Chapter 76: The Million-Dollar Sound Engineer!

Bullet's departure was like a stone tossed into a lake, sending brief ripples across the Oro Jackson before being swallowed by the vastness of the sea and the crew's boundless spirit.

This ship never stopped for anyone who left. It carried too many dreams, and they weighed too heavily.

Several days later, sailing on the calm waters of the Grand Line, the day's clamor was gradually染上了 painted with the lazy gold of the setting sun.

Seagulls chased the waves at the stern. Everything seemed peaceful and serene.

But for a bunch of pirates with energy to burn, peace meant boredom.

"Hey, lads! We're just sitting around anyway, let's sing!"

Breaking the silence was Roger's booming voice.

He planted one foot on the rail, a bottle of rum in hand, wearing his trademark brilliant smile, showing not a trace of the solemnity he'd displayed when seeing off his companion days before.

"Yeah yeah yeah! Singing!"

Shanks and Buggy, the two brats, were the first to respond, sliding down from the crow's nest.

The crew also set aside their tasks, gathering in twos and threes with the kind of grins people wear when they're eager for entertainment.

"What should we sing, Captain?" Scopper Gaban leaned against the mainmast, polishing his giant axes.

"Need you even ask!" Roger took a huge swig, wiped his mouth boldly, and declared, "Binks' Brew, of course!"

"Yo ho ho ho, yo ho ho ho..."

Roger led off with a tune that was, how to put it, full of raw power but with accuracy roughly equivalent to swatting mosquitoes with cannonballs, sustained purely by sheer force of will.

Immediately, the crew's caterwauling joined this pirate hymn.

"Delivering sake we go, we are pirates riding the waves..."

Kozuki Oden's voice was the loudest, carrying Wano Country's distinctive theatrical singing style. Every note transition was like performing kabuki, brimming with exotic flavor and hilariously off-key charm.

Buggy stretched his throat, trying to drown everyone out with high notes, producing a sound as shrill as a seabird's death cry.

Shanks tried to keep rhythm, but surrounded by noise pollution sources, he was quickly led astray, singing so badly he couldn't help cracking up himself.

Rayleigh held his wine glass, mouth twitching as he struggled to maintain his first mate's dignity, but his furrowed brow betrayed the mental torture he was enduring.

This wasn't a chorus. This was an acoustic disaster!

A bunch of tone-deaf roughnecks expressing their highest "respect" for music at maximum volume.

Sea Kings in the ocean would flip belly-up at this sound. Clouds in the sky would take detours.

Kyle leaned against the stern railing, toying with a Tone Dial brought back from Sky Island, his expression beyond words.

His Wave-Wave Fruit ability made him a hundred times more sensitive to sound waves than normal people. Right now, the crew's singing was no different from countless steel needles simultaneously piercing his eardrums.

Master! The antidote, recite it again! Ahhh!

"I say... Kyle..." Spencer sidled over, face mournful. "Your fruit can control 'waves,' right? Sound waves are waves too, aren't they? Could you... figure something out?"

Coming from nobility, Spencer naturally was accustomed to courtly music. While the pirates' music was bold and free, right now it was clearly brain-piercing torture!

He pointed at Roger, who was really getting into it. "If we let the captain keep singing like this, I'm afraid Sea Kings will think we're abusing animals here and surface to tear the ship apart."

At these words, Kyle first froze, then a brilliant idea lit up in his mind.

Right, sound waves are waves too.

Though it's a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, he really couldn't take it anymore!

Looking at these "trainees" with less than two and a half months of practice time yet possessing top-tier confidence, a playful smile crossed his face.

"Well... I suppose I could."

He cleared his throat, straightened up, and under everyone's curious gaze, closed his eyes.

The next second, an invisible wave rippled outward from him as its center, silently spreading to blanket the entire deck.

The crew's singing continued.

"...Bidding farewell to harbor, never looking back, sails raised high, skull and bones our flag..."

But then, a miracle occurred.

The originally chaotic, staggered cacophony was instantly smoothed out as if by an invisible hand.

Roger's rough tenor was corrected into something resonant and magnetic. Kozuki Oden's bizarre singing transformed into narrative-rich Japanese-style aria. Buggy's piercing screech became a clear, gorgeous child's voice...

Each person's voice was precisely captured, tuned, then perfectly blended together.

Even more incredible, accompaniment materialized from thin air.

"Boom! Ta! Boom boom ta!"

Steady, powerful drumbeats formed from air compression and release, as if striking everyone's heartbeat.

"Woo—woo—"

Melodious, lilting bagpipe sounds produced by high-speed rotating air friction, carrying a hint of the sea breeze's saltiness and freedom.

Then came deep bass, crisp guitar, magnificent piano... sounds from various instruments appeared from nowhere, weaving into a grand, magnificent symphony.

Kyle stood there without moving a finger, yet seemed to have transformed into a maestro conducting an entire orchestra.

The entire Oro Jackson became a mobile Vienna Golden Hall.

As they sang, the crew realized something was off.

"Huh?" Buggy stopped, pointing at his throat, face full of disbelief. "I... my voice just now?"

He tentatively sang a line a cappella: "Delivering sake we go~"

The sound was smooth, full-bodied, with just the right touch of vibrato, so pleasant it gave even him goosebumps.

"I'm... I'm a genius! I'm actually a musical genius!" Buggy instantly fell into self-intoxication, hands on hips, laughing toward the sky. "Not only am I a combat genius, I'm a vocalist too!"

Shanks also noticed the anomaly. Looking at Kyle, his eyes sparkled with excitement. "Kyle! Did you do this? Amazing!"

"Gu ha ha ha!" Roger's laughter was even louder than his singing. "How interesting! Kyle, you're a genius!"

Far from stopping, he sang even more energetically.

With Kyle's "million-dollar sound engineer" enhancement, he could unleash all his passion without restraint.

"Waves splashing high, ship's song resounding, fearlessly onward, toward the distant horizon!"

Backed by perfect accompaniment and harmony, this bunch of pirates sang "Binks' Brew" with unprecedented epic grandeur.

The song held longing for home, trust in comrades, acceptance of death, and infinite yearning for that unknown sea.

The setting sun dyed the sea a field of broken gold. Sea wind filled the massive sails. A group of the world's freest men, on the world's most legendary ship, sang their song.

That song pierced the clouds, carrying far away, as if proclaiming their existence to the entire world.

When the song ended, its echoes lingered.

Brief silence fell on the deck. Everyone remained immersed in that near-perfect chorus, unable to quite return to reality.

"Ahem." Buggy cleared his throat, striking what he considered his most handsome pose, planning a solo to showcase his talent buried for years.

"Yo ho ho ho..."

He'd barely started when that familiar foghorn voice, comparable to a seagull's squawk, once again echoed across the deck.

Kyle had already withdrawn his ability and was watching him with arms crossed and a mischievous grin.

"Pfft—"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

The whole ship first froze, then erupted in earth-shaking laughter.

"Buggy! You phony vocalist!" Shanks laughed so hard he rolled on the ground.

"Shut up! You guys threw off my performance!" Buggy's face turned liver-colored, his red nose appearing even more vivid as he chased Shanks around the ship in exasperation.

Roger walked over to Kyle, laughing, and slapped him on the back hard enough to nearly knock him into the sea.

"Gu ha ha ha! Well done, Kyle! From today on, you're the Roger Pirates' chief musician!"

Kyle rubbed his aching back and smiled helplessly.

Looking at his laughing, rowdy companions, bathed in moonlight and sea breeze, the Oro Jackson continued riding the wind and waves.