I'm finally back… for a little while at least. Those of you on my server would know this already, but I had to take an impromptu hiatus for 2-3 weeks leading into the month of December. It's my intention to catch up on lost time (if my ambitions are fulfilled, there might be another update or two coming this week, but there will for sure be multiple updates throughout the month leading into the new year).
I'm taking the rest of the day to work on some commissioned pieces but I'll be getting a move on FtS starting tomorrow (or later tonight. Who can really say).
Thank you to all you wonderfully patient people on p atreon for putting up with me and thank you for voting for this chapter's illustration.
X
"Oi. Nami. Can you tell me what's up already?"
I was getting pretty frustrated. This was supposed to be quick and easy, right? She said that she would be my navigator if I did her a favour, so I agreed. Only, she didn't want to tell me what she wanted right away. She said that we had to wait until we got back to Big Nose's ship.
Nami was acting really strange so I didn't bring ask her about it until we got here— even though I really wanted to!
We were at the ship already. She kept looking more and more nervous; I still wanted her to spit it out.
…Actually, no. It was because she looked so nervous that I wanted to hear what she had to say.
She finally stopped walking once she was in front of the ship and twirled around to face us. Her shoulders were still super tense and that craziness hadn't left her eyes.
"Have you heard of a pirate named Arlong?" she asked.
"Eh!?"
Koby jumped back and looked scared out of his mind. I stared at him blankly for a moment.
"Never heard of him," I told Nami honestly.
Her mouth was already open and ready to say something else before I answered but nothing came out once I did. She just stared at me for a second longer before her shoulders finally dropped.
It was Zoro who answered instead.
"I'm surprised, Captain. Arlong is the most infamous pirate in the East Blue. He has the largest bounty around. By a large margin, too. I had plans to take his head, but he's pretty well protected from what I've heard."
Nami's face was super pale— and sweaty, too.
"I… Can you— I mean, if…" she kept starting to say something before stopping and starting again. It was pretty annoying. "Take down Arlong— please. Please get rid of Arlong. Do that and I will join your crew."
…Huh?
「A new side quest is now available!」
「[Slay Request: Arlong]
Eliminate Arlong before he can be apprehended by the Marines.」
「Completion Rewards: [20 000 EXP]」
「Time limit: 3H : 59M : 58S」
「Begin now? [Yes/No]」
「Notice: this side quest cannot be accepted until the main story quest [Arlong Park] has commenced.」
Before I could say anything, she got right in my face and smiled widely. Nami dropped her hands on my shoulders.
"It'll be really fast, I promise! No problem at all. Arlong's nothing compared to you! He's a pushover. You have nothing to worry about."
Zoro glared at her.
"Have the decency to speak honestly when you ask for a favour, woman."
I felt her fingers trembling on me. Slowly, she backed away. Nami looked like she didn't know how she was supposed to look at me.
This wasn't the same thing as the deal I made with Zoro at all.
"No," I told her. "I'm not gonna fight someone I don't know just because you tell me to."
Her whole body tightened before I added, "But if I don't like him I'll kick his ass for sure."
「Notice: this side quest cannot be accepted until the main story quest [Arlong Park] has commenced.」
Something about this rubbed me the wrong way, but honestly, I didn't really know what it was. I couldn't really be bothered to think about that too much. All I knew was that Nami wanted me to beat up this Ardong guy and that I wanted Nami to be my navigator. That much was simple, so I'd do what she said I should do for now and worry about everything else later.
"Luffy-san! Hold on a second!" Koby whined. "Think about this seriously. You don't even know who Arlong is and you're saying you're going to go looking for him!? This won't be like Buggy, you know. If—"
He kept on going for a bit longer but I stopped listening to him then.
Nami was still frozen for a moment longer before snapping out of it, sort of.
"...Ah, okay."
Zoro walked past both of us and started climbing the ramp to the ship.
"Are we going now, then?" he asked over his shoulder.
I looked at Nami, who was staring back at me with a totally blank face, and grinned.
"Yeah! Sounds good. It's gonna be so great to have a navigator!"
I thought I saw Nami trying to say something, but I didn't wait and ran ahead. I was so excited! I couldn't believe my luck: I found someone who said that they were willing to be my navigator so early! It was definitely one of the important things that you had to deal with at sea —or at least, that's what everyone else said— but it's not like I knew where to go looking for someone who could do all that navigator stuff. Nami practically fell onto my lap and all I had to do was fight some pirate dude.
"This thing's huge," I heard Zoro say from somewhere else on the ship. "Can we really get it moving with just four people?"
Oh. Could we?
Once I was on deck, I looked back and stared down at her again. She hadn't moved yet; I waited to see what she would do.
There was nothing for a few seconds. Eventually, she took a breath so deep that I could see it happen from all the way up here, then she followed me up the ramp.
"Raise the anchor and do as I say; I'll get us sorted out."
「[Rescue Mission: Save Nami!] has been cleared!
Remaining time: 1H : 44M : 21S」
「Completion Rewards: [Crewmate: Nami] + [777 EXP]
[Navigation Menu] has been unlocked!」
「Calculating bonus rewards.
Time remaining1H: Clear
Rewards for this quest are not scaleable.」
「Bonus rewards calculated!
Key Item [Nami's Bounty List] has been added to your inventory.
Use [Nami's Bounty List] to progress the main story.」
「[Yotsuba Archipelago] has been added to the navigation menu!」
「[Organ Archipelago] has been added to the navigation menu!」
「You are sailing under the flag of the [Buggy Pirates]!
At sea, your [infamy] will be -」
I waved my hand in front of my face to get rid of all that random stuff that wouldn't stop popping up, then laughed.
"D'ya hear that, Zoro?"
He grumbled.
X
"Hah… Seriously? He's not awake yet?"
I pouted while poking Big Nose's cheek. The head was still where I left it, on the ground with his tongue hanging out.
How many days has it been now? We'd set sail the day before yesterday—actually, hasn't it been longer than that? Either way, we had been at sea for a little while already.
It sucked.
The only thing that I could do to pass the time was talk to Zoro, and if he wasn't doing something that Nami told him to do, he was just sleeping. All day! Unbelievable.
And Nami I couldn't really talk to at all. She wasn't mean or anything and she let me talk, but she kept pretending when she spoke. It felt like I was talking into a mirror instead of actually speaking with someone, so I stopped trying.
Heck, I couldn't even eat anything! There was some food and stuff that Big Nose left on his ship but Zoro and Nami said I couldn't go looking for any of that stuff without their permission after I went to go grab some of it the first time. Didn't know why, though.
I was passing the time here now, in the storage room with the treasure and Yamato's stupid club and Big Nose's stupid face. Didn't he know that it wasn't normal to sleep for this long? Wait, what was normal for flying heads anyway? I figured that if I couldn't do anything else I might as well have taken some time to ask him about what he knew about Shanks.
「Notice: the side quest [Slay Request: Arlong] cannot be accepted until the main story quest [Arlong Park] has commenced.」
"Hey, Captain."
"Hm?"
Zoro had come down. He looked tired; probably just woke up.
"Miss Navigator says we're going to reach the island soon."
I felt excited.
"Really?" I shouted. "Huah… finally!"
"You should talk to her, though."
"..."
I blinked.
"Why's that?" I asked. "Is there something wrong with her?"
He stared at me as if I had said something totally crazy.
"Of course there is. That lady's had a problem with you since we left the town. Are you sure you even want her on the crew?"
I didn't think about the question for too long.
"Yeah."
He scoffed.
"Sort it out amongst yourselves, then."
I blinked owlishly as I watched him leave the storage room.
X
"Hey Nami. Zoro says you have a problem with me."
She jumped and her hands flew off the wheel when I showed up behind her. She quickly spun around and smiled at me.
"Captain! What's wrong? I don't know what Zoro's been telling you but I don't have any 'problems' with you at all! Honest."
I propped my fists on my hips.
"Okay. I'm glad! We'll be there soon, right?"
She nodded.
"In an hour or so."
There was a silence between us. Nami looked like she didn't know whether she was supposed to keep talking or not; she eventually settled on going back to focusing on steering the ship.
「Notice: the side quest [Slay Request: Arlong] cannot be accepted until the main story quest [Arlong Park] has commenced.」
"...Once you get rid of Arlong, I'll join your crew."
I squinted my eyes and tilted my head to the side.
"Mhm," I agreed. "You said that already."
I couldn't see her face from this angle.
"And then… and then, I'll—! I'll do whatever you need me to do, Captain. Whatever you need for however long you want me. I promise."
I stared at the back of her head with a straight face.
"..."
There was a loud thump nearby. Zoro just jumped down from the watch tower place up on the main mast and landed behind us.
"There are three ships coming straight for us," he said. "They're pirates but I don't recognize any of the flags."
Nami spun right back around; the colour drained from her face.
"What!?" she yelled. "How!? Show me!"
He tossed her a pair of binoculars that had Big Nose's Jolly Roger on them. Nami snatched it out of the air and—
「Notice: the side quest [Slay Request: Arlong] cannot be accepted until the main story quest [Arlong Park] has commenced.」
"How did I miss that!?" Nami shrieked before pointing at the ships that weren't actually that far away. I could see them too, actually, and I didn't even have any magnifying stuff. "That's not possible… I should have seen them much earlier. What's going on?"
I tapped Zoro on the shoulder.
"Hey, why is Nami all antsy?" I asked him.
He stared at me all serious-like.
"Didn't you hear the part where I said that we're being approached by three pirate ships? They're going to attack us. We're in a bad spot right now."
"Ah! Right. How do ships sneak up on people?"
"They don't!" Nami snapped.
The cabin door opened and Koby walked out onto the deck yawning. He looked like he had a pretty good nap.
"What's going on? I thought—"
Before Koby could get his question out, one of the ships fired a cannonball at us. Nami and Koby shrieked and dropped to their knees and Zoro crouched a little, obviously trying to brace himself.
"I got it!" I told them.
I jumped into the air in front of the boat and hugged the cannonball to my chest right before it could hit us. I didn't think that through, though; I didn't have any leverage so I got sent flying back with it. At least the cannonball and I were going over the ship instead of through it.
"Luffy!" I heard Zoro shout out from behind me. Or actually, was it in front of me now? This cannonball took me back pretty far.
I grabbed the mast of Big Nose's ship and let my arm stretch as I used it to stop my momentum.
Koby and Nami screamed at me at the same time.
"Luffy! It's going to snap!"
"You idiot!"
The mast bent a whole lot, but it didn't break. I slingshotted myself right back around and aimed myself at the ship that fired at us.
CRASH
I stood up and brushed myself off. I was pretty disoriented for a second before I looked around and saw Big Nose's ship a little bit away. I waved at Zoro, Koby and Nami. Could they see me from here?
「Notice: the side quest [Slay Request: Arlong] cannot be accepted until the main story quest [Arlong Park] has commenced.」
"Y-you!"
I turned around. I was surrounded by a bunch of pirate guys who did a really good job of looking like they were pirate guys.
"Me?" I repeated.
"Yeah, you!" one of the pirate guys with a wooden peg leg screamed back. "What the hell are you? Are you a member of Buggy the Clown's crew?"
"Can I have your leg?"
"No you can't have my leg!"
Before he could react, I kicked him in the chest and sent him cartwheeling into the mast of this ship. It snapped right in half.
I blinked.
Hoh. Nami was right. That thing was supposed to break if you weren't careful with it.
"I'm not on his crew," I answered.
The rest of them stared at me with dropped jaws.
"He can't hear you!"
My ear twitched. I quickly turned my head to look at the other two ships nearby and saw a bunch of guys wheeling cannons to the front of their decks.
I would have to do something about that. But first…
"Hey," I spoke. "What's up with you guys anyway? How did you just appear out of nowhere like that?"
They looked at each other like they couldn't understand what I was asking.
"Are you some kind of idiot? We saw the clown's ship at sea for the first time in a while and we decided to capitalise on the opportunity. It's not our fault that you sailed straight past us without thinking of what we'd do to you!"
…Mm. That made no sense at all since they said they were here the whole time and they clearly weren't. So it was a mystery, then.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
I exhaled and everyone in front of me crumpled.
Just like that, the whole crew of all three ships was unconscious, probably.
「Notice: the side quest [Slay Request: Arlong] cannot be accepted until the main story quest [Arlong Park] has commenced.」
I frowned. What the hell?
That message had been popping up basically all the time ever since I told Nami that I would help her. I'd been ignoring it up until now since I thought it would go away after a while just like every other time, so why was it getting so much worse today? Especially right now. I was seriously getting annoyed with—
Hm?
I noticed that there was a big shadow being cast over me. I looked up.
I thought I felt my heart stop for a second.
There was a wave.
A giant wave.
A super duper big wave that was definitely going to take out all of the ships—Big Nose's ship too.
I sprinted over to the side of the deck that I was standing on and stretched my arm over to the railing near where Nami was standing. We were close enough for me to do that now, thankfully. When I landed, I found them all just standing there, about as freaked out as I expected them to be.
"Can you do something about that?" Zoro asked me. He sounded hopeful.
…Was there anything that I could do about something like this?
"I don't understand," Nami mumbled. "First the pirates and now this? Things like this don't just happen out of nowhere. It doesn't make any sense!"
「Notice: the side quest [Slay Request: Arlong] cannot be accepted until the main story quest [Arlong Park] has commenced.」
A chill ran down my spine.
Hey…
Hey. Hey. Hey.
The mystery square's been acting strange. The closer we got to this island, the more that it's been—
"Oi!" I screamed. "Are you doing this!?"
The other three were looking at me strangely. They couldn't know who or what I was talking about.
There wasn't any time for them to say anything, though. I glared at the wave as it crashed down on us.
X
My body felt weak.
I groaned and tried to move my arms. I could only wiggle my fingers a little at first, but eventually I was able to prop myself up onto my butt.
Everything was a little blurry at first; I couldn't see straight. I grabbed my head and waited for everything to clear up.
「Your [Status] has been fully restored.」
「A new quest is now available!」
「[Set Sail!]
The ship you took from Buggy the Clown is in no condition to challenge the seas. Find a way to repair it or, alternatively, find a new ship.」
「Completion Rewards: [4 322 EXP]
Bonus Rewards: [?]」
「Begin now? [Yes/No]」
…Ah.
I was on a beach. There was a bunch of debris surrounding me.
A shipwreck.
Luckily, I found my hat right at my feet, somehow totally dry; I dropped it onto my head and got up.
"Luffy!"
I heard Zoro shout from somewhere farther away. I turned around to see him and Nami running up to me from further down the beach. Zoro had Koby over his shoulder but the kid was waving at me so he was fine, probably.
I was glad they were okay but I couldn't speak right now.
Nami sighed.
"I can't believe we're alive! The ship is beached, though. Not that we'd be going anywhere even if it weren't. The hull is breached and the mast snapped."
"Luffy?" Zoro said my name again. He was looking at me with his eyebrows pressed together.
I was angry. The angriest that I'd ever been.
Haha… I felt like I was trembling.
I was going to fight that pirate guy and the Messages stopped me. I know they did. I could feel it.
They stopped me. I didn't know why, but I didn't care why either.
Until now, I was fine with the mystery squares. They were okay. They helped me sometimes, even. Because of that, I was able to ignore them even when they were being annoying.
Everything was different now.
I heard Nami taking a step back. Instinctively, I looked at her when she did.
I knew that I was making a bad face from the way she was looking back at me. She backpedalled a few more times.
Sorry, Nami. It doesn't have anything to do with you.
I wanted to say that out loud, but I couldn't. Not right now, at least. I felt like I had forgotten how to speak.
My freedom was something that belonged to me and me alone. I would not accept anything that tried to take that away from me.
I stared at the mess that was leftover from Big Nose's ship. First, we would have to make sure that Big Nose's head and Yamato's club were okay. Then, we were gonna have to find a new boat.
Then, we would go right back to that island that Ardong was on.
This time, nothing would stop me.
Nothing.
I didn't expect the pirate guys or the big wave. If the mystery squares or anything else tried to get in the way of what I choose to do ever again, I wouldn't let it.
Even if it killed me.
X
Smoker's grip tightened around the earpiece pressed tightly against the side of his head. His willpower was being tested by his subordinate on the other end of the Den Den Mushi.
"Yes, Tashigi. I'm sure it's the right dog."
The man sighed, his forehead leaning against the palm of his free hand as he glared at the large, white canine lounging on the floor near his office door. The damn thing stared back at him blankly; considering the danger it had unwittingly put itself in, it was safe to assume that there wasn't much going on behind those wide, innocent eyes.
"Shirou-chan isn't a dog! She's a—"
"Regardless of what you think it is, the thing's here. That's what's important."
"Ah! I'm glad."
"Don't be glad!" he shouted. The Marine captain glared at the transponder snail as though the poor thing was the object of his ire. "There's a circus animal on my damn ship! Who let it on deck in the first place? For the love of— not one sailor noticed it until we were too far gone to turn back. Fantastic."
It was made clear by the sound of his voice that it was not, in fact, fantastic.
The woman had been calling him over and over again for the past few days, upset that the stray pooch had seemingly disappeared without a trace, and honestly, he didn't really care. She kept updating him on the matter like he was supposed to be just as invested in this whole affair as the rest of them; he was fine letting his men fuss over the animal as long as they didn't drag him into it, but that didn't mean that he was ready to take care of something in the same spirit as a classroom pet.
Now that the missing dog was found safe and sound on his boat some hundred miles from shore, taking care of it was all that he could do.
"We're hunting a pirate. A dangerous one," he tried to explain as calmly as possible. "You understand that, don't you, Tashigi?"
"Yes, Sir—"
"Then you also understand that we can't look after this dog while we're busy keeping ourselves alive. It's a liability; if I have to choose between my men and that thing, I will choose my men."
"..."
It took the woman a second to decide how she was going to respond. The silence was deafening, and it was clear to him that Tashigi wasn't a fan of his stance.
"Yes, sir," she responded eventually.
He huffed. The Marine captain picked up the transponder snail, walked over to where the dog was lying, and crouched next to it. The thing stared back at him curiously.
"Look. I'll do what I can, but no promises," he told the woman, killing a bit of the bite in his tone.
"Amazing! Thank you, Captain!"
"Bah."
…Hey, this thing was pretty fluffy, wasn't it? It was kind of cute, he supposed.
"Make sure Shiro-chan gets plenty of food! She's a hungry girl. Oh! No scraps, though. She's picky. She likes fish especially!"
No scraps, huh? What kind of absurdly lavish lifestyle was this mutt used to?
"Fish?" he repeated, staring at the dog. "What are you, a cat?"
It tilted its head as if understanding what he was saying. He placed the Den Den Mushi on the ground and reached out to pet its mane.
"Ah. Also, Shiro-chan doesn't really like to be touched. She bites."
His hand pulled back at the last second. He caught the way the dog's teeth were bared.
"Right. Thanks for telling me."
"Let me know if you have any other questions! Be sure to call me frequently to tell me how—"
I will not. I'll let you get back to your work, Master Chief Petty Officer."
He cut the line before she could get another word in. He sighed once more and bowed his head defeatedly.
Before he could stand up and return to his desk, the door to his office swung open.
"What now!?" he snapped.
A nervous marine was standing in the doorway with a stiff salute. He stared at the stowaway animal that was resting nearby without a care in the world.
"S-sir? You asked me to let you know when we were getting close to Mirror Ball Island."
Smoker regained his composure. He took a deep breath before walking back to his desk to drop off the transponder snail and grab a couple cigars.
"Good. Tell the men we'll be docking there to resupply."
"Sir."
The man hadn't left the office yet. He was still standing there awkwardly.
"Is there something else?" Smoker asked.
Sheepishly, the Marine rubbed the back of his head.
"Ah! Well, some of the other guys were wondering why you chose this course, Sir. Do you know where the pirate is heading?"
Smoker walked up to a map and tapped his finger against the illustration of a cluster of islands that were a few minutes of latitude away from where they were now.
"This is the Yotsuba island region," he told the man. "It's the last known location of Monkey D. Luffy. Between here and the Polestar Islands, there are a few possible stops: seven total." He pointed out each one before listing them aloud. "There's Mirror Ball, which was the closest one to us, then there's the Organ Archipelago, Conomi Archipelago, Sixis, Goat Island, The Gecko Archipelago, and the 77th branch's private island which we won't really worry about. If the pirate is coming our way, we're pretty much guaranteed to run into him as long as we stay on track. The next update we get on him will tell us which island he'll be on next, which in turn will tell us what our next move will be. With me so far?"
The Marine had been listening to his explanation attentively. Amusingly enough, even the dog had its head perked, likely imitating the man standing next to it.
"Yes, Sir, but… why would the pirate be heading our way?"
Smoker sighed.
"It isn't exactly true to say that he's 'heading our way'. A more accurate explanation would be that he's heading for what's behind us."
The Marine's eyes widened.
"You mean—"
"Yeah. I've seen my fair share of pirates and there's no doubt in my mind that this one's heading for the Grand Line sooner or later. My money's on sooner."
X
"Hey, Cap'n. Have you heard?"
Usopp stared blankly at his three companions, Tamanegi, Piiman and Ninjin from across the table of the diner. It took him a few seconds to realise that Tamanegi was waiting for him to actually respond before continuing.
"About what?" he asked, playing along.
"There's this new super dangerous pirate hanging around the East Blue!" Piiman exclaimed. "His bounty is huge. It's like, uh…"
"A hundred and fifty-six million beri," offered Ninjin, picking up where Piiman left off. "Isn't that crazy?"
Usopp blinked before bursting out laughing.
"I totally believed you guys for a second there! What a riot!"
"We're serious!" Piiman said, trying to sound convincing.
Usopp waved his hand in front of his face dismissively.
"No way. Do you guys even hear yourselves? A lie is only as believable as the tall tale you're trying to tell. How well you spin it doesn't matter otherwise. Jeez… a hundred and fifty-something million, huh? What's this guy supposed to be, the devil himself? Does the government even give out bounties that high?"
The three kids before him were pouting. Ha! It's what they deserved. There was still a long road ahead of them if they thought they could out-wit the fib-master one day.
Tamanegi crossed his arms.
"We overheard the adults talking about it. We're not lying!"
Usopp grinned and leaned forward.
"Tell ya what. If you can find me proof, I'll believe you."
"Proof? Like what, a bounty poster?"
"You got it."
Ninjin shook his head.
"You know we can't do that, Captain. They won't let us kids—"
SLAM!
The entire diner jumped in shock as the front door was practically kicked open. In came one of the village men, his complexion pale and sweaty.
"Everyone hide!"
One of the waitresses walked up to him cautiously.
"Tommy? What's wrong—eep!"
She reached out to touch his shoulder but he grabbed her hand before she could reach him. He held onto the appendage like a lifeline.
"I brought my boys and some of the other men to investigate what all the commotion was about on the north shore. We found a beached ship belonging to Buggy the Clown."
Silence reigned for a moment. Usopp, who was listening in along with everyone else, could practically feel the way that his eyes widened as he slowly realized what was going on.
"What, was there anyone on board? Are you okay?" asked someone seated at one of the nearby tables.
"There wasn't anyone on board, and the ship was a wreck.—"
Usopp let out a sigh of relief, but perhaps that relief came too early.
"—but there were footprints along the coastline leading into the forest. At least some of the crew is alive…it could be a scuttling."
Usopp watched detachedly as the entire establishment devolved into a swarmed panic.
"Leave now! Get back to your houses!"
"Are you crazy? That's a great way to get yourself killed!"
He couldn't blame them. He felt the same way, actually; He knew what this all meant too. It was only his shock that kept him in his place.
Pirates were on the island.
"Has anyone contacted Mister Klahadore?"
"Good thinking. He would know what to do, wouldn't he?"
Usopp snapped out of it. He tapped Tamanegi, Piiman and Ninjin and ran out the door.
He had to make sure Kaya was okay.
