Chapter 38 - Welcome to the Going Merry

A/N: You guys like the new cover? Got more character illustrations on my patreon now, and that was one of them. Don't really have many advanced chapters or anything there yet - probably not until next week due to working overtime - but the pics are up for free if you want to check them out: https://www.patreon.com/trashheapauthor.

Also… sorry if I don't respond to comments as much for the time being. Webnovel's update for the author dashboard made it super tedious to check notifications, and almost impossible on the mobile app. I have no idea what they were thinking when pushing that out. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I always say.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy the chappy.

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Upon the gentle seas of East Blue, a small ship with a ram-like figurehead sailed onward with gusto. Overhead, a white bird noticed the ship and flew toward it. On the deck, a slim girl with short orange hair and large dark brown eyes noticed it by chance. Upon being seen, the bird landed on the railing near her. The girl thought for a moment. She chewed on her lip for a few moments, but then pulled out one hundred berries and ruefully exchanged them for a newspaper. Even though the berries initially belonged to the ship's resident sharpshooter, it still pained her to hand them over like that.

When she opened the newspaper, a new wanted poster fell out. Upon seeing her captain's silly smile in the picture, her eyes widened.

"Oh? What's that?" The stringy young man wearing a straw hat asked in an upbeat tone. Picking it up, he slowly read it. Before long, his lips widened into a toothy grin as he happily exclaimed, "UWOH~!" Then, turning to the young man with curly black hair covered by a yellowish bandana and a long nose, he said, "Check this out, Usopp! We're wanted!"

"Hm? Wanted… Thirty million berries?!" Usopp exclaimed in response.

The orange haired girl narrowed her eyes. Solemn thoughts passed through her mind, and she ignored the blondie who showed up to complain that he wasn't part of the wanted poster.

On the other end of the deck, the young man with short green hair opened his eyes and looked over at his fellow crew members making a ruckus. Much like the orange-haired girl, he took the bounty seriously.

'Oh, right, that Jin guy was going to come here soon, right?' Zoro thought to himself after pondering the bounty for a few minutes. Out of curiosity, he materialized the small stone-like tablet into his hand like the Wizard guy explained to him a few days ago and checked the so-called 'chat'. Before he could read anything, though, circular lights manifested a couple meters away from him. The circles split into a cylinder, revealing a young man of similar age to himself.

The moment Jin arrived, he felt his power veins surge due to the new environment. At this point, he had mostly become accustomed to the adjustment, but he still frowned a little since it made him as uncomfortable as when an ant crawled onto his bare foot. Once his power veins settled down, he looked at the green-haired swordsman resting on the deck with his hands under his head.

When the two met each other's gaze, Jin smiled in a friendly manner, gave a simple wave of greeting, and said, "Hello, Zoro. I've arrived."

Raising a brow upon hearing his name from the supposed Sage despite never mentioning it, Zoro stood up from his napping position and calmly replied, "I see that. Welcome to the Going Merry, Jin. Jin is fine, right?"

"Yeah. Still, the Going Merry, eh?" Jin nostalgically commented, looking down at the deck of the ship. He then looked toward the front of the ship and stared at the ram-like figurehead. His heart panged with a small amount of grief for a moment, but quickly set aside the emotion stirring within him. Then, looking back at Zoro, he said, "Well, thanks for the welcome."

Zoro nodded in response. Then, he stretched and asked, "It seemed like you already knew about my crewmates, but did you want to meet them? They're a rowdy bunch for the most part."

"Haha. Sure," Jin replied. He narrowed his eyes upon seeing the bandages around Zoro's torso when he stretched, but steadied his expression a moment later.

When Zoro started leading Jin toward the front of the ship where the others were excitedly discussing the bounty, Nami glanced over at them. Upon seeing Jin, her mouth gaped, and her eyes widened.

"Who is that? How'd he get here?" She asked aloud.

Nami's questions caused the three boys to look over as well. Each of them showed different reactions to the purple-haired stranger. His black jeans, white t-shirt, and black windbreaker looked incredibly foreign to them.

Sanji narrowed his eyes with clear suspicion and wariness.

Usopp tilted his head as though confused.

Luffy, on the other hand, smiled and asked, "Shishishi, who's this, Zoro?"

"This is the guy I mentioned earlier, Luffy."

"Eh? Who?"

"So it's the guy you said you talked to using that weird stone thing," Nami said in realization. Then, brows furrowing deeply, she asked, "How did he get here? I didn't see any ships."

Zoro glanced at Jin as though too lazy to answer, so Jin chuckled and said, "There are many strange things in this world. You've got a rubber captain, so don't be too surprised. Anyway, I'm Jin. Nice to meet you."

"Hi, Jin! I'm Luffy, captain of the Straw Hat pirates and the future Pirate King! Nice to meet you! Shishishi."

Briefly, Jin noted the wanted poster in Luffy's hands. It immediately gave him an indication of the current timeline, but he quickly set aside upon hearing the next introduction.

"I'm Usopp, the greatest sharpshooter to sail East Blue! Millions and billions have lost under my hands!" Usopp boasted, garnering dubious looks from everyone but Luffy.

"Sanji. Cook," Sanji introduced himself in a hesitant manner.

Jin nodded to each of them, then looked at Nami.

"Hi. I'm Nami, the navigator," She answered in response to his gaze. Her tone indicated a mixture of caution and curiosity.

"Nice to meet you all. Where exactly are you headed?" Jin followed up since he recognized the crew had yet to leave East Blue but could not recall the name of their next destination.

"Loguetown," Nami calmly answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Ah, that place where the Pirate King was executed. Cool," Jin thoughtfully remarked with a thumb on his chin.

"Right! I'm going to see it since I'm going to be the next Pirate King! Shishishi."

"How far away are we?" Jin asked Nami.

"A few hours," She answered without hesitation.

Jin nodded, but then got distracted by a small notification from the Chat Group. Both he and Zoro checked their devices and read the new mission details that arrived.

{Tutorial Mission #3 will begin upon reaching Loguetown. Mission requirements are as follows:}

{1. Eliminate a rampant herd of Void Beasts in the vicinity. Save the innocents before it can reach them. RP reward will reduce along with casualties. Zero survivors will result in failure and zero rewards. Location: To be determined.}

{2. Admin must use his energy to close the Reality Crack the herd emerges from.}

{3. Mission Duration: 108 Hours}

{Mission Rewards: 100 RP, Bronze Lottery Ticket}

{Additional Notes: Admin must return to homeworld within 7 days after mission completion. Next Tutorial Mission will begin 24 hours after return.}