Zoro Kuina and Nami were now on their way towards the great unknown or not.. they were still sailing east-blue waters since they had no map of the grand line nor any information on how the grand line worked, Kuina insisted that they needed to be fully prepared before they left for the grand line even though they grew a lot and east blue was too small for them Nami wasn't that strong and she needed training.

At first, Nami was reluctant to train with them since their training looked quite intense for her but Kuina gave her the flexibility training technique her father gave her when she was a kid, even those were a bit hard for Nami to do but they were doable, even though she didn't do any prior training her running away from pirates and stealing huge sacks of gold helped her stamina and strength, with proper training from Kuina she wouldn't be a burden in the grand line, Kuina also decided to teach her both Haki's when her body was strong enough, she would start with Observation first and then Armament depending on what she was talented but considering her navigation skills she should technically be more talented in Observation.

An innate talent of the person affected their talent in Haki, some people were more talented in Observation due to them being more mentally talented while others were talented in Armament due to their brawnier brains but there was also the minority which was blessed in both like Zoro, he could train both Haki's at an adequate speed faster than average even though he inclined towards Armament.

Of course, a person that specialized in one Haki would have a better proficiency than one who trained in both at the same time but he would still be at a disadvantage due to the balanced way the person who trained in both Haki's, people who train in both Armament and Observation at the same time do split their attention into two things at once but their fighting potential was higher than someone who only specialized in one of them, why?

Because they could both attack and defend with Observation and enhance their attacks with Armament which was adequate and above average while the other person who specialized in one type of Haki would either be unable to hit them due to them lacking enough proficiency in Observation or being able to hit them and doing no damage due to the lack of Armament even though they could dodge their attacks better Observation didn't make you omnipotent, one hit and you would be done if your Armament was below the opponents.

Zoro was one of the minorities who had one of the highest combat potentials thus he had a bright future ahead of him even though he didn't know about it, Kuina tried to follow Zoro's example of training both Haki's at the same time but her talent was in Observation and not Armament so she lagged as she lacked talent in one Haki. At first, Nami didn't know what to do when she was told she would have to be blindfolded and she had to dodge a plank heading her way without even seeing it.

She had quite a few bumps on her head on the day Haki training started, but of course, just like Kuina guessed she was quite blessed in the department of Observation and after half a year she could use it consciously by herself, even though her proficiency was low she did learn how to use Observation.

Zoro and Kuina weren't idle in this half a year, while they also trained Nami they sailed almost the whole east-blue and almost got rid of all of the bounties they could get their hands on, they still, however, didn't find Buggy the Clown Alvida the Iron mace or Don Krieg the foul, there were rumors Don Krieg already left for the grand line with his armada so there was a low chance to catch him in east-blue anymore.

Zoro's savings reached sixty-five million bellies or so, every time Nami saw the money down in the ship her eyes would transform into bellie signs and she would make money angels. Zoro found Nami's behavior to be quite strange but she was a very good navigator so he tried to keep his thoughts to himself. On the navigator business Nami impressed both Zoro and Kuina with her knowledge of navigation, she was even predicting meteorological events almost a few tens of minutes before they could start, Zoro thought that she was basically like a 'witch'.

Another six months passed and Zoro became eighteen while Kuina became twenty, Nami became seventeen, East Blue was almost pirate free but they still couldn't find Buggy the Clown or Iron Mace Alvida, it seemed Zoro's reputation preceded him and they either ran towards the grand line or they knew how to hide well.

Finally, some good news found themselves for Zoro as Nami found some information about a grand line map on an island called Shells Town, the Island was very small that's why it was called a Town, the resident Captain of the marine base there was called Morgan and the map supposedly in his grasp. Nami was very good at information gathering as it was her livelihood when she had to steal from pirates if she got the wrong target there was a chance of her death so her information gathering abilities improved extremely fast with time. Why did it take her one year to gather such information? It was because she was either training half the time or helping the duo navigate the other also the information she got was relatively recent so that meant Morgan got his hands on the map rather recently.

Zoro immediately decided to visit Morgan's base, he didn't know the man's personality and even if he knew he didn't care much, he decided to get the map, with his money he could also try to get a new ship as the one he had wasn't good enough for the grand line. With the speed of a motorized boat, the motor being Zoro pushing the ship from behind they reached Shells Town.

The trio walked down the streets of Shells Town and they talked, every time Morgan's name was said the people of the town would jump up like they saw a ghost, Zoro shook his head at their actions and said:

"It seems this Morgan guy is quite the corrupt individual." Nami nodded her head at Zoro's words as she said:

"This is the reaction the villagers would have at Aarlong's name, what kind of marine acts like this?" Morgan acted like Aarlong by Nami's words, which meant he taxed the villagers of the island every month rather steeply and he also threatened them.

As they walked towards the marine base they saw a brown haired girl with her hair done in pigtails put a ladder over the marine's base wall and climb it there in the middle of the execution grounds was a straw hat-wearing young lad with dark hair and dark eyes who wore a red vest and blue short pants, on his feet he wore sandals, he was tied to the execution post and he seemed to be extremely malnourished as he was quite skinny. His eyes widened in delight and surprise as he saw the little girl who immediately fed him some rice balls which he gulped down like they were heavenly nectar. A pink-haired small boy with blue-rimmed glasses who wore the marine uniform also came towards the dark-haired buy with a giant hunk of cooked meat that he dragged behind him.

The boy tied to the execution post immediately gulped in the hunk of meat like it was a glass of water and he wanted to burp but the pink-haired boy put a hand over his mouth and indicated with his finger that he should shut up.

The straw hat-wearing boy nodded his head and put on a serious look on his face. Fortunately, the duo of the boy and girl escaped before a blonde-haired man who wore a purple suit and purple shoes came in with two marines and started to belittle the tied boy and they even started to torture him by punching him and kicking him, but the boy seemed like he didn't feel any pain.

The blonde-haired man sneered at the boy immunity and said:

"Is it true you are a rubber man Monkey D. Luffy?" There was no other explanation as no blunt damage could be done to the boy known as Monkey D. Luffy but Luffy sneered and he said:

"Yes, I'm a rubber man how many times do I have to tell you that?" He wanted to stretch his cheek to prove his point and he did as his arm suddenly elongated from it's tied position and he stretched his cheek at the same time, it seemed he didn't do this before as the blonde-haired man suddenly fell with a scared look on his face as he screamed like a little girl and ran away:

"MONSTER!" The marines followed after him both disturbed from the show Luffy gave them as they shouted towards the running blonde-haired man:

"Master Helmeppo please don't run you might get hurt!"

Zoro was interested in the boy, it seemed he ate one of those cursed devil fruits that Koshiro taught him about, it was um, Zoro tried to remember what kind of fruit the boy ate when Kuina interrupted his thoughts with her words:

"That kid ate a paramecia devil fruit, he is a rubber man!" Zoro nodded his head, it seemed Kuina still remembered her father's teachings about devil fruits, Zoro didn't care much about it because he already knew Haki and devil fruit users were vegetables ready to be cut by him no matter what type they were.

He didn't know the story of the kid, but the brown-haired girl and the pink-haired marine boy should know, right?

He seemed like an interesting guy. Zoro's intuition told him so, Zoro decided to not break marine law and go towards their prisoner and decided to follow the two little presences that were scurrying towards the local bar and restaurant of the town.

With Nami and Kuina in tow, they met with the boy and little girl at the bar where they first ordered some food and drinks before Zoro's intimidating face almost gave the boy a heart attack when he was asked about Luffy's situation, the little girl seemed oblivious to Zoro's scary face that he made unconsciously, of course to Kuina and Nami that was Zoro's normal face as they saw it every day and it didn't seem particularly scarier than normal.

The little girl introduced herself as Ririka and she started to tell Luffy's story:

"That guy saved me from Helmeppo's evil dog! Helmeppo is the son of Morgan the captain that's instated here and he does whatever he wants! He eats for free everywhere belittles the villagers and sometimes even makes his marine lackeys beat them!"

"I hate that stupid prick, one day he came with a dog who almost ate me! Fortunately, Luffy and Coby came in time so I wasn't eaten Luffy clobbered the wolf down and was ready to beat the snot out of Helmeppo but Helmeppo threatened him with me and my mother, he said that he would kill both of us!"

She seemed to get thirsty as the story was quite long, Kuina gave the girl a glass of water and afterward she continued the story:

"Luffy didn't want us to die due to him, and Helmeppo gave him a challenge saying that if he stayed on the execution grounds tied to the post for one month without food and water he would let him go and excuse us for our 'impertinence', it's been two days and he already can't handle it anymore! We had to sneak food to him for more than five times a day and fortunately up till now we weren't caught, this guy Coby *she pointed to the unconscious Coby* has already joined the marine's as it's his dream or something, he seems like a lousy marine in my opinion." Zoro, Kuina, and Nami nodded their heads at Ririka's story it seemed that the kid was a good guy who got into trouble due to the corrupt marine.

He was in luck for today since they had business with Morgan, Zoro decided to free him since he was a good guy. Luffy was still tied to the post in the execution grounds when suddenly the trio appeared with Coby and Ririka in tow. Coby was excited now as he looked towards Zoro and Kuina, it seemed he recognized who they were he was scared at first but he realized they could be a great help to their situation.

Zoro nodded his head as Luffy looked at him then suddenly all of Luffy's bindings were undone! Luffy massaged his wrist and cracked his neck while doing some stretching exercises then he looked at Zoro and said:

"Join my crew!" Zoro's eyes widened at the guy's shamelessness, he just saved him and the first thing he said was join my crew? no, thank you or anything?

Kuina started laughing at Zoro's expression then she said:

"Zoro I like him, he reminds me of you!" Zoro scoffed then said:

"How does he remind you of me?" Kuina shook her shoulders and said:

"You both are uh... special?" Zoro was ready to give Kuina a piece of his mind but stopped as Luffy suddenly started to stretch himself, literally! suddenly he was on the roof of the marine building destroying the newly erected statue of Morgan in all his glory!

Morgan shouted something about rubber brats and then the both of them fell from the roof, Morgan got up and Zoro observed the marine Captain, he had an iron jaw and an ax instead of left arm, he wore the captain coat and had normal blue marine pants and boots but no undershirt so you could see his chest, he had a crew cut and his hair was blonde, he stood at almost two meters and twenty centimeters tall!

Luffy shouted towards Morgan with an angry tone of voice:

"Moran you tied me for a long time! If it wasn't for Coby and Ririka I would have died of starvation up till now, its time to beat your ass! and your son's Helephanto too!" Morgan's head veins were bulging like they were ready to explode as he shouted towards Luffy:

"You dumb pirate, I Captain Morgan, Captain of the marines shall catch you and execute you immediately! You destroyed my great statue and insulted me, a Captain of the marines? It's time for you to die!" Unfortunately for Morgan Luffy just had his meal even though he was still hungry he was way stronger than Morgan by a large mile.

Suddenly both of Luffy's hands stretched behind him as he ran towards Morgan while shouting:

"Gum Gum... Bazooka!" Both of Luffy's outstretched arms snapped back and hit Morgan directly in the chest rupturing his internal organs and making him faint directly, Luffy was especially angry after he got tied to that post for two days and he didn't hold back at all, immediately mortally injuring the marine Captain. Suddenly out of the marine base came tens of marines who instead of trying to shoot at Luffy threw their caps into the air and started celebrating!

Luffy didn't know what to say about their celebration but Zoro and the others understood them. Coby and Ririka joined in the celebration while Helmeppo tried to make himself unseen and run away but he was caught by one of his 'guards' and scolded severely, from now on he would become a marine errand boy like Coby was currently.

Luffy's stomach started growling like a lion's who didn't eat in months even though he ate some tens of minutes previously. This boy's appetite wasn't a joke at all! Ririka decided to invite Luffy to her mother's restaurant so they could show him their hospitality. Zoro indicated to Nami with his eyes that it was a good time to take the map. Unfortunately for Zoro Nami came back empty-handed, well not totally as she came back with a letter that said:

"Buggy was here and he flashy stole your map, fool!" Zoro crumbled the letter and shook his head, that clown fool stole the map he needed for the grand line, where he could find him? Hopefully, he would be lucky from now on. And he would be since he met Luffy the luckiest guy on the planet.

Zoro decided to follow Luffy to the restaurant, his eyes widened as he saw Luffy pile up plates of food like a tower, he was eating like a steam train who needed coal! The food would just enter his mouth and disappear!

Zoro decided to wait until he finished the food to talk with him, after a while he finished eating and his stomach bulged quite a lot, he looked like a ball! Zoro felt bad for Ririka's mother as she gave away all that food for free, Kuina directly asked:

"How much does he owe you? I can pay for him." Kuina had her stash of cash different from Zoro's she made more than ten million herself, of course, most of the money gone to Zoro and his ship fund but she also saved money for herself when she would need them, they were also the money they used for resupplies and other things.

The mother of Ririka an older looking version of her daughter shook her head and she said:

"You don't have to pay for him, even though he ate quite a lot, it's the best reward we can give him as he took care of that menace known as Morgan." She spits down at the mention of Morgan's name.

Zoro nodded his head but Luffy suddenly appeared near him bloated as he was and said in a serious tone of voice:

"Join my crew, you are strong and I need strong guys in my crew!" Then he pointed towards Kuina and Nami:

"You guys join too!" Kuina would follow Zoro wherever he went so if he decided to join the Luffy guy she would just follow him, as for Nami she didn't like pirates but if her savior decided to become one she would follow, the Luffy boy wasn't that bad even though he was pirate so she could stomach being a pirate under him.

Zoro wanted to tell him no he didn't want to join him but a marine came from outside and he said:

"You guys are pirates, right? You have to go, we are very grateful for what you did but you have to go."

Zoro wanted to say something but the marine didn't let him:

"It's your pirate ship that's waiting on the dock right? The one with the mermaid figurehead?" Zoro wanted to refute again but the marine continued:

"Please leave we don't want to contact the headquarters, you guys are alright pirates, in my opinion, please just leave ok?"

Zoro finally snapped and said:

"We three aren't pirates!" the marine looked over at Zoro Kuina and Nami then shook his head at said:

"You were on the site when the incident happened and you helped the straw hat-wearing boy so we can only make you accomplices in our report, I'm sorry even if you want to or not you are pirates now."

Zoro almost wanted to take his swords and cut the dumb marine into pieces, he didn't want to become a pirate for this reason! He only saved the Luffy guy cause he seemed interesting and now he became a pirate due to it? SO DUMB!

Luffy smiled and laughed then said:

"Shishishi, since you are a pirate now why don't you join me?" Zoro was defeated spiritually so he decided to indulge the fool and said:

"Ok I will join you but you can't give me any orders, also if you would block my way towards my dream I will cut you down like an animal!" Luffy's smile widened at the mention of a dream and he said:

"My dream is to become the King of the pirates, what's yours?"

Zoro chuckled the kid got a big dream alright, he could also feel with his Haki that he wasn't a slouch, he could maybe even make him use fifty percent of his power on him! Considering strength, Zoro still had the advantage of Haki and swords being the Luffy's weakness, but in pure strength alone Luffy was half as strong as Zoro, which was quite monstrous combined with his rubber body.

Zoro said:

"I'm going to become the world's greatest swordsman!" Kuina added in herself:

"And I'm going to become the world's greatest swordswoman!" Kuina nudged Nami in so she could say her dream, Nami blushed and said:

"I'm going to draw a map of the world!" Luffy continued laughing as he said:

"This is a good crew!" Zoro shook his head, even though Luffy was captain of the newly created 'crew' his crew wouldn't even listen to him, they would most likely listen to Zoro, Luffy was a figurehead. Of course, his strength wasn't low but Zoro was just stronger, Zoro doubted Luffy could even beat Kuina. Of course, Luffy could beat Nami even though she got stronger and faster and learned Observation Haki, Luffy's monstrous strength and rubber body wasn't something Nami could deal with at all, she supported, after all, she was, not a fighter.

Luffy immediately found himself accommodated on Zoro's ship he took the figurehead to be his place and stood there waiting for the ship to start and go wherever the wind would take them.

They already resupplied and all they had to do now was find Buggy and get the grand line map. When Luffy heard this he just said two words:

"Oh ok." He didn't seem to care that much, Zoro then realized that his new 'captain' wasn't smart, like at all.

Nami decided to navigate towards the nearest island, maybe Buggy decided to dock there, after he got the grand line map and party his head out due to happiness, of course, now that they were near Luffy their luck increased by more than one thousand percent.

So with their luck, they would surely find Buggy and the map on the next island known as Orange Town.