Chapter 440: Chapter 440: Dragon Egg and Roger’s Concerns

Rayleigh and Gaban nearly stumbled to the ground when they heard Roger’s decision. Were you kidding?

This massive egg was about half the size of their pirate ship’s deck—it would never fit in the hold. Were they supposed to drag it around on adventures from now on?

Just leave it out on the deck, exposed to the wind and rain, battered by the New World’s extreme weather?

"Roger, do you even realize how small our ship is? If we stick this egg on the deck, how much space will we have left to move around? And the New World’s weather is insane—who’s got time to babysit this thing every second of the day?!"

Rayleigh exploded, yelling at the top of his lungs. This was hands-down one of the worst ideas ever. Plus, he’d heard that the dragons of Westeros Kingdom hadn’t hatched successfully in over a century. Who knew if this egg would even work?

"Ah, come on, Rayleigh. I can hear the sounds inside this egg—it’s a healthy little one. And I bet its shell is tough enough to handle any weather!"

Roger stroked the enormous dragon egg, listening closely to the life pulsing within. It was strong, intimidating—definitely going to be a real powerhouse!

"So, how long until it hatches?"

Gaban stepped forward, touching the giant egg curiously. If it was going to hatch soon, getting a dragon as a pet or crewmate would be something to celebrate!

"Uh..."

Roger glanced around awkwardly, twisting his mouth, clearly not wanting to answer. But that just earned him a massive smack on the head from Rayleigh! 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Spit it out, you idiot! How long?!"

Rayleigh grabbed Roger’s collar and roared, spit flying everywhere, his face twisted in frustration!

"Uh, probably twenty or thirty years!"

Roger rubbed the lump on his head, grinning sheepishly as he looked at the crew, a bit embarrassed!

"What?! Twenty or thirty years?!" xN.

Damn it! That was the thought racing through every member of the Roger Pirates’ minds. Who had time to nanny a giant dragon egg for two or three decades?!

They were freewheeling pirates, not babysitters for some oversized egg. And it was such a huge target—easy pickings for enemy cannon fire. Way too risky!

"No way! Absolutely not! Either hand it over to Brook or leave it here. We can come back for it in twenty or thirty years!"

Rayleigh was adamant—this was one of the rare times he flat-out disagreed. Sticking a giant egg on the deck for that long? The odds of it getting wrecked were sky-high. Better to leave it where it was, safe and sound!

Hauling it along on adventures would just be dooming the poor thing!

Rayleigh’s words got nods from the whole crew. If they were going to take it, better to wait until it was close to hatching, then swing back for it!

"This..."

Roger looked conflicted, scanning the crew’s faces. He stroked the egg again, trying to communicate with the fledgling consciousness inside. He couldn’t just take it now—with that timeline, it really was too dangerous!

But he felt such a strong connection to this egg. He didn’t want to hand it over to Brook, or they might end up on opposite sides someday!

"I’ll come back for you, I promise! I’ll hide you safe and sound!"

Roger focused hard, reaching out to the tender awareness within the egg, and got a joyful response in return!

Then, he hoisted the massive egg and carried it deeper into the Dragon Caves, stashing it alongside the historical texts. He hauled over huge rocks to seal off the side cavern, leaving them to rest peacefully in the quiet!

...

"Let’s take out that White Walkers Pirates crew outside! Otherwise, they’ll keep sniffing around the dragon tombs. Best to have the Hell Pirates come in and lock down their turf!"

Roger suggested after some thought. At the same time, he was starting to feel wary of Brook’s enigmatic depths. The guy had predicted he’d run into this dragon egg ages ago—it was downright chilling, made his scalp tingle!

Could Brook really peek into his fate?

Was every step of his future already laid out in Brook’s mind?

Roger’s usual carefree, goofy grin was gone, replaced by a serious frown as he pondered!

"Rayleigh, do you think Brook can actually see the paths of our destinies?"

Roger took a deep breath and asked his vice-captain earnestly—the first mate who’d been with him since the East Blue!

He recalled every encounter with Brook, always hearing cryptic stuff: child of the era, fated one, destiny...

"Brook’s too mysterious. Ever since the Den Den Mushi phones, I haven’t been able to figure him out. I feel like everything’s part of his grand plan. Maybe even us asking for the Haki training methods was something he handed over on purpose!"

Rayleigh adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes sharp with insight. And Brook’s rise had been too fast—unnaturally so.

It was like he really could foresee the future!

"Could it be his Devil Fruit power includes prophecy?"

Roger suddenly felt unsure how to deal with Brook. Facing such a scheming friend? You might get sold out without even knowing!

"Who knows? But at least we haven’t crossed him yet, and that’s what matters. Plus, we don’t have any real conflicts of interest with him—that’s the key point. Got it, Roger?!"

Rayleigh stressed this seriously. By staying out of the power struggles, they’d dodged most potential clashes with Brook.

If something did spark a conflict, Rayleigh hoped Roger wouldn’t burn bridges with him. Facing Brook gave even Rayleigh a massive sense of pressure—way more than Rocks, by several times!

If he had to pick a top-tier pirate crew as an enemy, he’d choose the so-called strongest, Rocks, over the inscrutable Brook any day!

"I get it!"

Roger glanced worriedly at the sealed-off cavern hiding the dragon egg and historical texts. Would this really keep out someone who could predict the future like Brook?

If Brook snatched the egg and texts, what then?

Go to war with him?

But it was Brook’s territory to begin with, and the dragon tombs belonged to the Targary clan. What right did he have to claim the egg as his own?

"Roger, if we can’t hide it, just give the egg to Brook. I believe he’s a lot kinder at heart than Rocks!"

Rayleigh sighed. Brook had turned his domain into something more prosperous than a World Government affiliate nation—that showed he was a visionary, ambitious, and relatively merciful ruler!

And he didn’t want Roger weighed down by regrets, or risking a fallout with Brook. A single dragon egg wasn’t worth putting the whole crew in the crosshairs of the Hell Pirates!

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