After a dizzying spin, Fang Yi didn't even have time to look around when he suddenly felt that the surrounding intestines seemed to be squeezing towards him. Then, there followed a strange noise.
"Pfft~~~ Gurgle gurgle~~"
"Guys, watch out! Hang on... Ugh..."
"Ugh~~!"
A loud fart - like sound went off, followed by a cloud of orange smoke. Fang Yi was already dizzy. After smelling the odor of that orange gas, he almost fainted.
Moreover, he heard the sounds of the crew vomiting on the lower deck.
A rather frustrating thought popped into Fang Yi's head. Could it be that they had been farted out by the Island - Devouring Goldfish?
Quite a few crew members shared Fang Yi's thought. So, everyone's expressions at this moment were a mix of relief, indignation, and sadness, because that smell... was really extremely unpleasant.
"Everyone, be careful. We're about to get out. There's the sea outside! Sambel, Wangzai, get ready to rescue people!" Roger, as expected of a powerful man, still had the energy to observe the surroundings even in this situation.
"Roger! Tie the Devil Fruit users to yourself!" At this moment, Rayleigh threw a rope at Roger and signaled that Roger should tie the Devil Fruit users on the ship to himself. He also took a rope and started to act.
"Bang!"
"Boom~~~~"
Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the originally pitch - black world. Fang Yi vaguely seemed to see the sun, but he knew it was just an illusion.
Soon, he realized that they were back in the sea because there was seawater all around.
However, they didn't seem to be very far from the sea surface, as the bright sunlight above was clearly visible.
"Hey? Something's not right!" Fang Yi suddenly noticed that they should have emerged into the sea after coming out of the Island - Devouring Goldfish's belly, but why was there no seawater around them?
Shaking his throbbing head, Fang Yi managed to get up and look outside. Only then did he understand that the gas released by the Island - Devouring Goldfish had directly pushed the seawater away. That's why there was no seawater around them because they were now in the middle of that gas cloud.
"Boom~~"
With a loud noise, the sea surface exploded. The Oro Jackson was directly thrown into the air from the seawater as the air burst.
"It's the air... the taste of freedom!" As they broke through the sea surface and the gas dispersed, everyone felt that they had come back to life.
"Boom!"
The Oro Jackson landed steadily on the sea surface.
"Hahaha... We're out!"
"So close! Who'd have thought we'd be this lucky!"
The crew, feeling the joy of surviving a disaster, roared with laughter one after another.
At this moment, Fang Yi felt every part of his body aching. Although the whole process didn't last long, it was extremely intense.
"Brewmarin, check everyone to see if anyone's injured. Rayleigh, inspect the ship!" After feeling that the danger had passed, Roger finally shouted his orders.
"Captain... Sorry, it's all my fault!" Fang Yi, who had just come down from the mast, said to Roger right off the bat.
But Roger smiled and patted Fang Yi on the shoulder. "It was a great adventure, wasn't it? That's how it is on the sea. Anything can happen! So this has little to do with you!"
Although Fang Yi knew Roger wouldn't blame him, he couldn't help but smile wryly after hearing Roger's weird excuse.
"Was it a great adventure?" Fang Yi murmured softly as he looked at Roger, who was laughing proudly.
"My Gin..." While everyone was still in awe of what had happened that day, only Buggy was looking sadly at the seabed.
"Hey... Buggy, look what this is!" At that moment, Shanks pulled out a piece of Gin from his bosom and shouted at Buggy with a big laugh.
"Gin?" Buggy was stunned for a moment, then looked at Shanks in disbelief and asked, "Did you hide this? When did you stash it away?"
"No! It fell into my hand when we came out just now. It should have come out of the Island - Devouring Goldfish's belly with us!" Shanks said with a big laugh.
"This bastard..." Buggy was extremely envious of Shanks' luck.
Looking at the lively crew, Fang Yi finally relaxed. If the entire Roger Pirates had been wiped out because of him, he would have died an unwilling death.
"Who would have thought that we'd be expelled like a puff of air!" In a corner, Peterum said with a bitter smile on his face.
"It's good that we got out alive. As long as we don't tell anyone, no one should know about this!" Dong Jinuo, the fighter, said with lingering fear.
But as soon as he finished speaking, the two looked at each other and said in unison, "Captain!"
Sure enough, Roger was on the deck, talking animatedly about the thrilling moment just now and... the fact that they'd been expelled like a puff of air.
"Um... Captain... It seems that everyone doesn't like to hear about this!" Fang Yi said to Roger awkwardly in a low voice.
"Huh? Really? But I think they're enjoying it!" Roger replied, looking surprised.
Finally, with everyone's joint efforts, they managed to make Roger understand that they couldn't tell anyone about this adventure.
After this incident, Fang Yi didn't dare to use the magical fishing bait as casually as before. You never knew what you'd attract, and maybe next time, they wouldn't be so lucky!
However, their adventure wouldn't stop because of this. The Oro Jackson continued to sail on the sea.
One day, they reached a small island. After they'd bought the supplies they needed for the voyage as usual, the members of the pirate crew were all relaxing in the tavern, drinking to relieve the fatigue of the voyage.
"Hey~ Barrett! What's up with you lately? Why do I feel like you're always so down?" Fang Yi plopped down beside Barrett with a wine glass in his hand and asked with a smile.
Barrett glanced at Fang Yi but didn't answer his question.
"Don't tell me you're still thinking about how to defeat the captain? Don't worry, you're still young. You'll definitely be able to beat the captain in the future!" Fang Yi patted Barrett on the shoulder and said with a smile.
He could sense that Barrett was extremely eager to get stronger, even more so than himself.
Now that Fang Yi had the ability to protect himself to a certain extent, he no longer trained as frantically as before.
"Aren't you even younger than me?" Barrett replied in a gruff voice.
Fang Yi just smiled and didn't say a word.
He knew that although he couldn't defeat Barrett in a spar, if they encountered each other in the wild, it wouldn't be that easy for Barrett to beat him. At least if he wanted to leave, Barrett couldn't stop him, and Barrett was very aware of this as well.
"Why are you so obsessed with getting stronger? Is there something you want to protect? Or is there something you must accomplish?" Fang Yi asked softly as he sipped his wine.
"Huh?" Barrett was taken aback. He looked at Fang Yi with a puzzled expression and asked, "Naturally, getting stronger is to become the strongest. I don't have anything to protect!"
"So, you just want to get stronger for the sake of getting stronger!" Fang Yi replied with a faint smile.
Barrett frowned slightly. Why did Fang Yi's words sound so strange?
"That's how it is with people. Without a goal, it's easy to get lost. Are you feeling quite lost right now? Don't understand why you lost to the captain?" Fang Yi said as he drank his wine.
Barrett was extremely surprised. He was indeed a bit lost, but he hadn't told anyone about this, so he didn't know how Fang Yi knew.
"Strange?" Fang Yi glanced at the surprised Barrett and said, "There's nothing strange about it! You have no goal. You're just getting stronger for the sake of being stronger! So it's easy to get lost. But the captain is different. There's something he wants to protect in his heart. So if he wants to protect it, he has to get stronger! If you're feeling lost, you might as well try to find a goal, whether it's for protection or destruction!"
"Protection... or destruction?" Barrett seemed to fall into deep thought after hearing Fang Yi's words. By the time he came to his senses, Fang Yi had already left and was drinking with the other crew members.
"So, Fang Yi, is your goal... protection or destruction? If it's protection... what do you want to protect?" Barrett looked at Fang Yi, who was laughing heartily and drinking with the crew members, and a glint of light flashed in his eyes.
"Oh my! The guys emerging on the sea these days are all tough nuts to crack!" Rayleigh sat in the corner of the tavern, flipping through the newspaper in his hand and sighing.
"Oh? Are there some remarkable newbies?" Fang Yi, who happened to pass by, heard this and walked over to ask.
"You should be quite familiar with this person!" Rayleigh pointed at a huge figure in the newspaper and said to Fang Yi with a smile.
After seeing the figure in the newspaper clearly, Fang Yi twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "That person is even more of a freak than Barrett! My attacks don't work on her at all!"
The person who appeared in the newspaper was none other than Charlotte Linlin, the captain of the BIG MOM Pirates, also known as Big Mom.
After some time apart, Charlotte Linlin had changed a bit compared to how she was in God Valley. Her figure seemed to be getting plump. Although she hadn't become the chubby figure of the future, there were already some changes from her previously enchanting appearance.
"Besides her, there's also a guy called Kaidou who seems to have caused quite a stir. However, I heard that Sengoku has gone to give him trouble. I bet that guy called Kaidou must be having a really hard time now! Hahaha..." As an old rival, Rayleigh was very aware of Sengoku's strength. He knew that Sengoku had no problem dealing with a well - known pirate.
However, Fang Yi, who knew Kaidou's strength, understood that it probably wouldn't be that easy for Sengoku to capture Kaidou.
"By the way, why does Rayleigh always know some information that we don't? I feel like we're together every day!" Fang Yi finally voiced the question that had been bothering him.
"Hahaha... That's 'cause Rayleigh's got special info channels. We can't hold a candle to that!" Jabba, who had come in from outside with Yamon, happened to hear Fang Yi's words. He plopped down on the seat and said with a big laugh.
Since Yamon married Jabba, Fang Yi noticed that she visited the tavern much less frequently. In the past, the first thing she'd do after getting off the ship was to come to the tavern. But now, first, she'd take a stroll around the island with Jabba, buy some daily necessities, and then come to the tavern to meet up with everyone.