The sun welcomed another fantastical day on the South Blue.

A serene crispness cooled the morning air as the orange sunrise sent rays of dripping light through the round windows of the Jalopy.

Our heroes were sleeping soundly in their hammocks.

Jinzo slept with a book covering his face.

Below him was Grit, who managed to have the rare night without experiencing a nightmare.

Their mornings aboard the Jalopy had been oh so peaceful recently. The increase in sleep giving many benefits to their moods.

If only Musashi Raito had such luxury..

"Oiii! Wake up, Raito!"

"Ugh…"

Raito opened his heavy eyelids to the sound of Swiss waking him for their morning training session.

"I thought my days of waking up early were over after heading out to sea.." Yawned Raito as he stretched.

"You thought wrong mother fucker." Swiss ignored Raito's usual complaints and eagerly made his way outside.

Raito followed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"You ready?" Swiss asked, taking a crude stance that imitated what Raito had been teaching him.

"How many times do I have to tell you? We begin by stretching." Raito sighed and started going through the stretching routine.

"I know, but seriously… Do you think animals in the wild stop to have a stretch before they go out hunting? Or what about those poor deer that get ambushed out of nowhere? You think they stop to stretch?" Swiss groaned. He just wanted to get straight into the action.

"Animals stretch all the time. Cats, for example. Besides, it's to increase your flexibility. Trust me, your martial arts will improve if you are flexible. These morning stretches should be done every day without exception."

"Well, if you put it that way…" Swiss had been convinced. He followed the stretches Raito was doing more earnestly. Then he said

"Now that I think of it, you've been a teacher for a while. This all must seem second nature, trololol."

After they were done with their stretches, Swiss and Raito commenced their daily training session.

Inside, Grit woke in a good mood. A cozy smell of coffee wafted in the air.

"Ah, morning, Grit-san. Coffee?" Jinzo was sipping on a mug and reading a book titled 'Sea Navigation for Dummies'.

"Yeah, that would be nice."

Grit joined Jinzo at the table and peered out the window of the cabin, watching Swiss try over and over to beat Raito.

"That guy is fucking relentless. Thank god Raito came on board. I haven't slept this good in ages."

Jinzo could not help but agree with him, "Indeed. It's nice to not be hounded for sword fighting lessons as often." Jinzo then looked out the window also, "Swissan sure is eager…"

"Eager for a beating, more like."

"Maybe he's a masochist."

"A maso-what now?"

"Hehe, never mind, Grit-san."

"…"

["DYNAMIC ENTRY!"]

Swiss leaped into the air with a flying kick directed at Raito's face.

"Nope. Not good enough."

Like water, Raito raised his right hand and fluidly parries the kick, grabbing Swiss' ankle and swinging him down face-first onto the deck.

"OOF! What the heck man? What am I doing wrong?" Swiss said as he got up and rubbed his sore nose.

Raito chuckled and looked up to the clouds, "If a friend of mine was here, he'd tell you that you need to put more 'youth!' into it."

"Yout-.. Bruh, are you a baka? Trololol, whatever. Let's have breakfast."

Swiss and Raito went inside the cabin and joined Jinzo and Grit at the table.

"Morning," Raito said as he sat and poured himself a coffee.

"How's it going with you guys?" Swiss said as he poured himself a cup of sake.

"Pretty good. Been smooth sailing these past couple of days." Grit said.

Jinzo closed his book and spoke, "What do you guys think about plotting a course?"

"Sounds dumb." Swiss took a sip.

"What would be dumb is us winding up in the calm belt again…" Grit snarled.

"Trololol, remind me again who the baka was that was on watch when that happened?"

"Aren't you supposed to be the 'captain'?"

"Grrrr!"

Swiss and Grit shot lightning at each other through their glares.

Raito sipped his coffee as he awkwardly watched their childish squabbling.

That's when Jinzo unfolded the map of the South Blue and spread it on the round table, "So I was thinking, maybe we could go here, then here… until finally stopping here before we head to the Grand Line."

Swiss glossed over the map, following along with Jinzo's hand as he explains his opinion on the best course of action.

"Hmmm…" Swiss drowned out the voices and went into his own little world, "Ooo! What about this place?"

Swiss pointed to a city that was at the end of a peninsula connected to the Red Line.

The location was relatively close to places situated near the entrance to Reverse Mountain, so in theory, it would not be much of a detour for them to go here.

But the reason why Swiss wanted to go to this certain part of the world was shrouded in simplicity.

"Jam Land. Trolololol. Sounds like a tasty place. Any of you guys know it?" Swiss asked.

"I don't know many places outside of Ninja Kuni…" Raito sadly admitted.

"I'm much the same with places outside of Midland." Grit added.

"Jam Land? I know of it." Jinzo said.

There was no way Jinzo, who grew up as part of the South Blue Yakuza, could not know of Jam Land.

Jinzo explained to the gang that Jam Land was a country of spectacles that attracts many tourists.

It was ruled by the Shelby clan, an ancient tribe of gypsies who traveled all over the world.

They traveled and traveled until they came across a specific area in the South Blue. A landscape covered in mountains of burgundy earth.

Now, you should be thinking… What would cause a tribe of gypsies who had been on the road since ancient times to finally settle down in one spot?

The reason for that, in an anticlimactic yet realistic fashion, was money.

The land the Shelby clan settled on was on top of precious and bountiful oil reserves. Not just any oil either..

Clear Oil.

Clear Oil, or 'Cloil' as everyone calls it, was a liquid clear as water that had 10x the potency of crude oil.

This fuel was like liquid gold and there was a lot of it.

The Shelby clan made a fortune.

Eventually, however, their cloil reserves ran dry.

Without being able to export any more cloil, the Shelby clan needed ideas.

Thus, they turned to show business.

They opened extravagant hotels with casinos attached to them.

Each faction of the Shelby clan broke off and opened its own hotel.

Competition became fierce. To attract more people to stay at their hotels, the Shelby factions built stages and put on shows.

It became the land of performers. People far and wide would flock to enjoy the spectacles.

This country of entertainment came to be known as Jam Land.

"As such, many prominent people come to stay in Jam Land. From great pirates and criminal bosses to marines and nobles. Though, I myself have never been."

Jinzo finished his explanation and got up to make a fresh pot of tea.

Swiss had been convinced, "Fuckin' Jam Land, eh? Sounds like a plan. Watch a performance, get some supplies, hell, we could even get Grit an ice cream. How would you like that?"

"Yes to all but the last one." Grit replied, not giving Swiss any reaction.

"Seriously..?" Swiss dropped his lower lip in disbelief.

"Okay you got me… I'll have the ice cream also."

"YOSH! We plot a course to Jam Land!"

...

It was at this conclusive moment of the team meeting did an intrusive voice call from outside.

"YARRR! BASTARDS! GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Swiss and company all perked up and looked at each other.

"Who do you think that is..?" Raito asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we sailed into restricted waters?" Swiss pondered.

"Whoever they are, they could work on their manners." Jinzo marched his way to the door and exited the cabin.

Next to the small Jalopy sailboat of Swiss and company was a large Brigantine with an impressive 44 cannon broadside.

"Holy fuck! Look at that thing!" Swiss exclaimed.

"OI! GIVE US EVERYTHING YOU GOT AND YOU WON'T GET HURT!"

"Eh?" The gang looked up to see many pirates looking down on them from the vantage point of their larger ship.

"Are these clowns serious?" Swiss said as he looked at his companions.

"OI! WE'RE THE KING-HIT PIRATES! DON'T YOU MESS WITH US!"

"…" Jinzo scoffed at the shameful display before him, "The so-called 'King-Hit Pirates' must not be so big time if they are plundering small boats like this."

"OI! I HEARD THAT!"

"If you say 'oi' one more time I'm gonna fuck you up the ass!" Swiss waved his fist up at the voice from above.

That's when the owner of the voice stood on the railing on the side of his ship and crossed his arms, "AhAhAhAhAh! I am Captain King-Hit!"

A lowly henchman next to him held out a wanted poster.

[WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE

CAPTAIN KING-HIT

$30,000,000 BELLI]

'Oooo! The same amount as Luffy's first bounty. I wonder how the power scaling is going to work.' Swiss thought to himself.

"Pfft. What are you trying to prove by waving that poster around." Grit was unimpressed.

"He's right. Compared to the S-Rated criminals back home, these fools look like amateurs." Raito shared Grit's sentiment.

Swiss cracked his knuckles gladly and smiled up at the hostile pirate crew.

"Give us everything you got!"

Jinzo, Grit, and Raito all glanced at each other with confused expressions.

"Eh?" They all said.

"TROLOLOLOLOL!"

But before they knew it, Swiss was already rampaging on the deck of the enemy ship.

That's when the trio all chuckled and said to each other.

"That idiot!"