Chapter 300: Action on East Blue
Bellemere's sparring session has finished and she did well. She is still weaker than most members of Clown Pirates, but she could defeat quite a number of them who have gone through many kinds of battles. Her progress is very fast and what she needs is just experience now.
So Buggy decides to roam around the East Blue to give her that experience. Also, his crewmates are itching to sail again after staying on Conomi Islands for 3 months. They are pirates, so the sea is their true home, not land.
After preparing everything, they leave Conomi Islands. Nojiko & Nami also join them because there's no way they can be left in the village. Buggy also wants them to experience sailing on a big ship.
Of course, their movements alert the Marine that put high surveillance on them. But the Marine doesn't do anything drastic yet because they can't just send their men to die by confronting one of the best crews in the world. East Blue Marine can't handle a crew of that level.
So they just keep watching from afar and will only make a move if The Clown Pirates do something. Besides, they all know that the Clowns never attack civilians, so they can just watch for now. Fighting The Clown Pirates without reasons won't do any good to them.
The Clowns know this but they don't care even a single bit. Being under Marine's surveillance is a usual thing for them. As long as the Marine doesn't attack them, they won't attack the Marine, normally.
Anyway, their targets are other pirate crews or criminal organizations. Bellemere doesn't want to attack the Marine even though they can find the Marine easier. She is a former Marine soldier, after all, and still believes that Marine is the embodiment of justice.
So the crew sails around the sea to find any pirate ship. Jude is navigating the ship, her mood has gotten better in these 3 months. She still can't open up her heart for another man, but at least she has moved on from Buggy.
Bellemere actually talked to her 2 months ago after finding out that Jude loves Buggy. They have a secret girls' talk and surprisingly, Jude becomes fond of Bellemere. At first, everyone thought they would fight, but it didn't happen, which made them all stunned.
Both of them also keep getting closer in the last 2 months. Buggy has asked Belle how she did it, but she just said that it's the girls' secret. So she never told it to him although she told Mantis, Dela, Dory, & other girls in the crew.
The men just can't understand it but they don't really care too. As long as the problem is solved, they won't say anything. They are curious, but they don't care if they don't get the answer, that's just how these boys are.
Still, the boys feel a little sorry for Palu who still can't get closer to Jude. But he and the other boys also understand that she still needs time. Rushing it will just make her hate Palu, which will be very bad for their crew.
So now, Palu just takes things slowly and keeps showing his sincerity to her. He doesn't do anything excessive just like what the others told him. If he keeps this up, Jude will eventually fall for him, hopefully.
Well, that can be put aside for now. The Clown Pirates need to focus on their current task to hunt pirate crews. They can use these crews to train Belle, the kids, and the less experienced members at the same time.
Furthermore, if they find some talented young pirates, they will recruit those guys. Their crew will eventually need to get more young members. Some members might retire in a decade or so. That's why young members are important in their crew.
"Uh, it's a character from a story that I read a long time ago. I will tell you about it later," says Buggy.
Nojiko nods happily and they all then watch Bellemere again. She starts to use her rifle and shoots the enemies. Instead of normal bullets, the rifle releases dark red flame bullets that have similar power as normal bullets.
These flame bullets will be stronger as Belle gets stronger. But this is enough for now because they are still lethal. Also, she can keep shooting them until she runs out of energy, so she doesn't really need to stock up on bullets.
Sometime later, all the opposing pirates get defeated, except their Captain. The Clowns leave him so Bellemere can fight him. This Pirate Captain has a bounty, 12 million Belly, still below average bounty in East Blue, but it's not bad either in this sea.
Belle flips her rifle so she can use it as a bat, a flaming bat. She attacks the Pirate Captain using the rifle's butt and the Captain uses a mace to fight. They are quite equal and exchange blows after blows.
But then, Belle's rifle starts to crack because it's not tough enough. It finally breaks and the pirate Captain grins as he charges forward. That is a mistake though because Belle still hasn't used her full power.
She fully transforms into an Archdemon and flies up. Then she gets above the Pirate Captain and kicks his face with a flaming kick. He falls on his back and she sends a barrage of attacks on him, defeating him after a minute.
Buggy grins and says, "Alright, good job. Now loot them, then we will search for bigger fish."
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