"Huh!? Wha?! Where..?"
Jinzo woke in a cold sweat. His body aching all over.
Stinging sensations were all throughout his skin from the cuts and bruises.
He awoke in the familiar wagon of Gorgeous George.
"..?"
Jinzo adjusted his sight and noticed Swiss asleep at the end of his bed.
"Heh heh, are you this worried about me, Swissan?"
That's when suddenly, an intense wave of sensory overload took Jinzo over to a sickening degree.
"!"
The first thing Jinzo noticed was the astute sense of smell.
Even without him in the room, Jinzo could smell that Gorgeous George had failed to properly wipe his ass this morning.
"Yuck!" Jinzo cried as he covered his mouth in disgust.
Then another sense was overloaded.
"Ah!"
Jinzo clasped his right eye.
An aching pain seared itself deep into the back of his skull through his eye's sensitive nerves.
"What the fuck?" Jinzo uttered as he released his hold over his eye.
The light funnelled into his corona.
It was too strong.
So strong that Jinzo had to close his right eye quickly.
By now, everything made Jinzo's head spin. He collapsed back on his pillow, passing out.
Sweet dreams.
["Sleep well, Ken Jinzo."]
Swiss company stayed with the troupe in Gorgeous George's wagon for a few days.
The hype of the Royal Jam had still yet to die down.
Shows at hotels had ceased to continue while the populace recovered from the festivities.
Kimagure Joka and Hugh Antonio never returned to the troupe after the night of the Royal Jam, much to the dismay of their circus companions.
And so, after reading the writing on the wall, Swiss realized that he and his friends must finally move on.
Swiss company were standing at the busy docks of Jam Land.
Vivienne Tara and Gorgeous George exchanged their goodbyes.
"Where is that idiot?" Grit asked.
"Don't ask me. Swiss is usually Jinzo's responsibility.." Raito responded.
Jinzo shrugged his shoulders.
"Oiiii!"
In came Swiss, with something sweet in his hands.
"Here you go, Grit! An ice cream. Trolololol!"
"… Thanks?" Grit said as he accepted the ice cream. Its cream already melting down the cone…
'That bastard remembered. I didn't think he was serious..' Grit mused.
"I'm gonna miss you, Tara-chan," Swiss told his beautiful brown-haired friend.
"And I'm gonna love the peace and quiet.." Vivienne Tara quickly replied.
"Ouch, burn."
"Are you sure you haven't seen Joka?" Viviene Tara tried her best to mask the worry in her voice.
"Hmmm?" Swiss took one last look at the beautiful maiden, "Fuck that guy! He didn't even tell me goodbye, the cunt!"
Her brown hair had streaks of blond in it. Her eyes were rimmed with eye shadow.
On her left earlobe, a gold earring was placed.
Hanging from it, on a slim gold chain, was a small heart trinket.
'Damn, she fine!' Swiss could not help but marvel at Vivienne Tara's beauty.
"Swiss. Bro. Me. Sad. You. Go." Gorgeous George said as he spread his great wingspan for a hug.
Swiss felt the air escape him as he was squeezed, "Bro me sad, you go? Damn George, you're a poet!"
Jinzo, Grit, and Raito stood behind, watching the farewell.
Raito and Grit were fine. No injuries that they couldn't handle.
Jinzo, however, was covered in bandages. Jinx had done quite the number on him.
"Welp, I suppose that's us. Farewell, George, Tara-chan. I'll miss you both dearly!"
"Come. Visit. Soon!"
"Yeah, yeah." Swiss chuckled as he waved his friends goodbye and boarded the Jalopy, "Till next time!"
Gorgeous George and Vivienne Tara stood on the docks waving at them until the Jalopy faded from sight.
"…"
"… Swiss. Gone. Me, Sad." Gorgeous George remarked.
"Yeah, me too." Vivienne Tara told him, "Well, not really. But I'm sure we will see them again. Come, let's head back."
"Okay." Gorgeous George reluctantly complied, leading the way.
Vivienne Tara stopped for a moment before following him, looking back to the ocean.
'I'm sure…' she thought before turning back and hurrying behind Gorgeous George.
They were walking together along the main street.
Until they weren't.
Out of nowhere, from a shadowed ally way, a pair of black leather gloved hands grabbed Vivienne Tara, making sure to cover her mouth.
"! *MMMM!* *MMMMM!*"
Vivienne Tara clawed and scratched, trying her best to alarm Gorgeous George, to alarm anyone…
But alas, nobody heard her. Nobody saw a thing.
Vivienne Tara was dragged away. A syringe piercing her neck.
As the liquid oozed into her bloodstream, she lost consciousness.
But before she did, this was the last voice she heard-
"Hahaha! Saint Lazlo sure can pick the beauties. Congratulations, you're going to be wife number 7!"
She had not the strength to do anything. She allowed her eyelids to slowly close as she was dragged away into the side streets of Jam Land.
When she wakes, her new life begins.
"KANPAIII!"
*CHINK!*
Out at sea on the Jalopy, Swiss and company were having a toast to being on the road again.
"Trolololol! You bastards sure got rekt! You should have seen yourself, Grit! One minute you're a badass, next minute you're flung into the air with a thunder spear through you!"
"… And what were you doing? Sitting on your ass, that's what." Grit retorted.
"Hey, I did all I could! That was Raito's fault, right Raito?" Swiss could not help but joke around.
"Whatever happened to the entire squad taking the blame for a failed mission?"
The crew were sitting inside the Jalopy's cabin around its round table.
Everyone was drinking but Jinzo, who sat in silence.
A slight smile on his face, but his mind was miles away-
"Oi, Jinzo, I'm talking to you!"
"Huh?"
Jinzo snapped out of his thought to lock eyes with Swiss.
Well, to lock 'eye' with Swiss.
Jinzo was still reluctant to open his right eye.
Sure, it had somehow healed, but for some reason, there was some funny business going on with it still…
"Yeah, asshole! I was asking you about our course. Since you're Mr. 'Reads a navigation book'…"
"Oh…"
Jinzo massaged his temples, "How about we discuss that after I brew a pot of tea?"
"Yosh!"
Jinzo stood and made his way to the corner in the cabin where the kitchen area was, boiling the kettle.
Meanwhile, Swiss got out the maps he bought from Zealandia and spread them on the table.
"Hmmmmm", Swiss hummed as he ran his fingers along the different maps, "This can't be right!"
"What do you mean?" Raito asked.
"Look! Here! This is a map of East Blue, right? But it is missing some locations! For example, here-" Swiss pointed, "This here is the Goa Kingdom. And this here is Loguetown. But close by, we should see places such as the Gecko islands or something!"
Grit sighed softly as he struggled to see what Swiss' problem was, "So..?"
"So? Sooooo, that means that our maps are inaccurate. Or at the very least, they are out of date.."
"Is that so strange?" Raito interjected, "I mean, from what I have seen, the ocean is an enormous place! How could we possibly map the entire world?"
"!"
Swiss got choked up at the question. Raito had a point.
"Yes, you're right…" Swiss thought of Nami, whose dream was to create a complete world map.
'Again, another confirmation that we are situated in a time after the void century, but before the events of the story?'
Swiss pondered the fact before a sudden realization came to him, "Ah!"
"This should be good…" Grit said, sarcastically awaiting Swiss to reveal what he wanted to say.
"Oh, don't be like that! I just realized, no wonder our maps are trash!"
Swiss said this and giggled ecstatically, "Trolololol!"
The map situation was perfectly logical once Swiss thought about it.
Even in the original story of One Piece, many islands had yet to be charted, regardless of whether it was the East Blue or the Grand Line.
Furthermore, there were many islands in One Piece Offline that were not drawn on any official maps.
So, in essence, Swiss came to the conclusion that there was no point in worrying too much about it.
Some things are always going to be out of your control.
"Bah! Anyway, I'm hungry. Anyone up for an apple?" Swiss said as he stood from the table and made his way to the corner of the cabin with the supplies.
Raito yawned, "I'm okay, thank you."
With Jinzo recovering and Swiss being, well… Swiss, this caused Grit and Raito to take the responsibility of buying supplies.
To which end, they did a fantastic job.
"Suit yourself. I sure hope you guys got green apples! Red apples are too hit and miss. But green apples are nice and flavoursome!"
Just as Swiss was reaching for the lid of the large wooden barrel full of apples-
*BSHHHHHHHHHH!*
The wooden barrel burst open, red and green apples flying everywhere.
Raito was the one to think of buying a mix of different apples, but there was no time to praise his initiative
Out from the barrel came a tall, toned, slender young man with pale skin.
With dark green hair and a yellow smiley face painted on one cheek and a sad face painted on the other.
"Waaaah! For such a tight squeeze, that sure was a good nap! 3"
Swiss was so surprised that he sat on his ass, stunned, "JOKA, YOU BAKA! WTF ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
"Oh? +"
Kimagure Joka glanced around the room to see Raito and Grit alert and ready for combat.
Jinzo remained as calm as ever, "You guys couldn't smell him?"
"Smell him? What are you, a police dog?!" Swiss yapped.
"Kukuku," Kimagure Joka laughed faintly, "I'm here to join your crew. You said I could tag along, right Swiss-san? 3"
"Bruh! I have zero recollection of saying such things! And also, even if that were the case, why did you hide in a barrel all this time?!"
Jinzo raised a brow before thinking to himself 'I'm starting to see a pattern emerge here..'
"… Don't be like that, Swiss-san. You know I'm shy. ~"
"Fucker! Don't scare me like that again!"
Raito chuckled, whispering to Grit, "What was it they say about 'an apple a day'_?"
"I think we will need to eat more than one a day to survive this voyage.." Grit whispered back.
"What do you say, guys? Let Joka join us?" Swiss asked.
"Absolutely not." Grit replied.
"Nope. He's creepy." Raito added.
"I don't feel like sleeping with one eye open." Jinzo said.
"I can gladly train with Swiss every morning at sunrise. +"
"He's in!" Grit happily rephrased.
"On second thought, great idea!" Jinzo gladly said.
"Yes! Finally, a sleep in!" Raito shouted, making no effort to hide his happiness.
"Yosh! Guys, get your cups! We toast to our new crew member, Joka!"
At Swiss' words, the rest of the gang took hold of their sake cups. Jinzo followed suit, but he held out his teacup.
"KANPAI!"
"YOSH!" x3
"3."
*CHINK!*
"Nani?!" Swiss blurted, after a shimmering piece of jewelery caught his eye.
Hanging from Kimagure Joka's right ear was a gold ear ring. Dangling from it, attached to it's slim chain, was a small heart trinket.
"Bastard! Are you and Tara-chan a thing?!" Swiss gasped.
"Haha, I called it." Jinzo said.
"As if!"
Swiss and Jinzo argued the matter thereafter, as the whole crew partied well into the next morning.
They laughed, sang, drank, and danced.
A welcoming warmth filling the cabin.
They partied so much that they had already run out of alcoholic supplies, despite not even being a day out of port..
One of these days, they will have to take their logistics seriously.
—
[ssyffix: yo!]
[ssyffix: and that concludes the Jam Land arc!]
[ssyffix: bruh, the arcs keep getting longer and longer]
[ssyffix: Zealandia: 9 chapters]
[ssyffix: Midland: 4 chapters]
[ssyffix: Ninja Kuni: 9 chapters]
[ssyffix: Jam Land: 19 FREAKIN' CHAPTERS!]
[ssyffix: and that's not to mention the much greater length of time it took to get out of this arc due to life reasons]
[ssyffix: what a ride]
[ssyffix: anyways xD just goes to show that this shit is gonna get bigger and better]
[ssyffix: thx 4 reading!]