its huge eyes.

Although he couldn't find the familiar group of people on the ship, the familiar melody still reminded Lab of the good old days with the Rumba Pirates. With tears in his eyes, he couldn't help but dance happily along with the song.

When Ger finished singing, Lab wagged his tail and circled around the boat with great interest.

"Hey, who are you? How did you know about Lab and this song?"

Everyone followed the sound.

A strange old man with black hair and yellow fan-shaped petals on his head suddenly jumped onto the boat from the sea and looked at Gel with a vigilant look on his face.

The uncle was wearing glasses and a pink headscarf on his head. He was quite muscular and wore a pink shirt on his upper body and light blue shorts and a pair of sandals on his lower body.

"Wow! The uncle's hairstyle is so unique!"

Bi Ya pointed at the other person's head and exclaimed.

"What an impolite little girl! My hair has personality!"

Kurokas said dissatisfiedly.

Although Gel knew who the visitor was at a glance, he still asked with a smile:

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first when asking someone a question to be polite, uncle?"

"Um…"

Kurokas was stunned. He felt that this sentence should be his own line. Then he introduced himself:

"My name is Kulokas. I am the lighthouse keeper at Gemini Cape. I am 49 years old. My hobbies are sunbathing and reading newspapers. My blood type is... my zodiac sign is..."

"Okay, okay, I got it."

Gel interrupted Kurokas who was about to give a detailed account of what he had eaten yesterday, the day before yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and said with a smile:

"Hello, Uncle Kurokas, my name is Ger, and I'm an adventurer. This is my brother and my crew, and we're heading to the East Sea."

"Okay, okay, I get it. I mainly want to ask why you know about Lab. I'm not interested in anything else."

Gel's mouth twitched. This stinky old man must be taking revenge on me for interrupting his self-introduction. How petty. He continued to deceive:

"As for why I know the story of Lab and the Rumba Pirates, it's because I have an intelligence network that allows me to obtain all kinds of information. The seaman nicknamed me Little Smart, and I know a lot of information that others don't know."

Crocus felt that this unreliable young man in front of him seemed to be trying to fool him, but he couldn't understand how he could know about such unimportant and historical matters like Lab and the Rumbar Pirates without a strong intelligence network.

Silence for a while

Suddenly, Kurokas' eyes lit up, and he asked with a try-it attitude:

"Then, Captain Gol, do you have any information about the Rumbar Pirates?"

It’s hooked!

Although Gel appeared calm on the surface, he was actually as excited and nervous as when he sees a fish take the bait and is about to lift the rod. To be honest, he has been jealous of this old man for a long time. Who doesn't want to have a reliable doctor by his side when out at sea?

Lab blinked its intelligent eyes, as if it could understand the conversation between the two. It was a little excited and tried to move its head closer to hear more clearly.

The two dogs were so scared that they trembled, afraid that they would be eaten.

"Ahem, this... Of course there is, otherwise how can it be called Xiaolingtong?"

"Sure enough, no, that's right."

Crocus habitually thought that it was right that there was no news. He had boarded the ship of the Roger Pirates in order to look for news about the Rumbar Pirates, but found nothing after traveling a long distance on the Grand Line. It seemed that he still did not give up and actually pinned his hopes on the young man in front of him to bring him news. It was really ridiculous to think about it.

"Hmm? No, didn't you just say yes? Did I hear it wrong?"

Kurokas turned around suddenly to confirm with Fate and Bea. After seeing the two nod in confirmation, he grabbed Gel's shoulders with a fanatical look on his face, shook him and shouted:

"Excuse me, please tell me the information about the Rumbar Pirates!"

"Hey, uncle, calm down. Let me go first."

Gel really wanted to ask him where the sedatives he usually injected into Lab were. He really wanted to give Kurokas two injections.

Gel was nearly shaken to pieces, and it took Kurokas a while to calm down a little.

Geercai put on a face of profiteer and said:

"Uncle Kurokas, you don't seem to understand the rules of our intelligence business."

"The more real and accurate the intelligence is, the more expensive it is. The more you sell it to someone who needs it, the more expensive it is. I just have the most accurate intelligence, and you are the one who needs it the most... hehehehe."

Kurokas felt a chill on his back.

"I already know that the Rumba Pirates were annihilated. If I spend a lot of money to buy a sentence from you (yes, it's exactly what you think), wouldn't I be at a disadvantage?"

Kurokas asked.

Gel picked up the teacup, took a sip and said with a smile:

"Hahaha, should I say you are worthy of being a former crew member of One Piece? Uncle Crocus, you are already trying to get my information before you even pay me. Never mind, I will give you a piece of information for free. The Rumbar Pirates were not completely wiped out."

Upon hearing this, Laboo beside him was already spinning in circles happily, roaring at the sky. He was the one who was most unwilling to believe that all the members of the Rumbar Pirates were dead, that's why he kept crashing into the Red Earth Continent, wanting to knock down the Red Earth Continent and look for his partners himself, because the original agreement was that they would come back here to pick him up after making a circle.

Upon hearing this, Kurokas was delighted at first, but then pretended not to care.

"Tell me, how much do you want for this information? But first, I don't have much money. Also, this information is important to this whale, not to me. And I'm not very familiar with this whale. I just think it's too noisy to crash into the red earth continent every day! It disturbs my rest."

Hearing this, Gel almost couldn't help but spit out his tea.

“Hahaha, Uncle Kulokas, please stop joking. Since I can even get secret information from decades ago, how could I not know your information?”

"In addition to helping Roger complete his final voyage, you went out to sea for another purpose, which was to find out the whereabouts of the Rumba Pirates. Lab is closer to you than your own son."

Kurokas's face darkened, feeling that he had been completely seen through by this young man!

"For Lab's sake, I'll give you a 50% discount!"

"One billion Baileys will do."

Kurokas was a little happy after hearing the first sentence, but he almost vomited blood after hearing the second sentence: You originally wanted to sell me for 20 billion?

"Are you kidding me, 10 billion Baileys, kid! Have you ever seen how much 10 billion Baileys is? You're asking for billion Baileys right away, why don't you just go and rob it!"

"Of course I have, uncle. I have a mere 10 billion Baileys on my ship. If you haven't seen it, I can take you on a free tour. Business is based on mutual consent. I didn't force you to buy or sell, so how can you say I'm robbing you?"

Gur countered.

Kulokas also felt that what he said made sense, and finally he could only say helplessly:

"I don't have that much money. Can you change the conditions?"

"No problem! It won't be hard to cheat next time if we negotiate. If you don't have 10 billion berries, how about 5 devil fruits? Any type is fine. I'm not picky. The market value of devil fruits is 1 million berries, which is equivalent to giving you another % discount, uncle. You can't say it's too expensive, right?"

Kurokas's face turned red, and he held it in for a long time before whispering:

"Um... I can't even take out five devil fruits. Can you give me less?"

"How about this, uncle, you come on board my ship, and we'll be family now. Not only will I get the information for free, but I can also take you to find the survivors of the Rumbar Pirates. What do you think?"

The real intention was revealed, and Gel made a formal invitation.

After thinking for a while, Kurokas shook his head and said:

"No, I need to man the lighthouse and take care of Rab. How about making it cheaper, 1 million Baileys? Or I can owe you a favor?"

"Ada and Er, let's set sail. We have been delayed for a long time by this uncle for nothing."

Gel waved his hand and prepared to continue on his journey.

"Hey, hey, kid, didn't we agree to discuss it? If you think it's not possible, we can talk about it again."