"Ta-da!! What do you think? It’s the pirate flag I’ve been thinking about this whole time."
"You idiot... You call that a drawing?"
Usopp
"Hmm. Maybe this is what true art looks like?"
Nami
"A Jolly Roger—a pirate flag—is a symbol of death. In that sense, maybe he captured it well?"
Zoro
"I’m seriously starting to want us to be an adventure crew. Then we wouldn’t have to use that flag, right?"
Me
In the end, Usopp stepped in and turned it into the Straw Hat Pirates’ Jolly Roger I knew.
"Done!"
"Now it finally looks like a pirate ship."
After decorating the ship, we lay down on the deck.
"Ah, this is nice."
Then, out of nowhere, a cannon went off. It was Luffy.
"Luffy, what are you doing all of a sudden?"
"I’m practicing with the cannons. It’s my first ship with cannons, so I’m commemorating it."
"But you’re not hitting anything at all."
"I’ll give it a try. Watch."
Usopp said as he walked over beside Luffy.
"That rock."
"Okay."
After making a few adjustments, Usopp hit the rock out at sea in one shot and blew it to pieces.
"Oh! A direct hit in one shot!!"
"Ooh~ A one-shot hit."
Luffy and Usopp spoke at the same time, seemingly unable to believe it themselves.
"See? I’m a master sniper, so you should’ve made me captain."
"You really are perfect as a sniper."
"I think we should recruit one more person before the Grand Line."
Luffy said at the dining table.
"Right. We have such a nice kitchen, so if you paid me, I’d do it."
Nami
"It’s an essential role for a long voyage."
Zoro
"That’s right."
Me
"You all think so too, right? A pirate ship needs a musician, after all."
"You freaking idiot!"
Usopp
"What do you think sailing is?"
Nami
"For once, he made a proper suggestion."
Zoro
"See? I told you he was an idiot."
Me
"Still, pirates need music.... Obviously, it’s unanimous..."
Luffy
While Luffy’s usual brand of comedy routine was going on—
"Hey, you pirate bastards! Get out here!!!"
"What?"
When we stepped out of the dining room, some swordsman wearing sunglasses was standing on our ship.
"Hey!! Who the hell are you?!"
Luffy asked, looking at the sunglasses.
"What are you going to do if I tell you?"
The sunglasses bastard swung his sword at Luffy. Luffy dodged, and the blade was about to smash the ship’s railing.
"No!!!"
I activated Observation Haki and moved, throwing a punch to stop the sunglasses bastard from damaging the ship.
"Whew, thank goodness."
"A difference of a sheet of paper...."
The guy who had fallen over muttered something weird.
"Huh?? Isn’t that Johnny?"
Zoro seemed to recognize him.
"Boss Zoro!!"
"Why are you alone? Where’s Yosaku?"
"Well, that’s!! Sob!"
Apparently, a bald swordsman named Yosaku had come down with an unknown illness and was near death, resting on a rocky island.
Then Usopp had shot and destroyed that rocky island.
"S-Sorry."
The two of them apologized with startled expressions.
"It’s already done, so don’t worry about it.... Since you apologized, I won’t report you."
Johnny covered his face with his hands and said that through tears. Oh... shit.
"Johnny and Yosaku were famous enough that pirates would tremble at the mention of us. We’ve been partners for years—what am I supposed to do if he dies like this...?"
"You guys are complete idiots!!"
"Don’t mock my partner’s death!"
"Nami, you!"
"Luffy! Usopp! Go to the kitchen and squeeze some lime juice! Bring it here!"
"Yes, ma’am!"
The two brought lime juice and gave it to the bald guy, Yosaku.
"It’s scurvy."
"If it’s not too late, he’ll be up in no time."
"Really, big sis?!"
?? Hey, how old are you, anyway?
"Don’t call me that."
"You’re practically a doctor."
Luffy
"I knew that all along."
Usopp
"If you’re going to sail, you need to know at least this much!! Otherwise, one day you’ll really die!!"
"Revived through nutritional supplements!!"
The bald guy got up.
"You’re alive, partner!!"
"There’s no way he could recover that quickly!!!"
Nami threw in a retort.
Hmm. It seems like Nami has been taking over the role of the one who calls out nonsense lately.
Zoro hasn’t been doing any work lately....
"I really think we need a cook to handle nutrition on the ship."
For example, Sanji. Or perhaps Sanji....
"Yeah, let’s go find a cook of the sea!!"
"Boss! Boss!"
Johnny raised his hand and called to Zoro as if asking for permission to speak.
But is he really definitely younger than Zoro??
"What is it, Johnny?"
Zoro! You bastard, you don’t talk to your older brother like that, do you??
"If you’re looking for a cook of the sea, there’s a place that’s perfect for you."
"About two or three days from here, there’s a sea restaurant."
"And there are rumors that [Hawk Eyes], the man you’ve been looking for, has appeared there too."
So we took Yosaku and Johnny aboard and headed for the sea restaurant.
And then—
"All right, Usopp. Time to train."
"Huh??"
I trained Usopp in Observation Haki and Armament Haki.
Even a ranged DPS needs to know Armament Haki to launch stronger attacks.
"Now, there’s this thing called kiting."
"No, there isn’t!!"
"Hey!!"
"It’s essential for a ranged DPS!!!"
"What the hell is that supposed to be?!"
"If you don’t know, study it!!!"
"Aaargh!!"
Grandpa Garp, I hope you’ve been well.
I’m doing well.
I’m worried because Luffy doesn’t seem to be training his Haki very diligently these days,
but I’m sure he’ll work hard someday.
These days, I’m raising a new disciple.
His name is Usopp, and he seems to be doing reasonably well with Observation Haki training,
but his Armament Haki training is so hopeless it’s practically despair-inducing.
So I haven’t even been able to attempt the Six Powers’ [Shave].
But I’ll follow your example, Grandpa—
the way you would beat it into someone until they could do it if they couldn’t—
and make sure he succeeds.
Also, I made a friend named Zoro, and I’ve been practicing the basics of swordsmanship.
When I think about the expression he made after seeing my swordsmanship, I want to punch him once,
but I’m holding it in and learning diligently.
You might ask why I’m learning the sword, so I’ll tell you.
Swords are cooler than fists, after all.
Fists somehow seem lacking in class.
Someday, I’d like to show Grandpa Garp
some awesome swordsmanship.
From Origin.
Training Usopp somehow made me think of Grandpa Garp,
so I wrote him a letter.
Then I burned the letter at the railing and pressed my palms together.
I miss you, old man.
"There it is! The sea restaurant!!"
Baratie, the sea restaurant.
A beautiful three-story restaurant designed like a fish floated atop the ocean.
"So, what do you think?"
Yosaku and Johnny spoke as though they were introducing their own restaurant.
"A huge fish!!"
"Amazing."
Then a Marine ship pulled up beside ours.
"I am Marine Headquarters Captain ‘Iron Fist’ Fullbody. Who is the captain? State your name."
Ooh, he called himself Iron Fist with his own mouth.
"I’m Captain Luffy."
"We only made the pirate flag the day before yesterday."
"T-The day before yesterday? Pfft."
"Thanks to that, we survived, partner!"
"Come to think of it, I’ve seen you two before. Johnny and Yosaku, specialists in small fry!"
"So you finally got captured by pirates?"
"Yosaku? That bastard’s picking a fight with us."
"Being called small-fry specialists really rubs me the wrong way."
Yosaku and Johnny suddenly struck incredibly dramatic poses as they spoke.
"Watch closely, you rookie Marine!!"
Ooh, they didn’t even last a single panel.
"A difference of a sheet of paper...."
"You guys really are weak...."
Luffy
"What are you guys doing?"
Zoro
"Could you possibly be weaker than Usopp?"
Me
"Consider yourselves lucky, pirates."
Meanwhile, Nami had spotted a wanted poster that had fallen to the ground, and her face turned grave.
I moved a little closer and saw that she was looking at Arlong’s wanted poster.
"If you want these guys’ bounties, just say so, Nami. This much is nothing."
"You trust me, right?"
I walked over to Nami and said that.
"Look! This is bad—he’s aiming a cannon this way!"
"Just trust me!!"
"Gum-Gum Balloon!!"
Luffy knocked back the cannonball the Marines fired.
"Go back, cannonball!!"
But where the cannonball went back to was the sea restaurant.
Oh, shit....
Luffy was taken into the sea restaurant.
"He’s taking quite a while, that Luffy."
Zoro
"He could’ve blamed the Marines, but he’s honest in the most unnecessary ways."
Nami
"But that unnecessary honesty is what makes Luffy Luffy, right?"
Me
"For now, should we go eat and at least check on him?"
"Huh?? What’s that?"
From the Marine ship, we saw a Marine bleeding as he headed toward the restaurant.
Not long after, an unidentified man shot the Marine from behind.
Uh... is this really okay?
A little later, the Marine captain from before emerged covered in blood.
I approached the captain to check on him.
"Marine Captain! Are you okay?"
"...."
The captain did not answer my question and simply headed back toward his ship.
"Hey, you should take your subordinate with you too."
Being the helpful guy I am, I carried the Marine who had been shot and collapsed back onto the Marine ship.
Then the Marine ship left the sea restaurant.
"Those rude bastards."
I could sense Luffy’s presence upstairs, so as I looked toward where he was,
I saw Sanji below giving food to the guy who had shot that Marine earlier.
Ah!!! It’s that guy—the ambiguous bastard who repays kindness with betrayal, then kindness again!!!
"Found him! A cool cook."
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