A floating barrel can be seen drifting a few kilometers away from Dawn Island, near a ship that once belonged to the Alvida pirates, with a pink-haired boy on board.

Is it finally time to meet the main character? John thought with an excited smile on his face.

"Let's slow her down for a bit, Coby," the captain of the G.O.A.T. said. The young navigator was confused but obliged. The sails were pulled up, and Coby steered the ship toward the barrel. John and the deckhand grabbed some ropes and pulled the barrel onto the boat.

"What's in there?" The deckhand named Broll wondered.

"We're about to find out…now!" John yelled as he pried the lid open with a crowbar. All three of them put their heads together to look inside.

Inside of it were…apples.

John kicked the barrel in anger. "Got me excited for nothing."

"What were you expecting to be in there?" Coby asked the irate man. "Nothing, nothing, just maybe…some wine or something." John replied dismissively as he made a shooing motion with his right hand.

Inside, John was worried. If Luffy didn't meet Coby, would he make it to Shells Town? If he didn't make it, what would happen to Zoro? If Luffy didn't meet Zoro, what would happen to the story? What about Luffy and Coby's relationship? Marineford?...Shit, I need them to meet somehow.

John paced back and forth on the ship and continued to look around for small boats throughout the rest of the journey, worrying both Coby and Broll.

Finally, after two weeks at sea, they could see their destination on the horizon.

Shells Town discovered

10 exp!

Two large cylindrical buildings, one taller than the other, could be seen towering over the houses on the island. They were painted blue with dolphin-like patterns and the Marine symbol on top. They were the most notable parts of Shell Town, the 153rd Marine Branch.

After docking the ship at the town's harbor, John left the two and marched into town. He hurriedly searched for some marines so he could quickly get rid of the pirates on his ship. After this, he could get on with his other concerns. He spotted two of them walking through the town; the townspeople were staying clear of them. John already knew the reason why the locals were afraid of the marines here, but he had no time to waste. He quickly approached them and saluted. "Good day, officers. I have captured a wanted pirate and want to claim the bounty on her head." The marines looked at each other, a bit taken aback by his behavior, but the older one of them turned serious and asked. "And where is this pirate that you have captured?"

"Right this way, officers," John replied and led the marines to his ship. The three boarded the ship, and John showed them the captured pirates. The older marine inspected the cage and confirmed it was Alvida, the captain of the Alvida pirates, with a bounty of 5 million berries, while the younger one looked at the lower-ranking pirates tied to the makeshift poles.

The younger marine asked with a nonchalant look. "These ones don't have any bounties. Why didn't you just kill them?" The question caught John off guard, and he was unable to answer. Coby stepped in and replied for him, "They're criminals, right? We just brought them here so you can put them in jail. That's what the marines do, right?"

The marine became annoyed and said, "They just clog up the cells; it's a waste of our strength to deal with these guys." The older marine stood up and punched the back of his head, then said, "What the hell are you saying?! This is our job!" He then looked at John and said, "You, come with me to the marine base. Recruit, stay here and keep your eyes on the pirates." The recruit saluted and replied, "Yes, sir!"

John nodded at the man and beckoned Coby to come with him. They walked behind the marine officer until they reached the marine base.

Location discovered

153rd Marine Base

5 exp!

They entered and the marine led them to the reception; he took a clipboard and began asking them questions.

"What is your name?"

"John."

"John what? Is that your surname?"

"No, no. My surname is uh…Kenway."

"Kenway John. Okay, where are you from?"

"I'm from Goat Island."

"Are you a pirate?"

"What? No. I'm not a pirate," said John, a bit flabbergasted by the questions.

"Are you a bounty hunter?

"Not yet, is that going to be a problem?"

The marine said nothing and finished jotting down his information on the form. He removed the paper and handed it to John. "Hand that over to the Claims officer at the other end of the base," he said, then turned around and called for a couple of marines before leaving the base. John assumed they were going to take the pirates on his ship. Finally.

John and Coby walked to the other side of the base, found the claims officer, and handed over the form. The officer read it and looked at John. "I assume you want to register as a bounty hunter as well?"

John immediately replied, "Yes." As the claims officer started writing on some papers and stamping them, she asked them, "How'd you manage to capture Alvida? She's quite a notorious pirate with a decently sizable crew. It couldn't have been easy to catch her."

"Yeah, it definitely wasn't easy," Was all John said. He didn't want to waste time talking. The claims officer noticed this and quickly finished the paperwork. "I need 2,000 berries to register you as a bounty hunter; should I take that out of your payout?" she asked.

"Nah, wait a second," John said as he shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out two thousand berries from his inventory. "Here you go." He handed them over to the claims officer, who then went inside the door behind her. A few minutes later, she emerged and handed him three items. One was a bag containing five bands, worth 1 million berries each. The other item was a silver badge with the words:

W.G.

BOUNTY HUNTER

No. 3699.

World Government huh?

The last one was a notebook containing the known bounties in East Blue. He thanked the officer and went back to the front desk and spoke to the receptionist there. "Sir, my friend Coby here wants to join the Marines." John smiled and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "How would he go about doing that?"

The marine looked Coby up and down. After a couple of seconds, he responded. "He's quite young, hmm…you have to meet with Captain Morgan or Commander Ripper…but we're gonna be busy tomorrow with the execu-…I mean, the uh, the event we're doing… You should come back in a few days." John's left eye twitched but he thanked the marine. Coby was afraid that the marines might have known of his previous involvement with pirates, but thankfully that didn't seem to be the case. The two then left the base.

Did he say execution? It can't be that guy who's getting executed, right?

They walked to the right and passed by what looked like an enclosure, surrounded by wire mesh fences. Just then, "Ah!" Coby yelled out of nowhere, which startled John. "What is it?" He asked, looking towards the direction he was looking at. "That headband and haramaki, isn't that the pirate hunter?" Coby asked, while pointing at something in the middle of the enclosure. They both walked closer and looked.

There, tied to a post was a man wearing a black bandana, three earrings in his left ear, a white shirt, a green stomach band and black pants. It was definitely the first member of the Strawhat Pirates, Roronoa Zoro.

What the hell? Why is that guy still here, wasn't he supposed to be recued by Luffy?

Shit, is it because of me? Where are you Main character-kun?

He looked more starved here than in the anime. Just then, a window popped up in front of John.

EMERGENCY QUEST

Rescue Roronoa Zoro (23:31:16)

Completion Reward - 1000 exp, reputation increase

Failure Penalty - Death

Oh Shit…

Suddenly, John ran up and tried to climb the wall, but Coby quickly reacted and pulled on his tunic. "Hey, what are you trying to do?!"

John answered quickly, "I'm gonna free this guy." He looked only in front of him, towards the captured Zoro.

"What?! He's a prisoner of the Marines; you can't interfere with their business." Coby pulled him back and gave him a questioning look. "Why do you want to free him anyway? That guy is known as the P-Pirate Hunter; he's the most monstrous bounty hunter in East Blue!"

"So he's a bounty hunter? Why did they capture him then? Is it a crime to capture pirates?" John asked without a care as he tried to climb back up.

Coby grabbed his stomach this time and desperately pulled, "He must have done something really bad for the Marines to do that!" He said.

As John poked his head up the wall, he saw two marines come out of the building and stand on either side of Zoro, each one holding a rifle. Shit! They're guarding him like he's Gol D. Roger!

He stopped trying to climb, went back down, and sat on the ground, putting one knee up and resting his arm on top of it. He needed to think this through more.

I can't rescue him out in the open like this…

I can't handle all the marines here in this base, and they also have Captain Morgan.

He looked up and saw Coby looking at him weirdly. He then got up from the ground and looked Coby dead in the eye. "Look, Coby," he said, "not all marines are good people. There are some who uphold justice, but there are also those who corrupt the meaning of it. In the same vein, not all pirates are bad either. And, and this pirate hunter dude, I think he's a good guy, believe me." He looked far away for a second then looked back at the marine-hopeful boy and continued. "When you become a marine, you need to remember what I just told you. Now let's get back to the ship."

Coby didn't look like he understood it completely yet, but he nodded anyway. They walked back to the ship and saw the captives weren't there anymore. Finally. John entered the captain's room and put most of the money he had received into his inventory, leaving some in a money bag he attached to his belt.

I still have less than a day to figure out how to rescue Zoro from the marines.

…I hope that guy comes soon. He thought.

"Coby, Broll, let's head into the town. I'll treat you both!" John exclaimed as he came out of the captain's room. Both of them cheered and followed John into the town.

Location discovered

Shells Town Main District

5 exp!

As they walked the streets of Shell Town, they couldn't help but notice that the people seemed to have a resigned look on their faces. They spotted a restaurant in the center of town with only a few customers and sat at a table. John let the two order as much as they wanted for today, as he was feeling very generous. A woman who looked distraught but still managed to keep a smile on her face took their orders. She brought their food and told them to enjoy their meal. While they ate, Coby spoke up. "Why were you trying to free that guy earlier? You know, that, that pirate hunter Zoro." At this statement, the whole restaurant whipped their heads towards their table, looking a bit apprehensive.

John looked around and signaled Coby to lower his voice. "I told you, I think he's a good guy. We need to rescue him before he gets executed." He whispered, unaware that a little girl had gone up to their table and was now listening in to their conversation.

Coby leaned in and whispered too. "How do you know that he hasn't done anything bad? Maybe he k-killed someone."

"Brother's not a bad person!" the little girl suddenly shouted, startling the three. John, who had been eating at the time, got some of the food stuck in his throat. He coughed loudly and said, "Don't shout so suddenly like that! Cough, cough!"

The little girl looked as if she had slight bruises on her face and body; it appeared as though she had been kicked around. "He didn't do anything wrong. It's all because of me! Brother Zoro's going to die because of me!" The little girl started crying, tears flowing comically out of her eyes. The woman who served their food earlier came over in a hurry and took the girl back. She apologized and bowed, saying, "I'm sorry about my daughter."

After he was done coughing, John stood up and knelt in front of the crying child. He put his thumb up, smiled widely, and said, "Hey kid, tell me what happened. We're here to actually save that guy!" The girl sniffed and looked at John's smiling face. "Are you telling the truth?" she asked. John replied, still smiling, "Yes, I promise." He stood up and clapped Coby's shoulder. "You promise too, right, Coby?" he said, pulling the boy up in front of the little girl. "Y-yes, I promise as well," the boy stammered, sweating profusely.

The little girl, whose name was Rika, told them all about how Zoro got arrested, about Helmeppo's wolf, the rice balls, and how the arrogant son of the Marine captain had loudly proclaimed to everyone that he was going to execute Zoro two days ago.

It seemed they were planning to make it a spectacle. Probably to bolster Morgan's reputation. John thought as he listened to the story. After they were done eating, they left the restaurant and returned to their ship. Then, John told them to gather in the meeting room.

"We need to brainstorm on how we can rescue Roronoa Zoro. Tell me all the ideas you can think of, but we need to be discreet about it." John said as they all gathered around a table.

After a while, Broll raised his hand. "How about we sneak in during the night?" he suggested.

"We'll definitely be trying that out, but I have a feeling they'll still be guarding him tonight." John replied as he stroked his chin.

Coby also raised his hand before speaking. "How about we wear disguises?"

"That's a good idea." John said.

The group kept exchanging ideas until eventually, they settled on a plan.

The morning of the execution

People could be seen gathering in the middle of the town, just outside the marine base. Aside from the occasional gossip, most of the residents of Shell Town looked downtrodden. In front of them was the execution site.

On the platform, there was a person standing on top with his hands tied together. Tied around his neck was a noose, and below him was a trap door waiting to be released. A lever could be seen to the side, ready to be pulled at any time by the marine assigned to it. To the left of the platform stood 'Axe-hand' Morgan, a tall and muscular marine captain with blonde hair and a steel jaw. His hand had been replaced with a huge axe, as his epithet implies. His son Helmeppo, a young man with a mushroom-shaped haircut and a huge butt-chin, stood to his side, looking very smug.

Two figures lay prone on a rooftop, clutching their firearms; one holds a rifle, while the other grips a pistol. A third figure stands on the deck of the ship, getting ready to fulfill his role. John and Coby were dressed in gray clothes, blending into the surroundings. Each has a shirt tied around their faces, like a ninja mask, to conceal their identities.

The three had tried to rescue Zoro last night, but as John predicted, they were still guarding him even in the dead of night. Today they planned to execute the plan that they had come up with yesterday, but it all hinged on how fast they could move.

I really hope that guy comes today…It'll be much easier, and also it will set the story on the right path, sigh... John thought as he aimed his rifle, waiting for the signal.

A marine stepped forward and addressed the crowd. "Today, we witness the execution of the criminal Roronoa Zoro!" he proclaimed, looking at the audience. When no one said a word, he continued. "Through the diligence of Captain Morgan, this criminal was captured before he could harm any more innocent lives."

Just then a voice exclaimed, "That's not true! Brother Zoro would never-!" The small voice quickly got muffled as Morgan motioned for the marine to continue.

"Roronoa Zoro, for the crimes of colluding with pirates, stealing from the Marine Base, and, uh, killing a beloved pet... you are hereby sentenced to death by hanging!" He shouted as he chopped the air in a downward motion. The other Marine began to pull the lever down when-

BOOM!!!

A loud explosion was heard from the docks, as if cannonballs had been fired. The people began to scatter, running away in fear. At the same time, a gunshot rang out, and the ropes around the prisoner's neck were cut, singed by the heat of the bullet. Next, a dagger was tossed in front of Zoro, and the two figures on the rooftop jumped down and headed for the platform. When they reached it, the marines were already on the move. "Come on, cut the ropes and let's go!" shouted John, waiting for the swordsman to move.

He didn't move.

What the hell?! This couldn't be happening!

Their plan was to escape with the help of Zoro and quickly escape from Shells Town, but it didn't even cross his mind that Zoro would be this weak right now. After all, this is Zoro we're talking about, he is the second strongest Strawhat and one of the Supernovas! But he wasn't any of those right now; he was just a man who hadn't eaten in twelve days. The Marines quickly moved to apprehend them.

"Oh shit! Run, run!" John urgently pushed Coby, then whispered in his ear. "Run away as far as you can and hide. Throw away your disguise and wait for me on the ship." He then blocked the way as Coby ran.

The marines lined up holding their guns as Captain Morgan approached from behind them. "What's the meaning of this?" The marine captain asked while holding his axe. "Interrupting an officially sanctioned event like this makes you an outlaw, a traitor to the world government, and messing with me, a Marine Captain, will be the cause of your death!" Morgan held his arm up and ordered "FIRE!"