Chapter 11 East Blue

"We've finally exited the Calm Belt, meaning we've officially reached East Blue!" Bertram laughed as he slapped his thigh. Hearing this everyone was quite excited and Arch sighed with relief as he turned off his devil fruit ability. Using his wind ability to move the ship wasn't that taxing but using it was for prolonged periods of time was still tedious.

Now though, the group had a problem. "We seem to have forgot to bring a compass." Bertram muttered as he patted the back of his head. Immediately the rest of them gazed at him in shock, their navigator forgot to bring a compass.

"PAK"

Arch facepalmed as he shook his head. "I am sorry your Majesty but the thing is I've never left the Grand Line before you don't exactly think of bringing a compass when you've been sailing there all your life." Bertram defended himself, as Arch resisted slapping this fat ass to death.

'Of all things he forgot to bring a compass.' Arch shook his head as he looked towards the sun. It was currently rising higher higher and from that, Arch found out where north would be. "William search for an island in that direction." Arch said as he pointed towards what he suspected to be north.

Although Arch was annoyed at Bertram, he knew he couldn't be to hard on the man after all he did have a point, it wasn't normal to sail back into the blues after venturing into the Grand Line and Bertram himself was born in the Grand Line so it would be even weirder if he knew how to navigate the blues.

After about an hour William flew back having found land. "Direct the ship there we'll reach the island in about 2 hours or so at our current pace." And with that Bertram turned the ship towards the island William had discovered and they got back on track.

Two hours soon passed and the group of 6 reached the island, it was a large island with grassy plains and small mountains, a patch of the plains was used to grow rice while there seemed to be a village in the distance.

Once they arrived, Bertram and Cort docked the ship before they began walking down a path. Eventually they found a villager who was working on one of the fields. "Excuse me sir." Arch said as he walked up to the villager.

"Oh hello there, I've never seen you around before are you new here?" The old villager asked as he stroked his grey beard. "Ah yes, we got a bit lost on our travels and happened to come upon this island, do you happen to know anyone who has a map of the East Blue by any chance?" Arch questioned as he smiled at the old man.

"Indeed I do if you go down this path into town you'll find a dojo, Isshin Dojo, their sensei possesses a map of East Blue." He replied continuing to plow the rice fields. Arch bowed and then bade the old man farewell.

A few minutes later they arrived at Isshin Dojo, a bunch of children were swinging kendo swords in the courtyard when they arrived and seeing this Arch realised where he was. 'This should be Zoro's hometown.' Arch thought before knocking lightly on the doorframe.

Due to this the concentration of the children was disrupted and they began looking at Arch curiously. "Ahem, excuse me but could I speak to your sensei?" Arch asked when a middle age man with glasses exited the building.

"Oh you have some business with me?" The man asked walking towards the group. "Hello, its nothing much, you see my group and I are travelling through East Blue and require a map for our journey, and after asking around they said you have such a map." Arch explained as he bowed lightly.

Honestly Arch wasn't too clear about customs at these different villages so he simply bowed lightly on first greeting as a sign of respect. "I see, well come inside first as travelers you should be treated as guests." He said as he welcomed them inside the dojo.

After a few minutes they were inside a room drinking tea. "My name is Shimotsuki Koushiro, you 6 are?" He asked pouring some tea.

"I am Bertram."

"Ugo pleased to meet you."

"I am Curt and this is my brother Cort."

"I am William, William Ryder."

"Lastly I am Archelaus Tigra, I go by Arch."

They introduced themselves before drinking the tea placed in front of them. "Thank you for your hospitality." Arch said before placing down the tea cup. "Its my pleasure after all we rarely get travelers to this island." Koushiro replied before rising from his seat. "I'll be back soon I am just going to retrieve the map."

In fact less than a minute later the man came back to the room with a map in hand. "This should be what you're looking for." He stated as he held the map close to himself. Seeing this Arch naturally realised they weren't getting this for free.

"I'll give this to you, but first I'd like to ask something of you. Have you ever heard of Wano?" Koushiro questioned with a hopeful look. Hearing this Arch was quite surprised. 'So he noticed we're from the Grand Line?' Arch thought to himself as he nodded his head.

"Naturally who hasn't heard of Wano Country the land of Samurai and home to the greatest of swordsmiths." Arch replied sipping on the tea in front of him. "Do you have any current news on it?" Koushiro continued his questioning.

"This, I am sorry but at least I don't after all Wano is an isolationist nation and although we are indeed from the Grand Line as you've suspected we're from what we call Paradise while Wano is found in the New World, its nearly impossible for us to know what's going on over there." Arch answered as he shook his head.

At this point Arch was lying through his teeth, although a regular person would have no way of knowing he knew, well he at least knew the general situation. 'Kaido should have been wreaking havoc over there for at least 8 years at this point.' Arch sighed as he shook his head.

Apart from Arch the Expedition Team knew nothing either, and seeing this Koushiro simply sighed before handing them the map. "I'd like it if you returned this to me before heading back." Koushiro said as he handed them the map.

He didn't have much use for the map but it was still nice to have just in case. "Don't worry about it, on my honor I'll bring you back this map." Arch promised before storing away the map. Finishing off the tea in his cup Arch arose from his seat before bowing lightly once again.

"We should be off now, I thank you once again for your hospitality." Arch said, Koushiro smiling in response after that the group of 6 left the island and headed out to sea.

"What did you think of them Kuina?" Koushiro asked as he looked to the side, there his daughter was hiding she had been listening in on the conversation prior. "None of them were swordsmen." She sighed as she got out of her hiding place.

"In fact your are correct." Koushiro replied as his smile faded slightly. "Maybe one day you'll have a challenge Kuina." Koushiro sighed as he patted his daughter on the head.

As if proving him correct less than a second later a shout sounded at the front of the dojo. "I've come to challenge this dojo!" A little boy with green hair shouted.

And so began Zoro's time in Isshin Dojo.