In the West Blue, where criminal syndicates had their fingers in nearly everything, becoming a pirate almost felt like going against the local trend.
But as far as Sammy was concerned, gangsters and pirates were cut from the same cloth.
Both lived by the law of the jungle, preying on the weak and bowing only to strength.
The only real difference was where they operated—gangsters ruled the land, while pirates prowled the sea.
Still, Sammy had learned that a change in identity could transform a person far more than he had ever imagined.
He looked at the men around him.
Once, they had been just like him—oppressed, beaten down, and seemingly honest, ordinary people.
Yet after tying pirate bandanas around their heads and taking to the sea, they had gradually become fierce, greedy, and eager for a fight.
They were almost unrecognizable from the men they used to be.
“Captain Sammy!
We’ve moved everything onto our ship.
What do we do with this one?
Sink it like usual?”
The sailor’s question pulled Sammy out of his thoughts.
“Sink it,” Sammy answered without hesitation.
“Why don’t we tow it to port and sell it?
This ship looks like it’s worth a fortune.”
A sailor muttered under his breath, clearly reluctant to let such a valuable vessel go to waste.
One glance was enough for Sammy to tell that the man was a newcomer.
Sammy shot him a sideways look before explaining, “This is an Octopus Gang ship.
See the figurehead?
Those huge octopus tentacles?
And look at the hull—low and built like an assault ship.
Everyone in these waters knows that design belongs to the Octopus Gang.”
He pointed toward the captured vessel.
“You can’t turn a ship like this into an ordinary merchant vessel just by lowering its flag.
Tow it into any port, and you might as well announce to the whole West Blue that we’re the ones who robbed the Octopus Gang.”
Sammy’s eyes narrowed.
“We don’t do stupid things that bring trouble straight to our doorstep.”
Sammy needed money to feed and maintain a crew this large, but he wasn’t desperate enough to trade his life for a few extra Berries.
So whenever they captured a ship that was too recognizable to sell safely, there was only one rule.
Sink it.
On the deck, gold, silver, jewels, and other valuables had been piled into a glittering mound, the reflected sunlight almost painful to look at.
But Sammy knew perfectly well that all those shiny treasures made up only a portion of their earnings.
They weren’t even the biggest source of profit.
What truly kept his crew running were the weapons they seized—blades, guns, and other equipment that could be wiped clean of blood and quietly sold again.
And then there were the prisoners below deck.
The captured gangsters sat with their heads hanging low, waiting to be shackled and turned into merchandise for slave traders.
Of course, Sammy would never sell West Blue gangsters to slave dealers operating in the West Blue itself.
He had nearly paid dearly for making that mistake once before.
When he had first entered the slave trade, he had tried to dispose of captured gang members locally, thinking it would save him time and trouble.
The news leaked almost immediately.
Before Sammy knew it, a local syndicate had nearly trapped his crew inside the harbor.
Several cannonballs had slammed into their ship, and it had taken a desperate fight just to break through the blockade and escape.
That painful lesson had taught him something important.
In the West Blue, where criminal organizations were tangled together through countless alliances, connections, and grudges, trying to sell captured gangsters locally was practically the same as walking into a trap.
For a while, Sammy had no choice but to abandon the idea of selling prisoners altogether.
That changed six months ago, when chance allowed him to establish a connection with the Sabaody Archipelago.
Since then, Sammy had placed himself at the very beginning of that dark chain of business—the supplier.
Middlemen took a cut of the profits, of course, but Sammy considered it a fair price for keeping his identity hidden and greatly reducing the chance of retaliation from the West Blue’s criminal underworld.
Besides, the merchandise cost him nothing in the first place.
He could hardly complain about the profit margin.
His strength and influence still weren’t enough right now, but perhaps one day, when his forces had grown large enough, he could cut out the middlemen entirely and transport his “goods” straight to the Sabaody Archipelago himself.
But that was a problem for the future.
For now, Sammy turned his attention back to the deck overflowing with spoils.
His men had already formed a line, their eyes practically glued to the mountain of treasure in front of them.
Sammy drew a deep breath.
It was time for the most important ritual after every battle.
Dividing the loot.
Despite everything that had happened since coming to this world, Sammy still carried the hot-blooded loyalty of the modern high school student he had once been.
If my brothers are risking their lives alongside me, how could I possibly cheat them out of their share?
That had always been one of his principles.
It was also why Ribera Sammy had become surprisingly famous among both the criminal gangs and pirates of the West Blue.
Not because he was especially cruel.
But because he was famously generous, and more importantly, fair.
Whenever Sammy needed new recruits, men hungry for wealth and desperate to serve a captain who rewarded his crew properly practically fought one another for the chance to join his pirate crew.
Sammy picked up the record his men had prepared, listing everyone’s contributions during the battle.
“Time to split the money!” he shouted.
“Rewards according to merit!
Everyone who fought gets a share!”
“LONG LIVE CAPTAIN SAMMY!”
The deafening roar of the crew shook the deck.
One treasure after another was handed out, and soon the ship was filled with the rowdy laughter and excitement that only pirates celebrating a successful raid could produce.
Eventually, the crowd began to disperse.
Men counted their earnings, grinning as they imagined all the ways they could waste their newly acquired fortune once they reached the next island.
“Hans!” Sammy called.
A short, skinny man immediately slipped out of the crowd and hurried over.
Hans was the ship’s navigator, nicknamed the Sea Weasel.
When it came to the West Blue’s sailing routes, islands, hidden reefs, and dangerous waters, few aboard the ship knew them better.
“You called, Captain?”
“What’s the nearest island…” Sammy rubbed his chin.
“…that’s suitable for us to dock at?
We need somewhere to rest and resupply for a while.”
Hans barely needed to think.
“Barrel Island, Captain!
With the wind speed and our current heading, we can get there by noon the day after tomorrow at the latest.”
He grinned, revealing a gold-plated front tooth.
“There’s a decent little town on the island.
As long as you have money, you can buy fresh water, food, and whatever other supplies we need.
There are a few taverns too.”
His grin widened.
“But the best part?
There’s no Marine branch stationed there.
Just a few pathetic local gangs, and none of them are strong enough to cause us any trouble.”
“…Barrel Island.”
Sammy nodded slowly.
“Not a bad name.”
He was satisfied.
“All right.
That’s where we’re going.”
Sammy stood again and clapped his hands.
The pirates who had been laughing, shouting, and fooling around across the deck quickly quieted down.
“Brothers!
Our next destination is Barrel Island!
We’ll arrive the day after tomorrow.
There are no Marines stationed there, so everyone can relax and enjoy themselves!”
Cheers immediately began to rise, but Sammy raised his voice over them.
“You all still remember the rules of this ship, right?”
“WE REMEMBER!”
The answers came from every direction, completely out of sync.
“Don’t rob civilians!”
“Pay for whatever you buy!”
“Look carefully before you pick a girl—and keep it clean!”
Someone howled the last line, instantly sending the entire deck into roaring laughter.
“Good!”
Sammy laughed along with them.
“You’ve all got money in your pockets now, so we’re staying on the island for three days!
Bring your Berries and enjoy yourselves!”
“LONG LIVE CAPTAIN SAMMY!”
Sammy waved them off with a laughing curse and let the noise continue.
He knew these idiots could shout the rules as loudly as they wanted, but once they actually stepped onto the island, he would still need a few of his older, more level-headed officers to keep an eye on them.
With the order given, the pirate ship adjusted its sails and slowly changed course.
Its bow cut through the waves as it headed toward Barrel Island.
Sammy listened to the cheers behind him, and the corners of his mouth rose without him realizing it.
A strange mixture of excitement and vanity swelled inside his chest.
In his previous life, he had been nothing more than an ordinary high school student.
Being surrounded by men who obeyed his commands, cheered his name, and genuinely looked up to him?
That was something his old self would never even have dared to dream about.
Sammy inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with air thick with the smell of salt, sweat, and the sea.
There was no denying it.
Sometimes, power and the feeling of being recognized by others were far more intoxicating than treasure.
Still, he was the captain.
Enjoyment came after responsibility.
Sammy turned away from the celebrating crew and walked toward the sterncastle, entering his private cabin.
The captain’s quarters weren’t luxurious, but they were surprisingly neat.
Sammy shut the door behind him and locked it.
He placed his personal share of the treasure inside a hidden compartment beneath the bed, then walked over to his desk.
Opening one of the drawers, he pulled out a notebook carefully wrapped in oilcloth.
He unwrapped it and flipped it open.
Every page was filled with French characters—writing that, aboard this ship, only Sammy himself could understand.
The notebook served several purposes at once.
It was his diary.
His crew’s account book.
His personnel records.
And, in many ways, his own personal handbook for managing the entire pirate crew.
Sammy picked up a quill, dipped it into the ink, and began with the battle record.
Date.
Encountered an Octopus Gang supply ship.
Victory.
Then he moved to the casualty section.
Crewmen killed in battle: 11.
That number mattered.
It told him exactly how many new recruits he would need to find on the next suitable island.
After a year of trial and error, Sammy had already figured out the ideal number of crewmen for a three-masted sailing ship like theirs.
Too few, and both sailing and combat efficiency suffered.
Too many, and supplies disappeared too quickly while unnecessary management problems began piling up.
One hundred and twenty-five.
That was the golden number in Sammy’s mind.
They were currently short by eleven men.
Those vacancies would need to be filled.
Sammy closed the notebook and rubbed the space between his brows.
Crew numbers were far from the only thing he had figured out during the past year.
There were also matters of discipline, management…and health.
Thinking about that last one reminded him of the gunner he had dismissed from the crew during the previous quarter.
The man had actually been good at his job.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to keep his pants on and had returned to the ship carrying a nasty sexually transmitted disease.
Sammy could still remember the man begging desperately to be allowed to stay.
But every time he thought about giving in, his mind conjured up the horrifying illustrations he had once seen in history books—people left horribly disfigured by untreated venereal diseases.
That was why Sammy maintained unusually strict rules concerning his crew’s private lives.
His men were free to drink, gamble, visit brothels, and indulge themselves whenever they went ashore.
They were pirates.
Sammy wasn’t going to pretend otherwise.
But they had to pay attention to hygiene and use protection.
He had even made sure every crewman had his own personal washing supplies, utensils, and bowls.
And there was one rule with absolutely no room for negotiation.
If a crewman was discovered to have contracted a venereal disease, he left the ship.
That didn’t mean Sammy heartlessly abandoned sick men on deserted islands and left them to die.
According to the rules he had established, a dismissed crewman received a fairly generous severance payment based on his past contributions.
Then, at the next inhabited island, he would be allowed to disembark with enough money to seek treatment or find another way to make a living.
Most crewmen valued their well-paying positions enough to follow the rule without complaint.
But there were always a few who couldn’t control themselves—or simply believed they would be lucky enough to get away with it.
Over the past year, more than ten sailors had been politely removed from the crew after crossing that particular line.
It wasn’t because Sammy looked down on them morally, nor because he was obsessed with cleanliness.
He did it for his own safety and for the survival of the entire crew.
Sammy understood better than most just how easily diseases could spread during the Age of Sail, especially among pirates constantly moving from one port to another.
The last thing he wanted was for an outbreak to tear through his ship, cripple his manpower, or even destroy the entire crew.
More importantly, one particular thought had haunted him ever since he arrived in this world.
I finally got transported into the incredible world of One Piece!
I’m here for wealth, power, and a name that will shake the seas!
If I end up dying because I caught some filthy disease, I’ll become the biggest joke among transmigrators in history!
Once his work was finished, Sammy leaned back in his chair.
Through the cabin window, he gazed toward the distant horizon, where the faint outline of an island could barely be seen.
“…Barrel Island.”
Sammy’s expression gradually became thoughtful.
Hopefully, this resupply and rest stop would go smoothly.
He needed new recruits to replace the eleven men they had lost.
He also needed to gather information about what had been happening in the West Blue lately—especially any news concerning the Octopus Gang.
After all…
He had just sunk one of their ships, stolen their cargo, and kidnapped their men.
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