Chapter 160 - 160. Snow

Leo and Shinobu were amused to see the little fellow stumble from time to time.

Kiiii.

Suddenly Snow flapped it's featherless wings and started to make noise. It looked around for something and cried out loudly.

"What's going on?"

Leo and Shinobu were confused.

"It's hungry."

Suddenly a voice was heard from behind. Both of them turned around and saw Mace crawl out from the fireplace. His white suit was now smoky and his face was black.

Though his face was black his eyes were bright as he stared at the little snow falcon.

He got to his feet and said, "Snow falcons build their nest in places with certain vegetation. This is so that the young could eat as soon as they hatch. Ma'am, do you by chance have that particular plant?"

Shinobu nodded, "I did collect some for my research."

She went to a cabin and took out a small bundle of vibrant plant with dense cl.u.s.ter of leafs.

The little snow falcon immediately got excited and flapped it's wings.

Kiiii. Kiii.

Shinobu unwrapped the bundle and placed it infront of the little fellow.

The little guy pecked with it's little beak and grabbed a mouthful of leaves before swallowing. It pecked a few more times and ate half of the bundle.

It then yawned and fell asleep.

"Snow sure has an appetite."

Mace was wiping his face clean when he heard Leo and said, "Snow falcons have extremely small growth phase and a relatively long maturing phase. In two to three days this one's feathers will be fully grown and it will be able to walk around without stumbling."

Leo nodded slightly and looked at him with a strange expression, "You sure are crazy about birds."

Mace shook his head, "My interest is very normal, it's just that this one's species are very very hard to spot."

"Oh, why?"

Mace explained, "Snow falcons are very rare, there are only a few of them out there. This particular species fly at an extremely high altitude and with the colour of their feathers as white as snow it's almost impossible to spot them. So to an ornithologist like me it's extremely lucky to see one."

Leo nodded and suddenly thought of something, "Hey, is Snow a male or a female?"

Mace didn't immediately reply and checked the little snow falcons crown. He found a tiny little tuff of white feathers.

"This one is a female. Males have a tuff of blue feathers on their crown and females have white."

Pereperepere.

Just as they were talking Leo's den- den mushi rang. He picked up the call.

"Leo, I have a mission for you but it might be a bit dangerous."

From the receiver came Sengoku's solemn voice.

"What is it?"

"There are reports about fierce beasts attacking East Blue."

Sengoku said.

Leo was confused and asked, "What's so dangerous about that?"

After a moment of silence Sengoku said, "Golden Lion Shiki, I believe this has something to do with him."

Golden Lion, Shiki!

Leo's eyes narrowed when he heard that name. Like the pirate king he was also a legend.

He was captured after he attacked the navy headquarters. After a great battle Sengoku and Garp defeated him and threw him in Impel Down. However he escaped by cutting off his legs and disappeared from there after.

Leo asked, "Why do you think Shiki is the one behind this?"

Sengoku paused for a moment and said, "His traces could be seen in East blue, so I suspect he is behind all of this. Shiki ate the float-float fruit, he can make inanimate objects float. Considering how these things appeared out of nowhere, it's a very narrow guess as to who is behind this."

Oh?

A glint flashed in Leo's eyes, his lips curled into a smile and said, "I'll take it."

This came at the right time, he grew a lot after his fight with Big Mom so he wanted to test how far he had come.

A legend? Just right.

Sengoku paused for a moment and agreed, "Alright. Set out tomorrow."

He hung up after saying that.

Mace who heard everything was nervous and asked, "Sir, this is Shiki! He is on the same level as Whitebeard and Roger!"

Leo waved his hand, "It's alright. We can handle him."

You can handle him but what about me and the crew?

Leo chuckled to himself when he saw Mace and turned his attention to Snow.

The little snow falcon was sleeping soundly. If one looked very closely they would be able to see tiny feathers growing out of it's body.

Creatures from this world has abnormal vitality.

Leo said to himself.

Shinobu carefully placed Snow inside a blanket and set aside the rest of the bundle near it.

When it was close to noon Snow woke up. She was much more spirited and was able to stand steadily.

Her head bobbed around, seeing Leo and Shinobu was still there she started to eat with relish and went to sleep.

"Looks like I need to make a trip to the cliff again."

"Or you can give her some fruits."

"No. Mace said young snow falcons consumes plants during their growth phase, giving anything else might do it harm than good."

Leo didn't argue and agreed with her. Anyway she was a doctor so he let her decide.

Snow didn't wake up again and slept through the rest of the day.

The next day Leo set out. Shinobu stayed back since Snow was still sleeping and she had her own research to do.

Standing on the helm of the ship Leo asked Mace.

"What's the latest report?"

Mace said solemnly, "Nothing new, sir. The last appearance of those fierce beats were two days ago."

He hesitated for a moment and asked, "Sir, if this is Shiki, what should we do?"

Leo curled his lips, a cold light flashed through his eyes, "What else? Kill!"