The travel continues

[Chapter 38: The travel continues]

...

Under the beautiful sunset that seemed to indicate the end of the day and the beginning of the dark and peaceful night, two youths could be seen clashing sword against each other fiercely.

*Clang!*

"Hahaha, how's that Sid? Do you finally comprehend how strong I really am?!" A thin blond youth, who seemed to be sweating buckets while swinging his sword, asked smugly towards the youth in front of him.

*Kashiiiin!!*

"The only strong thing here is the putrid smell from your body" A black haired youth with an angry expression exclaimed as he clashed swords against his opponent.

And although I said that they were fighting against each other fiercely, In reality the only fierce thing in this fight was how hard were this guys trying to have a decent combat that didn't cause the other people to end up sleeping over at the shameful display of swordsmanship from both had. Failing considerably, as all their companions and instructors that were watching the duel could sometimes start yawning, and sometimes taking a small nap away from everyone's eyes.

Even though their abilities were not bad, they somehow still managed to make everyone watching their duel sleepy. With no exception, as even the instructor that was watching their performances in order to evaluate them, was starting to feel drowsy while watching the duel. Fortunately, the constant verbal battle between both youths helped somewhat to alleviate his drowsiness.

'I swear I haven't seen such a boring combat in ages... Even though their abilities are not bad, I still don't understand how can it be so boring to watch them fight..." The instructor thought as he evaluated the performances of both youths and wrote them down in a paper for further evaluation later.

After a tedious and repetitive duel, the duel finally ended with Sid as its winner.

"Very well guys, go and take a rest for today, since tomorrow we will probably arrive at the Marine Ford so that Smoker-sama can report the situation to his superiors. And while you're at it, you might as well watch the other groups of marines so that you can learn a thing or two!"

""Yes Sir!!""

Soon, everyone went back to their room, while the two youths that were having a duel a moment ago also started leaving the place while bickering with each other angrily.

The instructor, that was finally left alone, sighed exhausted and took a seat on a nearby chair.

"It seems like we managed to make them strong enough in time before reaching Marine Ford... At least now they won't be mocked because of being too weak. However, they still have along way ahead and they barely meet the standards of a soldier of the Grand Line, if we happen to meet a pirate crew while traveling to Arabasta many of them will probably die due to inexperience against strong opponents... I think I will have to prepare a counter-measure plan just in case... "

As the instructor continued thinking deeply about the future to come while massaging his eyebrows, suddenly a hand grabbed his shoulder and patted him lightly.

"You are a little bit stressed, huh?"

"Smoker-Sama!"

"Don't worry too much, even if some pirates attack our ship while we are on our way to Arabasta, I will take care of them. Meanwhile, you just need to make sure that they become strong enough to survive in this dangerous sea, who knows, maybe in the future when they go back to Loguetown they will be the ones to protect it from pirates instead of me."

"But, what happens if we find dangerous pirates that are too much to handle? Like... Shadow raven?"

"Hmm, It is certainly true that he is quite mysterious and I don't know if I could defeat him. However, after our encounter at Loguetown I felt like he is not going to move unless completely necessary. So, I don't think we will find Shadow raven anytime soon"

"Achooooo-!!!"

Suddenly, someone sneezed from within one of the rooms inside the ship, startling both of the marines for a moment, before they just shrugged it off and continued talking calmly about the future to come.

"What a crazy coincidence, huh?"

"Hahaha, yeah!"

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Somewhere in the middle of the sea...

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"Sanjiiiiii~ Food! Food! Food!"

"Alright, alright, It's coming out in a few minutes, could you calm down?"

"But I'm hungryyyyyy~!"

Inside a small but beautifully carved ship that had in its front carved the head of a very cute lamb, A black haired youth crawled through the floor of what seemed to be the kitchen while a blond haired man cooked a great amount of food for at least five people.

Soon, the food was finished and both of them seated at the table in order to start digging in, before three more people suddenly joined the two of them to start eating.

One of them was the very well known pirate hunter, and officially an actual pirate now, Zoro Roronoa. A green haired man with a strange tendency to get lost even in his house, and the goal to become the strongest swordsman in the world for the sake of the promise he made with his now deceased childhood friend back when he was still a kid.

The other was Nami, a red haired woman with incredible abilities in the art of navigating through the seas, and the goal of creating a map of the whole world. She also has a very strange obsession for money and most of the time ends up lending money to her crewmates in order to charge them even more money later. Something that makes her very respected and feared among her crew, but still loved nevertheless.

The last one was Ussop, a young man with medium-length black woolly hair, prominent lips and a long nose. He has an enormous ability for using long-range weapons due to his extraordinary accuracy, and also has a strange tendency to lie about his real worth, often mentioning that he has under his command an army of 5000 pirates that are completely loyal to him, which is false of course. He also has a very cowardly and fearful personality, often leaving the most dangerous opponents for his friends to fight instead while he cheers for them at a prudent distance. However, when his crew needs him, he can still be a trustworthy companion that risks his life for his friends if needed.

As all of them starting eating pleasantly while talking with each other, suddenly Sanji recalled something and stared directly at his captain.

"Hey Luffy, now that I think about it... How the hell did you get almost executed? You were just going to visit the execution platform, right? Not becoming the one getting executed..."

"Nishishi... Well, Buggy and that woman Alvida managed to distract me and trapped me using a strange wood tool that immobilized me..."

"What?! How is it possible that we are hearing about this just now?!" Nami, that was hearing everything with widened eyes, looked at both of them with an astonished expression in her eyes while bumping her fist in the table.

"Nishishi, don't worry about it, Besides, I escaped anyways!"

"It's not about whether you escaped or not..." Nami, that heard the carefulness of her captain, massaged her forehead in exasperation while she processed what was happening while they were not watching their captain.

"Hmm... now that you mention it... that guy with silver hair, he was crazy strong! It was hard for me to even process what kind of attack was that shining sword that he was about to use when that giant gust of wind blew all of us away" Zoro, that was hearing their conversation in silence, suddenly exclaimed when he remembered the last guy they fought.

"OOOOOOOOH, HIS ATTACK WAS SO COOL!! I wonder if I will be able to do something like that with my powers one day!" Luffy, that remembered the epic attack performed by Nael when he was about to deliver the final attack, had his eyes shine in amazement and admiration while he exclaimed excitedly.

"Heeeh~ So there was someone like that" Nami, that was now a bit more calm, looked at them in wonder.

"Heh, that guy was lucky that I was not there, otherwise I could have kicked his ass off in just one second with my incredible abilities as an expert shooter!" Suddenly, Ussop stood up and started making epic poses while smiling confidently. Before being completely ignored by his crewmates.

Nami, that was hearing her crewmates talk about their fight, suddenly remembered the face of a certain black haired youth with a grumpy face.

"Ah yes, did you notice that strange guy with red eyes that tried to stop us when we were about to leave Loguetown?"

Zoro and Sanji, that did their best to remember someone like that, looked at each other before both of them shook their heads while looking at Nami with curiosity.

"What about you Luffy? You were the one to punch him in the face after all"

"Hmmmmmmm.... Oh, now that you mention it... there was a guy like that, for some reason when I saw him I felt shivers in all my body... Why could that be...?"

Nami, that heard Luffy, stared in wonder at his face before he started looking away with a pensive expression.

'Where have I seen his face before...? I have it on the tip of my tongue...'

As she was thinking, suddenly the memories of her escaping from the dangerous pirate Jack the Crimson Mustache came to her mind, and the face of a certain black haired teenager that stumbled upon the dangerous pirate appeared on her mind as well.

'That's right! He was the one that saved me! Although unintentionally... I heard that Crimson mustache was killed by the famous bounty hunter right after I managed to escape. So I guess that bounty hunter saved him from Jack huh...? I wonder what he is doing in the marines?'

Like that, Nami continued thinking about the subject for some time, before she just shrugged it off and continued talking happily with her crew.

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Far away inside a marine ship...

...

*Yawn*

"I guess I did perfectly as a mob once again, at this rate no one will notice my existence until the arc of Arabasta ends! Hahaha, I guess I'm becoming a pro in this of not leaving memories in the minds of people"