Chapter 5: Future plans

After that disastrous meeting, Harry explained that he wanted to leave the island to Nami while Luffy was still recovering from that mind attack. 

"So, you wish to leave the island?" Nami asked.

"Yes. I could've done so with other pirates that came here, but I decided to wait until I met some trustworthy people."

"Why not just take their ships?" Nami asked for clarification.

"Well, I didn't know that much about navigation, and also I couldn't trust them."

"Hmm, well, you could go with us to the next island." Nami acquiesced. 

"Don't worry, I have my own supplies."

Still, Nami's face didn't seem too happy. But that's when he realized that it might have something to do with his horrible looks. I mean, who would want to be with or look at a LOTR-esque orc for an extended period of time? 

So, he took out a mask and put it on his head. He decided that he'd wear a robe too later when he came across them, but for now, this will have to do. 

The mask is wooden with reddish paint on it. It has two pointy small horns as well. It looked a little bit intimidating but not too much. 

"Does this help? I forgot how bad I look. Gaimon never brings it up." I said then to Nami.

"Yes, that does look much better." Nami agreed. 

So, after that, I turned to Gaimon, 

"Gaimon, it's been great with you. Here's my knife, I want you to have it."

"Thanks, I wish you the best." Gaimon was being strong about saying goodbye.

"Hey, Gaimon, I also made a subscription with the news coo. You'll be able to get the latest news. Also, I'll be paying for them as well. So, unless they stop sending papers, you'll know that I'm alright."

"That's a brilliant idea, why didn't I think of it before?" Nami said to herself.

"Thank you Harry for everything you did for me. I hope you have a great journey."

There was nothing more to say.

'And I am going to pay in advance for the news-coo for at least a couple of years. That way, even if something did happen, Gaimon would stay reassured and not be worried. It's the least I could do for him after he took care of me and helped me so much. I also left a small armory filled with weapons that I collected from some pirates who attacked the island. He'll need them after my departure. Not to mention Buggy was going to come to this island in the future.' Harry thought to reassure himself and not worry about Gaimon anymore.

With that all done, Harry finally got onto Nami's boat. Because it was the only one with enough space left. They left and Harry spoke with Luffy too.

Luffy asked Harry to join his crew but Harry did not agree with it yet. 

"Oi Harry, join my crew. I'm going to be the pirate king one day." Luffy said with pure conviction and confidence.

Harry, expecting this simply said, "I don't believe you yet, but I'll see if you are good enough. We do have some time to see."

With that non-committal statement, Harry left him hanging. Luffy did pester him a bit more. Also, he asked why he could turn into an animal. Harry just chalked it up to a devil fruit. Also, he did not show them that he could turn into humans as well. That he decided to keep to himself for now. But at night, when everyone was asleep, he decided to have a conversation with Zoro.

"Hey, Zoro. Can we talk a bit?"

Zoro moved a little bit. And said, "Sure, go ahead."

"Can you keep the fact that I can transform into other humans a secret? Not really Nami and Luffy, you can tell your crew. But not other people."

"Ok."

And that was it. He knew that Zoro would never tell anyone. But the purpose of this is simple. To make Zoro know that he trusted him. Simple. 

Now that the plot has started, he needs to evaluate his priorities. 

First, the main mission is to find One Piece. And since the others before him did not find it makes him seem that they probably did something that changed the story to the point that Luffy did not or could not get it.

Thinking about the whole plot, he knew instinctively that Luffy needed to awaken his fruit somehow to be able to get the One Piece. All the foreshadowing in the manga points to that. Also, another main thing that supports this theory of his is that the moment Luffy awakened his fruit, Shanks started taking action. Otherwise, he was just chilling after getting as strong as possible. 

After thinking about it, he realized one thing, Everything that happened in One Piece manga needs to happen. So, if he changed things willy-nilly, stuff might happen that would cause huge problems in the future. 

For example, he remembered that in most fanfics, they kill off Wapol. That might seem satisfying at the time, however, in the manga, Wapol later discovered Wapometal which was used to upgrade Franky.

Again, in the reverie. He was the sole reason that Vivi survived or was not imprisoned. 

You may argue that taking Vivi away might solve that problem, but here's another possibility. After taking Vivi, what if that causes the world government to abandon Alabasta and for Imu to learn about them being 'D' sooner? 

So many possible problems. The butterfly effect is really really hard to account for. 

So, he has two choices. 

Take action and just face the butterfly effects head-on.

Let the plot continue and at the last part, where things get really active, then be a support for Luffy and either join the crew or be an invaluable ally.

Each has advantages and disadvantages.

But for some reason, he is really thinking about the second one. 

How about joining a force that's not really shown in the manga? Or doing things outside the plot. This is not a video game. No one is stopping him. This is an entirely new world. There are also thousands of islands. So, why not join the revolutionary army?

Or how about joining the Marines? The possibilities are endless as long as they are outside the plot. 

But here's the million-dollar question. Is everything really going according to the plot?

If it is not, then not doing anything might be the reason why everything fails. 

'Ugh, so many possibilities. No, I need to narrow it down. I can't leave it up to chance. I gotta do something. Hmm, so, what would be the best method?'

Harry had to think carefully about it all. So, first, how about just observing everything?

If everything goes according to the plot, he does not need to do anything with the strawhats. 

Sure they might and will suffer, but the suffering is what made them into powerhouses. He can't coddle them.

So, that's the plan for now. Observe until anything goes wrong. After that, things can be decided. 

With that last thought, Harry went to sleep.

.........

The next day, They finally reach Syrup village.