Chapter 5 - First Destination, Reached

××× 『 A. N. 』 ×××

Before publishing the previous chapters, and more likely; this chapter also, all of them have been edited through Webnovel's grammar correction, so tell me if there are some error in those chapters and I'll try to fix it.

And with that being said, enjoy this chapter.

××× 『 END 』 ×××

『 Midoriya's POV 』

A new morning finally comes, and with that is the sight of the destination that we have in mind.

'Shells Town, the closest civilization from the islet that we came from.'

We're stopping at that place not only to let Coby join the Navy like he wants to but also to fetch the person that Luffy wants to invite in our newly formed pirate crew.

"I'm still not used to identifying myself as a pirate... along with many more things."

I whispered to myself as I brought a hand over my head.

*Sigh*

'I guess I'll just let time fix that problem for me.'

I thought to myself after I released a deep breath.

"Midoriya, can you please wake up Luffy-san? We'll reach our destination in an hour and he said that he wanted to be awake to when he do, this time."

Coby suddenly said at me as he continued to control the path that our boat was heading to.

"Sure."

And of course, I did what he asked me to do... which proved to be quite hard.

『 Omniscient POV 』

An hour later, the trio finally arrived at the coast of their destination.

"We're finally at the Marines Base!!"

"Yeah, we finally made it!"

Luffy excitedly exclaimed before Midoriya replied with an excitement of his own.

"Coby, you're amazing!"

"Huh?"

"You actually got us to our destination!"

Luffy's excitement did not die down as he suddenly praised Coby's capacity to bring them in their designated destination.

"Of course I did! That's the minimum requirement for the people who sail the seas."

Though the same couldn't be said with Coby, as he lectured his savior.

"Luffy-san, if you keep floating around, you'll never become a pirate."

"Luffy, I think he's correct on this. We really should invite a person who knows how to properly sail the sea in our crew."

Coby continued to lecture Luffy and was quite shocked when Midoriya actually agreed with his words.

After all, he did not do the same when the boy was trying to persuade the straw hat boy against recruiting the pirate hunter, Roronoa Zolo.

"Alright! We'll do just that!!"

Luffy did not even think about considering the duo's words because he instantly agreed to them, which greatly shocked Coby once again.

"Now let's go eat!!! Eat!!!"

Though such sentiment did not last long as Luffy's next words were like cold water for him.

"Pfft-"

Noticing his expression, Midoriya couldn't help but release a loud laughter.

'Oh, how long has it been since I got to laugh like this.'

The young hero thought as he finally regained his calm.

"Hurry up, Coby!"

When he heard Luffy's words, Coby hurriedly docked the small boat that they used before he quickly ran towards Luffy and Midoriya's direction.

『 Midoriya's POV 』

My eyes couldn't help but wander around us, as I and the others walk through the town to find a restaurant to eat at.

And as far as I can observe, this place is quite peaceful.

Kids were running around in group, with smiles on their faces, while the adults were either walking around the town happily or opening the stores that they own excitedly.

And although some of those store owners had a rivalry for customers, they all still greet each other with genuine respect and happiness.

'Just like back in my world, before everything All for One related had happened.'

Shaking my head to remove the negative thoughts that was starting to appear in my mind, I just decided to familiarize myself in this new environment that I found myself at, as I quietly follow Luffy and Coby.

'I just hope that they are somewhat familiar to this place.'

Shortly after that, we finally arrived at a restaurant that had already opened and had a bunch of customers already this early in the morning.

On top of the entrance of this restaurant, a billboard with words such as 「 Food Foo 」 written on it was displayed.

『 Omniscient POV 』

"That's some good stuff, right there!"

A few minutes later, the trio just finished eating their fast and can now be found just sitting on the window side of the restaurant.

Midoriya and Coby are facing each other while Luffy sat on the chair, which was placed right in front of the window at the duo's side.

When the three of them finished eating, multiple burping sounds came out of their smiling mouths, which made some people look at them.

And if his big belly is still not enough as evidence, Luffy's genuine praise should've revealed by now that the food of this restaurant greatly satisfied him.

"Are you ready, Coby?"

Somehow, ignoring the mystery behind Luffy's stomach, for now, Midoriya decided to ask a question to the boy who is in front of him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, hours from now, and you'll finally join the Navy; just like what you wished for."

"Oh, right! Then that means this is the place where we will separate from you, huh?"

Hearing the duo's discussion who are sitting at his sides, Luffy couldn't help but get out of his satisfied state and say his words.

"You do your best to be a great marine, alright?"

He then added after his first few words.

"That's right, if you are to join the Marines anyway, then you might as well go beyond and be the Marines' Hero by the end of your journey!"

Hearing Luffy's and Midoriya's words of encouragement, small drops of salty waters started to come out of Coby's eyes as he once again thanked the former person for saving him.

"Of course I will! Luffy-san, Midoriya... you guys have to be infamous pirates too, alright?! Even if that would mean that we'll be enemies in the future."

Hearing Coby's broken response, because of his sobs, Midoriya released a small smile while Luffy laughed like usual with his usual unique laughter.

"But Luffy, before we leave, you do remember that we gotta do some important stuff first... right?"

After the short drama had ended, Midoriya suddenly asked his captain as he remembered his words earlier as well as the second reason why they came to this town.

"First, if we want to sail safely, we'll need to learn the basic navigating skills... I'll just do that myself, which leaves you free. So while I'm gone, you can take your time to find this "Pirate Hunter" that you want to bring in our small pirate crew."

After getting a nod from Luffy as an answer for his first question, Midoriya took a short moment to reconsider his plan before he said it to the former person.

And, of course, Luffy easily agreed to his plan. After all, he'd very much rather recruit a person that Coby called a monster than read some books about navigating the Seas.

Though, as if his words were heard by all of the people inside of the restaurant, all of them suddenly stood up in shock and fear.

Such a sudden action, of course, caused some mess around the place, as tables were flipped around, chairs were pushed away and dropped onto the ground, and foods were flown into the air.

Fortunately, or not, the store owner also acted just like her customers, and thus, she couldn't really scold them.

"Looks like we can't openly talk about anything that can be connected to Zoro's name."

Whispered Coby to the duo in front of him when he saw just how scared the people were just from hearing the nickname of an infamous pirate hunter.

"I guess you're right... anyhow, do you already have an idea what you'll do after we leave this place?"

"Uhm, yes. I saw a notice earlier on the street, and it turns out the captain of the base here is someone called Morgan. I'll look for him and ask him if he could accept me as a marine trainee of his base."

Once again, Midoriya agreed to Coby's words before he easily pushed forward their conversation.

Though, it seems that the name that Coby mentioned was also feared by the people as they once again reacted rather more chaotically than earlier.

Such reaction was what forced Luffy, Midoriya, and Coby to leave the restaurant earlier than they'd like to.

"HAHAHAHAHA! What an interesting restaurant, I'd gotta go there again!"

But even such a random event brought nothing but entertainment to the straw hatted pirate, as he continued to laugh while holding his stomach.

"Well then, let's do the things that we gotta do and after an hour or two, let's all meet up at this place and once we all got here; we'll see if Luffy and I will leave this island by then or stay for a bit more."

After waiting for Luffy to calm down, Midoriya told the other two his last plan.

After thinking about it, while one did not even try to at all, Luffy and Coby happily agreed with his plan.

"If Zoro was really caught by the Marines, then I'll have to go with Coby to the marine base to see him. That means you'll be alone but don't worry if you got lost; all you have to do is yell and I'll come to find you!!"

"All right, I understand. Now then, see you guys later."

"See you!"

Few seconds after Luffy's final words, the trio had finally started walking towards their different destinations.

One is with the other while one went solo.

『 Midoriya's POV 』

Although it took me some time, I still discovered the area that somehow gave the feeling of a place where the library can be found.

What was that feeling?

Some might ask, well... it's the feeling of people's active avoidance.

That is exactly the scene I'm witnessing right now.

Because even though the street was quite a narrow one, people still chose to go there instead of the street where the library is located just to avoid it.

Choosing to ignore such a ridiculous decision of people, I finally arried at a certain building that has a billboard, which has 「 Library 」 written on it.

'Haha, no matter the world, there are still some places that all human beings try to avoid.'

I chuckled at that thought of mine before I went ahead and entered the two storey building.

And as I expected, if not for the librarian and her assistant, this place would be void of human beings.

"Hello there, how can we help you?"

Excitedly asked the librarian when I finally reached her desk.

Although there is really no need to, I still did a short small talk to the librarian before I finally revealed my reason for being here.

After she pointed out where I'll find the books I wanted to read, I quickly collected a lot of them before I looked for a comfortable place to sit at and began reading.

Time always comes and goes quickly whenever I busy myself at reading, just like now.

Because without even noticing, an hour and a half had already passed by.

Thankfully, that short time was enough for me to finish reading and memorizing every basic thing about navigation.

Though, theoretical knowledge is always different when actually applying it to real life situation.

"I just gotta do my best, I guess."

I whispered to myself as I really don't have much of a choice.

For one, I doubt that Luffy is capable of properly navigating the Seas, if his first failure at sailing is not enough of an evidence then, what else should happen before that fact becomes apparent to everyone... even to a blind idiot.

Though, I'd rather not know the answer to that question.

And for two, even if Luffy somehow managed to recruit a new member, I couldn't just put a random fate on that unknown person to know how to sail properly on the Seas.

Because in my mind, doing so is not that different from an indirect suicide.

"Well, although I can't call myself a navigator yet, I at least have enough theoretical knowledge to guide us through the sea."

I whispered to myself before I closed the final book that I deemed to be important to memorize.

'I got to go back to the meeting place now. Maybe they're there already.'

And with that thought in mind, I finally decided to leave the library that I had stayed for more than an hour.

『 Omniscient POV 』

When Midoriya arrived at the meeting place, he quickly noticed that Coby and Luffy had a girl sitting right beside them.

When he saw that, he quickly ran towards them and questioned his friends what happened.

After hearing the girl's story and Zoro's actions as well as his current situation, Midoriya's face couldn't be any more angrier.

"I plan to take a look at this so-called Marines and answer my suspicions of them later on, but I guess... that "later" is now."

Midoriya muttered to himself before he stood up from the barrel that he was sitting on.

"Heh Heh Heh Heh! Who dares to raise their head? I'll tell my dad!"

But before he could take any more action, Midoriya and his group suddenly heard a loud shout.

Nodding at each other, all of them quickly ran towards the place that it came from.

"What the?!"

"Thi-this!"

"..."

"..."

And when they reached it, what they saw greatly shocked them.

On both sides of the street were the civilians that were peacefully walking towards their destinations just earlier, and now, instead of smiling and laughing, they all placed their heads below knee levels with bitter expressions.

Some were even crying because of their current situation.

"Do as I say or else you will be like Roronoa Zoro! I've starved him for weeks now, only feeding him on Sundays, and I am now planning to execute him at the end of the week!"

And in the middle of those people, a certain blonde bastard shouted some sickening things with pride; while two men with marine uniforms were following right behind him.

"I'll use him as an example for all of you! It's gonna be exciting..."

The bastard finished his speech with that, even as he continued to walk closer towards where Midoriya and the others were.

"Execution? Didn't you say you'll let him live if he endured your whims for a month?"

"How rude~, who are you to talk to me anyway?"

Luffy asked with a pretty calm impression, a clear contrast to that of Midoriya.

Although the young hero is very eager to punch the person in front of him right now, he chose not to do so.

After all, if he is to be blinded by anger with just this, then that would be pretty dangerous for him once he faces a situation much more sickining than this.

Though, as if not seeing that visible anger, the blande bastard continued to speak with clear voice.

"I was only fooling him. There's no way I'd actually do that! He should've known better! He He He..."

Once those words were said, Luffy did something that shocked everyone; including Midoriya.

Luffy had punched the blonde bastard straight in the face!

"Please calm down, Luffy-san! Do you want to fight all of the marines here or something?!"

Yelled out Coby in panic as he hurriedly took hold of Luffy.

"Coby, I've decided!"

Luffy, on the other hand, just let Coby hold him for a moment as he began to speak.

"Huh?"

"I'm gonna ask Zoro to join my crew!"

「 To be continued 」