Chapter 11

[Crew POV]

The crew partied their asses off at Kaya's banquet celebrating their victory. Two weeks later, they talked in a local restaurant. It was the one where Ussop was going to take them initially. The initial conversations were halted when Kaya came through the doors. Amanda was the first to speak.

"Glad to see you feeling better, Lady Kaya. I'm surprised to see you moving around, though. Especially after everything that happened last week."

"Well," Kaya began saying, eager to share the news. "I've got a surprise for all of you. Follow me to the shore." The crew followed Kaya to the shore. When they arrived, some had interesting reactions to the ship before them.

"Oh, thank god I have no more small sailboats," Rex said enthusiastically about the caravel before him. Luffy nodded just as enthusiastically about the ship while shouting, "Sugoi!" Rudy looked at the craft with seriousness. It sort of crept everyone else out. Samson, Zoro, and Mark kept a relatively cool air to them, but they were just as glad as the others. Amanda was too grateful to the point she was shedding tears while hugging Kaya. Nami, of course, in typical fashion, was daydreaming while thinking about how much money she could make on a vessel like this. The others would say that there were literal beri signs in her eyes.

Kaya took it upon herself to start a conversation with Nami and Rudy about the ship's ins and outs. After Amanda said goodbye to Kaya and her other associate, Merry, Soon enough, Ussop could be heard rolling down the hill, only to be stopped in the most roundabout way possible. That being a foot to the face from Luffy and Zoro.

"Time to finally set sail and see the seas. I've been contemplating this for a while, and after seeing you guys in action," Ussop paused, looking out into the distance. "I believe I'm ready to take hold of my destiny."

"What are you talking about? Get on." Luffy stated without room for argument, "We're friends, right? So come on."

Ussop looked at Luffy and then began to look around at all the others. Mark was the next to speak, saying, "I figured you were going to join us anyways."

"Hey, if we had to join him, then you do too," Rex added.

"Yeah! I get to be captain." Ussop cheered

"You, my good sir, are delusional," Rudy said, Luffy agreeing in the background if the loud shouts were anything to go by.

A while passed, and it was just another day out at sea. Yup, it's just another day. Luffy, up to his shenanigans, was attempting to make a Jolly Roger. Well, they can say he tried. Luckily, Ussop managed to straighten that out rather quickly. Zoro was sleeping, and Mark and the guardians were talking.

Samson was the first to discuss what they should do position-wise on The Going Merry. "We'll need to put in more work now that we have the space." He then looked at Rudy to continue.

Upon getting the signal, Rudy stood."It appears that while we are all accustomed to the rigors of combat, other vital positions must be filled before getting new crew members. This has become even more crucial because we are now aboard a ship with a significant number of individuals to provide for."

Stepping back up, Samson gave everyone gathered a piece of paper with a pencil before saying." The idea is to write down our strengths on this piece of paper. This will factor into what role you'll be assigned." Samson said, finishing after Rudy. After the result, the crew was assigned as such.

"Mark, you'll be a deckhand along with Rex. Coby will be our cabin boy. Amanda will be our chore coordinator." Rudy paused and looked towards Samson. "Samson here will be the crew trainer. The roles of the others should be easy to intel. Zoro is our Vice Captain, Ussop is our Marksman, Nami is currently navigating, and Luffy designated me as the crew negotiator." Rudy stated, pausing again to look around and gather how everyone felt. By the lack of sound, he would assume everyone approves.

Samson spoke on continuing where Rudy left off. "We urgently require a couple of cooks to accommodate our growing crew, along with a doctor. We mustn't overlook our fundamental needs, even if some of us recover more quickly than others." He said, glancing towards Amanda and Mark. "Of course, we could also use a shipwright." Samson finished.

Coby stood up. " If it has been decided, should we inform Luffy? See what he thinks?" he said anxiously. He and the other headed back up to the deck and heard a commotion.

"Hey, assholes, you're going to pay for that!"

"Woah, watch where you are swinging that thing. You could hurt someone."

The racket going on drew them out of the stairwell below the deck. Mark was the first to get a proper visual of what was happening. "What the heck is going on up here?" If the man swinging his sword were any indication, he'd say that Luffy or Ussop must have done something.

The man swung his sword, aiming to hit Luffy, but struck their ship. This, of course, angered Luffy and the rest of the crew."Hey asshole, we just got this ship; what's your big deal!?" Not a moment later, Luffy sent him crashing through another of the ship's guard rails.

However, with quick haste, the man yelled, "One sword style: Dolphin's dance." He quickly sliced but did so with the grace of a calm wave. The loud noise woke Zoro, and his first thought was, ' I know that voice.'

"Johnny, is that you?" The question made the man pause. He was almost tempted to slash toward whoever claimed to be so familiar with him until he recognized the voice. "Zoro sensei? What are you doing here? What are you capturing these pirates?"

"Hmm, that's a funny thing." Zoro paused. "I joined this crew a few weeks back."

"What! There is no way our teacher would be willing to join pirates." Johnny started saying, only to be cut off by Zoro.

"I've told you before I'll make a name for myself no matter what, didn't I?" He said, voicing aloud his proclamations. "I will be the world's greatest swordsman."

Zoro looked around pointedly, confused. "But speaking of pirates, where is Yosaku? Did you two go your separate ways?" Johnny started crying. "It's awful, sensei. I was over on that Island tending to Yosaku, who had recently fallen ill, when suddenly, a cannonball came flying from this ship." Ussop looked away and whistled while walking away. Luffy started to sweat and then apologized. "I'm really sorry! My mistake!"

Nami was getting tired sometimes. She just wanted to harm someone, anyone. "Bring him aboard so we can have a look." Johnny rushed away and brought the Ill man aboard The Going Merry.

Nami swore men were stupid." He's got scurvy, dumbass; what did you set sail without taking into account the need for vitamins?" Johnny looked away and started to whistle.

The rest of the crew sweat-dropped, wondering how they could be so foolish. At that point, Rex finally approached the deck and asked that very question.

"Wow, honestly, I thought I came off as dumb due to my lack of formal education. I didn't think I'd meet someone more stupid than even me. I mean, how could you be so foolish?" The others laughed at the appropriate timing of Rex's statement, much to his confusion.

Samson wondered why Rex had stayed below the deck." Why were you down there so long?" he inquired. "I thought I heard something down there, so I started looking around. I didn't find anything, though," Rex said. This made Rudy remember something that happened before they set sail from Syrup Village. With Rex saying he heard something, Rudy thought that there was something suspicious at play.