CHAPTER 10:
Goodbyes
After the battle, the marines woke up and looked around. They saw the masked man, Coby, Luffy, and Zoro standing over a tied-up Morgan. The four of them noticed the marines stirring and got ready to run, but were confused when the marines collectively shouted, "We are free! We're finally free from Morgan's control!" Zoro was then able to retrieve his swords, and they all headed back to town.
—
"So they arrested you because you killed that guy's wolf?" laughed Luffy as he shoved some food into his mouth.
Zoro was also eating as he answered. "Yep, he even said that if I lasted a month, he'd free me!"
"But you didn't even last that long, hahaha!" laughed Luffy.
"You wouldn't be able to do it either!" The swordsman said angrily. "By the way, where did that guy go?" Zoro asked as he noticed that the masked man was not there with them.
Coby, who was also eating, answered. "He said to meet him at the ship, and not to tell anyone that you are pirates yet."
Zoro looked confused and asked, "Who's a pirate?"
—
After eating, they were thanked by the marines for defeating Morgan. They didn't need to be chased out of town because they didn't know that Luffy was a pirate. The rubber boy, for some reason, mysteriously complied with John's request.
They went to the docks, and Coby led them to John's ship.
"Hey! Up here!" John shouted from the ship, leaning on the railing. He was dressed in his white tunic and black hat. Underneath, he had bandages wrapped around his newly acquired wounds. Luffy and Zoro looked at his face for the first time. John's hair had grown a bit, and a short stubble had formed on his chin.
"Wow! Cool!" Luffy exclaimed as they climbed the ship. When they reached the deck, Luffy started looking around. Zoro went up to John and shook his hand. "Thanks a lot for your help back there," he said, giving him a serious look. He then looked around and asked, "You have your own ship?" as he touched the ship's hull.
"Yeah, I took it from a pirate named Alvida," John replied as he leaned against the mast. Zoro was surprised. He knew who Alvida was, and it wouldn't have been easy for him to defeat her alone. "You took on Alvida and her crew by yourself?" he asked.
"Not by myself," John said as he took his back off the mast. "The people of Goat Island, myself, and Coby here, all worked together to defeat her." John smiled while speaking. "Coby was actually forced to become a pirate when he was with them."
Just then, Luffy suddenly asked, "Hey, mask guy, so that's what you look like huh? What's your name?" He didn't seem to be listening to whatever they were talking about.
John smiled and said, "My name is John."
Here it comes. John thought. He already knew what Luffy would say next.
"John, I want you to join my pirate crew! You'll be my sniper, shishishi!" Luffy said while giving his trademark smile.
"Sorry, Luffy," John replied. "I can't join your pirate crew." He already anticipated that Luffy would ask him to join his crew.
Luffy tilted his head and asked, "Why not?"
John took something out of his pocket. It was his bounty hunter's badge. He showed it to them and said, "I just became a bounty hunter; I can't be a pirate already."
"Why not?" asked Luffy. "Zoro's already joined and he's a bounty hunter too!"
"Huh?! When did I join your crew?" Zoro exclaimed in surprise. John laughed at their interaction before turning serious.
"Why would I want to join your crew?" John asked; he knew it would be hard to reject the rubber boy when he really wanted something, but John had already prepared an answer.
"Because I'm going to become the Pirate King!" exclaimed Luffy immediately.
After hearing this, John relayed his prepared speech. "Look, Luffy," he began, "I was actually thinking about maybe becoming a pirate as well, building my own crew and testing myself out on the seas. Maybe we'll meet each other again on the Grand Line, you know, as 'fellow' pirates?" John said, putting emphasis on certain words. He knew Luffy wasn't the brightest guy.
Luffy became excited by what he heard. His eyes lit up and he moved dangerously close to John's face. Then, he shouted right in front of his face. "You want to go to the Grand Line too?! Do you also want to find the One Piece?!"
John was startled by Luffy's loud voice. He took a moment before responding. "Yeah, yeah, of course. My goal is to find the One Piece; it's every man's dream!" John said, knowing that it's impossible for him to accomplish this, as he hasn't even finished the series yet.
"Okay! I won't recruit you anymore, but I'll see you on the Grand Line! Luffy said. Then he put an arm around Zoro's shoulder. "Alright! Zoro, you're my first crewmate!" He happily exclaimed.
—
"Goodbye!" John and Coby waved at the two pirates as they set out on their next destination. Luffy had been able to convince Zoro to join him somehow, and John knew their next crewmate would be joining them soon.
He was quite happy, as he had somehow managed to fix the flow of events. He just needed Coby to get accepted into the marines. Just then, a window popped up in front of him.
MAIN QUEST STARTED!
Find the One Piece
Completion Reward - 1,000,000 exp, 1 wish
Failure Penalty - World Destruction
What?!
…
…
Is it because I said my goal is to find the One Piece?
…
"Coby, have I ever told you what my actual goal is?" John said out of nowhere.
"Isn't it to find the One Piece?" Coby replied.
"No, it's actually, TO BECOME THE BEST BOUNTY HUNTER!" John said a bit desperately.
"What is it really?" Coby asked, a bit confused.
John looked at the window and hoped the mission had changed.
…
It didn't.
Is it because I said it to Luffy?
…
Now that I think about it, that's the mission of the Strawhat Pirates, right? So if I just let them find it, I can complete the quest.
John decided to just put this out of his mind for now. He beckoned Coby to follow him as they walked to the Marine base.
—
"You need to talk to them yourself so they can see your resolve." John said, his hand on Coby's shoulder. They were standing outside the marine base getting ready to talk to Commander Ripper, who was the one temporarily in charge of the base.
"Okay! I'll show them that I have what it takes to be a good marine!" Coby answered. His voice was filled with determination. Tightening his fists, the boy entered the marine base. John sat under a tree as he waited for Coby's good news. The wind blew a gentle breeze and relaxed his body. He took this time to finally look at his stats.
John
Lvl. 8
Age 22
Exp - 128/800
HP - 215
AP - 41
STRENGTH - 6 (1)
PERCEPTION - 6 (2)
ENDURANCE - 8 (1)
CHARISMA - 4
INTELLIGENCE - 5 (1)
AGILITY - 7 (2)
LUCK - 3
Available points - 3
Traits:
Sharpshooter - Increases accuracy by 20%, decreases fire rate by 20%.
Perks:
None
Skills:
[Active] Tunnel Vision lvl 3 - Slow down time by 15%, Increase accuracy by 15%. Cost 10% AP per second.
[Active] Gun Bash lvl 2 - Deals 17 damage (10 base plus 1.2x str). Stuns an enemy for 0.75 seconds. Deals 3x damage and has a 25% chance to knock an enemy out when striking the head or a sensitive area. Costs 11 AP.
[Active] Combat Roll lvl 2 - Roll speed 110% (100base plus 1.4x agi). 4% chance to trigger a 0.5sec invincibility frame. Costs 11 AP.
Dagger/Knife lvl 3 - Increases attack speed by 15% and crit rate by 7.5%.
Hand-to-hand combat lvl 3 - Increases attack speed by 15% and damage by 7.5%.
Rifle lvl 3 - Increases accuracy by 15%, Decreases reload time by 15%.
Explosives lvl 2- Increases area of effect by 10%, Increases damage by 10%.
Fishing lvl 5 - Increases fishing efficiency by 25%.
Cooking lvl 2 - Increases the quality of food you cook by 10%.
He had gained 1 str, 2 per, 1 end, 1 int and 2 agi from the previous battle alone. He had trained for months before and barely gained any stats.
Is this the secret to becoming stronger? Just keep fighting opponents to gain more stats?
…
I guess it makes sense, this is the world of One Piece after all.
Some of his skills also leveled up, increasing their effectiveness. He surmised that his skills leveled up faster during battles as well.
After thinking it through, he allocated his available points.
John
Lvl. 8
Age 22
Exp - 128/800
HP - 215
AP - 43
STRENGTH - 7 (1)
PERCEPTION - 6
ENDURANCE - 8
CHARISMA - 5 (1)
INTELLIGENCE - 5
AGILITY - 8 (1)
LUCK - 3
Available points - 0
—
"I did it!" Coby shouted as he ran out the gates of the marine base. His excitement woke John up as he had accidentally fallen asleep under the tree. As he stood up, he noticed that the sky had turned orange.
Apparently, Coby actually went through the normal process of entering the Marines. They made him take a written test, which he passed easily, then they made him go through physical tests. Thankfully, through his sheer willpower, as well as the short training that he did, he passed. Afterwards, the Commander interviewed him personally to determine his reasons for wanting to become a part of the Navy. Fortunately, Commander Ripper is a just and fair Marine, like what Coby wants to be. He liked Coby's answers and judged him to be fit to become part of the Navy. Now Coby has officially become a Marine. Oh, and Helmeppo was forced to enter as well.
"So, what do you plan to do now?" asked Coby. He and John would be going their separate ways because the new marine recruit would now be lodging at the marine base as he would be starting his training soon. Apparently, he would not start as a chore boy because he had passed the tests with good scores, unlike Helmeppo who was forced to join as punishment.
"Of course, I will be hunting pirates," John said as he pointed at himself. "My real goal is to earn 1 billion berries."
"I thought it was to be the best bounty hunter?" Coby retorted.
"Never mind," John said, dismissing it. "But I will really be hunting some pirates on my way to Louguetown. I want to check out the weapons there."
"Okay then...but, are you really going to become a pirate?" Coby asked as he looked down.
John turned serious and looked up to the sky. He said, "I'm not sure, Coby. But if I ever become a rotten asshole, I want you to put a stop to my villainous ways."
…
"Hahaha!" Coby suddenly laughed. It was quite a rare sight. "When you picture the words 'rotten asshole', it sounds really nasty!" He continued laughing and John also joined in. After that, he wiped a tear from his eye and said, "Don't be too serious, John-san. I don't think you'll ever become a bad person."John ruffled the boy's pink hair and after that, he remembered to congratulate the marine recruit and they said their goodbyes. Coby entered the base and John walked back to his ship.
John had met Coby a few times while he was buying stuff in preparation for his departure from Shells Island. The boy looked tired but happy. John was happy for Coby, as he was finally on the path he had dreamed about.
—
Finally, after a few days, the G.O.A.T was ready to depart. Some people could be seen hauling a couple of boxes and barrels onto the ship. John could be seen standing at the helm of the ship, a spyglass in his hand and a map nailed on the wall. He had become the new navigator of the ship as Coby would not be traveling with their group anymore. He hired an additional two deckhands to help him sail the ship as well as maintain it. One of them was a man called Vien, who could also man the cannons, and one was an older woman named Baba, a veteran sailor. The map that was nailed to the wall was a map of East Blue that he bought from a shop here in Shells Town. In truth, he didn't need it anymore because after he acquired this map, it unlocked some of the areas of his own World Map. It unlocked a few areas like Yotsuba Island Region, Organ Islands, Gecko Islands, Sambas Region, Conomi Islands and Polestar Islands which gave him 60 experience points.
There were still some areas in East Blue that hadn't been unlocked, and John believed that he would receive some sort of reward for doing so. Therefore, he added it to his list of immediate goals to explore all of East Blue.
He also turned one of the rooms below deck into a training room, so he and his crew could work out during their downtime. It contained exercise equipment like barbells and dumbbells, as well as a pull-up bar and a makeshift leg press.
Some of the barrels being loaded onto the ship were filled with ale or rum. Since there were no more children on board, he could now enjoy some liquor, and his crew could enjoy some as well. He also bought a guitar so they would have some entertainment. All in all, it didn't cost him that much since he still had plenty of berries left, but he still needed to pay his deckhands every month. He needs to start hunting pirates as his money wouldn't last forever.
After the preparations were done, John stepped up to the railing to look down at all the people standing below. There were Coby, Rika, and Ririka, as well as some of the marines and townspeople.
He waved to them all then he faced Coby, who looked sad at his departure. "Hey Coby! Train hard and take care of yourself! And don't look so sad, kid. I'll still come here to claim some bounties before I go to Loguetown." John assured him. He'll be unlocking all the areas here first before he heads to Loguetown, which was to the north.
He then moved back to the helm and shouted, "Set sail!"
—
John was looking at the map while he was doing some chest presses in the training room. Almost two weeks had gone by during their voyage, and he could finally see an island appear on the map. It was a small island called Mulberry Island, located at the lower left corner of East Blue. They would reach it in half an hour or less.
He had taken advantage of the training room, training his body everyday. He also sparred with his crewmates on the deck when they got bored. He also cooked from time to time to improve his cooking skill. He was able to gain 1 str and 1 end during this time and his cooking skill also leveled up by 2.
He kicked the door of the training room open while he was drying his body with a towel, walked up the deck, and called out to his crewmates. "We're about to reach an island, so prepare for landing everyone!" He instructed as he climbed up to the helm and guided Broll, who was holding the wheel, towards the direction of Mulberry Island.
"How did you know that?" The young deckhand asked as he peered through the spyglass and saw a speck of land on the horizon.
"Just had a feeling." John said as he entered the Captain's quarters to change his clothes.
After a while, the rest of the crew went up to the deck as they watched the island grow larger as they drew nearer to it. They pulled back the sails and prepared some ropes as they approached the bay.
Mulberry Island discovered
10 exp!
"We're here, get ready to disembark!" shouted the veteran sailor as they dropped their anchor and tied the ship to a bollard. As they lowered the gangway, they noticed another ship already docked on the other side of the pier. They couldn't make it out clearly, but it was roughly the same size as the G.O.A.T.
As they walked into town, they began to notice something. It was quiet, and only the wind could be heard. "Where is everyone?" Vien asked as they looked around. There were no people on the streets or inside the buildings; some houses even had their doors open. As they moved further in, they were stopped in their tracks by a gruesome and depressing sight.
Location discovered
Mulberry town square
5 exp!
Corpses were strewn around the area and a lot of blood covered the ground. John suddenly felt cold upon seeing this and he cautioned his men to move quietly. He motioned for them to crouch and pointed at the wall of a building. Broll and the others quietly moved there as John approached one of the corpses and put two of his fingers on its neck. He felt no pulse but the body still felt a bit warm. He rejoined his crew and relayed the information to them. "These people were killed just a while ago, it hasn't been long since they've been attacked; whoever killed them must still be in the area." John motioned for them to follow him as he sneaked around behind the buildings and slowly moved further in. Just then, he heard a faint noise ahead of them and signaled for them to stop. "Ready your weapons," John whispered as he removed his rifle from his back and held it in his hands. Before they departed Shells Town, he bought weapons for all of his crew so that they could protect themselves. They each had a pistol and a scimitar secured to their belts. "Broll, cover our rear. Vien, you cover the left and Baba you cover our right." He said as he advanced with his rifle raised and his finger ready to pull the trigger anytime.
A/N: In this fic, levels don't necessarily equate to overall strength. Stats and skills will play a bigger role in determining who wins a battle. A character with a higher level simply means that they have been fighting battles for longer, but it doesn't mean they are stronger than someone else.
Luffy was only level 15 when I first introduced him because that fight in Shell Town was technically his first real battle after setting out from Foosha Village, since John had defeated Alvida.
Luffy would be leveling up and gaining more stats as he fights enemies like Buggy and Don Krieg. But when he reaches Arlong Park, his level would still be lower than Arlong's, even though he is stronger than him. Since Arlong was a member of the Sun Pirates and had been in battles before Luffy was even born. However, after settling down on Conomi Island, Arlong has neglected his training because he was confident in his fishman superiority. That's why Luffy, who was trained by Garp and trained with his brothers since childhood, will be able to defeat him.
Luffy and other characters do not have gamer powers though, so all this is just a representation of their power levels relative to the protagonist of this fic, John.
—
John only gets half exp when a person who considers him as their 'comrade' defeats an enemy. Also, as he levels up, he will be getting less exp and eventually no exp from lower level enemies.