As the rest of the Roger Pirates dived into the sea to salvage items, Chronos, who couldn't go into the water due to his Devil Fruit ability, sat bored on the deck's wreckage with Buggy and Shanks, counting the "rescued" gold coins.
He didn't realize it until he started counting... Chronos found that everyone on the Roger Pirates was incredibly talented! They could fight Shiki and still manage to pilfer so much stuff. Just looking at the Sea King burdened by the weight of the Berries told him how much treasure there was. If it weren't for two other Sea Kings desperately holding it up, it might have become the first Sea King in history to drown.
"Wow! So many berries! Enough to buy two Oro Jacksons, I bet!"
"Chrono, you're dreaming! A ship isn't cheap, especially one made from a Treasure Tree branch—that's an astronomical price. We probably only have enough here to buy one deck plank." Shanks surprisingly showed off his knowledge.
"Oh! You've researched this?" If Chronos remembered correctly, when Shanks went to recruit his first crew member, Yasopp, he was sailing a small fishing boat. Still, that was better than Captain Roger. Who would've thought the Pirate King's first ship was actually his vice-captain's house? (Rayleigh's house burned down, so he lived on his ship, and then Roger conned him out of both his ship and himself).
"Of course! My dream is to travel the world with a crew, so I naturally have to research everything about ships first."
"What's there to research? Just leave these things to the subordinates. I'm the hope of Marshall Village; I'm definitely going to be a boss someday!"
"Norse is right. Just let the subordinates handle these things..." Chronos's words resonated deeply with Buggy. He joined Roger's ship without much education; he couldn't read a single word. Between the uneducated Shanks and Chronos, who the entire crew called a prodigy, he definitely listened to the educated one!
"Roger, we need to get a ship now!" After salvaging all the valuable items (after salvaging all the items stolen from Shiki), Jabba adjusted his sunglasses and suggested to Roger.
"Well... Rayleigh, what do you think?" Roger habitually stroked his beard (which used to be nose hair), then looked at Rayleigh. After all, besides Chronos, Rayleigh was the only one on the whole ship who wore glasses and looked like an educated person. That guy wearing sunglasses just to look cool didn't count!
"Let's head to Water 7. The world's greatest shipwright, Tom, is an old acquaintance of mine; he should give us a good discount."
"Indeed, Rayleigh, you're practically a worm in my stomach! I was thinking the same thing!" Roger nodded.
The crew collectively gave him a thumbs-up.
Three days later,
"Buggy, which pirate crew is this now?" Looking at yet another pirate crew being sunk into the sea by the Sea Kings beneath their feet, Chronos asked Buggy with some weariness.
"Twenty-third."
Don't ask why Buggy remembered so clearly. It was because every time, he played the fox borrowing the tiger's might, using the intimidation of the three super-giants—Roger, Rayleigh, and Jabba—over the Sea Kings to command them to sink the pirate crews.
"Honestly, we even hoisted our pirate flag. Why do they keep trying to rob us?" Shanks glanced at the Roger Pirates' flag hanging on a fin, saying with a hint of helplessness.
There was nothing they could do. Too many people were offering themselves up. Just moving berries these past few days had made his arms ache; he could barely lift his sword.
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/XenTronix