After we set sail and the village had disappeared from view—though I could still see it if I wanted to—
we ran into the cow monster that had been flattened in one hit at Arlong Park.
"Mooooo!!"
It had made a majestic entrance at first, but the moment it recognized me, I could see it panic.
I could even see sweat running down its face.
"Stop!"
I stopped it as it cautiously tried to slip back inside.
Now that it knew I was no longer in the village, there was no telling what it might do there again.
I needed to deal with it properly.
Had it sensed my killing intent?
Momoo gave me a look begging me not to kill it, desperately trying to show that it would behave.
Seeing that made it a little hard to kill.
"What should we do?"
I looked to my companions and asked.
"Don’t kill it. Let’s take it with us for now."
Nami answered.
"Hmm? You sure that’s okay?"
"Yeah. Arlong’s crew were the bad ones. What did this guy do wrong?"
"Well, if you say so."
"We’ll sell it to the sea restaurant."
Nami said it with a bright smile.
Come to think of it, it would make a good guard dog. Guard cow? Whatever. It seemed useful for security.
We tied a rope to Momoo and used it like an ox pulling a cart.
Then we arrived at Baratie, where several Marine ships were stationed.
"Did they come to capture Krieg?"
Usopp asked me as he looked at the Marine ships.
"The Marines are later than I expected."
Zoro answered Usopp.
Then, when we went in front of the sea restaurant,
we saw Luffy and Sanji beating up that ill-mannered captain from Marine Headquarters and the Marines under him.
"Do you think you’ll get away with this?!"
Fullbody, the rude Marine captain who called himself Iron Fist.
"It’s not like we can just let you drag us away."
And Sanji.
"If you want to take Sanji, you’ll have to beat me first!"
Luffy.
Well, shit.
And because of that incident…
"The price went up again? Isn’t that way too expensive?"
Nami said to the newspaper-selling seagull.
"If you raise it again next time, I’m never buying from you here again."
How the hell did they train a seagull like that?? And how did the seagull even find us??
"This is Lady Nami’s tangerine grove!! I won’t forgive anyone who lays a hand on it!"
After his tearful farewell with Zeff, Sanji was protecting Nami’s tangerine trees loaded onto the ship.
Give me back my touching moment, you bastard.
And Zeff took Momoo, saying it was in place of Sanji.
If there was one consolation, it was that most of the money I had worked so hard to steal from pirates was safe.
Nami had set aside our share separately and left 100 million Berries in the village.
As far as I remembered, we were supposed to be strapped for cash. All that hard work had paid off.
"Hm?"
"Huh?"
Two wanted posters fell out of the newspaper Nami had been reading.
Luffy: 30 million.
Sanji: 5 million.
Luffy was delighted without a care in the world, while Sanji teased Zoro for having no bounty despite only being worth five million himself. Their positions had been reversed—originally, Sanji had been the one without a bounty.
Seeing them like that, I suddenly kind of wanted a bounty on my head too.
A little while later, Loguetown came into view.
"Seeing that island means… we’re finally getting close to the Grand Line."
"There’s a famous town on that island called Loguetown. It’s also known as the Town of the Beginning and the End."
"It’s where the former Pirate King, Gold Roger, was born. And where he was executed."
"The town where the Pirate King died…!!"
Luffy answered Nami’s explanation.
After docking in Loguetown, we decided to split up and buy the things we needed.
I gave everyone plenty of money.
Of course, I gave some to Nami too. Because Nami was pretty, and Nami liked money.
Anyway, I’m different from Sanji… I’m different, damn it.
Lately, because of Sanji’s mirror therapy, I’d resolved not to act so burdensome and pathetic at the very least, but…
Sob.
Back in my hometown of Foosha Village, my looks had worked so well it was practically overkill.
Did they just not work on main-character-tier people?
"Let’s all buy what we need and meet back up later."
Luffy said with a sunny smile.
"Jin! Where are you going?"
Nami asked me.
"Well, I…"
As I was answering Nami, I received an incredibly intense signal through Observation Haki.
It felt as though something was calling me.
Ding-ding!! Am I a Newtype?
"Amuro is calling me."
"????"
Oops. I meant to say that in my head, but I said it out loud.
"Ah, there’s somewhere I need to stop by for a moment!"
After saying that to Nami, I immediately ran toward the place calling me.
That’s right, Char. I wasn’t some wannabe Newtype—I really was a Newtype!!!
I eagerly reached my destination, but…
the god who had thrown me into this world was there.
"Sieg Zeon!!"
I saluted the god.
The instant I met the god, that pure white space from before appeared again.
I couldn’t see a proper form,
but he was laughing uproariously in delight.
"You really are insane. That’s why I chose you, though."
"…"
How could this be? I was insane…?
"The funniest part is that you do crazy shit like this without batting an eye, yet you don’t realize it yourself."
"Ah, yes."
The fact that the god thought I was insane shocked me more than meeting him again. Honestly, the god who put me here because he thought it would be fun was the real—
"Stop."
"Yes, sir!"
"You were one step away from blasphemy just now."
"I’ll correct myself."
"Well, you’ve entertained me so far, so I called you here to give you a reward."
"Ooh. As expected of a merciful god!!!"
Choir hymn, loaded and ready!!!
"Heh heh."
"You stopped watching the original partway through, so you don’t know this, but there’s such a thing as Fruit Awakening."
"Ooooooh!"
"I’ll grant you your first awakening."
"My loyalty to God! My loyalty!"
"The energy you felt when you absorbed Buggy the Clown last time was Devil Fruit energy."
"Th-then!!"
"Unfortunately, absorbing the energy from every Devil Fruit does not mean you can use all of them."
"However, if you absorb a Logia-type Devil Fruit, you’ll be able to use the properties of that Logia fruit."
"Your body will not turn into that natural element as it would for a Logia user, though."
"Aww…"
The whole foundation of Logias was that ordinary attacks didn’t work on them!!
"Why are you disappointed when they get hit anyway as soon as someone coats themselves in Armament Haki?? If you don’t like it…"
"No, sir. I love it!!"
"Should I nerf it because you love it so much?"
"…"
"Haha, I’m kidding."
"Anyway, it was nice seeing you. Keep entertaining me."
Then he sent me back to where I had been.
Just as the god had said, I instinctively knew that I had awakened,
and I knew how to use it as well.
And the biggest gain was that I was a Newtype?
My loyalty to God, my loyalty.
I mulled over Fruit Awakening and being a Newtype for a moment before deciding to get moving.
"There’s a scene you absolutely have to see when you come here."
The weapon shop.
Zoro and Tashigi had already arrived.
Good. I hadn’t missed that scene yet.
Zoro noticed me at the sound of the door opening.
"Hm? Why are you here?"
"Ah, I’m buying one too. Have you picked yours out already?"
"Yeah. Since you gave me plenty of money, I picked out a pretty good sword."
"???"
Damn it, I remembered. I’d been thinking only about that scene and had forgotten why that scene happened in the first place.
"Wait. In such an old-fashioned place, there might be an unexpected famous blade somewhere."
Damn it, did I sound like I was reading from a book?
"How about looking around a little more before you decide?"
At my words, the shop owner’s face twisted into a frown.
"Uh, excuse me, but who’s the woman beside you?"
"Just a woman I happened to run into."
"H-hello."
We awkwardly greeted each other and decided to choose swords together.
And then…
"You must really like swords! Carrying three swords around makes you look like a bounty hunter."
"A bounty hunter, huh."
"Don’t you know? There’s a man named Roronoa Zoro."
"I hear that name often."
"He’s an infamous swordsman. I can’t forgive him for using swords as tools to make money."
What hypocrisy. Doesn’t she use a sword in the Marines as a means to make money too?
"Why is evil so strong in this era?"
"Maybe they all have their own circumstances."
Zoro said to Tashigi.
"As a swordswoman wielding Shigure, I’m going to collect the famous blades that have fallen into the hands of villains."
"Are you planning to take this sword too? Was it called Wado Ichimonji?"
"No. It’s not that I want famous blades for myself. I just hate seeing them fall into the hands of villains."
"I see…"
Ah, hurry up and find it already. Hurry.
"Huh? This sword is!! Sandai Kitetsu! This one!! You have to buy this!"
"Sir, is this sword really priced this low?"
"Y-yes."
"This is a superb-grade sword. It usually costs around one million Berries…"
"I knew it… No! I’m not selling that one!!"
"A cursed sword, huh."
Zoro said.
"You knew?"
"No. I can feel it."
"That’s right. The swords of the Kitetsu line are exceptional, but every last one is cursed… Famous swordsmen have worn Kitetsu blades and met tragic deaths."
"I want to get rid of that thing too, but I’m afraid I’ll be cursed if I do…"
"I-I’m sorry. I mostly don’t know much about such amazing things…"
Tashigi apologized with a ninety-degree bow.
"I like it. I’ll take this one!"
"I said I’m not selling it!! If you die, it’ll feel like I killed you!!"
"Then let’s do this. Let’s test which is stronger—my luck or this thing’s curse…"
After speaking, Zoro tossed the sword into the air. The sword spun at high speed.
"If I lose, then that’s all I’m worth."
Zoro closed his eyes and extended his arm into the path where the spinning sword would fall.
Ooooooh, Observation Haki!!!!
Just like in the original, the sword spun as it fell, but only its blunt side touched Zoro’s arm before it stabbed into the ground.
"I’ll take it."
Zoro said with a smirk.
As expected of One Piece’s original badass!!!
"Hey, wait a minute. Hold on!"
Saying that, the shop owner left his spot.
"Um, are there any other swords around? I want to buy one too."
I asked Tashigi, who was sitting on the floor.
If I ran into a cursed sword too, I wanted to try the same thing. Heh, awesome.
As a real man, I would obviously use the Armament Haki I’d been able to use since a while ago.
Wouldn’t that settle it either way?
The strong win.
Tashigi searched diligently, but said there were no more good swords.
What a shame.
"Shopkeeper, recommend the most expensive one you have."
While I was looking at swords, the owner gave Zoro the fine sword Yubashiri, then agreed with a bright smile.
With Zoro once again carrying three swords and me adding a katana of my own,
we left the store together.
Ahh, I am now the legitimate successor to Hiten Mitsurugi Style’s Battosai!!
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