17 Chapter 17

Eh, who knew that everything would turn out like this? We definitely need a navigator ...

We swam, swam, and swam ... It turned out that we had mixed up the direction, then we got to some islands, decided to spend the night there, and the local inhabitants almost eaten us ...

Yeah, it is winding up memories ...

Ahem, in general, now we were able to determine the direction, although to be honest, this is all thanks to one merchant we were lucky to meet. He showed us the direction, and now the most important thing is not to leave the course, well, I hope, at least we will succeed.

Where have we been trying to sail all this time? Well, this is a pretty significant place, it was one of the first places Luffy visited ... Shells Town.

Why did I decide to look there? Everything is simple here, I rethought some moments while we were wandering and decided to change my plans in East Blue. No matter how rude it may sound, North is too weak, so much so that Tashigi can easily endure him, to say nothing of someone more serious. Perhaps later he will pull up his strength, but so far he is useless. I think, to find some fruit for him, then he will be good, but for now let him train the base, I have made a training program for him, now he has something to do.

In general, because of all this, I realized that my team needs not only useful people like a navigator, but also strong personalities, since I want to become a king, then I need an appropriate team. So I decided to add two more people to the team in East Blue.

The first, of course, is Nami, without her I think we won't go far. The second will be Zoro as I need a strong first mate and the third will be Sanji.

Yes, I admit, I'm a swindler and a bastard, because of me there will be no canon Straw Hats, but what can I do, since I'm a hit, so why not use the knowledge. What is better, to recruit people you already know, to whom you know the approach and can trust, or to take someone from the outside? I think the answer is obvious. I know their weaknesses, their strengths and capabilities, so taking them would be a good decision.

Zoro has enormous potential, he is probably the strongest swordsman in the East Blue now, and in the future he will grow very much. It's a shame he can't meet Mihawk, of course, but maybe he can meet him on the Grand Line.

Sanji, of course, had to think about the situation. He is an excellent cook and a very strong warrior, of course not as strong as Zoro, but who said that this cannot be fixed? You can give him a devil fruit and his power will not be inferior to Zoro. Of course he has some oddities ... But I think I'll get over it. The main problem is recruiting him, it will be much more difficult than with a swordsman, this is still worth thinking about.

Well, as for the other Straw Hats, I'm not sure, I definitely don't need Usopp, even though he is strong and a good strategist, but what, he was even able to awaken the will himself without outside help. But the main problem is that he grew up largely due to unusual situations, which, most likely, will not happen because of me, like, for example, it was on Dress Rose. I either need someone strong like Zoro or very helpful like Nami.

As for Chopper and the others, I'll think about it on the Grand Line, now we need to at least put together the core of the future team.

So I decided to start with Zoro. The problem is, I don't know where to look for it. In the canon, he was in Shells Town, but there is still a year before the canon, so he is hardly there, but maybe he is somewhere nearby, I think it is worth asking people, they should have heard about him in those parts, for sure.

Huhh, we did come, I already thought that we screwed something up again, but no, we are in Shells Town. The town, of course, is not so-so, not Loguetown, but you can live. In the middle of the city, the headquarters of the local patrols, you certainly will not miss it, you can see it from a kilometer away, at first I thought to bang Morgan, and then I thought, why should I? He is too weak, glasses for him will not be given, and the patrol will only get mad at me, I hope Luffy will meet with him and figure it out. In the meantime, you need to find a restaurant from the canon.

After about ten minutes of questioning and wandering around, I finally found the right place, and how did Luffy get here? In one of the alleys there was a small restaurant "Food Fu", I went there and went to the barmaid with brown hair, ordered food and quietly asked:

- Hello, have you heard about the pirate hunter?

She leaned over to me and said:

- Not so loud, are you talking about Roronoa Zoro?

I nodded.

The girl was silent for a little, and then continued:

- Mm, they don't often talk about him here, everyone is usually scared when they hear his name, they say that he himself is more terrible than pirates.

- So you've heard of him?

She nodded and said:

- Mm, I once heard that he swims from one island to another and cannot swim away, I do not know what this is connected with, maybe he is hunting pirates there. These islands are not far from here, one is called Sight Town, and the other is Regono, I don't know about the others.

- Thank. - I gave her money, paid for food and information.

Hmm, he seriously can't swim away? And why am I not surprised? Eh, okay, you need to find out the route from someone and go.

***

Ohh, how tired I am ...

We have been sailing for almost a week, first we arrived on the island of Regono in the town of Estor Town, but Zoro had not been there for almost a month, so we immediately sailed to Sipe Town. But even there we were awaited by a bummer, it turns out that Zoro departed the day before our arrival, as we were told in a local tavern, where pirate hunters usually gather. Therefore, we decided to follow him, you never know, what if he will swim for a month? I didn't really want to wait.

And so, we did catch up with him, and now an interesting scene opened up in front of us, Zoro runs after a huge hulk, and he, in turn, runs away, sparkling with his heels, it's good that they are on the ship, so he couldn't run for a long time and Zoro killed him, along the way, crumbling most of the pirate's team.

Well, it's time to talk, I think it will not be so easy, knowing Zoro's character, but I already have a plan for this case.