The current towards the top of the Upside-Down Mountain is turbulent and is the first challenge for the pirates before entering the Great Passage.

At this entrance, more than half of the pirates and ships are buried here every year.

If you want to resist the turbulent current, the importance of the helmsman is self-evident.

Jim was the helmsman on the ship, and he had never been exposed to any information about the helmsman until he was on board.

But it only took him a month to get up to speed with the job.

It is based on his strength and foundation.

Still, it's thrilling when crossing Upside Down Mountain.

When the mast ship successfully overboarded it, Maud breathed a sigh of relief.

If the ship capsizes, he and Lafayette can keep everyone safe, but the large amount of Bailey placed on the ship is finished.

That's the money they were going to use to get a good ship.

Luckily, everything went well.

The mast boat rushed down the downward current to the lower sea, and the wind splashed behind it with gusts of water.

"After this, it's the Great Passage......"

Facing the cold wind blowing in her face, Maude silently looked at the calm sea in the distance.

The best things that can be pursued in the world are in the great ocean that surrounds the world in front of us.

As long as you step by step towards a high place, money, women, power, and power ......

Anything you want, you can get it at your fingertips.

And what Maude wants most is the strength to stand on a high place.

Only if you are strong enough can you make yourself like the towering red earth continent behind you, and you won't be shaken by any external objects.

Maud stared ahead.

The same goes for others.

"The first step towards the apex."

"Something delicious!"

"Destroy everything that is on high."

"Countless ...... of the finest ingredients"

Following the downward current, the mast ship successfully crossed the seaway and came to the exit of Twin Capes.

Located at the end of the ocean current channel, on the left and right of the headland, there is a lighthouse building with the same appearance.

That's why it's called Twin Capes.

However, the lighthouse is not really of much significance here.

On the rocky ground below one of the lighthouses is a small round table and sun loungers.

An old man with glasses and a floral shirt sits on a sun lounger with his eyes closed and sleeping, with a glass of cold water and a folded newspaper on a round table next to him.

The old man's name is Kurokas, and he was once the ship doctor of the Roger Pirates, and now he is the lighthouse keeper of Twin Heads.

At the same time, he is also the doctor who looks after the whale Rab.

Kulokas opened a slit in his eyes, glancing at the masted ship that had just passed the upside-down mountain.

Above the mast, there is no pirate flag in sight.

"It's not a pirate ship, it's quite rare, and it's ......"

Kulokas quietly used his sight and hearing to lightly sweep over Maud and the others on the mast ship like fluff.

The strength is not bad.

Kurokas thought silently.

Swept by what they saw, Jim and Bailey didn't react, but Maud, Lafayette, and Jaya were aware.

"That old man must be Kulokas, right?" Jaya said softly.

"Hmm."

Maud nodded.

"Lafayette, pull over the boat, Jim, go and get two barrels out of the locker."

Hearing Maude's order, Lafayette and Jim sprang into action as soon as possible.

The mast ship slowly approached the rocky ground below the lighthouse.

This kind of movement, since he was seen by Kulokas, straightened his upper body slightly, and squinted at Maud on the mast ship.

"This kid looks familiar."

Kurokas thought for a moment, and couldn't help but glance at the folded newspaper on the table.

"Yes, I saw a report about this kid in the newspaper some time ago, it seems to be called Bacardi. Maud is here......"

Under the watchful eye of Kulokas, the mast ship came to rest.

Crash.

Jim threw the anchor hanging near the bow into the sea and quickly picked up the barrel.

Led by Maude, a group of people came to Kulokas.

"What's the matter?"

Seeing Maude and his party coming straight to the front, Kurokas straightened his upper body with a serious expression, like a general in front of the battle, invisibly exuding an awe-inspiring momentum.

Jaya watched the momentum brewing out of Kulokas, and couldn't help but open her eyes slightly, revealing an amber luster.

It is worthy of an old man who has been on the same ship as Jabba, and just by the momentum of the edge contained in this calm, it can be seen that he is not an ordinary person.

"Ho-ho."

Lafayette naturally put his crutches in front of him.

Maud motioned for Jim to put the wine down, then looked at Kurokas and smiled, "We've heard Thor and Jabba mention you. ”

"Oh?"

Hearing the name of the acquaintance, Kulokas couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Unexpectedly, he breathed a sigh of relief, raised his hand and patted his chest gently, and said seriously: "I thought you were here to find fault, and you were so scared that you were about to have a heart attack." ”

The awe-inspiring momentum that was released collapsed in an instant.

"......" Jaya silently closed her eyes.

"......" Lafayette put the cane behind him without a trace.

A few minutes later.

On the round table were a few more cups and a plate of salted dried meat.

"I really didn't expect it."

Kulokas held a glass of wine in his hand and looked at Maud and Jaya carefully.

He didn't expect that Thor and Jabba would actually train two juniors, and they would go to sea in the same boat.

To be able to see this scene with your own eyes is obviously a thing to be happy about.

"However, you are really casual enough, you didn't choose a name for the pirates, nor did you determine the pirate flag, so you climbed the Upside Down Mountain to get here."

Kurokas put down his glass and looked at the mast ship that had come to rest.

After so many years here, it was the first time he had seen a pirate group like Maude.

Hearing Kulokas's words, Lafayette couldn't help but look at Maude.

This is actually what Lafayette has always wanted to say.

It's obviously a pirate group, but not only does it have no flag, but it doesn't even take the name of the group, and the boss of the partial life group still looks indifferent.

Maud really didn't care much about this, and originally planned to wait for the ship change before deciding these things, but the ship change seemed to be impossible in a short period of time.

Sensing Lafayette's gaze, Maude smiled, always feeling a little sorry for Lafayette.

"Otherwise, let's finalize it today."

"Okay."

Lafayette responded immediately.

As for Jayajim, they didn't react in any way.

Kurokas glanced at Maude and sighed in his heart.

This is a reward of 100 million, but the basic ceremony for the establishment of the pirate group has not been done.

It's really a human life, and any strange thing can happen.

Maude thought for a moment and proposed, "How about calling the Raven Pirates?" ”

Lafayette, who was excited for less than two seconds, suddenly lowered his eyelids and looked a little exhausted.

Jaya's face showed a thoughtful look, and then suddenly looked at Maud's flintlock pistol, which was also named the Dark Raven.

Jim nibbled on the dried meat, and didn't seem to see anything wrong with the name.

"Good name!"

Bailey showed his thumbs up, but he had complained dozens of times in his heart.

Maud directly eliminated the pompous Bailey, and then watched the rest of the people's reactions.

"Isn't that a good name?"

"Let's get another one."

Lafayette was weak.

Maude nodded and said, "Then the Night Raven, right?" ”

“……”

"Wouldn't it work, or would the jackdaw?"

“……”

"Where's the crow?"

“？？？”

In less than a minute.

Maud even took a dozen names, but the results were not very satisfying, and concluded: "Alas, how can it be so difficult to choose a name? ”

There was silence in the venue.

Kurokas couldn't look at it, and said as a kind of passerby: "Think about things simply, and you will find that many things are actually not difficult." ”

"Simple......"

Maud muttered to herself, and suddenly inspiration came.

"Yes, then let's just use my name."

"Maude Pirates?"

Lafayette did not want to suffer from this torture anymore and was the first to raise his hands in approval.

Thereupon.

With Lafayette taking the lead, the name of the Pirates was decided.

After that, it's a matter of designing a pirate flag and setting sail from here.

There were no materials to make flags on the ship, but fortunately there were in Kurokas, which saved a lot of trouble.

"If you want a pirate flag, you can cross the back with knives and guns, and there can be some blood on the skull, which adds a little sense of slaughter."

Maude came up with the design idea.

There was no opinion.

But

Who will draw it?

Everyone looked at each other for a few seconds.

Maud suggested, "Let's try it all." ”

Ten minutes later.

There were a few more miserable pirate flags on the ground.

"Sister Ya, you ...... It seems to be a kitchen knife. ”

"Ah, it's like this when you draw and draw."

“……”

"Lafayette, don't all nautical charts be hard and straight? How can you draw so abstractly. ”

"Ho-ho."

“……”

"Bailey, get out of the way, don't waste materials."

“？？？”

"Kulokas-senpai, I can understand your desire to be lively, but why do you have two flowers in the skull's eyes......"

"It's a kind of temperament, like the peacock flower on my head."

“……”

Maud simply eliminated their work and slapped the pirate flag she had drawn on the table instead.

"You take a good look at it, it's called a painting."

Lafayette and the others came over to take a look.

"It's crooked."

Almost unanimous evaluation.

Overall, Maude's painting of the flag is passable, but the horizontal line of the skull is clearly problematic and tilted to one side.

"It's okay, just use it."

"So whatever!?"

Kulokas looked at Maud in surprise.

At this moment, he saw a new height in Maude.

Lafayette didn't have a problem this time, after all, Maude's flag was the most pleasing one in the audience.

"Jim hasn't drawn it yet, has he?"

Bailey suddenly spoke, attracting the attention of Maud and the others.

"Jim, you're going to draw it."

Maud looked at Jim, who was eating jerky.

Hearing Maude's words, Jim got up and walked towards another table with paint and fabric.

Bailey watched Jim leave, laughing inwardly.

He also wanted to paint a pirate flag, but he was kicked out by Maud with no human rights.

He thought to himself that since he couldn't participate in the painting, he would take advantage of Maude's efforts to draw flags and eat all the jerky on the round table!

In order to prevent Jim from stealing food, he specifically pointed out that Jim had not yet started to paint the flag.

Jim could never have imagined that Bailey would be able to do this in order to eat alone.

He went to the table, and under the watchful eyes of Maud, he picked up an oil brush, stained it with paint, and painted it on the canvas.

Maud watched from the sidelines.

Gradually, their faces showed surprise.

His gaze shifted from the half-painted skull to Jim's majestic body.

I really didn't expect Jim to have such a good painter.

Soon, Jim drew a flawless pirate flag.

The knife and gun pattern on the back of the skull is angular and you can feel the edge.

The finishing touch was the irregular blood stains on the skull's forehead, neither too much nor too little, just as Maud had hoped, adding to the slaughter.

"Awesome, Jim."

Maud looked at the flag and couldn't help but praise it.

Lafayette and Jaya looked at Jim, who was usually taciturn, in surprise.

It's hard to imagine that this man who is as strong as a bear has such delicate painting skills.

Listening to everyone's heartfelt praise, Jim pulled the corners of his mouth and showed a slight smile.

Finally there is the Pirate Flag.

Lafayette immediately hung the flag on the flagpole above the lookout and returned to the shore.

Looking at the flag fluttering in the wind, Lafayette was a little moved for a while.

It's called justification.

Lafayette thought silently.

Maud looked up at the flag.

Although he didn't care much about the identity of the pirates, the skull banner was indeed a bit forced.

It looks pretty good.

Maud nodded slightly, quite satisfied.

"The next thing is to change to a reliable ship as soon as possible, and then give the ship a name as soon as possible."

Maud muttered to himself, when it came to names, his thoughts couldn't help but diverge, and all kinds of names flooded his head.

Lafayette heard Maude's muttering to herself, and turned her head to look at Maude's head.

It was as if he saw a lot of dazzling raven characters flying around Maude's head.

After a pause, Lafayette raised his cane and swung it twice over Maude's head, as if to knock out the glaring raven words.

"What do you do?"

Maud watched Lafayette's strange move.

"There are mosquitoes."

Lafayette silently withdrew his crutches.

“？”

Maud looked at her surroundings.

Lafayette, however, was also decisive, turned and walked towards the table, forcibly interrupting the topic.

On the side, Jaya showed a hint of a smile.

The crowd sat down again.

After drinking and chatting for a while, Maude suddenly said, "Senior Kulokas, I want to ask you for help with something." ”

"You say."

Culokas Road.

It's rare to be able to sit with a few old friends and juniors to drink and chat, which makes him feel very happy.

Maude said euphemistically: "We didn't record the pointers, I don't know if you have ......"

Kurokas smiled: "I have one, anyway, I will put it away, so I will use it for you." ”

"That's great."

Maude's face glistened with joy.

Recording pointers are a necessity for navigating the Great Passage, and it is difficult to get hold of them in the Four Seas, and even if there are quite a few, they will be hidden in the hands of the pirates who aim directly at the Great Passage.

Kulokas thought that Maude's casual rise was not human nature, and he suddenly wondered which route Maud would choose, so he asked:

"Little Maude, which route are you going to choose?"

"Speaking of which......"

Maud couldn't help but glance at Lafayette, who nodded at Maude.

Afterwards, Maud looked at Kurokas and asked, "Senior, do you know which route has a more powerful shipyard?" The closer the better. ”

"Hmm."

Kurokas stroked his beard and thought for a moment.

"Let's talk about the nearest famous shipyard, which is Thomas Shipyard on Leviathan Island, they specialize in serving the rookie pirates who have just entered the Great Passage, so the asking price is very high."

"Leviathan ......"

Maud and Lafayette looked at each other.

Money is not an issue, the most important thing is quality.

"Senior, is this shipyard named Thomas reliable?"

"I don't know much about this, but Thomas Shipyard is naturally a bit powerful if it can stand tall in a place like Leviathan."

"Hmm."

Maud nodded.

I was already inclined to this route.

Only by getting on a good ship first is the capital to go anywhere.

And there is such a thing as a permanent pointer, and the route is irrelevant.