Setting out to sea for an adventure sounds exciting—but in practice, sea travel was mostly dull and monotonous.
At first, the endless blue of the ocean felt awe-inspiring. But after several days of staring at nothing but waves, it lost its charm fast.
Especially in the East Blue, where the waters were relatively calm and the sea lanes well-traveled. Their merchant ship followed a stable, predictable route, and thanks to Smoker tightening security and discipline among the Marines—along with Garp casually "fishing" pirates out of the sea—there wasn't much left in the way of pirate activity.
In short, the voyage had been boring.
At that moment, Zoro was slouched under the ship's mast, casually sipping from a gourd of sake.
Not far away, Bane was perched on the ship's anchor—literally squatting on it. One hand clutched the anchor chain, the other dangled in the water. If you looked closely, you'd see the swirling pull of darkness radiating from his submerged palm, as if it were trying to swallow the entire ocean.
Zoro got up, wandered over to the railing, and looked down at his crewmate. "You messing around with water again? Seriously?"
"Messing around?" Bane scoffed, glancing up at him. "You country bumpkin. You wouldn't recognize a killer move if it bit you."
The truth was, Bane still hadn't developed any game-changing techniques with the Yami Yami no Mi. He felt like the darkness itself didn't offer much offensive capability—or at least, not without more refinement.
Of course, that was probably just because he sucked. Not the fruit's fault.
Plenty of his ideas remained unfinished due to time or practicality. But given the looming threat of both Ace and Blackbeard showing up unexpectedly, Bane had decided to pour more effort into refining the Devour aspect of his power.
Ever since eating the fruit, his basic use-case had been absorbing objects into a void-like darkness—only to release them later in a massive burst.
He'd used it mainly for storing personal items so far. In fact, he and Zoro weren't carrying any luggage. Everything they needed was safely stashed inside Bane's shadow.
But a few days ago, while standing idly at the ship's bow, Bane had a flash of inspiration:
"Why don't I just store the ocean in there?"
So, naturally, he started "playing with water"—hooking his darkness into the sea and slowly siphoning in massive amounts of saltwater.
His plan? Save it all up. Then, at the right moment, unleash a tsunami-level flood to drown his enemies. If Ace brought flames or Blackbeard showed up with new powers, this trick just might blindside them.
"Come to think of it," Bane mused, "this could work on Crocodile too if we make it to Alabasta…"
Seeing him spacing out, Zoro called down, "Hey, stay focused! You fall in, and I'm not diving after you. You Devil Fruit users can't swim, right?"
"Relax. I'm not like the others," Bane replied calmly.
He wasn't lying. Because he had eaten the fruit in another world—not this one—the sea's "curse" didn't seem to apply. The ocean here had no way of targeting him across dimensions.
He'd tested it, too. Even when he handled Smoker's seastone jitte back in Loguetown, there had been no side effects.
That meant he could literally dunk his hands in seawater without issue, making this plan not only viable—but potentially lethal for Devil Fruit opponents.
"Guess that makes me the man who signed a summoning contract with the ocean," Bane chuckled to himself.
Back on the deck, Zoro decided to stop harping on the drowning risk and switched topics instead.
"So hey, back when we left the dojo, what did Master Koshiro tell you?"
That question made Bane grimace. He still felt a little wounded by it.
Teeth gritted, he replied, "He told me... if we ever get in trouble down the line, we should just say we're his disciples and throw all the blame on him."
Zoro blinked in disbelief. "Wait—what? Master Koshiro? That quiet, kind old man? He's that hardcore?"
"If he says so, then I guess we've got the green light to cause chaos in his name," Bane said with zero hesitation.
They bantered a bit longer before Zoro brought up the real issue.
"So when are we heading to the Grand Line? I still plan to challenge the world's greatest swordsman."
Bane gave him a look.
"You really think we can just sail into the Grand Line on a merchant ship? What are we gonna do—take the Red Line route through Mariejois? You know how many headaches that causes?"
"Of course not," Zoro scoffed. "Way too slow and complicated. We need our own ship. That way, we go where we want."
"Right. But here's the question: Do you know how to sail? Can you read a map? Do you even have a ship?"
Zoro paused. "…No. But you escaped the New World, didn't you? You can sail, right?"
"Ehhh... That was mostly luck. We can't rely on luck forever," Bane admitted. "So job one is getting our hands on a decent ship. Job two—find an elite navigator. Only then can we roam the seas freely."
Zoro crossed his arms. "So what's our next move?"
Bane finally pulled his hand from the water and began climbing the anchor chain.
"According to my sources," he said, "this trade route passes by a well-known village—Cocoyasi Village. It's famous for its tangerines, which are a top seller in the East Blue."
Zoro reached out to help him onto the deck. "And?"
Bane dusted off his clothes. "The village is also under the control of a pirate crew—the Arlong Pirates, led by a fish-man from the Grand Line. They're the highest-bounty crew in the East Blue right now. If they came from the Grand Line, chances are their ship's already battle-tested."
"You want to steal it?" Zoro raised a brow.
Bane looked offended. "Don't make it sound shady. We're liberating it. For justice. Peace. East Blue stability."
Zoro rolled his eyes.
Bane added, "Also, rumor has it there's a very talented navigator in that village. I intend to recruit her."
"How do you know all this?" Zoro asked, narrowing his eyes.
Bane smirked, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Let's just say your big bro's got sources. Stuff from the streets. You don't need to worry about that."