Formation of the Spade Pirates
Washed up on the shores of a deserted island at the edge of the East Blue Sea, two men from different backgrounds unite in their shared thirst for adventure.
One of them, Portgaz D. Ace, will follow in his infamous fa...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Our travel continued, putting us right before the New World.
The trip across the Grand Line was already half done. We were finishing up the first half.
Over time, the Spade Pirates had grown to comprise twenty members, one of whom was an animal. Ace and the rest of the crew were viewed differently by other pirates by now, and in accordance ,vith that, our captain's bounty rose higher and higher.
At this rate I almost expected us to plunge into the New World with great fanfare, but things did not turn out to be quite that simple. The first warning came from Skull, our almanac of information.
"Coating?" Ace said, repeating the unfamiliar word.
We were in the lamplit ship's cabin. Ace was sitting in a chair, and at his feet was Kotatsu, a large form curled up into a compact ball. The giant cat was sleeping peacefully.
Skull had a sea chart open on the desk to facilitate his explanation. "That's right. We have to coat the ship in a special natural resin. That will allow us to sail into the water and pass along the ocean floor."
The next stop, as indicated by the Log Pose we usedfor navigation, was Fish-Man Island, all the way down at the bottom of the sea. Obviously, we couldn't get there with our current setup. So we needed to have an expert coat our ship in order to get down there.
And the place we could get that coating done?
"Sabaody Archipelago..." Ace murmured, looking at Skull's map. It was a gathering ofmany islands, large and small. On Skull's suggestion, the Spade Pirates made their way for the Sabaody Archipelago.
"Technically, the 'islands' in the archipelago aren't even islands. Each one of them is a giant tree known as a Yarukiman Mangrove. The land at the base ofeach tree is just resting on its roots, and the roots are where the resin comes from." Explained Skull.
"Ah, I see. And because they're not islands, you can stop there and not have to worry about the Log being overwritten by the magnetic signal," I said, glancing at Skull's map too.
There were seventy-nine islands on the chart, and they were all giant trees with people living on the roots. It was stunning to imagine.
"I've got my sights set on a good coater already. But it's guaranteed he'll take no less than three full days." Said Skull.
"A three-day delay?" Ace murmured, looking unhappy. He didn't usually trouble himself with maps, so seeing him look at this one with such an expression of concern on his face was like seeing a fish out ofwater. It was very much like Ace to call it a delay rather than just a "stay," however. "Is the food good, though?" he then asked, which was also a very Ace-like concern.
"The Sabaody Archipelago is a major tourist spot at the entrance to the New World. I'm sure there are tons of places with great eats." Skull informed us.
