John woke up the next day feeling refreshed. The wounds he had sustained the previous day were still present, but they had begun to heal a little bit. he felt better overall.

Wounded (Temporary) - Reduces maximum HP by 20%.

He left his dwelling and walked up to town. He then made his way to the general goods store. There, he purchased some gray paint, sandpaper, some white cloth, and a sewing kit. The shopkeeper was still in the process of selling the pirate loot, so he didn't have much money to spare. After leaving the store, he went to the tavern and asked Coby, who had slept there last night, if he could help him move Alvida's ship to his small dock in front of his shack. They rode the ship and Coby showed off his budding navigational skills. Once they had anchored down and tied the ship to the dock, John thanked the boy and got started working on remodeling the Miss Love Duck.

First, he used sandpaper to remove the pink colored paint from the ship. Earlier, when he went to the shop, he had asked if they had paint stripper, but the old lady did not know what a paint stripper was. So he settled on using sandpaper instead, knowing it would take a lot of time and effort. Coby had left, but returned later to help; he had nothing else to do at that point. After a few hours, they had barely finished one-quarter of one side of the ship. John suggested that Coby rest, or if he preferred, he could do some pushups to train his body in preparation for joining the marines. Coby tried, but he wasn't able to do many.

A few days passed as they continued to do the same thing. Once they finished removing the pink paint from the ship, they painted the bottom of it with gray paint as well as the bottom of the masts. Meanwhile, Coby did all sorts of physical exercises like running on the beach and pull-ups. John also started teaching the boy how to use a pistol by shooting at the ship's duck figurehead. He then removed the wooden hearts on the sides of the ship and covered the hearts on the sails by sewing white cloth over them. Then, they sawed off the figurehead as well as the large heart at the bottom of it. Finally, they removed the pirate flags from the masts. Overall, the ship now looked like a poor but large fishing vessel that had its figurehead sawed off. It took them close to three weeks to finish, and at one point during the remodeling, a notification popped up in front of John.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Gained 1 stat point

I can't believe I'm celebrating my birthday in the world of One Piece... but it's good that I can live another day. The free stat point is nice too.

Coby saw John's eyes tear up a bit, so he asked him, "What's wrong?" John replied, "It's nothing," and pretended to yawn. He wouldn't tell anyone about his birthday yet, as he was still pretending to have lost his memory. Eventually, he hoped to celebrate his birthday with those closest to him, but for now, he was content with not doing so.

Thanks to the birthday gift from the system, I now have 4 available stat points. I should distribute them to where I currently need them most.

…

If I plan to be a full-time sniper, then I wouldn't need strength because gun damage is fixed and does not have a str ratio like melee weapons.

Common Rifle

Durability - 101/120

Bullets - 5/5

100 dmg/hit (100 base plus mods)

33 dmg/sec (1 atk every 3 secs)

Apparently 'mods' can improve the damage of guns, and most likely the quality of the gun also improves its damage. This rifle deals 100 damage, which is pretty strong, but guys like Mitsuo who have over 300 HP can still survive it, even if it critically hits. I'm willing to bet that some of the stronger characters out there have even more HP than him.

So Haki is still the answer, but I don't know what damage ratio Armament Haki uses. Does it use strength, maybe endurance, or maybe both?

For now, John distributed his stats in a balanced manner.

John

Lvl. 5

Age 22

Exp - 165/500

HP - 190

AP - 34

STRENGTH - 5 (1)

PERCEPTION - 4(1)

ENDURANCE - 7

CHARISMA - 4(1)

INTELLIGENCE - 4(1)

AGILITY - 5(1)

LUCK - 3

Available points - 0

—

One day while John was remodeling the ship, he saw Mitsuo and Sasa approaching him. They boarded the ship and Mitsuo walked to the bow to look out to sea. "Been a long time since I've been in one of these...," Mitsuo said with a melancholic look. "It's been 20 years huh...John, I think it's time that I tell you my secret; you see, a long time ago I was actually..."

"You were a pirate right? I kinda already knew." John interrupted him while still working on the ship.

"Wha-, h-how did you know? I never told anyone my secret." Mitsuo looked back dumbfounded.

"Nah, it was pretty obvious." John stood up and approached the two. "By the way, is Sasa a pirate too? She definitely is too strong to be a regular tavern waitress."

Mitsuo quickly replied. "What? No! I've raised her here myself since she was a baby." He got a bit sad and placed his hand on Sasa's shoulder. "That's why I can't let her go with you, I can't let her become a pirate."

John was instantly confused. "What? I'm not a pirate... And I haven't even invited her yet."

Sasa removed her father's hand from her shoulder and said, "Who said I was going anyway? I'm not the adventurous type." She stepped closer to John and held his right cheek. "Why don't you just stay here and settle down with me? We'll have many pretty babies." She said in a flirty tone.

John got even more confused. He paused for a moment and looked into Sasa's eyes seriously. He was about to say something when... "WAHAHAHA!!!" Mitsuo laughed heartily and clapped John on the shoulder several times. He wiped a tear from his left eye and said, "Don't be too serious, son!" He then continued, "We've known each other for quite a while, and I can see it in your eyes; you've always been longing for that adventure! That's why I think you'll definitely become a pirate!"

"Why do I have to be a pirate to go on an adventure? Can't I just be, you know, an adventurer?" John asked. He was genuinely curious as to why Mitsuo thought he wanted to be a pirate.

"For most people, being a pirate means robbing, pillaging, and killing, but for the few genuine ones, it means FREEDOM. Freedom to go anywhere and do anything you want." Mitsuo said with a serious face.

John replied with an unimpressed look. "Right, since you're already a criminal, you don't need to follow the rules." John looked towards the town and continued. "But as you have seen, pirates aren't well-liked by the people."

Mitsuo put his hand gently on John's back and replied. "Just because you're a pirate, doesn't mean you can't have morals. I'm sure there are pirates out there who are well-loved by the people."

John already knew about a certain crew that would form here in East Blue, but he was sure they were an exception or an outlier. After all, most of the Strawhats' enemies were evil pirates. So why would he become one?

Mitsuo and Sasa left after chatting for a bit, leaving John to his thoughts. He knew one thing that could give him freedom... ABSOLUTE STRENGTH. If he became the strongest person in the world, then no one would be able to tell him that he can and can't do. He'd be free to do whatever he wanted.

Maybe that's what the One Piece is…?

—

After another week, the newly named G.O.A.T was ready for her maiden(?) voyage. The ship was loaded with provisions that they would need for their journey - from food, water, clothing, navigational tools, weapons, medicine, and recreational items. John also brought his complete fishing gear so they could enjoy some fresh fish during their travels.

The pirates, who were kept in the town's jail cells, were loaded onto their former ship and tied to makeshift poles. Alvida, who had lost some weight, was kept in a cage that was bolted to the ground.

Coby manned the helm, He would be steering the ship and navigating them through the sea. He would be assisted by a deckhand that John had hired. Unfortunately, he could only afford to hire one at the moment, and would have to wait until they could claim the bounty in Shell Town before hiring any additional crew members.

John had bought books on navigation so that he could sail the seas when Coby left to become a marine. After reading the books, he learned that you actually need a couple of people to operate a ship of this size.

Maybe I should get a giant bird to ride on instead?

…

Finally, the last person they were waiting for to board the ship, John, could be seen coming out of his shack, with his rifle on his back. He wore a white tunic and black pants. He ditched the vest and replaced it with a rifle holster with a pistol holster in front. He also wore his belt with a dagger sheathed at the side. On his head, he wore a black boater hat with a white band. As he walked up the gangway, Sasa, came out of the same house. She called up to him an said, "I can't wait forever, you know? If you take too long, I'll forget about you."

He said, "I'll come visit, I promise." As he looked into her eyes. They looked at each other for a moment before he turned away. He walked up to Coby and told him, "Let's depart, Mr. Navigator; you lead the way. Set sail to Shells Town!"

Coby then began giving orders to the deckhand and John as they set out to sea. Just then, a notification popped up.

WORLD MAP UNLOCKED!

East Blue

Goat Island discovered

10 exp!

A window opened, showing a map with a sketch of Goat Island. The rest of the map was obscured by fog. He wondered if he could fast travel yet and tapped on the Goat Island marker, but nothing happened.

I guess it can still be useful for navigation since this arrow must be referring to me.

He looked at the arrow moving across the map over a ship icon. He then turned around and the arrow also moved in that direction.

Does it work in the Grand Line? If so, then I wouldn't need a log pose.

—

After a week of sailing, an island appeared on the world map. It was a cluster of islands that had their own names but were all part of the same kingdom.

Goa Kingdom discovered

10 exp!

As much as John wanted to check if Luffy was still on Dawn Island, he also really wanted to drop off the Alvida pirates at the marine base already. The whole week, he had to feed them all one by one since their hands were tied. He even had to enter Alvida's cage and feed her, and the whole time she was staring at him intensely.

The ship continued on as John stood at the bow, looking through his binoculars. Just then, he saw something bobbing up and down with the waves.

A barrel, is that who I think it is?