On the Going Merry.
Luffy lay sprawled across the sheep figurehead, looking utterly melancholy.
After leaving Syrup Village, a new companion had joined them—a sniper.
Then, by a stroke of luck, they had gotten the Going Merry from Merry for free.
At long last, sailing no longer meant what it had at the beginning—having their tiny boat capsize and then crawling into a barrel.
They were clearly two happy things stacked on top of each other.
And yet, something still felt missing.
Right.
It was too boring.
Why was it boring?
Before reaching Usopp's village, quite a few things had happened.
Fighting some fat woman with an iron club hadn't felt like much.
Not long after that, he'd gotten a little warm-up fighting a Marine with an axe.
Then he'd finally gotten into a proper pirate-on-pirate fight after running into that red-nosed guy.
But none of them had let him really cut loose.
He remembered Grandpa saying that once he came back, they would continue training, and only then would he be qualified to become an outstanding Marine.
But I'm the man who's going to become the Pirate King!
Remembering Grandpa's fists, Luffy suddenly shuddered.
"Luffy!"
Smack!
It felt like Grandpa had just punched him.
That hurts!
I'm a rubber man who ate a Devil Fruit, so why the hell can I still feel pain?!
The top of his head burned with pain, and stars danced wildly before his eyes.
When Luffy finally recovered and looked up, he found himself face-to-face with a short orange-haired girl, her cheeks puffed up angrily as she yanked his mouth toward her.
"Luffy, where's the dessert I left in the fridge?! It was you again, wasn't it?! You've almost eaten several days' worth of our stored food all by yourself, and you even went after my last dessert!"
Nami was furious.
She couldn't help thinking that if he wouldn't even spare her dessert, wouldn't he eventually ruin all the treasure she'd hidden away too?
Nami needed money.
She desperately needed money.
Otherwise, there was no way she would have become a pirate.
"It wasn't me. Usopp ate it."
Luffy's eyes drifted to the side as he started whistling.
"Ahahaha, did someone call me?"
Not far away, a long-nosed man who looked like he'd just woken up rubbed his eyes.
"I accidentally fell asleep while practicing with the cannon last night."
Nami gave Luffy a gentle smile.
Did this idiot seriously not realize how easy he was to read?
"Then why can't it have been Zoro?!" Luffy shouted.
Then he remembered.
Zoro seemed to spend practically every moment he wasn't sleeping training on deck.
Nami sighed.
They're both pirates.
So why is the difference this huge?!
Anyone who didn't know better might think that moss-head was the captain of this ship.
Smack.
Nami let go of him.
"I'll forget about the dessert. But considering your long list of crimes, I've unilaterally decided that you're banned from entering the storeroom!"
"It should be fine if I go in, right?! We haven't run into any Marines or pirates lately, but a ship still needs proper firepower."
Usopp came closer.
"I'm going to give the Going Merry a major upgrade!"
"No."
Nami rejected him instantly.
Usopp stared at her.
"Why?!"
"The storeroom is where we keep valuables, and my finished sea charts are in there too. Those are treasures that money can't even buy!"
...
Luffy had no interest in their conversation.
He stared out at the endless blue sea ahead.
Going several days without seeing another person was perfectly normal when sailing.
But they really should finish gathering their crew first.
Most importantly, a cook!
Otherwise, before they reached land, they wouldn't even have the pleasure of killing time with food.
Zoro was a training maniac.
Looking at him, Luffy could almost see his younger self being put through insane training by Grandpa.
The only difference was that one of them did it willingly, while the other had been forced.
He had finally started his own adventure.
No way was he going back to those days!
"I'm already strong enough."
So far, he hadn't met anyone who could force him to use his full strength.
He had gone out to sea to become the Pirate King.
To become the freest man in the entire world!
Just like Shanks.
Someone everyone would give face to.
"We've already got a swordsman, a navigator, and a sniper."
"That's a huge step toward my goal of gathering ten people!"
"When are we reaching the next island? I'm empty, lonely, and freezing. Nope, can't think about that. Thinking about it reminds me of Grandpa's old training schedule. I couldn't even get three hours of sleep a day!"